ASUS Laptop (with optimus technology) Hangs/freezes at login , screen goes black

[ulf]

Hi

Since i got my new Laptop : Asus U35JC

My windows 7 64bit freezes (screen goes black and nothing works other than the powerbutton :) - This happens everytime my machine is login into Windows.

My config is an embedded Intel HD chip (inside the CPU i guess) and a Nvidia GF 310M chip that is suppoes to take care of intensive graphics stuff (OPTIMUS)

I manage to type my login password.. but when it says welcome and the Mouse pointer is spinning (ready to show the desktop) the screen goes black.

The last woring driver for me is 257.41 (witch im running on now) NONE of the 258.xx, or 259,xx drivers for that matter works.. I get the same black screen freezing problem.

Any clues ?

Edited August 13, 2010 by ulf

[Guest logithinker]

same problem here. Please help

thanks

[Nautis1100]

You guys are using just the standard Verde drivers from Nvidia and not the modified ones here, correct?

[ulf]

Yes . I've been trying the WHQL drivers from nvidia (for mobile) and other dev drivers . Even tried with modded infs. but nothing works.

[daze]

Hi,

i've got exactly the same problem. my new asus ul80jt freezes instantly after loging into windows 7. i tried several drivers of the 256 release. currently 258.96 WHQL with freezes. i'd like to use the new taskbar feature to see which gpu is currently working. did i miss something? here are the specs:

System:

• Asus UL80Jt with Nvidia Optimus
  
• GeForce 310M (258.96 WHQL)
  
• Intel HD Graphics (8.15.10.2182)
  
• Windows 7 Professional x64
  

Thanks in advance.

[Guest Martin]

I have the same problem with the 258.96 NVidia driver.

I am running at a Asus U35JC and the 8.15.10.2182 Intel HD graphics driver.

My screen does not turn black, but just freezes right after logging into Windows 7 (x64)

[ulf]

From what i can see we all run windows 7 64 bit...

[daze]

that's true, but switching to 32-bit is no option for me. we also both have a 310M GFX-card. i tried all versions after 257.41 and each single one is freezing right after logon. i tried also deinsalling the nvidia stereoUSB driver and the other one i cannot remember to limit it to the driver and nothing changed. this seems to be limited to asus laptops because i've seen posts of the alienware users which have no problems at all.

is there anything we can do to analyze this any further?

Edited August 17, 2010 by daze

[Guest RoboBlaster]

I had the same problem when I updated the video driver from (NVIDIA 258.96). After installing the latest VGA driver offered by ASUS for the 310M (in Safe Mode with networking), all seems well so far. The current driver seems to be V8.17.12.5737. I think you have to use the ASUS version of the drivers, as opposed to the official NVIDIA ones. You can also do a system restore to go back to before you installed the NVIDIA drivers and update with the correct ones provided by the ASUS website.

[Guest RoboBlaster]

Oh, to find the drivers: go to http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx and input model ul80jt and it should direct you through to the drivers page. Expand VGA to find the latest supported drivers.

[daze]

thanks but i think we all are already aware of that. but we want the latest driver because of the new features included. i am currently using the driver you mentioned but this does not solve the problem. i don't like to be cut off from current driver developments.

[ulf]

Can it be that the driver is hanging due to a bug in the Intel driver ?

A new Intel HD graphics driver can be found at www.station-drivers.com (uploaded today saturday 21 aug) . I'm not close to my laptop today.. can someone try to update their intel driver and install a nvidia 258.xx or 259.xx driver and check if that fixes the "blackscreen freeze", could be worth a try..

[daze]

i'll check it out. but i don't think it's due to the intel drivers. i tested earlier versions of the intel hd driver before and this did not change anything. i'll keep you posted.

EDIT:

done. no luck here. but no suprise because this error is introduced with the new 258/259 branch of the driver. as far as i know all drivers below 258 are working fine.

Edited August 21, 2010 by daze

[Nautis1100]

Thanks for leading me back here Daze. My guess is that it may be a INF settings issue. The key would be figuring out which nv_miscBase_addreg__## applies to the UL80JT. I will try to do this for you when I have a bit more time. If you want to try it yourself the easiest way is

1.) Find your Hardware ID - Open Control Panel - Device Manager -> Display Adapters -> NVIDIA Geforce.... -> Details Tab -> Hardware IDs (usually the second one down)

2.) Open the original working INF and locate that Hardware ID under [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1] (ex. %NVIDIA_DEV.0407.02% = Section001, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0407&SUBSYS_01F11028)

3.) Take note of the Section0## that is before that Hardware ID and find it below it should look like [section0##] (ex. Section001)

4.) Under that section you will see all the INF sections that are used for your device. The important one for our purposes is "addreg = nv_miscBase_addreg__##" take note of it and find it next (ex. nv_miscBase_addreg__01)

5.) The nv_miscBase_addreg area usually contains all of the settings specific to your notebook. Make sure these match the new INF.

