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How to get the nVidia chip to work on Aspire 5742G??


srv

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Hi guys, you are my last line.

I cant get the GT 520M drivers to work (yes work cause it installs fine). Tried everything already. Downloaded drivers from Acer - installs fine but after reboot it, Vista x64 says the card was turned off cause its driver is not compatible with VGA mode. Im using i3 with integrated graphics right now, no option to change the GPU in BIOS (have version 1.30 - latset}.

I tired to uninstall drivers, tried different ones, on Acer website there are 3 different driver downloads for nVidia GPU, tried all of them, none working, some didnt even pass the compatiility test (no nVidia graphic device found). Tried the modified drivers from this forum (installed fine), but no luck. Im not sure if this ntb has optimus system or not, but the GPU here is GT 520m (detected by the drivers).

I also tried this but no luck: http://www.guruht.com/2011/11/acer-aspire-nvidia-gt-520m-graphics.html

My DEV ID is exactly the same:  PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0DF7&SUBSYS_04881025

I have new and clean installtation of Vista Home Prem x64, all other drivers are up and running, only the discrete GPU can not be turned on.

Intel graphics control panel doesnt say a word about switchable graphics.

And also I have a question - how to disable the i3 GPU to see if the nVidia is working

or how to find out if the nVidia isnt dead? May be it needs a reflow... ? but would it be visible by Vistas device manager if it was broken/overheated?

Read a lot of the topics here, but none seems to have the answer, I also think that it is a good idea to try to downgrade the laptops BIOS to 1.09 cause ppl say they have similar problem after uprading to newer bios---> new system after some time, and it doesnt work. But it did before... Manufacturer gave this machine with Windows 7 only, but its the same as Vista after all, it is Vista but a bit modified...

 

Help guys please or tell me at least how to find out if the 520m is dead or not...?

Do not have a not-i-core cpu to test if it displays without intels gpu:(

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I was going through the user manual and found out one thing - it says the power demanding for ATI chips is 65W, and nVidia chips is 90W.

Took my charger and it says 65W... Its LiteOn charger, not Acer signed one, so its non original adapter....

So my next question is does the discrete graphics card can be used while on battery? I think it should, but it doesnt. If so then I have to change the adapter to let it use more power, might it be the reason I cannot get my GeForce to work? To less power available? This makes sense, device cannot fully start becouse of that and is only "visible" as it actually exists and left turned off till it gets enough power to function am I right?

Its a second hand laptop, didnt know the ac wasnt original. So I need You ppl to tell me, can someone try to use their discrete graphics on battery? Or with weaker ac adapter?

Thanks in advance.

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Having a too small an AC Adaptor can be an issue with running laptop at full speed.
Battery is fine as its hooked directly to power supply and can draw the power needed but will drain battery more quickly
Also make sure you have the right voltage AC Adaptor, if its too low it will struggle to run and charge battery and also use more current which is not good for a laptop

You will know your GPU is working when you go into NVIDIA control panel and click on 'Adjust image settings with preview
If you see the spinning logo then all is working.

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Hi there man, thanks for a reply.

The thing is the nVidia control panel wont show up, it says that user isnt using a monitor connected to the nvidia device right now.

Im going to get the proper AC Adaptor, about the current its the same as acer's - 19V 3,45A which gives me that 65W, which is not enough comparing to the original one that is missing...

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You can always go bigger amps laptop will only use whats needed
Look at 90w, the 520m draw little power, but with CPU and memory chugging along also your system will

As for Screen not connected issue is strange, should auto change over when the GPU/CPU change over.
Your laptop is not a Hybrid laptop where you need NV/Intel drivers in one package ?
Start with original Acer driver and work from there.

