Sony Vaio Z-Series driver support for NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M

[mummybot]

I purchased a Sony Vaio Z-Series notebook (model: VPCZ12X5E, graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, Windows 7 64bit) back in July of last year quickly followed by Adobe's new Creative Suite 5. Much to my horror, the NVIDIA driver which have GPU acceleration for CS 5 explicitly stated that it would not work on Sony Vaio laptops!

Six months later and visiting the NVIDIA driver site there have been some developments:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-260.99-whql-driver.html

On the Supported Products tab at the bottom it says:

Sony has joined the Verde program by supporting the following VAIO notebooks: Sony F Series with NVIDIA GeForce 310M and Sony F Series with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M. Other Sony VAIO notebooks are not supported at this time (please contact Sony for driver support).

As I am on a Z-Series this unfortunately doesn't cover me. Early in the piece I contacted Sony support and they said that they would log an issue and get back to me - I'm still waiting.

Does anyone have a Z-Series which they have successfully updated to the new drivers and how?

Does anyone know if the Z-Series "high-end business notebook" will ever be upgraded by Sony to the latest drivers?

Thanks,

Francis

Message was edited by: mummybot

[babamaal]

This is a really unfortunate situation. Apparently Sony have customised the drivers to support the 'dynamic hybrid graphics system' switch and must incorporate Nvidia updates themselves.

Display driver updates are critical for maintaining a current system. Knowing that the Z-series notebooks do not fully support Adobe products would have influenced my purchasing decision.

I believe it is possible to customise the Nvidia reference drivers to run on Z-series laptops. Perhaps Sony support could provide us with a guide for this if they cannot update the display drivers.

[babamaal]

Modified inf files are available here; http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ but hopefully a better solution will present itself

Message was edited by: babamaal

[felix.gonzales]

I too bought a Z series inspired by the technical specifications - I wrongly assumed that the Nvidia card would be FULLY supported by Sony to comply with the updated drivers from Nvidia specifically for Premiere CS5.

I use my Z series laptop for corporate editing jobs and work with large corporates for video work - Should the response be on recommendations that my Z series is OK but don't buy one because they lock down any CUDA potential....

SONY PLEASE SORT THIS OUT I AM FEELING LEFT OUT AND FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!

http://www.youandifilms.com

[felix.gonzales]

I'll be tweeting this for a while I suggest other do too!!!

@sony Frustrated at the lack of Nvidia driver support from a locked down Z Series Sony Laptop http://bit.ly/iaKcQR - Sony sort this out!!!

[babamaal]

Ok, I have successfully installed the community drivers on a test machine and got the CUDA acceleration working with Premiere. I have not noticed any side effects. The drivers (and signing instructions) are here;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html

Use at your own risk, etc. Hopefully Sony can do some formal testing and release these as an official update.

[felix.gonzales]

Thanks for the find and share - A little concerned about the Over heating and validation issues... Can you confirm that CUDA acceleration works in Premiere CS5???

Thanks again..

[babamaal]

Yes, I can confirm that CUDA acceleration works in Premiere CS5.

[isdberlin]

i rely on the portrait mode for my work, bought a $3000 Z 1390X. it does not permit screen rotation or extension.  a day after unpacking the computer i contacted customer support and they promsied to install a "different graphics card and mother board".  to cut a long gory story short,  i waited three weeks for the promised parts, was then advised to send the computer into repair in san diego.  waited and waited some more. one feels like a dog who doesnt understand why, but waits anyway.   finally i was told the Z series is "not compatible" with the installed Nvidia 330M graphics card,   and cannot "offer the option" of swiveling a monitor.  it's , uh, rather basic, isnt it?

they should advise their sales people that their top of the line computer has limited capacities --   i do wish some computer magazines would pick up on this!

i called sony style and asked whether the Z series can rotate a monitor and the salesperson said "of course".  when i told her it was not the case, she replied, "We're just in sales.  We dont know what a computer can or cannot do".

switching to  mac, finally.  i was the final hold out in my extended family and friends.  i know when i'm beaten.

[mummybot]

Thanks for the link!

I tried installing the drivers - there were two as far as I could tell:

1. 260.63(8.17.12.6063) from Nautis
2. 263.00(8.17.12.6300) from thomaskc.dk

The install from Nautis failed, while the installl from thomaskc.dk succeeded. Unfortunately both then meant that the highest resolutions for my laptop were no longer reachable - all is not well. I have reinstalled the original Sony Nvidia drivers and everything is 'normal' again.

Whilst it mentions to install the "driver signature enforcement overrider" I wasn't too keen to do that - did you use it to get your install working correctly?

Cheers,

Francis