Vaio Z2 PMD driver testing and investigation

Have you got any further with this guys?

I can help testing out any new drivers if needed...

 

Haven't had as much time as I need to properly look at things the past couple of days.

I could use a couple more reports from DriverView to compare to the one Palda posted.

Right now I am just looking for anything that might point us in the right direction as to what is causing the error for the Z2. These driver and service reports/exports help point out the differences vs. what I am use to seeing with drivers.

I haven't had access to my girlfriends vaio sc. I was trying to wait for it to get the proper registry locations that I needed exported and sent to me.

If I were to guess the locations are:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\amdkmdag
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\amdkmdap
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\intelkmd
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} (or whichever is the one for display)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel\Display

off the top of my head that is it. So if someone can go to regedit and export those locations zip them and link them to me it would be helpful.

I recommend PMing me a link to the reg exports and driverview.

 

I sent you PM

 

Exactly the thing I was looking for, there are some interesting settings there that are not in the INF. Lets see if adding them to the INF will cause things to work better.

See if we can narrow it down to a settings issue or a file issue.

 

Glad to help and thanks for your determination to do this

I'm looking forward for next test version

 

Great - can't wait to test out any new drivers.

 

Give me a couple of hours and I will put together a new INF that has some of the missing settings in it. I shouldn't really have to create a new package yet as there are no new driver versions and that last package is about as basic as it gets.

Ill continue looking for any special files that may be causing issue. I also have a bug report form that I am going to start using for my driver sets so I can keep track of things better.

 

Hey Nautis, Add me back to the list as I have a new (another try with it) Z2 on the way.

What is the expectation here? Do you think once the solution is found that it will perform better than the Z1's 330m like it should?

Just curious your thoughts on what the true potential on the PMD should be.

Thank for your efforts.

 

Sorry guys, seems like in checking that there are only one or two settings that I don't see in the INF. I am trying to take a deeper look at what I could be missing. Took a couple days off from the hobby to focus on personal. AMD 11.10 preview has just been released for Battlefield 3.

 

Poopy PMD will get 5 FPS in BF3. BF2 was not good even on a modded bios Z, so I would expect the Z1 to be about the same.

 

It's okay, I don't suppose it would be something easy Thanks again for your time

 

Man, I just went on YouTube to look at other systems with the 6650 and I was just shaking my head in anger and confusion. 90 FPS in Black ops! Lucky to get a steady 40 with the PMD.

I say we either get a donation pool going to help get Nautis a Z2, or just let him know straight up there is a cash bounty here to clean up Sony's mess.

 

Agree 100%, this is totally ridiculous. Sony produce a PMD that supposedly enables faster graphics power, but then totally cripple the drivers so that they are hardly any faster then the in built GPU.

 

Are those other systems hitting 90fps at the same resolution you are getting 40 with?

 

So how likely would it be for Sony (AMD?) to release an uncrippled driver for the HD 3000? Truth be told, I (perhaps obviously) spend far longer unplugged than docked so the b0rking of the HD3000 driver is of major concern to me.

 

Beaups,

No, its not the same resolution. It's at a HIGHER resolution!

 

You should be able to install standard Inte HD Graphics drivers on the Z2 but like with most switchable graphics it will make the PMDs graphics not function. If you are just going to be using the Z2 as a notebook and don't plan to use the PMD using the standard Intel HD Graphics driver is the best way to go right now.

 

Are these drivers newer that what you have? They seem to have a more recent date on them that those found on the US Sony site.

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/product/vpcz217gh

Just looking for anything here.

 

Yep, those are the ones I have, thanks for keeping an eye out. Any and everything helps. Been looking around myself after finding those SA/SB/SC ones.

 

Lets try this one:
AMD 11.10 - Intel 2509 - Windows 7 64bit PreAlpha 4 *UPGRADE ONLY*

*USE AT YOUR OWN RISK* THESE MAY NOT WORK AND ARE FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY! NOT JOKING, DON'T INSTALL THESE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PROPER BACKUP AND ARE WILLING TO TEST. For those of you who are working with me on these, thanks again.

