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I have a Lenovo Y560 with Core i3-380M (Intel HD 3000 integrated) and HD 5730.

Now little story (you can skip this part).
It first worked on Windows 7 with original Lenovo drivers. Then I switched to Windows 8 and since the Lenovo drivers wouldn't install and Windows wouldn't let me switch between GPUs so I used Leshcat's UnifL custom drivers. Then, while playing Civilization V for the x time, artifacts started showing up. From small ones to bigger. Eventually I think I ran into BSOD. The GPU basically died. I tried reinstalling Windows 8, but the custom driver wouldn't work anymore so I couldn't even switch to integrated GPU only. That was something around April 2013.

Discrete GPU is basically dead, but the problem is, it still drains much power and generates a lot of heat all the time and right after boot, apparently operating with maximum frequency constantly. If I pick Discrete only option in BIOS instead of switchable graphics, I get no image even on BIOS level and I have to blindly switch it back.

I tried disabling it in Windows Device Manager, but it doesn't stop generating heat.

On Ubuntu, the GPU drains power as well. I have tried a clean install of Windows 7 today, but during installation of the AMD driver, I got a black screen and then BSOD, although the fans started working much quieter than usually, apparently AMD PowerPlay started working and set lower frequency. However, an LED indicating discrete GPU work was still on. I also tried hard disk recovery from DVD from Lenovo. The fans worked quieter as well, but there was just black screen. Tried to run in safe mode, but Windows couldn't finalize installation in it.

I found some solution for Linux, but didn't try it. Perhaps I would be able to perform something similar under Windows?

EDIT: After Installing Windows 8.1 it must have updated the AMD driver because it left me only the black screen. So I installed Ubuntu and managed to power off the discrete GPU using echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch added to rc.local file. My question stays: Can I somehow reproduce this solution on Windows?

user293066
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  • You should come back after you have attempted the Linux solution. It should be as simple as not installing the drivers. I should point out its likely nothing you did, the GPU likely just wore itself out, possible due to heat. – Ramhound Jan 24 '14 at 22:59
  • I would try that on Live USB, but the laptop might have just died completely. After installing Windows 8.1, the screen went black during updating, probably the AMD drivers were installed, and when when I pressed the power button it gave me a BSOD with KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED error, after that not even BIOS loads up (I know it because it is password protected and beeps when i enter too many characters and it doesn't react to pressing power button). – user293066 Jan 25 '14 at 01:06
  • Strangely enough, it finally booted up after unplugging power cord, on battery only. Sadly, windows 8.1 loaded into black screen and restarted after some time, I presume after a BSOD I couldn't see. – user293066 Jan 25 '14 at 14:07
  • If you suspect hardware damage that's likely the case. Its possible the hardware simply failed because of age and heat. But your actions likely only brought an already failing hardware to its knees. In other words this was bound to happen eventually. If you could get into safe mode, it might also be a simple drive problem, you were better off with the generic display drivers. – Ramhound Jan 25 '14 at 14:14
  • Alright so the Linux solution works. It should be as simple as installing the Intel drives and disabling the discrete AMD graphics card. But without being able to disable the discrete from within BIOS ( this should have worked ) Windows might not agree NOT to install the driver to an unknown device. – Ramhound Jan 25 '14 at 14:18
  • Ok, thanks. So perhabs I'll try a clean Windows 7 install with original Intel drivers from Lenovo. – user293066 Jan 25 '14 at 14:24
  • Its worth a try. I just don't know if you will be able to remove the device in such a way Windows won't attempt to install the drivers after every reboot. I assume the laptop is not under warranty? – Ramhound Jan 25 '14 at 14:32
  • I'll uncheck option to update drivers automatically during installation. No warranty - it's almost 3 years old now. – user293066 Jan 25 '14 at 14:42
  • Removing drivers Boot Windows DVD Repair Command Prompt DISM.exe /Image:C:\ /Get-Drivers DISM.exe /Image:C:\ /Remove-Drivers list the drivers to find the offending one and then use command #2 to remove it – cybernard Jan 25 '14 at 20:22
  • @cybernard I tried "DISM.exe /Image:C:\ /Get-Drivers" as well as "DISM.exe /Image:X:\ /Get-Drivers", as well as DISM.exe /Image:X:\ /Online /Get-Drivers" and many other configurations but there is always some error like 2, 50 or 87.
     – user293066 Jan 26 '14 at 02:29
  • @Ramhound Uninstalling the driver or disabling it didn't work on both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. – user293066 Jan 26 '14 at 02:30
  • Ok so online it step 1 try **DISM.exe /Online /Get-Drivers** To get the remove to work you need to **boot from the windows DVD** and select repair and then command prompt. **DISM.exe /Image:C:\ /Remove-Driver /driver:oem1.inf** Change **oem1.inf** to the driver you discover with the Get-Drivers function. – cybernard Jan 26 '14 at 03:26
  • @cybernard Yes, I was doing it using Windows Repair tool, first I used bootable USB drive, now DVD, but it didn't make any difference. It still shows error 50 for **DISM.exe /Online /Get-Drivers**, error 2 for **DISM.exe /Image:C:\ /Remove-Driver**. – user293066 Jan 26 '14 at 19:25
  • As far as error 2 **Unable to access the image** maybe your drive letters switched around in the repair command prompt. Verify that the C: drive has a **Windows** folder on it, and if it does not find and substitute the correct drive letter. It is not the X: drive. – cybernard Jan 26 '14 at 19:40
  • @cybernard I tried every letter and only D:\ gave a result. I'm not sure however if this might be the DVD drive? Also, there is no AMD driver in the results. oem0.inf is Printer, Microsoft; oem1.inf is Display, Intel Corporation; oem2.inf is System, Intel. – user293066 Jan 26 '14 at 21:22

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