A way to check for *possible* MXM version 2.x capability

[muppet]

I've been trying to determine the revision of MXM that my Acer Aspire 5520g supports (see previous post in this forum) to see if there might be a reasonable chance of replacing the 8400m G with the ASUS 8600m GT MXMII v2.0 (from the C90s).

The 5520g *seems* to have MXM type II support - however I couldn't be sure of the MXM version supported.

Reading the MXM 2.1 software spec, I tried the int 15 call - no luck. However, I noted the WMI-ACPI mapping provision which sees an MXM2 pseudo device populated in WMI.

For whatever it's worth - I created the following vbscript code to determine if this MXM 2 spec pseudo device is present:

on error resume next

dim mxm2WmiAcpiPseudoDevice

set mxm2WmiAcpiPseudoDevice = GetObject("winMgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\CIMV2:Win32_PnPEntity.DeviceID=""ACPI\\PNP0C14\\MXM2""")

if not isEmpty( mxm2WmiAcpiPseudoDevice ) and not isNull( mxm2WmiAcpiPseudoDevice ) then

WScript.echo "MXM 2 WMI-ACPI Mapping Pseudo Device Present"

else

WScript.echo "Could not find MXM 2 WMI-ACPI Mapping Pseudo Device"

end if

I did find the device using the script and confirmed using the WMI Object Browser.

On the downside, I couldn't find the MXM20Method WMI class that should have also been present - though this may be a 2.1 vs 2.0 spec difference as I can't find the MXM 2.0 software spec to confirm.

Using "iasl -d" (http://developer.intel.com/technology/iapc/acpi/downloads/iasl-win-20061109.zip) I was able to dump the ACPI DSDT, finding that the WMI1 ACPI structure wasn't fully supplied compared with the spec - just enough info to get the MXM2 mapping device into WMI but not enough to be of any additional use as far as I can see. None of the actual 2.1 ACPI MXM capability structures/methods are present (such as MXMX etc) - not sure if 2.0 spec included these.

(For an example of the dumped DSDT, see http://aceracpi.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/d...aspire/5520.dsl and search for MXM2)

This is probably as good as I'll get without actually installing the ASUS card myself. I thought I'd post this though incase anyone else is contemplating the same issues - there's little/nothing about checking for *possible* MXM version 2 support elsewhere.

[Ice-Tea]

This is something I expected for some time... manufacturers only inlcude whatever comes in handy for them and don't care about the rest. This probably accounts for some of the incompatibility issues.

That said, you seem to be pretty good at this stuff. I stink at it. (I'm a HW guy. The world would be better of without SW. Seriously :)

Would you be interested in doing some work for me from time to time? I obviously don't expect charity.

[tvone2]

hello,

I can not wait any longer...(OCD) :)

I ordered an Asus 8600m gt card today...(fingers crossed) :)

I will follow up with the results as soon as I get the card....

Tony

[muppet]

hello,

I can not wait any longer...(OCD) :)

I ordered an Asus 8600m gt card today...(fingers crossed) :)

I will follow up with the results as soon as I get the card....

-

Tony

Wow good luck with it Tony!! I'm still undecided which path to go - try and source an Acer part incase there is some ultra stupid vendor ID check during POST and the system won't boot (making it v. difficult to flash the damn thing) - however the only Acer parts (both from a 4520g) I can find are either an overpriced (given the risk involved) 8600m GS with 512MB (probably DDR2) or a less overpriced 8600m GS with 256MB (presumably DDR2 also).

The alternative is the ASUS part which has that worrying habit of turning up with a "C90s only" tag on it where ever it's for sale - but results in a far nicer upgrade and better price!. I was tending towards the ASUS part - but I might now try the Acer part approach given that you're going down the ASUS path - I just want to see if it's possible frankly.

One thing to note for anyone else browsing with an Acer Aspire 5520(g) - if you only have integrated graphics (i.e. the absence of an nVidia 8400m), I'm not sure there's any chance of an upgrade - the Acer Fuquene Series service manual illustrates an integrated-graphics mobo replacement part that is *missing* the mxm connecter entirely. Also - until the 5520g with mxm connector turns up on Ice-Tea's list with a known upgrade path and photos, anything else is trail blazing.

For whatever it's worth - I've been following Bigspin's work on the 5920g (on another site) and possible upgrade to the ASUS part - I note that he may have instead decided to buy a new laptop :P

[muppet]

This is something I expected for some time... manufacturers only inlcude whatever comes in handy for them and don't care about the rest. This probably accounts for some of the incompatibility issues.

That said, you seem to be pretty good at this stuff. I stink at it. (I'm a HW guy. The world would be better of without SW. Seriously :)

Would you be interested in doing some work for me from time to time? I obviously don't expect charity.

Hey Ice-Tea. Firstly I note a lot of posts here (myself included) without a similar ratio of thanks to yourself, though I'm sure it's a given. So a big thanks for all your ground breaking work in this area!

>>That said, you seem to be pretty good at this stuff.

ROFL I'm the guy that formatted his backup drive rather than thumbdrive trying to flash my overclocking settings into the VBIOS (in my defence - the HP utility has a nice defect when used with 2 USB devices attached that mixes the hardware device name with drive name so that it's a crap shoot which drive I was selecting).

I can help out wherever possible - though noting that this whole exercise for me has only been possible because I'm on paternity leave with the birth of my second daughter and most of what I have learnt was founded by googling for threads containing variations of "Ice-Tea" :)

When I get back to work, I'm going to play around with the checked build version of acpi.sys to see if I can override the DSDT with a more conformant MXM structure under Vista, using the Microsoft asl tool - but I'm not holding out a lot of hope of getting much more info out of this system and this won't fix any boot-related issues anyhow.

[tvone2]

I got the new card today..

It will not start Vista..

I am getting an error in the gpu post..

The new card has a bios issue I think..

I posted a new thread describing my problem in detail..

I still have hope!