My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

[rcs_brz]

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This brings up an interesting point with the way this hybrid stuff is setup. I believe the notebook sees the intel as integrated and the nvidia as somewhat of an addon, hardware wise. This is part of the reason the nvidia part disappears in device manager if you switch to stamina. This is also the reason you can download and install the intel drivers from intel and they will work (not recommended as this disables the nvidia part.) Now here is where it gets somewhat complicated. The nvidia drivers are what control the hybrid graphics or the switching between the integrated (intel) and addon (nvidia). So while the notebook sees its primary video chipset as the integrated (intel) part, the nvidia drivers tell the machine that it is instead primary when switched to speed. Or at least that is my assumption at this point.

Nautis,

First of all, great post.

I have an experience that may prove your point. I work with a Matrox TripleHead2Go, with 3 monitors. I used to have a Vaio SZ with Vista32 and it worked fine. Vaio SZ also has a hybrid card (Intel + Nvidia) but without the ability to hot-swap (you have to reboot to change the card).

When I moved to Vaio Z, I tried to use TH2Go under vista32, just like I did before, but I kept getting errors everytime I tried to use a higher mode (I normally use 3840x1024). When I used a lower mode (2400x600) it worked. I noticed that the resolutions that were available to me were only those that would be available if I was working in stamina (Intel) mode and I started to think that maybe the TH2GO was "seeing" the card as Intel, even though I had the switch on speed (Nvidia) position. I downloaded a compatibility tool that Matrox has and bingo! The software reports my card to be Intel, instead of Nvidia.

I then assumed that maybe I would be able to use it under XP, since Vaio Z loses the ability to hot-swap with this OS. I installed XP and it worked just fine.

I told all this to the people at Matrox. Of course, all they told me was that the Vaio Z was not supported at this time.

If there is a way to force the TH2GO to see the card as Nvidia, I believe all my problems would be solved. Do you believe this is possible?

Regards.

[Nautis]

Nautis,
If there is a way to force the TH2GO to see the card as Nvidia, I believe all my problems would be solved. Do you believe this is possible?

rcs_brz, this may sound crazy but have you tried (in speed mode) going to device manager and disabling the intel part and then trying again. I just used the compatibility tool you were talking about and it reported success after I did that. It looks to me like that matrox tool just sees the first video part identified by windows and stops there. With the intel drivers disabled it sees the nvidia part first. If this does not work I have some other ideas.

[pardes3]

why does the laptop go back to performance mode after reboot when I want it to stick in Vaio max battery? switch is set to stamina mode.

[Gibbo]

Great work Nautis. I have 'Vaio Optimised' power set and configured the GPU to use Nvidia on power and Intel on Battery. It works perfectly and is a quicker change than the switch. The Taskbar icon shows one boomerang on Intel and two on Nvidia and the STAMINA and SPEED lights on either side of the switch even change.

Cheers!
Gibbo

[Nautis]

why does the laptop go back to performance mode after reboot when I want it to stick in Vaio max battery? switch is set to stamina mode.

It sounds like the hybrid power stuff is still enabled somehow. You might want to double check the registry settings (make sure "DisablePowerPolicy" is set to "1") or you can download the .reg file here and apply it.

Or you can try to download the package I posted on the main post as it is a bit different than the one I sent you before. It has a bit newer intel drivers and has the hybrid power stuff disabled by default. My recommended method of removal and installation can be found here.

Great work Nautis. I have 'Vaio Optimised' power set and configured the GPU to use Nvidia on power and Intel on Battery. It works perfectly and is a quicker change than the switch. The Taskbar icon shows one boomerang on Intel and two on Nvidia and the STAMINA and SPEED lights on either side of the switch even change.

Thats great, thanks Gibbo. Yeah the automatic hybrid power stuff is interesting. I believe it automatically switches to the nvidia part if you run 3d and back to intel when the speed is not needed also. I have had my settings configured to use Nvidia on both battery and plugged in and automatically switch to save power on battery with 4 minutes idle. There is an interesting article here on hybrid power though it was written about the desktop version.