NOTE: This package includes everthing: AVIVO, Media Codecs, OpenCL, Intel an other drivers/updates. It is over 200mb.

Upgrade the original Sony drivers installed on the Z2 with this package. Do not uninstall the existing drivers or I guarantee it will hang at boot.

I have added a setting that was in the exports Palda sent but wasn't in the INF. The Intel portion of these is unique as it is installed separately to make use of the standard Intel security catalog. This means no signing needed when upgrading. Branding, Profiles, PXProfile and some MSI configurations have been ported over from the original Sony drivers.

Downside to 11.10 is they seem to be problematic for most standard users in many ways. Maybe this means they will work better for you Z2 users though. (Check Guru3D for more info on 11.10 and the issues people are having)

We may need to track down some logs if this errors out see if we can get a better idea of what the issue is. AMD/ATIs driver packaging and structure is a bit more complicated than Nvidias but I have a much better grasp of it now.

Codename: Sh!# at a wall testing edition.

 

...and I just got my current build where I want it. U suq ;0

Testing now.

 

LOL

I love this thread. I used to wonder whether I had made a mistake going with an nVidia GPU laptop, but now I see ATi is just as bad.

 

don't really have much to do w/ ATI. It's just bad sony support

 

I should rephrase -

Sony, nVidia, Intel vs. Sony, ATi, Intel..

And why support? These are new designs that were flawed to begin with. You have to suspect that the Sony VAIO design team is not quite good enough.

 

No workie, code 43 on the ATI driver

 

so as of right now there is no way to update the AMD graphics? Maybe thats why dead island is kind of choppy for me.

 

@nautis
I spent a lot of time finding where are the original inf in 11.9...
any idea where it is?

 

Andrew08, you have a Z2 as well? This would be great to have both you and Nautis working on this!

Fingers crossed.

 

I don't have it. I am just trying to get the driver working for you guys.

btw, more info on swithable graphic notebook.
Dell Vostro 3450
Dell Vostro 3550
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s
Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E520
Sony Vaio VPC-SA2Z9E/B

not sure:
Acer Aspire 7750G
Lenovo G770
Packard Bell EasyNote LS11
HP Pavilion dv4
HP Pavilion dv6
HP Pavilion dv7

maybe we can play with other notebook driver to update Z2

edit:
dell Vostro 3550 have AMD 8.840.7.3000 Intel 15.22.9.64.2476

edit2:
first test package:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H2RFTLMA

this is unsigned version of the driver.
to have this installed on your z2 please follow Nautis post.
don't forget to feedback

 

Downloading now....

Many thanks for the effort!

 

And is is working? Can´t test it, my PMD is in the office

 

Well, well, well.. It changed the drive without error!

AMD Reports this in device manager.

Driver - 8.830.7.0
Date - 5/19/2011

Intel Control Panel still reflects 8.15.10.2353

The driver seems to be rather old...

But this is a HUGE step in the right direction!

No improvments to performace found. The Call of Duty series and SFIV really blow balls with the PMD. However, BF BC2 and Crysis are all smooth as can be at 720p.

 

EDIT:
AMD is a bit different as I am sure you have noticed Andrew.

Some MSI modification may be needed. You can edit the INF with orca.

If you open the C7######.msi with orca you will notice ATI_ASIC_Include which has the hardware ids that the driver will install for. You can also change other properties in the msi database.

Not sure what things you have changed or what you've looked at yet but let me pool some resources here. Guru3d has a nice ATI Switchable Graphics topic up. I suggest taking a look at Alien8s last driver and the last post which points to Leshcats. Both it seems are trying to put together a universal set with slightly different approaches.

Tis all I got for now. Progress is good, great to have more eyes looking at this.

-

8.830.7.0 and 8.15.10.2353 are the same as the in the Sony package.

I will hopefully be traveling to see the Z2 this weekend. Will see if I can hammer anything out on the store display.

 

Same version as stock...so either the package didn't "take" or they are coincidentally the same version.

 

thanks for the tips, will look more into it.

i didn't modify inf yet.

