VPCZ1 nVidia and Hybrid Graphics Switching Problems

I have been having nothing but problems with my nVidia card. Originally, switching to Speed mode and hooking up my laptop to a TV meant that the laptop would die after about 30 minutes from overheating. About a week ago I opened up my laptop to lubricate the fan and tore the thermal pad sitting over the nVidia card. It was suggested in the "VPC-Z Change Thermal Paste" thread that this was okay, and I could replace the thermal pad with a copper shim, which I did (I was hoping that not only would this solve the fact I tore it, but also fix my earlier overheating issue). Immediately after putting the copper shim in though, switching to Speed mode causes the screen go to black. The green light won't move from Stamina to Speed either - it'll just get stuck on Stamina and the screen won't recover. However, I can still hook up the laptop to the TV with the HDMI cable and I can see everything (so this means the nVidida card is still working since you can't use the HDMI output in Stamina mode, right?). The only way to get the screen working again is to restart in Stamina mode.

Earlier today I was also experimenting with the drivers from the "My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics" thread. At one point the hybrid switches were not working, at one point the nVidia card didn't appear to be installed, at one point I tried to uninstall everything and reinstall the nVidia driver from Sony's VPCZ1 page, etc. Now, the laptop is on and working in Stamina mode, but switching to Speed mode means the screen goes black as described before. So is there a way to figure out if this is a hardware issue or if it's just a software issue? Is there a way to for sure uninstall ALL the graphics and hybrid stuff then reinstall it so that I know it's in its factory state and that way know if it's the hardware that's busted? I just don't know what to do.

Thank you in advance.

 

HDMI should work on both Stamina (Intel HD) and Speed (Nvidia) modes.
It's likely your video card had problem of overheating and now it quits working.
IMO, those suggestions to put a copper shim is not a permanent fix.
Video chip needs to be reflowed or replaced.

 

are you sure you got the right thickness on the copper shim? Both not enough pressure or too much pressure can both cause problems. Try not tightening the screens overly tight, just enough to make sure the shim won't move at all.

 

Copper shim is a temporary fix for loosing lead ball contacts underneath the chip which caused video distorted or even chip is not detected.
This is a common problem with FZ model.
Copper shim is not the way to fix overheating issue.
People should understand the original failure which caused the problem so have a way to fix it permanently.

Sent from my LT30at using Tapatalk 2

 

You still have the white portion of the original pad between the shim and the GPU, don't you? Without it there might be shorting between the shim and other components around the GPU. If you don't, try putting a thin sheet of plastic there with a cutout for the GPU. If this doesn't work, then you'll need to look at a hardware repair job like ngvuanh says. If your paste has spilled onto the board, then that too is a possible cause.

Another complication is that if a driver/hardware item fails repeatedly, the BIOS and/or Windows might disable it to protect your system. This is tricky for the guys with hybrid graphics because the disabled item doesn't show up in device manager. A full system restore might work. Reset the BIOS too, while you're at it, and remember to back up all your data first.

ngvuanh: this is a VPCZ1. Switching hybrid graphics (pre Optimus stuff). HDMI works only in speed mode. Not saying though that your comment about loose connections under the GPU is not valid.

Also, the copper shim is needed because the height of the GPU is lower than expected, so there is a gap between the GPU and the heatsink. The original design fills the gap with a much thicker than normal thermal pad. If you need to replace the thermal pad with something else, the shim is needed to make up the thickness.

 

I still have the white paper thing around the GPU and did not put too much paste on the GPU or the shim, so I don't think any of it spilled over. Is there a way to check if the laptop is detecting the nVidia card? Is there a way to check if this is just a software issue? If it IS a hardware issue, did I probably fry my card or just the circuit board around it?

 

well, if with the switch on Speed and with the HDMI cable, you can see a picture on your TV, then go to Control Panel > Device Manager > Display adapters, and see whether your nVidia card is listed there, in which case it's working. to be sure, run a benchmark software (e.g., 3DMark06) and check the final score to make sure your dGPU (nVidia) is the one running the benchmark (which is being shown on the TV).

 

Okay, hooked up to the TV now in Speed mode. Ran 3DMark: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-620M Processor,Sony Corporation VAIO score: 5000 3DMarks

 

Seems your GPU is fine. It is just that when you enable it, it tries to drive your screen with a resolution that your laptop's display cannot support.

While running the external monitor, change the resolution down to what your laptop display supports (eg. 1600x900) and then unplug your HDMI cable.

 

The resolution for the TV is at 1600x900, and when unplugging the HDMI cable, the screen still remains black. Also, when I try to change the display mode to Extend or Duplicate, it doesn't let me - it's only on "Computer Only," which is odd since it should be "Projector Only" if anything. When I click "Projector Only," it tells me there's no projector connected. It's like the laptop thinks the TV is the LCD.

