toshiba satellite m645-s4050 is not using its nvidia graphics card

hi everyone,

i hope you can give me a hand here ^^''

As the title of this thread says, i just bought a toshiba satellite m645-s4050 with OS Windows 7 64... but the problem is that's not using the nvida card, but an intel one that only has 64 mbs...

Is it that my laptop has... 2 video cards? i've never heard about laptops having 2 of them... so im kinda confused Dx

well, i tried to solve it this way, so i can use the nvidia one:
uninstall the intel video card
download the nvidia display drivers from toshiba's website
install them... but the laptop is still using intel's D=

or is it the bios that's like... blocking the nvidia video card?

I don't know what to do... and i really need to make it work because im using autocad...

i would gladly appreciate any help or suggestions... ^^

 

It probably has switchable graphics. To save you battery life it switches to your integrated (intel) gpu and when you play games it'll switch back.

 

Yes your notebook has nVidia Optimus hybrid graphics meaning the laptop will automatically switch from Intel HD graphics (when you are idle, typing essays, or just browsing forums) to the nVidia GT310M graphics (gaming, watching HD video).

It's there to optimize your battery life as you don't need the GT310M on full blast doing simple tasks, at least I would hope not.

 

Thanks for your answers Hungry_man and Tsunade_Hime ^^
Its nice to have you helping here...

Well, about the switchable graphics... seems like's not working at all, because last week, while playing star craft 2, the performance didn't improve at all... i could say it was as poor as my old pentium D T_T or... am i being too demanding...??

thank you again for your help ^^

 

If this is your system:

See:
Toshiba Satellite® M645-S4050 Laptops


Then you have the same Optimus autoswitching video card as I do in my Asus U30Jc i3 based system.

Look in the link below to see the video performance of our identical cards in different games.

See:
ASUS U30Jc: Refining Thin and Light Performance - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News


To make sure your video does switch when needed make sure the power profile is either Balanced or High Performance and see if plugging it in (vs. running on batteries) is making a difference.

The 310M is not the fastest card for gaming, but depending on the specific game and game settings - the frame rate should be adequate (~30FPS avg.).

Hope this helps.

 

Do you have the video drivers for both installed? Uninstalling and reinstalling drivers the way you did might have messed with Optimus. Either that or you have to manually set it to automatically switch to dedicated graphics when playing SCII.

 

His OS also might be hosed from all that installing and uninstalling. Might want to consider a reformat if all else fails.

 

Use drivercleaner (in safe mode) and reinstall the drivers.

 

Sorry about my previous post - I was a little rushed and didn't respond on topic.

Go to this Intel website and run the Intel Driver Update Utility and then install all the driver updates it lists.

See:
Intel® Driver Update Utility


Once that is done, download the latest nVidia driver and install:

See:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 260.99 WHQL


Now, your graphics will switch automatically (via Optimus technology).

Or, right click on the program you want to start and select 'Run with Graphics Processor' and choose the gpu to use.


Good luck.



Edit: Lol... I have to update both of my drivers too (thanks for posting your question).

 

Hello everyone!

To begin, i want to tell you that I really appreciate your help... At first i thought my question was too easy to answer that my thread could be deleted or that i could be banned right away ^^''

Yup, as you asked me, i've got both of them installed... The drivers i downloaded are those from Toshiba's web site.

Yeah... i've been thinking about that, because i have a friend who switched from w7 64 to... w7 32, since he had had a hard time getting software for that OS; or even w xp ¬¬... but i guess that would be the last thing i would do... since i'd have to install every program/software again... Y_Y BUT I'LL KEEP IT IN MIND.

Installing and uninstalling drivers might have messed up lots of things in my laptop... gotta try this one...

this info seems quite interesting... (downloading...)

I read your answers while i was at work, but i didn't have the chance to try them since i didn't have the laptop with me... so now im gonna try them right away =D if there's any positive development during the following days, i'll let you know ^^

thanks once again for your replies

 

my apologies 4 answering too late... but finally i managed to solve the problem thanks to you all!

what i did:
1° formated and installed w7 32 bits
2° installed the drivers given by tilleroftheearth

...and finally worked!

These steps worked 4 me... i hope it to be useful 4 those who may be having the same problems...

THANKS!

 

Nice!

Glad it worked.