 

This PMD is sending me some strange results when comparing it to the Z1 (Bios Modded & Overclocked)

All of these games run better on the Z2 than the Z1.

Fall Out Series
Half Life
Portal 1& 2
BF BC 2
Borderlands
Crysis 2

Games that are worse

Call of Duty Series <-- COD 4, CODWAW, COD MW2 & COD BO -- All of these games have some sort of code that the PMD and its drivers dont work well with.

SFIV AE - Same strange performance issues.

Need For Speed HP - Lower framerates.

Its interesting indeed. I was able to get my hands on a SA and installed SFIV AE and COD BO. I did this on the stock drivers and what do you know. SFIV AE runs like trash and COD BP was spotty too.

Seeing as though the drivers Andrew08 found were dated back as far as May, I wonder just what we are using.

Just an update.

 

^
So its probably a driver issue and it not the PMD setup thats causing lower framerates.

 

could just be the normal amd vs nvidia optimization. some games are better on one, some on the other. always been that way.

 

Yea.. thinking that's the case. BF BC 2 can run smoothly at 1600x900.

 

^
Unlikely, since other laptops with 6650m's get better performance...much better performance:
AMD Radeon HD 6650M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

The numbers for COD BO there seem to be spot on. However, I have seen youtube videos with much higher framerates with the 6650.

 

Anybody try cross-pollinating the new SA package? Well, it is new to me...

Released 9/23:
Sony eSupport - VPCSA2SGX/T - Software & Drivers

It's for the HD 6470M / 6630M, but that shouldn't matter, right?

Regardless, this is a strong indication that Sony will release a new package soon.

 

By the by, the SA installer doesn't do a system check so it runs on the Z2. Bluescreen on boot from the DAG driver with the PMD attached. Obviously, doing this isn't advised

 

Yeah I posted that for the SA/SB/SC users before it hit the US sites. I had first tried "cross-pollinating" the SA/SB/SC drivers with the Z2 drivers because the SA/SB/SCs INF is actually setup to be used on the Z2. There are a couple components that are different with the SA/SB/SC package than in the Z2 package. Replacing these components with the ones form the Z2 package does not seem to remedy the install issue though.

But yes good news. Hopefully we will see a new Z2 graphics driver soon. I was hoping to see one with the Z22 release.

Ill see if I can go into more detail on the similarities and differences in the SA/SB/SC driver and the Z2 driver in another post.

Glad you are trying some new things. I haven't specifically tried to combine the Z2 and new SA/SB/SC packages yet but I don't anticipate it being different than the old SA/SB/SC package.

I am very confused as to why this seems to be so problematic.


EDIT:
So I can get some more eyes on it. Here are the comparison reports for SA/SB/SC and Z2 files and INF.
SA/SB/SC vs Z2 Files
SA/SB/SC vs Z2 INF

With the INF comparison be sure to scroll right. Also ignore any of the sections with "Manhattan" in them on the SA/SB/SC side. Also note there is no real difference between Vancouver and VancouverA. If there are any specifics on file or INF settings differences as away. Maybe you guys will notice something I am missing.

 

I mixed some of the install bits via BeyondCompare in another attempt, but missed something somewhere.

The INI and INF files are very similar. I think I dorked up the Vancouver/Manhattan bits somewhere.

If you haven't used beyondcompare before, it allows you to compare folder structures and content. Very useful

 

Tried the windows 8 developer preview and could not get the video drivers to install. The card reports as a WDDM 1.2 ATI engineering sample.

Tried to install them as admin with windows 7, XP SP3 and XP SP2 modes.

 

Love Beyond Compare. Well worth the purchase IMHO. WinMerge is a free alternative and works great too.

Honestly I am not sure if you have to touch the INF from SA/SB/SC. I don't see anything critical that is in the Z2 one that is not in the one for the SA/SB/SC. There are some settings excluded but they shouldn't make a difference.

