GT 540M + Intel IGP Switching - Updated Drivers Please?

[Welch]

I recommended a laptop to a customer awhile back. An Asus A53sv that so happen to be during the period of time where manufacturers were going crazy over switching graphics (something I now think to be pointless and a pain in the ass). She has noted two separate times that her system has randomly become unresponsive and the system gets (in her words) extremely hot. Enough to the point that she has taken the laptop out of her room and put it in the sink for fear of a fire........ I don't think its getting THAT hot to be honest, but I can't say for sure as I wasn't there. The only time I've seen a system act the way she was describing is when a driver crashes and the system seems to just give the hardware as much juice as it can get while it pumps out heat, like an infinite loop.

The heat she is referring to I can only assume is probably the GT 540m kicking in and pushing out some extra heat and she is just not used to a laptop that can seriously crunch some graphical numbers. None-the-less I'd like to update her drivers for pretty much everything (including updating her BIOS), but I've noticed Asus is ULTRA lacking in the updates department. (Seriously, it should be illegal for them to not support their products). I went to Nvidia's site thinking I'd get some drivers for the 540m only to find that the driver specifically states its not meant for use with switching graphics..... Great.

My long winded question is... has anyone ran into system stability issues when using "normal" mobile nvidia drivers with an Intel IGP on a laptop with switching capabilities? Otherwise, do any of you guys know a reliable place to download the Nvidia/Intel switching driver newer than June 2011?, I find it hard to believe that's up to date.

[JustAnEngineer]

My Asus G50Vt failed to enter standby properly. It shut down the display and the fans but left the CPU running. The heat melted the case and the keyboard. I'd say that the risk of a fire is real.

[Chrispy_]

My Asus G50Vt failed to enter standby properly. It shut down the display and the fans but left the CPU running. The heat melted the case and the keyboard. I'd say that the risk of a fire is real.

Standby and low power state support is a complete mess in the PC market For every confiuguration it has worked on, I have seen it cause major issues on two more.

I am just recommending SSD and full shutdown to people now; When a PC boots in 15 seconds and is immediately responsive, they don't mind. It's far better than the 90-second boot, then 3-minute horrific disk crunching that happens on a mechanical disk, and with a full shutdown, you get all the benefits of a reboot more frequently (I'm looking at you, Adobe, with your unstable, memory-leaking excuse for a product range).

[Welch]

Sounds like we are talking about the same or similar issue, which is what I suspected as I've seen other machines do things like it. All of those issues seem to be related to BIOS and sleep states.

I just upgraded the BIOS on this system from 315 to 320. The notes on the update refereed to "Updated CPU Microcode"... I'm curious if this updated included some voltage and sleep state changes to fix exactly what your talking about. Thoughts?

[TDIdriver]

I'm pretty sure that the A53sv has Optimus graphics just like my U46sv. Just download the latest "Verde" driver from Nvidia and the latest graphics driver from Intel.

fyi Optimus != switching graphics
switching is a physical switch or done in the bios, Optimus is driver-based

:edit:
the Optimus switching is part of the Nvidia drivers

[Welch]

Yep I was aware that it was called Optimus with this particular Nvidia setup, but didn't know there to be a technical difference, thanks for the heads up

I noticed the same information about supported devices (laptops) in the release notes for the Verde driver you linked me.

Code: Select all

Hybrid Power technology with Intel chipsets is not supported by this
release.

The following Sony VAIO notebooks are supported: Sony VAIO F Series with
NVIDIA GeForce 310M, GeForce 315M (All-in-One system), GeForce GT
330M, GeForce GT 425M, GeForce GT 520M, or GeForce GT 540M (All-in-
One system). Other Sony VAIO notebooks are not supported at this time
(please contact Sony for driver support).

Fujitsu notebooks are not supported by this release (Fujitsu Siemens notebooks
are supported).

Although in this case it says "Hybrid Power Technology with Intel Chipsets" I believe this laptop qualifies for that.... so, damn . "Is not supported".... geez people the words "are not" comes to mind

[TDIdriver]

Although in this case it says "Hybrid Power Technology with Intel Chipsets" I believe this laptop qualifies for that.... so, damn . "Is not supported".... geez people the words "are not" comes to mind

It doesn't qualify for that. Hybrid Power is a feature that requires using a discrete card such as the 9800GTX+ along with an Nvidia IGP such as the 9400GT.
Trust me, it's the right driver.