Video card driver doesn't support Aero effects

[Gardeon]

I got this error after i used the troubleshooter in my laptop. I was surprised to find my screensaver not working with the message "the screensaver can't run because it requires a newer video card or one thats compatible with Direct3D". This error happened recently after I reinstalled my Windows 7 Home Premium OS into my laptop. Before this it was fine.

Here are my laptop specs:
Acer Aspire 4745G
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
4GB DDR3 RAM
512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470

I'm at a loss because I installed the latest ATI Catalyst Suite then it happened. I read other threads quite similar to this before but I can't seem to solve it on my own, especially when I'm not good with computers and stuff. Therefore, any help would be much appreciated.

 

[sygnus21]

The 5470 drivers should support Aero. Don't know why youre getting that error but you need to visit Acer and get your drivers for your video card there.

Check here Acer Support: Downloads & Support Documents - Notebook / Aspire / Aspire 4745G and get the first AMD VGA driver - 8.84.7.4

You also might want to check this info for Aero - What is the Aero desktop experience?

 

[GianniDPC]

Ok, but I recommend you download the drivers from the official AMD (ATI) site: ATI Catalyst
here are the drivers for your model

 

[stormy13]

That Acer wouldn't happen to have switchable graphics would it (Intel for low power use, and the AMD for things that require more graphics power)? If so then this,

Ok, but I recommend you download the drivers from the official AMD (ATI) site: ATI Catalyst
here are the drivers for your model

will never work as the reference AMD drivers are,

1. not designed to work with the Mobility GPU's. There is a mobility version of the drivers, but see point #2 first.

2. If it does have the switchable graphics then it requires BOTH the Intel and AMD drivers for the laptop to work properly, which means you CANNOT use the reference AMD driver and have to get both the Intel and AMD driver from Acer.

 

[GianniDPC]

That Acer wouldn't happen to have switchable graphics would it (Intel for low power use, and the AMD for things that require more graphics power)? If so then this,

Ok, but I recommend you download the drivers from the official AMD (ATI) site: ATI Catalyst
here are the drivers for your model

will never work as the reference AMD drivers are,

1. not designed to work with the Mobility GPU's. There is a mobility version of the drivers, but see point #2 first.

2. If it does have the switchable graphics then it requires BOTH the Intel and AMD drivers for the laptop to work properly, which means you CANNOT use the reference AMD driver and have to get both the Intel and AMD driver from Acer.

Ok but the link to the drivers that I gave him are for the mobility version. He can always try and see if it works

 

[stormy13]

And it will fail for the reasons I listed. That laptop of Gardeon's does in fact have switchable graphics. So not only does he require BOTH the Intel and AMD drivers for it to work properly, the AMD download from Acer already has the Intel driver integrated into it (and yes i downloaded the driver from Acer and looked at the INF).

It is a nice idea to be able to update a laptop to the latest drivers, but when it uses switchable graphics, unless you can find (or know how) to mod the reference driver to work with the switchable graphics you are at the mercy of whoever made the laptop for an updated driver.

 

[sygnus21]

As Stormy suggests, you have to get the drivers from Acer for the reasons given. The only question I have is why does he need both the Intel and AMD drivers? But I see he's sayig the notebook has a switchable graphic cards? I don't have a notebook so I'm unfamiliar with this sort of thing.

 

[stormy13]

Two little words, switchable graphics. The laptop uses the integrated Intel graphics (integrated into the CPU) for low power or normal use, and uses the dedicated AMD graphics for anything that requires more graphical power (games, etc).

Same thing applies if it has an Intel CPU/GPU (most of the newer i3/i5 and some of the i7's) and Nvidia graphics. Nvidia likes to call their version "Optimus Technology", and despite the fancy name is and works exactly the same as an Intel/AMD combo. Nvidia like AMD also has their own laptop driver version for use with their mobility version GPU's,

NVIDIA DRIVERS 285.62 WHQL

and just like the AMD driver doesn't work the switchable graphics,

Notes:

1. Notebooks supporting Hybrid Power technology with Intel chipsets are not supported by this release.
2. The following Sony VAIO notebooks are supported: Sony VAIO F Series with NVIDIA GeForce 310M, GeForce GT 330M, GeForce GT 425M, GeForce GT 520M or GeForce GT 540M. Other Sony VAIO notebooks are not supported at this time (please contact Sony for driver support).
3. Fujitsu notebooks are not supported by this release (Fujitsu Siemens notebooks are supported).

and requires both drivers from the laptop manufacturer.

 

[sygnus21]

2. If it does have the switchable graphics then it requires BOTH the Intel and AMD drivers for the laptop to work properly, which means you CANNOT use the reference AMD driver and have to get both the Intel and AMD driver from Acer.

Two little words, switchable graphics. The laptop uses the integrated Intel graphics (integrated into the CPU) for low power or normal use, and uses the dedicated AMD graphics for anything that requires more graphical power (games, etc).

Those two little word are nice, if you know where to look for them.

Anyway I tried to help.

 

[stormy13]

Those two little word are nice, if you know where to look for them.

No kidding. It's too bad most of the laptop manufacturers don't list it anywhere and you either guess that it is based on specs, or you come across a review of it somewhere that says it does. Or you do like I do when I can't find anything and download and check what the driver files show.

 

[sygnus21]

Or you do like I do when I can't find anything and download and check what the driver files show.

So do a little teaching here and tell how to do this - How do you check, and what are you looking for?

Thanks.

 

[stormy13]

In the case of one like the Acer in this thread, based on the specs of having an i5 CPU and AMD graphics is usually a good indication. Doesn't always work that way as some of the manufacturers will disable the Intel graphics leaving just the AMD (or Nvidia if so equipped) graphics, in which case the reference AMD mobility driver will likely work; which wasn't always the case a couple of years ago whether AMD or Nvidia due to licensing restrictions between the GPU manufacturers and laptop manufacturers (and is still in affect with a few of them, primarily Sony and Toshiba; neither of which will allow the use of reference video drivers, you have to use modded (or mod yourself) drivers).

You can also look at the download page for the laptop in question,

http://support.acer.com/product/default.aspx?modelId=2070

and if they list both like this one, then it is another good indication that it supports switchable graphics. You can also go the extra step (as long as you're not bandwidth constrained b y your ISP) and download the AMD/Nvidia driver and check the INF. In the case of this model Acer (and most from what I have seen), Acer has actually modded the AMD INF to reference and install the Intel driver (which is also inside the folder),

 

[Gardeon]

Thx for the reply guys, well I went ahead and tried to do the auto-update by using the device manager in my laptop. Searched for the Intel and it says its the latest, and then I went on to my ATI graphics and it downloaded some kind of update and installed it.

Here's the strange part, during installation of the update, my screen went blank, as in no backlit light of the black screen at all. Its like the whole monitor shut off. I had to manually shut down by pressing the power button to reboot it. Then it says my computer just recovered from a serious error? :shock: I mean, how can an auto-update be this hell of a problem?

Anyways, I managed to get my Aero up & running after that "update" from Device Manager. Problem now is it seems kinda buggy to me, its like the Aero works in my explorer windows sometimes and other times its problematic. :sarc: I had to go to Performance Information & Tools to reset the Aero visual effects settings several times already. Its really troublesome.