[Help] Two intel express chipsets show up in device manager.

[Ree7]

My laptop is a Vaio VGN-SZ38GP/C.
It was loaded with XP when I bought it, but has been clean installed with Windows 7 without any problems for the past year. I used a graphic driver with a modified inf to install the video card driver (the laptop came with nVidia Geforce Go 7400). All was fine.

Now here's the problem.
Two days ago, when I turned on the laptop, the display went small (it doesn't cover the entire screen). After it entered into Windows, a message pops up: 'new device has been detected', it was then installed etc. The new device turns out to be an Intel Express Chipset. After that, it required me to reboot the system. After the system was rebooted, all seems well, the display once again covered the entire screen.

However, I found out that the laptop is currently not utilizing the video card (it doesn't even shows up under device manager). There's not even a 'standard vga adapter' entry in it. None under display adapters. None under other devices. Couldn't find it.

And turns out the STAMINA-SPEED switch on my laptop isn't working (Vaio SZ has a STAMINA mode that preserves the battery by switching off the video card). I put the switch on SPEED, but the led indicator stays on STAMINA. Windows doesn't even seem to recognize any changes I made in switching between the modes back and forth.

Also, another weird thing right now is that the device manager shows that I have two Intel Express Chipsets when I turned on the 'show hidden devices' option. Both with identical hardware IDs.
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27A2&SUBSYS_81E6104D&REV_03

• I've tried to do a system restore to no avail.
• Updated the bios to no avail.
• Look for ways to switch off the onboard video card via bios, but seems like there's no apparent setting for it. Its a Phoenix Technologies'.
• Uninstalled both Intel Express Chipsets and then reboot. The laptop simply turns back to the small screen not covering the entire display.
• Downloaded and installed another 189.79 nVidia driver with modded inf. It says no supported hardware has been detected, even after uninstalling both Intel Expres Chipset drivers.

I didn't make any changes in programs/softwares whatsoever before the problem occurred. Right now I am beginning to think that either a Windows Automatic Update has installed something or the video card has simply died.

Helps and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[BCXtreme]

Welcome to the Seven Forums!

Firstly, just so we can make sure it wasn't Windows Update, do you have Windows Update set to automatically install Recommended/Optional updates, or only Important updates?

 

[Lemur]

We could install the latest drivers for the Intel 945 chipset: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...ct=Mobile+Intel®+945GM+Express+Chipset+Family

 

[Ree7]

Welcome to the Seven Forums!

Firstly, just so we can make sure it wasn't Windows Update, do you have Windows Update set to automatically install Recommended/Optional updates, or only Important updates?

I chose the option for windows updates not to download and install updates automatically. But almost everytime I installed every available important updates while leaving the optional updates untouched (currently I think the optional updates list is filled with language packs).

We could install the latest drivers for the Intel 945 chipset: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...ct=Mobile+Intel®+945GM+Express+Chipset+Family

Thanks for the link! I'll try it out once I get home later tonight and let you know how it goes.

 

[Petey7]

It sounds like you have two GPUs, integrated intel graphics and the NVIDIA graphics card, and something has happened to the NVIDIA GPU.

I found this and this which supports that theory.

Note the part about the hybrid graphics system.

 

[Ree7]

It sounds like you have two GPUs, integrated intel graphics and the NVIDIA graphics card, and something has happened to the NVIDIA GPU.

I found this and this which supports that theory.

Note the part about the hybrid graphics system.

Yes you're correct. It has an integrated intel graphics plus an NVIDIA graphics card. But since that day, the NVIDIA cannot be detected. Instead, it showed up in device manager as two intel graphics with the same hardware IDs.

And as you can also see from the website, there's a switch with led that determines the GPU its using. I've always been using the SPEED mode, but somehow that day the STAMINA led lights up even though the switch was still on SPEED.

 

[Petey7]

It sounds the NVIDIA GPU is burnt out. If this is the case, it will have to be replaced, or you will have to live with Intel graphics.

Is the laptop still under warranty?

 

[Ree7]

We could install the latest drivers for the Intel 945 chipset: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...ct=Mobile+Intel®+945GM+Express+Chipset+Family

The latest driver from the link you gave is the same version as the one that windows installed during device detection. Still, I gave it a shot by reinstalling it and the NVIDIA GPU still doesn't show up anywhere.

It sounds the NVIDIA GPU is burnt out. If this is the case, it will have to be replaced, or you will have to live with Intel graphics.

Is the laptop still under warranty?

That's the worst case I am afraid of. Its no longer under warranty either (+- 4 year-old laptop).

Any chance to upgrade such GPU to some newer ones?

 

[Petey7]

It's not common for you to be able to do it in a laptop, but there are some exceptions. Looking online, I can't find one. I can't even find a motherboard for it. Laptops are only expected to last +/- five years. Have you noticed anything else not working on the laptop?

 

[Ree7]

It's not common for you to be able to do it in a laptop, but there are some exceptions. Looking online, I can't find one. I can't even find a motherboard for it. Laptops are only expected to last +/- five years. Have you noticed anything else not working on the laptop?

Is there anyway for me to check what type of motherboard its using?
So far everything else is working fine, except for 4 bluetooth peripherals showing up under other devices in device manager missing their appropriate drivers. Couldn't find any drivers for those, but otherwise the bluetooth functionality still works fine (able to sync with my phone, send files etc).

 

[Petey7]

With laptop mother boards each one is made specifically by the OEM for that laptop. It's very different from a desktop

The Vaio series seems to be all pretty rock solid. My brother has one that is at least eight years old, which just started to have problems (the screen died on it), but he is still able to use it on a daily basis. The only problem with that is, when people do have problems, it's hard to find parts. If it were a HP, parts would be easy to come by.

Your still able to use the Intel graphics, so unless you use it for playing newer games, I'd continue to use that laptop until it absolutely had to be replaced.

 

[Ree7]

With laptop mother boards each one is made specifically by the OEM for that laptop. It's very different from a desktop

The Vaio series seems to be all pretty rock solid. My brother has one that is at least eight years old, which just started to have problems (the screen died on it), but he is still able to use it on a daily basis. The only problem with that is, when people do have problems, it's hard to find parts. If it were a HP, parts would be easy to come by.

Your still able to use the Intel graphics, so unless you use it for playing newer games, I'd continue to use that laptop until it absolutely had to be replaced.

The Intel graphics is OK for most of the time and I haven't been installing games since the XP to 7 upgrade either. I've been trying to minimize the number of programs installed. But I do frequently use Adobe softwares like Photoshop, which doesn't perform as good without a dedicated GPU

 

[Petey7]

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much else you can do in this situation. You can try Googling the problem to see if someone else has had it, or try contacting HP tech support to see if they can offer any other explanation.

 

[Ree7]

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much else you can do in this situation. You can try Googling the problem to see if someone else has had it, or try contacting HP tech support to see if they can offer any other explanation.

I've googled quite a lot before posting here seems like quite a few people have had the problem and yet to find the solution. I guess I'll just have to live with the internal graphics and wait for the right time to buy a new pc.