Universal Driver set for all Switchable (Intel/ATI) Graphics!

for 2390x:

AMD RadeonHD 6650M driver 8.830.7.2000
Mobile Intel HD Graphics driver version 8.830.7.2000
Intel Display Audio driver version 6.14.0.3074
Catalyst Control Center utility 2011.0901.1660.28670

for 2190x/2290x (official sony website):

AMD Radeon HD 6650M version 8.830.7.0
Mobile Intel HD Graphics version 8.830.7.0
Intel Display Audio driver version 6.14.0.3074
Catalyst Control Center utility 2011.0519.1823.31140


EDIT: 2390x drivers are the SAME as ones provided by SirRobin. I guess it's finally updated (officially) Too bad no newer drivers this time around.

Cheers,
Miki

 

Where are you seeing the driver version for the Intel IGP? On my SA, it only lists it in the Intel format (8.15.10.2476, in my case).

 

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VPCZ2290X&upd_id=7087&os_group_id=6

 

So I installed the 12.1a drivers and played a bit of Skyrim. Anti-aliasing is still a problem, but turned off with high settings, 1600x900 (and fraps), it runs pretty smoothly (about 28fps outside in a very leafy area; probably 30+ w/o fraps). I don't notice a huge performance increase, but it does feel a bit better. I'm not sure what its supposed to run like on a non-hybrid 6650m.

I'm running 3dmark 11 now. Not sure if it will tell us anything. Got 1302. Notebookcheck's Z2 (i7-2620M) managed 1261.

I get around 32fps in Dota 2; max settings; 1600x900.

Got 30fps on Just Cause 2 demo benchmark on default settings at 1600x900.

 

Are there any brightness issues with the new 12.1a driver? Automatic brightness working perfectly?

 

It works but it jumps from one brightness to another rather than fading like it does with the Sony driver.

 

Ok, so there is no chance to set the brightness in steps from dark to bright?

 

Is there any special app that controls your brightness or you refer to standard Windows Brightness Change?

 

You get the steps still, it just doesn't have the apple-like fade effect like it does with the stock drivers.

 

Would like to welcome leshcat to our discussion, our aim is to have a more reliable graphic drivers update for Z2.
For sure our feedbacks are essential for the developments and further compatibility of UnifL driver set.

Thanks to all contributors to this thread...

 

I second that... Great to have leshcat with us here!


Cheers,
Miki

 

I think its the Sony Event Service that handles the brightness change.

 

this article gives more insights:
http://blog.komeil.com/2009/07/fn-f5-f6-brightness-windows-7-sony-vaio.html

Cheers,
Miki

 

@mak1,

Thanks mate we ll do my best, since its unifl and vaio series are not exception.

@miki69

I read the article: most of modern lappies unfortunately control key features via their own drivers instead of BIOS which is of course sad.

However, History shows that its totally possible to implement: for example, once hp pavilion dv5 had problems with brightness under windows xp and the next thing what hp techs done is that they 've impletented independent brightness control in Phoenix BIOS in next 3 weeks.

Anywayz, from what i 've understood from this topic, driver works correctly, brightness as well, except it doesnt have this apple like transition between brightness levels anymore. Is that correct?

 

Brightness is switching in "harder" levels i think. But there might be a problem with the automatic brightness control in some vaios, such the z21. Sometimes, brightness is going from high to low without reason...

But the driver is much better than the sony driver provided in my link in signature!

 

What about HDMI or Open GL issues?

 

I had problems with automatic brightness adjustment (jumps instead of smooth adjustment) on STAMINA mode (no problems on SPEED mode), so I just reinstalled Intel's drivers and problem has gone.

 

leshcat, apparently AMD has disabled the ability to change the GPU core voltage in 11.10 and onward drivers. do you know if there is any way to enable that functionality back?

 

As far as i am aware - you cant. Might browse for resolution.

 

thanks for the tip

 

Anyone with black ops or modern warfare 3? I am dying to know if these games were improved. The PMD only played BFBC2 well with the stock drivers.

Please ... Anyone?

 

Hey, Leshcat & Cherrybombaz & Butters! Sony owes you some scratch!

I bit the bullet and ordered another Z2.

Got a sweet deal on a new/clearance VPCZ2190X. Its really close to the one I returned a few months back.

