2 graphics cards installed on a laptop???

D

Dimitri

Member
A friend of mine asked me to install Windows on a new laptop he got and when I was installing the drivers I installed the graphics card driver through the device manager rather than running setup on the driver.

Now in the screen resolution menu of Win 7 under display I have listed "Generic PnP Monitor on Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" I can't select anything else even tho the actual graphics card is installed. When I check the device manager it shows two graphics cards installed, the generic one and the actual one.

I assume that the generic one is not supposed to be there and that it was supposed to go away when the actual graphics card was installed but maybe that didn't happen because I installed the driver through the device manager rather than running setup.

I should say that before I installed the driver I had the generic card in the device manager and also the actual one, which was listed with the yellow question mark since the driver wasn't installed.

So what is going on here, should I simply remove the generic one in the device manager? Should I run setup on the graphics driver even tho I already installed the driver through device manager?
 
Most likely you have a laptop with a dedicated card and onboard graphics. What is the make and model of the laptop and operating system installed?
 
But why can't I switch to the dedicated card?

The OS is Win7 (which I installed, it came with free DOS), as far as the model, I've had some problems with that (the friend I got the laptop from isn't available so I can't ask him). On the bottom of the laptop it says the model is 270E5V-X01HS, however, when I google that I only get Croatian web shops selling this laptop (I'm from Croatia). Supposedly the model is called something different in the US.

I DID eventually manage to find drivers on the samsung website for a 270E5V (the other part "X01HS" wasn't on the drivers list I found at the site) and everything I downloaded off there worked for my laptop.

At any rate, here are the specs from a Croatian site:

Samsung 270E5V-X01HS, Intel Core i3 Processor 3120M (2.50 GHz, 3 MB), 6GB DDR3 1600MHz, nVIDIA GeForce 710M 2GB GDDR3, 15.6" HD LED (1366 x 768), HDD 750GB 5400RPM, DVD Super Multi DL, WiFi 802.11 bg/n, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, HDMI, FreeDOS, Težina 2.2kg, Boja srebrna
 
The other video will the Intel HD graphics from the processor. You should have nvidia 710m also listed under display properties. I can't find the model at samsung to point you to the driver. You usually have to install software or there is a switch to be switch between video.
 
If it's Nvidia, go to the desktop, right click and go to "NVIDIA control panel" and there's a section to choose which one is displaying...be careful when playing older games, I received SEVERAL BSOD's while playing Diablo II Lord Of Destruction. This may have been due to either Cuda or that the game was just too damn old :P Needed to use my cruddier graphics (Intel 4000HD) to play the game at all
 
johnb35 said:
The other video will the Intel HD graphics from the processor. You should have nvidia 710m also listed under display properties.
Click to expand...

I do have nvidia 710m, that's the one I installed the driver for. You're saying this "standard VGA graphics adapter" is actually Intel HD?

I can't find the model at samsung to point you to the driver. You usually have to install software or there is a switch to be switch between video.
Click to expand...

What kind of a switch are you referring to?

If it's Nvidia, go to the desktop, right click and go to "NVIDIA control panel" and there's a section to choose which one is displaying
Click to expand...

I don't have the nvidia software installed, can I do it without it? (if I can't I'll install the software, just wondering)
 
johnb35 said:
This should be your driver for the Intel hd4000 integrated graphics.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...sion=Windows 7 (64-bit)*&DownloadType=Drivers

I'm not sure about how to switch between graphics, sure someone else will help on that part.
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Thanks! I installed it and it worked. It did, indeed, install an Intel HD 4000 and now the screen automatically went to a higher res and everything looks great.

Does anyone know the answer to the switching question? I now have, under display, "Mobile PC Display" and I can't switch to anything else.

Is it, as someone suggested, that I have to install the nvidia software, or is it, as someone else suggested, that I'm not supposed to be able to switch, that it happens automatically as more resources are needed (if I understood what you were saying).


EDIT:

I've installed the nvidia software and I'm looking in the control panel xarik mentioned but I can't find where to switch. Under adjust video image settings I only have one display I can pick ("Laptop Display").
 
Last edited:
You can make it switch automatically, or you can make it be one or the other all the time....I'll take some pictures of what mine looks like

http://tinypic.com/r/2s14yg1/5

Sorry I don't know where else to upload images atm -.-

The arrow is pointing to a dropdown menu that will give you an option between "CPU" "GeForce GT XXXM" and "Auto-Select (Recommended)" and mine is set to CPU cuz idc about graphics :P...doesn't make my internet run any faster anyway -.-

But that's the NVIDIA control panel, if you can't find it (please see my last post as to how to get there) then there's something wrong. You should go to NVIDIA's site and search your GPU and get the latest software.

http://www.geforce.com/drivers There's the driver search site

If you get the newest software, make SURE you do a clean install...I don't remember why that's so darn important, but I had to redo it like 12 times (took a week) just to get the darn thing right.

Keep us updated...
 
xarik said:
You can make it switch automatically, or you can make it be one or the other all the time....I'll take some pictures of what mine looks like

http://tinypic.com/r/2s14yg1/5

Sorry I don't know where else to upload images atm -.-

The arrow is pointing to a dropdown menu that will give you an option between "CPU" "GeForce GT XXXM" and "Auto-Select (Recommended)" and mine is set to CPU cuz idc about graphics :P...doesn't make my internet run any faster anyway -.-

But that's the NVIDIA control panel, if you can't find it (please see my last post as to how to get there) then there's something wrong. You should go to NVIDIA's site and search your GPU and get the latest software.

http://www.geforce.com/drivers There's the driver search site

If you get the newest software, make SURE you do a clean install...I don't remember why that's so darn important, but I had to redo it like 12 times (took a week) just to get the darn thing right.

Keep us updated...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the effort, you're a real sport!

I've had to return the laptop to my friend as he's going on a trip. I returned the laptop as was in my last post, but I think he doesn't play games so it probably doesn't even matter to him what graphics card he has.
 
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