There is more to making sure the INF is properly setup for your device but this section is the most critical IMHO.

[daze]

hey,

thank you for explaining the structure. but matching only [nv_miscBase_addreg__66] to the corresponding one in 258.96 did not do the trick so far. but i'm now stepping through all the sections for my device. here are some infos:

working base driver is: 257.37 official from asus. there is only one .inf file in the package: NVAM.inf.

this is my device: %NVIDIA_DEV.0A70.02% = Section078, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A70&SUBSYS_12D21043

this is my section:

OLD DRIVER:

[section078]
AddReg = nv_DRS_addreg
AddReg = nv_commonBase_addreg__05
AddReg = nv_commonDisplayModes_addreg
AddReg = nv_controlPanel_addreg
AddReg = nv_global_addreg
AddReg = nv_miscBase_addreg__66
AddReg = nv_opengl_addreg
AddReg = nv_timingRestrictions_addreg__02
CopyFiles = nv_Drs_copyfiles
CopyFiles = nv_controlpanel_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_detoured32_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_detoured_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_sysDrivers_copyfiles
CopyFiles = nv_system32_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_syswow64_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_uninstall_copyfiles
DelFiles = nv_sysDrivers_delfiles
DelFiles = nv_system32_delfiles
DelReg = nv_clearRegistrySwitches_delreg
FeatureScore = E6
NVSupport3DVision = 1
NVSupportAudio = 1
NVSupportOptimus = 1
RegisterDLLs = nv_common_registerdll__02

the corresponding section for my device in the 258.96 driver is %NVIDIA_DEV.0A70.03% = Section077, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A70&SUBSYS_12D21043

[section077]
AddReg = nv_DRS_addreg
AddReg = nv_commonBase_addreg__05
AddReg = nv_commonDisplayModes_addreg
AddReg = nv_controlPanel_addreg
AddReg = nv_global_addreg
AddReg = nv_miscBase_addreg__65
AddReg = nv_opengl_addreg
AddReg = nv_timingRestrictions_addreg__02
CopyFiles = nv_Drs_copyfiles
CopyFiles = nv_controlpanel_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_detoured32_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_detoured_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_sysDrivers_copyfiles__02
CopyFiles = nv_system32_copyfiles__05
CopyFiles = nv_syswow64_copyfiles__05
CopyFiles = nv_uninstall_copyfiles
DelFiles = nv_sysDrivers_delfiles
DelFiles = nv_system32_delfiles
DelReg = nv_clearRegistrySwitches_delreg
FeatureScore = E6
NVBusUpperFilter = nvpciflt
NVSupport3DVision = 1
NVSupportAudio = 1
NVSupportOptimus = 1
Reboot
RegisterDLLs = nv_common_registerdll
AddReg = nv_HDAudioInstall

the section [nv_miscBase_addreg__66] did indeed not match the section [nv_miscBase_addreg__59] in the 258.96 driver. so i copied all the entries over. tried to install: no luck. still freezing.

now i'm walking through all other parts so far i found another diffrence in RegisterDLLs = nv_common_registerdll__02. There are some files missing in the new driver:

OLD:

[nv_common_registerdll__02]
10,SysWoW64,nvcuvenc.dll,1
10,SysWoW64,nvdecodemft.dll,1
10,SysWoW64,nvencodemft.dll,1
11,,nvapi64.dll,1
11,,nvcuvenc.dll,1
11,,nvdecodemft.dll,1
11,,nvencodemft.dll,1

NEW:

[nv_common_registerdll]
10,SysWoW64,nvcuvenc.dll,1
11,,nvapi64.dll,1
11,,nvcuvenc.dll,1

The missing files, as you can see are: nvdecodemft.dll and nvencodemft.dll. I've got no idea if they are essential but they are completely missing in the 258.96 driver package. And I've got no idea if i can simply copy them over. Maybe i'll just try it out.

Another diffrence was in the part [nv_timingRestrictions_addreg__02] i copied the asus timings over there was just one diffrence and not for my resolution.

