Latest VPC-Z1/330M Drivers for the BIOS Hack People

[ComputerCowboy]

ComputerCowboy, could you please tell me what changes you had to do to the original Nvidia drivers to allow them to be installed on a BIOS-hacked-static-switching Vaio Z1? I would like to be able to do this myself for future drivers, etc...

I am going to write a program to patch the INFs
I will release it and the sorcecode

basically all I do is look for the main device code for 330M and replace the trailing revision id with the one for our 330M

[anytimer]

I am going to write a program to patch the INFs
I will release it and the sorcecode

basically all I do is look for the main device code for 330M and replace the trailing revision id with the one for our 330M

Getting the section number right is a little tricky. Darn things change with each driver release.

[ComputerCowboy]

it is easier than that

We don't care about making it work for other 330M... only ours
so I just replace the original lines with ones that work for ours, I am coding up an automated patch right now

Once patched the driver will only work for the 330M in the Z1, it won't work for ANY OTHER 330M laptop.

[anytimer]

it is easier than that

We don't care about making it work for other 330M... only ours
so I just replace the original lines with ones that work for ours, I am coding up an automated patch right now

Once patched the driver will only work for the 330M in the Z1, it won't work for ANY OTHER 330M laptop.

These are the strings for my VAIO for 275.33:

[Strings]
NVIDIA_DEV.0A2B.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M      "     ;Sony     Vaio Z (VPC Model)

[NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.0]
%NVIDIA_DEV.0A2B.01% = Section055, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A2B&SUBSYS_905A104D  ;NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M   Sony     Vaio Z (VPC Model)

[NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1]
%NVIDIA_DEV.0A2B.01% = Section057, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A2B&SUBSYS_905A104D  ;NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M   Sony     Vaio Z (VPC Model)

The section numbers tell the installer to copy a subset of the files included with the driver and enable a different set of features - different devices use different section numbers. The section numbers are different for each release. For 270.61 they were 045 and 059. This has me worried.

[anytimer]

From a post I made at LV2go:

Look at the entries in the inf. The section numbers in the Win 7 x64 list [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1] corresponding to 310M are 46, 48, 50, and 56 (look carefully - I might have missed some). Obviously, you need to be using one of these, but which one? The section numbers change with each release.

Look at the inf posted for the previous release of drivers that worked for you. Your hardware is supported there. Now see which other hardware is using the same section number. Look for this (other) hardware in the new inf and edit the entry for your hardware to use the same section number.

e.g. for my VPCZ1, I noticed from the previous release that my hardware (330M) is using the same section as NVIDIA_DEV.0CAF.08 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M ".
In the new inf, my hardware is not listed, but NVIDIA_DEV.0CAF.08 = "NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M " is, so I look up which section number that hardware is using in the new inf (057), and just use that. If you do the same for your hardware, I guess it will work for you too.

So if your code finds the section number for the GT 335M device mentioned above and simply uses that same section for the GT 330M, I think you're in business. More or less.

Please take everything I say under advisement (i.e. with a large pinch of salt). I'm just blundering about in the dark. For all I know I've confused you needlessly.

[shurcooL]

I am going to write a program to patch the INFs
I will release it and the sorcecode

basically all I do is look for the main device code for 330M and replace the trailing revision id with the one for our 330M

I see, thanks for the explanation!

So basically all you're doing is making this change for all *.inf files, i.e. changing the SUBSYS_whatever to SUBSYS_905A104D (the subvendor string for GT 330M on Vaio Z1), for all lines that contain DEV_0A2B (the device ID of our GT 330M).

You are changing a lot of .inf files.

I guess this works, but I have a concern here... I mean, there are a lot of different manufacturers (Sony, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, etc.) using Nvidia GT 330M and the Verde drivers have sections for each one. You are making it so that all of them will be recognized as the Sony Z1 330M. But each section is slightly different if you look at them... There are small variations in registry entries, etc.

Maybe those differences aren't that important (I guess they're not if the drivers work fine), but still, wouldn't it be better to find one section that best resembles the one that would exist for Sony Z12 Nvidia GT 330M (i.e. device 0A2B and subvendor Sony 104D).

Right now I am comparing the differences between Toshiba 330M (device 0A2B, but different subvendor Toshiba) inf registry settings and the F1 Sony drivers (slightly different device ID 0A29, but same subvendor Sony) for F1 Nvidia GT 330M.

I know the 330M in F1 series (F1 = F11/F12, cuz F13 has GT 425M I think) runs at 575 Mhz core speed, unlike in Z1 which is underclocked to 475 mhz.

[ComputerCowboy]

Yes my way is the American way, brute force, it works fine so I haven't worried about it. If it didn't work fine I would do it differently.

[lovelaptops]

If you are running hybrid drivers now, you can install Optimus drivers. There are some unsolved issues, like increased power consumption, automatic brightness control doesn't work, etc., but you can install the latest drivers.

Check out this thread:
My discoveries on Vaio Z’s Hybrid Graphics

If the power consumption/decreased battery life bugs you too much, then this BIOS hack is just the thing for you.

I have had too much bad luck with BIOS hacks (call me weak in the knees if you must, lol, that I really need to see a substantial benefit to me to risk it.

In theory, there may be some small performance increases and bug fixes. In practice, this effect will probably be minor if any. Besides, 330M is an older video card, so it's less likely to receive significant improvement from drivers.

But in my case, the main reason I want to upgrade to later drivers is that while the 330M hardware supports up to OpenGL 3.3 standard, the stock drivers are so old that they only provide OpenGL 3.1. Also, there are a few new extensions like GL_NV_path_rendering that have been added in the more recent drivers.

I want OpenGL 3.3 so that I can do development work and use the latest version of the standard.

If all you're doing is playing video games, then you really don't care about it. Most games are DirectX, and those that are OpenGL will only need 2.1 to work.

In any case, just see the list of changes. If something there interests you, then you have your answer.

Thanks very much. Of all the items, only improved audio would affect me, if it is really any better. What does concern me is that I did try to install 208.26 from the nVidia site, even after uninstalling the existing driver (also tried it without first uninstalling) and it keeps coming back: "unable to detect compatible hardware." Thoughts?

[ComputerCowboy]

I added a patch application and source code to the main post for download! Enjoy!

ADDED WPF Patch Application Source Code and Binaries
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.exe
VAIO_Z1_330M_INF_Patcher.src

The exe is super easy to use. Just download the latest nVidia notebook driver and try to install it. This won't work obviously but it will extract the files to "C:\NVIDIA\"
Then all you have to do is run the patch exe and click the apply patch button. Then you can browse to the setup.exe for the driver and the install will run fine. You will need the .net Framework Version 4 installed on your computer for this to work. You can get it on Windows Update

The included source code is written using Visual Studio 2010 SP1. It should be simple enough to follow. All the action happens in the code-behind file called "MainWindow.xaml.cs"
It is write in C#, I wrote it quick and dirty, simple as pie.

[shurcooL]

Yes my way is the American way, brute force, it works fine so I haven't worried about it. If it didn't work fine I would do it differently.

Fair enough.

I just want to report my success. I'm running Windows XP on VPCZ122GX/B, with a non-hacked BIOS. I was able to simply install the latest version of Nvidia drivers, after making a small change to one of the .inf files (a slightly less brute-force version of ComputerCowboy's approach; thanks for your help). I used the 0A29 subsection originally meant for Sony F11/F12 (SUBSYS_9067104D). Now I have OpenGL 3.3 support and (in theory) can do some awesome development! Another benefit is added support for screen rotation (original drivers didn't permit this for some reason).