Features:
AC Adaptor : AC Adaptor
Battery : Internal lithium polymer battery (4000mAh)
Bluetooth : Int_BLUETOOTH
Processor : Intel® Core™ i5-2540M processor (2.60GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.30GHz
Chipset : Intel HM67
Color : Black
Consumer Apps : General Apps
Country : US (USA)
Display : 13.1" LED backlit Full HD display (1920 x 1080)
Finger Print Sensor : Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Software Optimization : Fresh Start
Graphics Card : Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD with Intel® Wireless Display technology
Hard Drive : NA_HDD/-/-
Headphone : NA_Headphone
Backlit Keyboard : LED Backlit Keyboard
Memory : NA Memory Std (SPEC03000000071)
Multimedia Software : No Adobe Bundle
Operating System : Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Office Software : Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (Click More Info for details.)
Optical Drive : NA_Optical Drive/-/-
Security Chip : Security Chip/-
Wireless Local Area Network : abgn/Intel/RP_2x2/BLUETOOTH
Wireless Mobile Broadband : No wireless mobile broadband
iLink : No iLink
HDMI Output : HDMI Output (SPEC01000004336)
TV Tuner : NA_TV Tuner card/-/-/-/-
Wireless Display : Intel® Wireless Display technology
Mouse : NA_Mouse/-
Touch Screen : NA_Touch Screen
Season : 11/Summer
HDMI Input : NA_HDMI Input
Instant On : WEB Button
Numeric Keypad : NA_Numeric Keypad
Acceleration Sensor : NA_Acceleration Sensor
Solid State Drive : 512GB (256GB x2) solid state drive with RAID 0
Onboard Memory : 8GB (4GB x2 fixed onboard) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Memory : NA_MemoryHybrid
External Keyboard : NA_External Keyboard/-/-
RF Connection Input : NA_RF Connection Input/-
Memory Card slot : ((Memory Stick Duo slot/PRO-HG/MagicGate/-/-/-)x1 +(SD Memory Card slot/SDXC/CPR
VIDEO Input : NA_VIDEO Input
VIDEO Output : NA_VIDEO Output
VGA Output : VGA Output
Quick-TV : NA_Quick-TV/-/-/-
LAN : 1000BASE-T
Bundled Memory Card Adapter : No_Memory Card Adapter
USB : (USB2.0 x1)x1+(USB3.0 x1)x1
Docking Station : Power Media Dock™ with AMD Radeon™ HD 6650M (1GB) graphics and CD/DVD player / burner
Build : 2011/Summer Build
Bundled Speakers : No_Bundled Speaker
Bundled Jog Controller : No_Jog Controller
PCMCIA : No_PCMCIA
RAID : RAID 0 (SPEC01000002482)
ExpressCard : NA_ExpressCard/-/-
Bundled Carrying Case : No_Carrying Case
Bundled Display Hood : No_Display Hood
Transcoder : No_Transcoder
Multimedia Controller : No_Multimedia Controller
Trim Color : No_Trim Color
Bundled Display Adapter : NA_Display Adapter
Bundled Wall Mount Adapter : No_Wall Mount Adapter
Bundled Express LAN Adapter : No_Express LAN Adapter
Component : Component(U)
Limited Warranty Term : 1 Year Parts & Labor

$2413.86 Shipped!

Like Nintendo says,"Now you playing with POWER!"

LOL!

 

ATI Radeon 12.1 drivers released (generic one, not for Z2):
ATI Radeon? Video Card Drivers

 

Direct link to mobility driver package

 

Wow, that link was NOT up earlier this morning, lol.

Thank you!

 

Hello, I don't know if i can post my request here;

I'm using a Fujitsu Amilo Sa 3650 (GPU ATI HD3200) + Graphic bosster (external GPU HD 3870)

The Vaio CCC & the leshcat CCC Are working like a charm (a lot better than the 9.9 CCC of the Constructor)

And the leshcat drivers are running "properly": my Graphic booster start correctly with window7 64bits but when i open the CCC i have a translucent menu (i see only the web content about new games) and can't configure anything (I have to return to old 8.631 driver from fujistu or acer ferrari one to use the CCC)

The laptop processor is a TurionX2 ultra 64
The ATI 3200 id is: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9612&SUBSYS_C04E1734&REV_00
The ATI 3870 id is: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9508&SUBSYS_A1111002&REV_00


Any idea, to make this working?
Thank a lot, And sorry for my english!

 

But its mentioned that the catalyst 12.1 driver is not for switchable graphics laptops.

 

they should be installed on top of the manufacturer's drivers.

 

The ATI drivers are installed on top of Sony's (eg. the 11.9 or 11.6 before this). However, it needs to support the switchable graphics. If they have specifically said that they dont, (and have also pointed out that SONY VAIOs are not supported in the tech note), obviously there must be some constraint.