That's where im stuck at the moment i'll have to review other parts of this sections too. maybe there is some progress to report :)

EDIT...

okay now i merged every single part of Section078 from the old driver to Section077 of the new driver. no success. it still keeps freezing after login. i removed this part too: NVBusUpperFilter = nvpciflt as well as the service install part and the file copy part of nvpciflt. nothing changed. the only thing i could think of now is that the missing nvencodemft.dll causes this behaviour (nvdecodemft.dll is not missing). but i don't know if i can only copy it over and everything is fine. i attached both the original 257.37 and the 258.96 modded inf if someone is interested.

EDIT 2...

now i spent about 5 to 6 hours modding the driver with no success. i minimized both (old and new) inf's to support only my device both install fine and with no error until i reboot. furthermore its possible to login when you disable all nvidia services after driver installation but before you reboot your system. after login you can restart nvidia services but the system only works until optimus gets activated then you'll get an instant freeze.

Asus also released a new notebook driver 259.12 (2010/08/19) which has the same issues. i attached old and new inf which will support only my device with the above mentioned subsys for easier comparison.

for now i'll give it up. maybe someone else will get it to work.

257.37_NVAM_MIN.INF

258.96_NVAM_MIN.INF

Edited August 22, 2010 by daze

[daze]

Got news at least for my UL80JT answer from NVidia support representative:

Hello <daze>,

Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care. We've receive reports of this issue from other users as well and we've rooted caused the problem to the system BIOS. ASUS is aware of the issue and should have a new system BIOS available soon to resolve this if they haven't already. I would suggest updating to the latest BIOS available to check. If problem still persist then get in contact with ASUS and ask when the next update BIOS will be available to resolve this problem. Let ASUS know they need a BIOS update with x8 support. You may have to revert to older driver until new BIOS is available. Let me know if you have any further questions.

[Nautis1100]

Got news at least for my UL80JT answer from NVidia support representative:

Well that is weird, seems like a pretty huge bug then. Heres hoping for a bios update soon then.

[ulf]

The bios update for U35JC is up at ASUS support site. ver 208 :)

I have updated and have been running 258.96 for the last 8 hours !

Works like a charm!

[daze]

no progress with the ul80 so far. i'm glad your problem is solved.

Edited August 27, 2010 by daze

[daze]

Asus is not very helpful solving this problem. I told them about the progress with the U35Jc and the BIOS issues which lead to our driver issues.

The answer i've got was: "Version 258.96 won't install because it does not support optimus" (yeah oO sure...) and they linked me to an rather old driver version 197.50 and the quite outdated official nvidia optimus page.

But on the other hand they offer version 257.41 on the official UL80Jt support site. very competent support representatives over there.

:-/

[meto]

Same issue here on UL30JT, which is basicly the same as 80, but has no optical drive. Any updates yet?

[daze]

my last post was from today. maybe open a support ticket @asus or nvidia to let them know that there are more people with this issue.

[Guest Pablo]

my last post was from today. maybe open a support ticket @asus or nvidia to let them know that there are more people with this issue.

Actually i have a Asus UL80J BBK 5 and manage to use new drivers on machine. I choose not to restar after install the software and runs great. Unfortunatelly after restart hangs like you.

Steam CSS with old drivers (actually work with HD graphic card) 37 Fps

Steam CSS with Nvidio Without Restat 135 FPS!

How do i send a Ticket to Nvidia? because now that i saw this i will not play CSS again until i can get my drivers right.

Cya

Pablo

[daze]

Actually i have a Asus UL80J BBK 5 and manage to use new drivers on machine. I choose not to restar after install the software and runs great. Unfortunatelly after restart hangs like you.

that's what i've got with modding my own driver. or without restarting. BUT if you try to use automatic switching (thats the point with optimus) the driver keeps crashing. try watching a flash video on youtube for example. the plugin should stall or crash with tha driver.

How do i send a Ticket to Nvidia? because now that i saw this i will not play CSS again until i can get my drivers right.

i cannot serv you the link to nvidia but this one is for asus: http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

oh somewhere over here was the point to start at nvidia: http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php

[Jans]

am having the exact same prblem with my new pl30jt, which I think is the professional ul30jt.

I was about to throw it out under a car before I read this thread. Glad to hear its not just me.

Any more news?

My problem is there isn't even a driver page on the asus website for the pl30jt meaning I can't even be sure what bios is good to install!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jans