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Hi I already tried it at the start, after clean install I downloaded drivers from the Acer's website, but after it rebooted the machine I got error saying that the video card was turned off due to some  vga compatibility issue.... About hybrid well I dont know. The chipset is HM55 which means it can utilize i3,i5 CPU's that are provided along with a graphic core built-in. But the mainboard itself has the nVidia GPU on it, so when I put the P series CPU (like P6100 or P6200 which were added to lower priced models with ATI GPU) then no CPU integrated GPU will be used, so the only GPU left would be the one on the mobo (nVidia). I dont have any P series CPU right now so I cant test it... Got 2 options so, get a P series CPU or get a power supply which is 19V and at least 4,7A so the laptop can pull these 90W out of it... 

What is strange for me is that the NTB cannot run nVidia on battery I think its not right, I may be mistaken... So when we play on power cord on, and they cut the power off, we stay with the battery only and what now? BSOD because of the battery that cannot supply 90W machine or what? nVidia gets turned off and switched to intel? What if we dont have i-core CPU? GPU will turn off too? This makes no sesne for me, battery should be able to provide enough power to at least turn on the nVidia chip...

BTW the system im built with 8GB of RAM, factory it was only 4GB/one stick. But it still should not affect anything... I know, another stick means more power consumption but lets be serious its just a RAM not another CPU, not even an external hard drive...  You know what, I will pull one stick out and see what happens, it nVidia will start it means its the power problem.

Edited by srv
System specs update
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I'm beginning to think Optimus is broken there is probably a chip that switches between CPU/GPU and its broken
http://discoverygc.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=84640&page=2
Pretty well same issue as you with no fix

The 520m is not much faster than the CPU, so not really worth pursuing me thinks

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  • Hi, ye seems similar but not quite. Guy over there could set the GPU by choice, I cannot do that.
  • In device manager nVidia is listed as a turned off device (black arrow pointing down)
  • When I turn it on, the LCD will blink 2x and I got an error saying the video adapter isnt compatible with VGA and must be turned off, then it gets back to GMA
  • I do not have any possibility to check nVidia, it just exists in the system like a broken builtin camera device, system knows its there, but as far as its broken cannot be turned on (by some reason)...
  • I took out 1 ram stick, so only 4GB was left - no change, put the 8GB back together.

Still waiting for a new power supply...

Here some screens from my bios, the main screen listing GPU's and second one showing video options, there is no word about which GPU to choose:(

29084129391_b226893063_z.jpg

28540288154_0c2d01f454_z.jpg

Edited by srv
Added photos
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Try going back to BIOS v1.23 which added support for the N12P-GV3 (520m ?)

This may help, or something is broken in your machine to allow switching

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Someone hasn't tried to flash the vBIOS and partially wrecked the GPU ?
Or replaced it with another card if its MxM ?

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I have updated the bios myself, dont remember previous version, but i needed to get access to options controlling the fan (spinning too slow at high temps). I flashed it with the modified version of the newest available bios which is 1.30. All works fine, but the onboard GPU... Well the problem was even then, when there was older original bios, and i dont remember which one. I suppose that if someone updated the main bios file, that all. Flashing vBios is a different thing I dont think someone did it or did it right. Im not sure if the downgrade is possible i wouldnt like to brick it this way... 

 

No, nVidia is soldered onto the mobo, no MxM connectors.

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Yep it sucks, I tried do downgrade my bios to version 1.24 but no way, dos updater says its a wrong file (as for too old)...

Yep it sucks even more because I downloaded original 1.30 bios from acer, made the update (overwrite my modded version with orginal one), all went fine, all the extra options have disappeared and gues what

nothing changed, still getting error on windows startup nvidia gets turned off

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Have a look here 
https://ucdavistechtalk.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/how-to-switch-between-intel-graphics-and-nvidia-with-optimus/
At first comment, try his approach

Other than googling other ideas I'm out of fresh ones

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I was referring to first comment and installing the drivers in a certain order to maintain Optimus working

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Ok here we go.

