Acer Laptop: Switchable Graphics using i7 & AMD Radeon

joooeeel · 12 Apr 2012

Hi guys,

I have an Acer Aspire 7750g with an AMD Radeon HD 7670M card and had the same problem with the switchable graphics. I found a solution on another forum.

What I did was to download and install a modded bios from Bios Mods Tools; - [http://www.bios-mods.com/BIOS]
Insyde -> A_A_7750_P5WE0117_UlkMenus_ByCamiloml.exe

Go into BIOS -> Advanced -> Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphic -> Always Enable PEG [Enabled]

Go into BIOS -> Advanced -> Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphic -> PowerXpress Setting [Muxed Fixed Scheme]

Restart

Now I can select which display card I want to use in Catalyst Control center -> Start -> Power -> Switchable Graphics

RocketsFan · 12 Apr 2012

joooeeel said:

Hi guys,

I have an Acer Aspire 7750g with an AMD Radeon HD 7670M card and had the same problem with the switchable graphics. I found a solution on another forum.

What I did was to download and install a modded bios from Bios Mods Tools; - [http://www.bios-mods.com/BIOS]
Insyde -> A_A_7750_P5WE0117_UlkMenus_ByCamiloml.exe

Go into BIOS -> Advanced -> Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphic -> Always Enable PEG [Enabled]

Go into BIOS -> Advanced -> Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphic -> PowerXpress Setting [Muxed Fixed Scheme]

Restart

Now I can select which display card I want to use in Catalyst Control center -> Start -> Power -> Switchable Graphics

How safe is it to download and use a modded BIOS? Also, can you link to the forum you discovered this as I have searched numerous places and have not seen this recommendation anywhere.

popeye1953 · 13 Apr 2012

RocketsFan said:

joooeeel said:

Hi guys,

I have an Acer Aspire 7750g with an AMD Radeon HD 7670M card and had the same problem with the switchable graphics. I found a solution on another forum.

What I did was to download and install a modded bios from Bios Mods Tools; - [http://www.bios-mods.com/BIOS]
Insyde -> A_A_7750_P5WE0117_UlkMenus_ByCamiloml.exe

Go into BIOS -> Advanced -> Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphic -> Always Enable PEG [Enabled]

Go into BIOS -> Advanced -> Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphic -> PowerXpress Setting [Muxed Fixed Scheme]

Restart

Now I can select which display card I want to use in Catalyst Control center -> Start -> Power -> Switchable Graphics

How safe is it to download and use a modded BIOS? Also, can you link to the forum you discovered this as I have searched numerous places and have not seen this recommendation anywhere.

A bit concerned myself, never used a modded bios. Does everything work normally like fan speeds and temperatures? I'd like to try this but sure would love to hear a few more success stories or a review first.

And why won't Acer make this an official release if it works? They'd make a lot of people very happy.

hexatic · 13 Apr 2012

Hey guys, I posted awhile back saying I would call acer and get their thoughts along with the rest of the guys who called, it was fruitless. So instead I took the plunge and tried Joeels solution.

I was really, really uncomfortable with it but my wife being unable to play the games she wants is a lot scarier than a brick. And after looking up a recovery method in the event I brick it, I installed the modded BIOs previously mentioned on my wifes Aspire 7750g.

I went into the BIOs and changed the options shown in the above threads and BAM I could set it as the main card inside Catalyst and I'm pumping 40-50 STEADY frames in Minecraft at default settings and way more if I turn it down, compared to the choppy unplayable mess it was before.

If anyone wants the links to the Brick recovery or some screenshot I'll be happy to throw them up.

Thank you Jooeel(Sp?) you have made my wife a lot less angry with me about our laptop pick.

RocketsFan · 13 Apr 2012

hexatic said:

Hey guys, I posted awhile back saying I would call acer and get their thoughts along with the rest of the guys who called, it was fruitless. So instead I took the plunge and tried Joeels solution.

I was really, really uncomfortable with it but my wife being unable to play the games she wants is a lot scarier than a brick. And after looking up a recovery method in the event I brick it, I installed the modded BIOs previously mentioned on my wifes Aspire 7750g.

I went into the BIOs and changed the options shown in the above threads and BAM I could set it as the main card inside Catalyst and I'm pumping 40-50 STEADY frames in Minecraft at default settings and way more if I turn it down, compared to the choppy unplayable mess it was before.

If anyone wants the links to the Brick recovery or some screenshot I'll be happy to throw them up.

Thank you Jooeel(Sp?) you have made my wife a lot less angry with me about our laptop pick.

Hexatic thank you very much for your reply! If you can, please do provide SS's and links. I'm sure others here would greatly appreciate that as well.

hexatic · 13 Apr 2012

Sure, waiting for my tablet to charge up (Only thing with a decent camera so I can get some shots of the BIOs) and I'll post up shots of the BIOs running and some screens of Catalyst.

Recovering From A Bad Insyde Bios Flash

That's the link to the bad flash recovery I intended to use had it gone to hell. I cannot attest to it's rate of success as I didn't have to use it.

Acer Laptop: Switchable Graphics using i7 & AMD Radeon-bioscat.png

Heres a shot showing the changes to catalyst after I did the modded BIOs, the line in the registry showing my BIOs version (Shows the modded one) and my catalyst version.

WARNING!
WARNING!
WARNING!

In an attempt to view other info I installed AMD overdrive, the system proceeded to bluescreen left and right either during windows start(while loading services and such) or during GPU usage (Games) until I did a rollback (Wouldn't let me uninstall it).

I have not had sufficent time to test this BIOs for long durations so I cannot predict other strange behavior or conflicts with different system utilities. So far it's running great as long as I don't have Overdrive installed, this may also effect other AMD/Ati tools. I will post if any other issues arise and I'll throw up shots of the BIOs asap.

popeye1953 · 13 Apr 2012

hexatic,
I believe you must have an AMD CPU and chipset for Overdrive, probably why you had the problems.
Thanks for your input on the modded Bios, I think I will give it a try. Can always go back to 1.20 as long as I don't end up with boat anchor.

hexatic · 13 Apr 2012

Ahh, I figured I could atleast view GPU related stuff. Thanks for the input.

popeye1953 · 13 Apr 2012

OMG! It works! Thanks so much for this joooeeel and hexatic for convincing me to try it. Will test to see how it goes. I'm using latest leshcat drivers btw and they are working also with this. Yahoo!

Hexatic, you can use GPU-Z to see what your graphics is doing.

I feel like donating a couple bucks to the guy that did this!

osyris · 13 Apr 2012

I need help guys please.. I installed that and now it doesnt wants to go in windows.. When the windows logo shows and it starts loading, suddenly blue screen appears for a second and computer restart.. What should i do now?