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I'm having ongoing graphics driver issues with my ThinkPad W500 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit RTM. In summary, I have not had success getting the switchable graphics to run properly.

My problems began as reflected in question Thinkpad W500 ATI Card Failing to Start on Windows 7 64-Bit. And it was downhill from there.

Summary of initial configuration:

  1. Clean Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit RTM install on ThinkPad W500 (4063-RF5 - switchable graphics - ATI FireGL V5700 - 1900x1200)

  2. The following Lenovo Windows 7 beta drivers downloaded from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/WIN7-BETA.html and installed: ThinkPad Power Manager and ThinkPad Power Management Driver (both necessary to do switchable graphics)

  3. The Intel Integrated graphics driver recognized by Windows and represented as "Mobile Intel(R) 45 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1" running Microsoft Driver version 8.15.10.1749 from 5/6/2009.

Sequence of events:

  1. Downloaded the Lenovo Windows 7 beta switchable graphics driver "ThinkPad Switchable Graphics Driver for Windows 7 (64-bit and 32-bit)" from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/WIN7-BETA.html#m8xswitch (this points to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/license.do?filename=options/7vd611ww.zip)

  2. Attempted installation but it fails after I click "Install" (from the Install"/"Uninstall" screen) with "Catalyst Installation Manager has stopped working" error message (see event log output):

    Faulting application name: InstallManagerApp.exe, version: 3.0.736.0, time stamp: 0x4a92bb71 Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5be02b Exception code: 0xc0150010 Fault offset: 0x00000000000d0368 Faulting process id: 0x7a0 Faulting application start time: 0x01ca4f6391dd49b2 Faulting application path: C:\Winnt\Temp\win7betadrivers\switchable\Bin64\InstallManagerApp.exe Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll Report Id: ea2b39a3-bb56-11de-a8ce-00247e16756a

    Note that sometimes the installation fails with an exception, or with a Windows App Compatibility error, but the sequence is not consistent nor can I reproduce the exception or the Windows App Compat error now.

    • Lenovo technical support recommended I install the equivalent Vista driver which they say will run under Windows 7 RTM. The installation fails with identical errors.
    • Ran the Lenovo ThinkVantage System Update utility and select the "ThinkPad Video Features (Switchable Graphics) for Windows Vista 64bit" driver, which (interestingly) proceeds without error and then prompts me to reboot. HOWEVER, the Windows Application log (pre-reboot) shows the following errors:

    Fault bucket 546900411, type 5 Event Name: PnPDeviceProblemCode Response: Not available Cab Id: 0 Problem signature: P1: x64 P2: PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9591&SUBSYS_212617AA&REV_00 P3: {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} P4: 0000001F P5: atikmpag.sys P6: 7.14.1.6029 P7: 04-01-2009

    and

    ATIeRecord - ATI EEU Service event error

    In addition, the integrated Intel graphics card now shows as "Mobile Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family" in Device Manager, rather than "Mobile Intel(R) 45 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1" in my point #2 above in "Summary of initial configuration". Also, the driver is now dated 4/1/2009 (vs. 5/6/09 previously) with version 8.563.2.1000 (vs. 8.15.10.1749 previously) provided by "ATI Technologies Inc." (vs. "Microsoft" previously).

    • Here's where things start to get really weird. About 50% of the time (I've done this multiple times now), I get the "Switchable Graphics" option when I right click on the ThinkPad battery icon (the icon that Power Manager installs) and about 50% of the time I don't. Let's assume for now I do get this option.
    • Upon reboot, I check the Switchable Graphics setting and it's on "Energy Saving". Device Manager shows "Mobile Intel(R) 45 Express Chipset Family" as the installed and running graphics driver. I then check the "High Performance" option, the screen flashes a few times and Device Manager refreshes and shows me both the "Mobile Intel(R) 45 Express Chipset Family" as well as "ATI Mobility FireGL v5700". However, the ATI driver says it won't start and I'm back to the initial URL I put in this question, Thinkpad W500 ATI Card Failing to Start on Windows 7 64-Bit.

    • To restart the cycle I remove both graphics devices from Device Manager and select to delete the files. NOTE: I had one instance where I did successfully switch to the high performance ATI adapter and the driver did start**, but after serveral reboots I'd again have the problem where it would not start. And of course, all this work was with the Vista driver, so I'll assumingly have to repeat the process with the Windows 7 beta driver and/or the RTM driver.

    ** I'm having a problem with poor battery life on this same laptop - see question Very poor battery life on Lenovo ThinkPad W500 laptop. During the short period where I did manage to get switchable graphics working and had "Energy Saver" selected, the ThinkPad Power Manager showed 2 hours and 47 minutes of runtime (when fully charged) vs. the approx. 2 hours it showed before switchable graphics was running (I haven't yet done an actual run time test). I need to test this out more but it's an interesting correlation.

1 Answer 1

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After re-reading my question I was reminded of step #4:

Ran the Lenovo ThinkVantage System Update utility and select the "ThinkPad Video Features (Switchable Graphics) for Windows Vista 64bit" driver, which (interestingly) proceeds without error...

Realizing that the unattended/silent install worked (since that's what the System Update utility does), I ran the driver install in unattended mode rather than the default interactive mode:

setup.exe -install

I rebooted when it completed and it worked!

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