I removed both drivers, both graphic cards and rebooted till both was visible as a standard vga adapter. Installed only nvidia drivers, all went fine. Restart and I got no error, suprisingly something different. Though I got no device error I still cannot use the nvidia, graphic caid is present only in device manager, is installed, up and running BUT system still uses the cpu integrated intel adapter. System started in 800x600 with basic colors it was clear to me the nvidia driver isnt working. I cannot choose it in display settings as it was not connected to my LCD (wtf?)...  It really seems like its not connecte with the LVDS but how is that possible on a notebook with both GPUs connected to the LCD??

Nvmd, I insalle Intel drivers and all is back to normal, intel as a cpu integrated device works perfectly fine, but nvidia gets an error just like before... Im out of hopes:/

 

Dont have the AC yet.

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http://support.lenovo.com/nz/en/downloads/migr-76280

Try that combo
You will need to modify the nvidia INF (nvlt,inf) with your PCI_ID (change the Quadro NVS 5400)
And also change the Quadro NVS PCI_ID higher up in INF and remove the SUBSYSTEM + value
If you don't setup won't work.

These are Lenovo Opimus combo drivers, and will give you something to do

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Made INF, you owe me a beer next time we meet
Hopefully I got it right

NVLT.zip

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Huh? Ok I will give it a try. So i have to completely remove nvidia drivers and intel as well or its not necessary?

I will definetely be grateful if it works, will tell in some time.

 

So i need to switch the nvlt.inf in the package with the one provided by you, right?

 

Ok i uninstalled nvidia drivers, then run the setup.bat file and it told me to reboot, which i did but n nvidia drivers were installed, so i switched the nvlt file in nvdia drivers folder from the lenovo optimus package and installed. Afte reboot i still have the same issue:( Did i do something wrong?

Maybe I should remove both drivers and run the setup file directly from the archive? I think that switching NVLT file only helped me to install the driver, pass the compatibility check, but it doesnt work, there is still the same issue with incompatible graphic card being turned off:(

oh and btw there is no nv control panel after installing these drivers... no word about optius though...

 

so basically im facing the same issue as this guy:

i think i will give up on vista and update to f*** win7:( hope it works, we'll see...

Edited by srv
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So i got new fresh win7 x64, installed all the drivers except graphics. I downloaded drv from acer, for my notebook it is this one:

VGA NVIDIA VGA Driver(GeForce GT555M & GeForce GT540M & GeForce GT520M) 8.17.12.6721 262.0 MB 2011/08/22  

 

But the instalator says i do not have any hardware for it...

So i downloaded the one you picked, extracted and swapped the NVLT file. Installed and rebooted. After reboot i got my screen with 800x600, the GT520m in device manager is installed properly, device turned on and running. There is no nv control panel though, there is no option to choose the NV from display devices. System is still using the intel gpu even having discrete graphics up and running. I have to install intel hd drivers now and im sure of whats coming. I will install them and with next reboot the system will say there is a compatibility error with nvidia driver...

Just to tell you what i accomplished and how it is weird with this GPU:/

 

BTW im about to install these drivers from acer website

VGA Intel VGA Driver 8.15.10.2182 77.6 MB 2011/07/12
Edited by srv
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F*** ME I owe you a beer:)

After instaliing intel hd drivers the nv control panel showed up by itself, the device is working, i can select the gpu for running games etc. All is set to performance already.

I can see now that there is no option to disable intel gpu, no chance to set desktop to nvidia, i didnt try it out yet in games but as far as i got its promising:)

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Good to hear perseverance pays off.
How I started with modded INFs

You could try updating drivers, or just leave it as its working

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Ok I can confirm that nVidia works fine, I played a game set to max details, it wasnt perfectly smooth though but the intel gpu wouldnt handle even the 1024x768 with 15fps so.

The problem is I cannot set the game to 16:9 orientation... It sets the 4:3 and I cant choose higher than 1024x768,I looks pretty bad having 16:9 widescreen and a square inside of it:)

What can I do? I already set 1 single display for this particular game in nv control panel but it didnt help...

OK nvmd i got it. Thing was to set the display scaling to use the whole display (not centered, not to keep aspect ratio).

Edited by srv
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