I noticed the comparison I uploaded was a bit skewed and a portion was not lining up correctly. I fixed that and removed the Manhattan portion from the SA/SB/SC to make it a bit easier to look at and reuploaded it. Also just to reiterate there is no real difference between VancoverA and Vancover sections. The only difference is VancoverA points to ati2mtag_VancouverA_SoftwareDeviceSettings which is empty.

My suggestion would be to keep the SA/SB/SC driver more or less intact and replace the following files with the ones from Z2:
Config\atiicdxx.msi (probably non critical)
Config\chipset.MSI (probably non critical)
Packages\Apps\CCC2\ (try the whole CCC2 folder and all files)
Packages\Apps\PXProfile\ (new one should be fine but just in case)

That's about it. Try installing that latest SA/SB/SC driver after replacing those files and directories with the ones from the original Z2 package.

Interesting. Another discrepancy vs. the SA/SB/SC users. They seem to be able to install the driver fine. What error does it give, btw?

 

Code 10 - Can not start

Also report the intel as WDDM 1.1 engineering sample.

 

Glad you mentioned the .MSI files. I was unable to extract them. What are they?

Agreed on the INF/INI files, the 6650 is mentioned all-round. I did see some interesting stuff in the OEM.DAT, but could be useless. This is all new to me.

Also, you like for people to upgrade from the existing Sony bits. Why for? Simply uninstalling the bad bits and reinstalling the SOny-proper package or simply reinstalling the OEM package doesn't revert things back to normal for me. I have to restore.

Perhaps going in clean would make things easier to troubleshoot?

 

MSI can be extracted using Universal Extractor
MSI can be edited using Orca or a similar MSI editor.
MSI = Microsoft or Windows Installer file. ( wiki) An MSI file contains an information database and files in a package. Orca handles the database side, Universal Extractor the file side.

OEM.DAT agreed. not sure fully what it is about but seems meaningless. The newer one has the same stuff as the old with more in it. I especially like the Sony In-House XGP entry. Of course that is not in the Z2s oem.dat file so..hmm.

Upgrading recommendation comes from the fact that it works. For example with the SA/SB/SC you can upgrade with the official AMD/ATI mobility driver but you cannot install it via the non-upgrade route. I can do the same thing on the Intel side and make it so a signature is not required. I haven't been able to properly combine them and have a driver that can be installed without error and requiring no signing. The upgrade route also comes from the idea that there could be something else installed with the Z2 driver that isn't a part of the new ones. Either way works though honestly. The goal is for anything new to work at this point. Manufacturers are trying to make their upgrade routes better and in some cases it is actually recommended over a clean install. (I still prefer clean installs.)

Interesting. The WDDM 1.1 engineering sample should be the default Intel drivers that install from windows update AFAIK. Sonds like the drivers just wont install or function at all. Odd.

Something to note when it comes to the INF and Windows.
NTamd64.6.1 = Windows 7
NTamd64.6.2 = Windows 8
You could always try replacing those entries in the INF and then installing it.

or

Code:

[Manufacturer]
%ATI% = ATI.Mfg, NTamd64.6.1, NTamd64.6.2

[ATI.Mfg.NTamd64.6.1]
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6470M" = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6760&SUBSYS_907B104D
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6630M" = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6741&SUBSYS_907B104D
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6650M" = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6740&SUBSYS_9085104D
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6650M " = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6740&SUBSYS_9084104D
%ISNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_9084104D
%ISNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_9084104D
%iSNBGM2ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM2ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_9084104D
%iSNBGM2PML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM2PML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_9084104D

[ATI.Mfg.NTamd64.6.2]
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6470M" = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6760&SUBSYS_907B104D
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6630M" = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6741&SUBSYS_907B104D
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6650M" = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6740&SUBSYS_9085104D
"AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6650M " = ati2mtag_Vancouver_PXAI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6740&SUBSYS_9084104D
%ISNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_9084104D
%ISNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM1ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0106&SUBSYS_9084104D
%iSNBGM2ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM2ML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_9084104D
%iSNBGM2PML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_907B104D
%iSNBGM2PML_SG% = iSNBM1ML_PROXY, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_9084104D

which would make it work with windows 7 or 8 assuming the driver can handle both.