They didnt have this for the previous versions AFAIK. 11.9 install went perfect.

 

12.1 Install went perfect... Only flaw is no brightness changes while in SPEED mode. STAMINA mode, it works fine.

 

all the AMD Catalyst release notes mention that the Catalyst drivers are not to be used on laptops with switchable graphics, and SONY's name is always there. but they all install fine, provided that you get the mobility version and install on top of the manufacturer-provided drivers.

 

if it would be easy to install, then we wouldn't need people like leshcat and others making switchable graphics to work seamlessly.

 

Just installed January mobility driver on top of previous version and everything works fine, including brightness control. It IS easy.

 

For Z2 installation I just install over the top of current drivers or do I need to uninstall first?

 

You do it on top of existing. But I just discovered that this latest driver totally breaks video playback on VPCSE - black screen in desktop players, green screen on YouTube. ATI/AMD drivers have been disaster after disaster for years. Or maybe it's sucky hardware that they have to workaround too many things in drivers.

 

I've read somewhere that 12.1 drivers are not suitable for switchable graphics configuration. I've just installed official 12.1 drivers and nothing has changed. I think I'll do again clean install.

 

@ZugZug, it's been like that for a while. The hacked together switchable AMD GPU drivers break video playback for the AMD GPU.

In terms of video playback HW and SW, AMD is probably the best, just their driver team finds other ways to let them down, lol.

 

Catalyst 11.12 did not break video play, only 12.1 did.

And I have plenty of experience with ATI/AMD drivers - I put only ATI/AMD cards in desktops at home and in the office and drivers are hit or miss.

 

Ah, for me, 11.10 and 11.11 did, but I did those myself.

 

My Z2 came in today and I wasted no time getting MW3 on it.

WHAT A FREAKING DIFFERENCE!!!!

I will update this as my testing continues.

Donation heading your way!

 

11.6 thru 11.12 went perfectly. some increase in performance and video playing correctly with h/w acceleratation. But 12.1 doesn't seem to have any performance benefits atleast from 6470M. The focus seems to be 3d graphcics, no?

 

Installed 11.12 on top of SirRobins updated driver. Seems to be working fine.

 

can I install 12.1 mobility driver over SirRobin's one? Would I lose Intel/ATI compatibility, eg. PMD not recognized with plugged/unplugged?

I always thought I had to use Intel/ATI combo driver in order to keep proper functionality.


Cheers,
Miki

 

Anyone tried the new 12.1 driver from leshcat? leshcat blog IT Tips & Tricks: Catalyst 12.1 WHQL UnifL for Switchable Graphics

Is there still the problem with the brightness on z21?

 

thanks for the tip downloading right now. Let you know ASAP.

 

UPDATE:

Aside from initial quirks ( DSE not present error, but then it installed DSE whatever that is, and HCCUTILS.DLL not found error - resolved upon restart), everything seems to work fine (Fn keys, brightness etc)

PMD has been recognized as 6740 but we already discussed that.

For some reason when I entered Intel graphic properties screen refresh rate was set to 40Hz, but you can easily change back to 60Hz

Didn't test HDMI yet, I'll do it in the evening.


Cheers,
Miki

 

It took me a couple of tries to get it to install. It just didn't take directly over the 12.1a version. I had to uninstall that first.

Also had some trouble getting a full version of CCC the first time through. It was some abbreviated version having only to do with Hydravision.

Also still have that damn TestMode watermark and I can't remove that via the BCDEDIT function. When I do, all of the ATI/Intel drivers won't load properly. There must be something hanging around that's unsigned.

I think there are some direct patching utilities out there to get rid of it and I'll try those next.

 

I don't know where did you get this watermark, I don't have it. Did you try Uninstall option when you start this file? (bottom left corner)

about HDMI output (Vaio Z2):

Good news - it works!
Bad news - it's a bit cumbersome (to make it work).

First, you can't change output (Extended/Cloned/Single) via right click>Graphic properties>Basic/Advanced/Wizard mode. For some reason settings are not remembered. So if I have Cloned mode, even if I change to Extended and Apply, it would still show Cloned, and vice versa.

In order to change it you have to go right click>screen resolution settings and from there you can do it.

Also if you go via Wizard mode and choose Extended settings, on next screen where you should choose resolution and refresh rate from dropdown menu - menu is empty.

Cheers,
Miki

 

^ The watermark started with the previous install, which was Leshcat's 12.1a. I did do the uninstall, but it's still there.

 

Vaio Z2 Tester is required. Mail me if you up to.