EDIT: It also won't let me change back to Stamina mode while connected to the TV. I moved the switch to Stamina but the light remains on Speed. Could all of this be software/driver issues? Could it be something with the hardware?

 

Get driver cleaner or nfr.exe (nasty file remover). Uninstall the current driver, use one of these to clean your system of any traces left over from the uninstall, then install Andrew08's driver like I told you how in the other thread. This is a driver/settings issue. If the above method doesn't fix it, do a complete system restore (formatting your hard drive in the process).

The not switching while connected to TV is normal. HDMI works only on speed, so switching is disabled while HDMI is in use.

 

Thanks guys for your continued help.

Anytimer, would I install this one from Andrew08's files?: Nvidia 26314 - Intel 2266 signed I'm not sure which one I need to use, and I think when I was playing with those is when the problem got worse.

Also, how would I uninstall the nVidia driver? Hook up my laptop to the TV in Speed mode, go to Device Manager, right click nVidia, and hit uninstall? Is that the normal steps?

 

To make sure it's not hardware problem, try run recovery first.

Sent from my LT30at using Tapatalk 2

 

Yes, and yes. If you had installed the driver from file, you can also go to control panel and uninstall everything nVidia related. Then run driver cleaner or NFR and search for and remove any traces remaining.

I gave a summary of instructions on how to install in the other thread. You MUST make sure both graphics adapters show Standard VGA or Microsoft Basic (with one of them showing an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle indicating that it has a problem). Only then should you proceed with installing the new driver or the driver will not 'take'. When you restart after disabling driver signature enforcement, re-check this in device manager before installing the driver.

 

Okay, I did everything you said, but as usual the nVidia install isn't working for me. I'm running setup.exe.



EDIT: More info. I'm in Speed mode, but the green light isn't on. I'm in test mode as well with the driver signature enforcement disabled. I uninstalled all nVidia stuff and used a program to remove any remnants of it. I've also restarted too. When I run setup.exe, I've also selected the clean install option. In Device Manager, both display adapters appear as "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter," the second one (nVidia) having the yellow exclamation mark.

 

Can you try with UAC disabled?

 

I already have it disabled.

 

This is very unusual. Can you try with the internet disconnected during this process? If it still doesn't work I'll send you an inf that might work - it works for me.

 

Tried it with the Internet disconnected, no luck. Ran it as an administrator too and the same thing. It feels like the system has no clue that the nVidia card exists or that there is a hybrid system. Am I missing something basic? The installation stops immediately as soon as it tries to install the hybrid graphics driver.

Thanks anytimer, I'll await the inf file. Right now the brightness controls don't even work so the screen is blinding bright and giving me a headache. XD

 

If you can't install original driver, it's likely you can't install modded drivers either.

Sent from my LT30at using Tapatalk 2

 

This is the original, right? Does this also install the hybrid switch system and all that?

Sony eSupport - VPCZ112GX - Drivers & Software

 

It must be working fine as long as it's for your laptop model and no hardware problem.
You also need to install other Sony utilities to make the switch works.

 

Which utilities? The switch had always been working up until a week ago. Maybe I should reinstall those first?

 

The switch won't work (nor will the brightness controls) until the driver is installed. What you can do in the meantime is to install the driver for the Intel part. At least your system will be usable.

I'm attaching my inf. The failed driver installation will have left a folder structure in C:\nvidia\ (alternatively, extract the file you downloaded). Copy this inf into the display.driver folder, replacing the inf already there. Now back out of the display.driver folder and run the setup from the main folder (some releases of the driver have a setup file in the driver folder also; don't use that).

 

Sony Notebook Utilities and Sony Shared Library

 

ngvuanh: the driver is not installed. Until the driver is installed, these utilities will not do their job. AFAIK the OP already had these utilities installed and working. When the driver was uninstalled, these stopped working, but IMHO they are still on the system.

 

Sigh. It's still not working. Not sure what to do anymore.

 

Any luck Googling disabled devices?

Try this: uninstall both devices in device manager, scan for hardware changes, let it find the uninstalled hardware again and start over.

I think you are headed for a clean install/complete system recovery. I don't know how you SSD/RAID guys do it, but I might have considered swapping out my HDD with another one and doing a clean install on that, and if that worked, at least I knew my hardware was fine, and could then continue struggling with my original HDD.

 

So, you meant you can't install nvidia driver?
As I said, if you still have recovery partition or media, run it to see if everything work. If not, then your nvidia card is gone.

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