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    s15 640m LE Verde drivers (.inf hack)

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by Fruban, Jul 1, 2012.

  1. Fruban

    Fruban Notebook Enthusiast

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    After sifting through the official 2012 Vaio S series owner's thread to find a link to and instructions for doing the .inf hack and installing nvidia's own drivers for this laptop (using the s15 myself) I had some questions, since it was difficult to find the exact answers I wanted in that large thread.

    I also wanted to make this a potential go to thread for some FAQs regarding verde drivers and their effects and benefits. I'm new to optimus technology.

    This it where I went to get started with the .inf hack:

    v301.42 Windows 7/Vista 64bit | NVIDIA Mobile OEM - 30x Series GeForce Driver release - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

    Thanks to Faceless Rebel's post (permalink below) for this brief instruction on what to do. I would like to add though that I had to use IE to right click the link to the modified .inf and "save target as" in order to actually download this file. Also to be clearer, you're supposed to rename the original .inf file in the "display.driver" folder which is also where you add the new .inf file you just downloaded.

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...ny-s-series-owners-thread-84.html#post8643607


    My question is does Optimus work exactly the same with the verde drivers as it did with stock Sony drivers while switched in speed mode? (I know it sticks to the intel HD4000 graphics when hard-switch is set to Stamina.) How do I know if the 640m LE is actually off with the Verde drivers when I'm not doing anything graphically intense in Speed mode?

    And will I just be able to install future updates straight from nvidia without any hassles or not have to worry about and loss of functionality?
     
    Fruban, Jul 1, 2012
    #1
  2. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    coolguy, Jul 1, 2012
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  3. Fruban

    Fruban Notebook Enthusiast

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    When new non-beta drivers are released by nvidia for the 600M series, would I have to modify the .inf then? I already put the modified .inf in the folder anyway and I'm using the 301.42 drivers, but I was wondering when new non-beta drivers are released if I can just go ahead and install them as they come out from now on, or will I have to have new .inf files for each one?
     
    Fruban, Jul 1, 2012
    #3
  4. Topper59

    Topper59 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Once you use the modified INF file once, you can use Nvidia's updater to update like you would for any other graphics card.
     
    Topper59, Jul 1, 2012
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  5. Fruban

    Fruban Notebook Enthusiast

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    Cool. What about Optimus though? Does the graphics switching still work like normal with drivers direct from nvidia?
     
    Fruban, Jul 1, 2012
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  6. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    You can install the drivers directly in the future.
     
    coolguy, Jul 1, 2012
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  7. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    Yes, Optimus would work.
     
    coolguy, Jul 1, 2012
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  8. pokiworms

    pokiworms Notebook Consultant

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    can i still use the switch after replacing these files and using the nvidia drivers?
     
    pokiworms, Jul 1, 2012
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  9. Fruban

    Fruban Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've been able to, yes. I looked at game performance with the stamina mode, which uses integrated graphics only and compared to Speed mode when the GPU is engaged and it definitely still works.

    Also, thanks for the answers, other people. :D
     
    Fruban, Jul 1, 2012
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  10. teslas

    teslas Notebook Consultant

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    Moderator, can you please make the thread a sticky as it will help many S owners in the future?
    thanks!
     
    teslas, Jul 2, 2012
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  11. ascariss

    ascariss Notebook Deity

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    ascariss, Jul 3, 2012
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  12. kDrum

    kDrum Notebook Consultant

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    Wait, did a few people say that we don't need to hack anymore? You can auto install directly from Nvidia?
     
    kDrum, Jul 3, 2012
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  13. Fruban

    Fruban Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've only seen that in cases where people installed the 304.xx beta drivers. Haven't seen anyone say they didn't need the .inf hack for the non-beta 301.42 drivers (but that doesn't mean there haven't been people who have installed these ones without the .inf hack, they may have simply not been vocal about it.)
     
    Fruban, Jul 4, 2012
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  14. i_have_a_bike

    i_have_a_bike Notebook Consultant

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    so i installed the driver according to the steps above. went into the display driver folder and renamed the original inf. file before adding the modded one. i didnt get a notification about new hardware found like faceless rebel said, but other than that it went fine.

    however when i went through control panel and clicked on update driver, it updated back to the sony version :?

    am i supposed to update some other way?

    apologies if this is a dumb question
     
    i_have_a_bike, Jul 4, 2012
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  15. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    You don't need the modded INF, just download the 304.79 beta driver from Nvidia and install it.
     
    coolguy, Jul 4, 2012
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  16. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    Yes, Nvidia supports the Vaio 640M LE starting from the 304.48 beta driver.
     
    coolguy, Jul 4, 2012
    #16