[sorg]

very interesting topic, Nautis!
i also have made my own hybrid driver set for SonyZ

http://rapidshare.com/files/18778723...v3_by_Sorg.rar

this is only for Vista 32bit!

Update
Revision3:
- fixed: in revision2, displays in standard display properties were absent.
- added manual video card switch through dialog by another way - patching nvsvc.dll. It will preserve correct card information in system tray.

I think, this is final revision. At least till new info about tweaking hybrid mode.


Revision2:
- fixes problem with not correct GPU settions options (includes changes for inf file mentioned later in this thread)
- adds manual Intel/nVidia switch through system tray icon (thanks to Nautis!)
- PhysX installer has been removed. Link to nVidia download site has been placed instead. It gives chance to download latest PhysX driver.

------------------------------------------
It includes latest available drivers from nVidia (v185.20) and Intel (1608).
Hybrid feature works well, according to my tests.

DisableUI and DisablePowerPolicy are both set to 0 in inf file.

i suggest following procedure to install driver:

1) Switch to "SPEED" mode (required!)
2) Remove NVIDIA driver through Control Pannel -> Programs and Features.
3) reboot.
4) Open device manager and make sure there are two Standard VGA cards. One is ok, another with yellow mark. If there are different names of cards, then delete it manually and reboot. Start this step from beginning.
5) Open device manager and delete both VGA cards starting from one with yellow mark. It will clean registry from garbage.
6) reboot.
7) Windows will find two standard VGA cards. Reboot if windows will ask to.
8) In device manager update driver manually with provided one. You have to do this only on card with yellow mark (it's nVidia). Driver for Intel Video will be installed automatically with nVidia driver.
9) reboot.

after that everything should work fine.

[smart0mat]

I need that for Vista x64. That would be soooo cool.

[sorg]

smart0mat,
vista 64bit requires all drivers to be signed by trusted signature (costs around $400 per year) or WHQL signature (cost around $2500 per sign). Otherwise driver will be refused to install.
Are you ready to pay this money?

that's the only reason why i still don't want to migrate to 64bit Vista.
It's a really pain if you want to tweak driver (or write by yourself).
I really hate this "feature" of 64bit Vista.

[MegaMan X]

very interesting topic, Nautis!
i also have made my own hybrid driver set for SonyZ

http://rapidshare.com/files/18591521...08_by_Sorg.rar

this is only for Vista 32bit.

It includes latest available drivers from nVidia (v185.20) and Intel (1608).
Hybrid feature works well, according to my tests.

DisableUI and DisablePowerPolicy are both set to 0 in inf file.

i suggest following procedure to install driver:

1) Switch to "SPEED" mode (required!)
2) Remove NVIDIA driver through Control Pannel -> Programs and Features.
3) reboot.
4) Open device manager and make sure there are two Standard VGA cards. One is ok, another with yellow mark. If there are different names of cards, then delete it manually and reboot. Start this step from beginning.
5) Open device manager and delete both VGA cards starting from one with yellow mark. It will clean registry from garbage.
6) reboot.
7) Windows will find two standard VGA cards. Reboot if windows will ask to.
8) In device manager update driver manually with provided one. You have to do this only on card with yellow mark (it's nVidia). Driver for Intel Video will be installed automatically with nVidia driver.
9) reboot.

after that everything should work fine.

wow, I've been reading the 185.20 thread @ laptopvideo2go here:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/...howtopic=22522

and it looks like the general consensus of this particular nVidia driver was that it makes the GPU run toooo hot!

BTW, how were you able to turn this into a hybrid driver anyways?

[Nautis]

very interesting topic, Nautis!
i also have made my own hybrid driver set for SonyZ

WOW.. downloading now to try em out.. Sorg you may be my hero. This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for when posting my original topic.