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[userpay]

Okay so I've got my new laptop, getting everything set up, when I notice something odd regarding the graphics card. Now under display adapters in the device manager there is Mobile Intel(R) Hd Graphics and Radeon (TM) Hd 6770M. The first I assume is the onboard graphics whereas the second I know is the graphics card that is installed. I first noticed the problem when I went to systemrequirementslab.com to double check that I could in fact play a few games. Where it says graphics card it lists the Intel one not the Radeon. I install Game Booster and check it. Yep same thing, Intel rather than Radeon. The laptop in question is the HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition.

Now obviously the computer is in fact recognizing the Radeon card, even at the requirements lab the stats (such as video RAM) lists the Radeon's stats but displays the Intel. Does anyone know how to fix this or whether when I start a game if it'll automatically switch to the Radeon card?

[olemars]

You could try disabling the intel one in the device manager.

[G-Flex]

Do motherboards still have switches to disable the onboard video? Check, at least. If not, check the BIOS for anything relevant. If that doesn't work, yeah, check device manager and disable the onboard device.

[alway]

Dunno about that particular model, but it could be similar to a laptop I came across in the past in that it can switch between the two for power consumption reasons. Look around the system for any sort of option to switch on the powerful card or to leave some sort of low power mode in which it uses the onboard. Only if you can't find such a feature should you tinker around in device manager.

[userpay]

I think this is one of the computers that is suppose to switch between the two graphic options to help deal with power consumption but I can't seem to find any options for switching between the cards which means I'll probably have to try disabling the Intel. I'll try poking around a little more I suppose after I finish my homework.

[Telgin]

Dunno about that particular model, but it could be similar to a laptop I came across in the past in that it can switch between the two for power consumption reasons. Look around the system for any sort of option to switch on the powerful card or to leave some sort of low power mode in which it uses the onboard. Only if you can't find such a feature should you tinker around in device manager.

Sounds about like my current laptop.  Mine switches automatically between the two depending on whether it's plugged in or not (and if the more powerful card isn't being currently utilized).  The option to change this may show up under power settings, or the graphics card's management software (is that still Catalyst for ATI cards?).

Before mucking around with any of that though, I'd try actually running a game on it first.  Chances are it's smart enough to figure out to switch to the Radeon automatically.

[userpay]

Dunno about that particular model, but it could be similar to a laptop I came across in the past in that it can switch between the two for power consumption reasons. Look around the system for any sort of option to switch on the powerful card or to leave some sort of low power mode in which it uses the onboard. Only if you can't find such a feature should you tinker around in device manager.

Sounds about like my current laptop.  Mine switches automatically between the two depending on whether it's plugged in or not (and if the more powerful card isn't being currently utilized).  The option to change this may show up under power settings, or the graphics card's management software (is that still Catalyst for ATI cards?).

Before mucking around with any of that though, I'd try actually running a game on it first.  Chances are it's smart enough to figure out to switch to the Radeon automatically.

I tried running Champions Online and at character creation there was an odd pink hue around the character. I think I tried running Catalyst but it gave me something about not being compatible with something else... Pretty sure the drivers for both are updated if Windows update search is anything to go by though I might try manually installing the latest drivers just in case. I'll try looking through the power settings.

[Telgin]

A pinkish hue... but does it actually run at full speed?  My suspicion is that the integrated card would give notably bad performance, and would either run the game or it wouldn't.  I wouldn't expect it to have a pink hue like that from a compatibility problem.  Unless it's a problem with a shader or something.  Well, I guess that is plausible.

Do verify that you've got the most up to date drivers, and patch for the game.  Either could be the problem.

[userpay]

Still working on getting more drivers. For having software that is suppose to check for that sort of thing (both Microsoft and HP) it seems to miss quite a few. I fear what might be the main issue is that since I installed a new OS its not properly recognizing a few things. For example in the HP Support Assistant it doesn't seem to want to load Product Name, Serial Number, or Product Number of the computer.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should figure out how to restore to factory settings (I think the recovery disk is actually stored on the hard drive) though I'm going to wait until after this BIOS update at least.

[G-Flex]

Still working on getting more drivers. For having software that is suppose to check for that sort of thing (both Microsoft and HP) it seems to miss quite a few.

Never, ever trust Windows Update (or Microsoft Update, whatever) to find the correct and up-to-date drivers for you. It's never seemed to work right for me and others have related similar experiences.

I fear what might be the main issue is that since I installed a new OS its not properly recognizing a few things. For example in the HP Support Assistant it doesn't seem to want to load Product Name, Serial Number, or Product Number of the computer.

A new OS on the computer? I'm not surprised, especially since you probably installed a retail version of Windows on an OEM computer, which can lead to... issues.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should figure out how to restore to factory settings (I think the recovery disk is actually stored on the hard drive) though I'm going to wait until after this BIOS update at least.

There's usually a partition on the hard drive with the recovery stuff, yeah. Of course, if you installed Windows again from scratch, the menu to boot from it might be kaput. In a case like this, I would suggest burning a CD with a boot manager on it, like Ultimate Boot CD, and using that to boot that partition if you ever need to.

[userpay]

I fear what might be the main issue is that since I installed a new OS its not properly recognizing a few things. For example in the HP Support Assistant it doesn't seem to want to load Product Name, Serial Number, or Product Number of the computer.

A new OS on the computer? I'm not surprised, especially since you probably installed a retail version of Windows on an OEM computer, which can lead to... issues.

What sort of issues...? This might be why I'm having problems.

[Telgin]

I fear what might be the main issue is that since I installed a new OS its not properly recognizing a few things. For example in the HP Support Assistant it doesn't seem to want to load Product Name, Serial Number, or Product Number of the computer.

A new OS on the computer? I'm not surprised, especially since you probably installed a retail version of Windows on an OEM computer, which can lead to... issues.

What sort of issues...? This might be why I'm having problems.

I wouldn't expect this to have problems really.  It's going the other way that you'll run into trouble (such as Windows activation).  Finding drivers is probably the only tough thing if you're installing onto OEM hardware.

There should be a generic driver on ATI's website that will work for your card though, regardless of who the exact vendor is.

[userpay]

Okay so going through BIOS fixed the deal with swapping between cards so now its using the Radeon card properly. Only issue is the Catalyst program doesn't seem to be working but that doesn't matter much now that the card works anyway does it?

[G-Flex]

I've had Catalyst Control Center break sometimes when I upgrade drivers. Is it just not loading at all, or what? I think I had to perform some bizarre ritual involving the uninstallation/reinstallation of drivers/CCC in a combination that didn't make any sense and don't quite remember, but that was on a Dell.

[userpay]

I've had Catalyst Control Center break sometimes when I upgrade drivers. Is it just not loading at all, or what? I think I had to perform some bizarre ritual involving the uninstallation/reinstallation of drivers/CCC in a combination that didn't make any sense and don't quite remember, but that was on a Dell.

It seems to say something about 'AMD Catalyst Mobility cannot be downloaded due to incompatible hardware/software on your computer'. This might stem from whatever's causing Intel's Mobile HD Graphics to not display the proper version (uses Radeon's instead).