Serious W7 Bug - ALL ATi Drivers for Thinkpads /w Switchable Graphics Technology bricks OS.

Question

Alas, i have found one serious bug for my Thinkpad.
It comes with Switchable Graphics Card Technology, with an Intel GMA 4500MHD and ATi Mobility Radeon 3470 paired together.
I have initially installed Pre-RTM 7260(ok, i know it's leaked), and faced the problem for the first time after installing the ATi drivers from either Windows Update OR ATi's website. However i have downgraded back to Release Candidate as there was stability issues with EXPLORER.exe
Anyway, surprising what i've though to be a show-stopper bug was also present in RC 7100. After installing(or rather, midway through) the driver installation, the screen blinks for a moment and after that, Explorer.exe is nowhere to be found with only wallpaper. OS seems to be bricked as restart does nothing. Only a System Restore prior to installation would solve the issue.
After diagnosing the problem, i have found the issue to be with the Switchable Graphics Card system. In BIOS, it was set to Swithable Graphics, with OS Detection set to Enabled, Thinkpad LCD Display(for output). I tried to set the graphics to either Discrete(ATi) or Integrated(Intel) but when i booted the system up it was in SVGA resolution and DXDIAG stating no graphics found. When it was in Discrete, i tried to install the ATi drivers once again, and although installation was successful, after restarting the same thing happened.
To be fair, i have repeated the drivers installation EXACTLY the same for both Windows 7 Builds(7100 RC and 7260 Pre-RTM) and the same problem occured. I have also tried to install the ATi drivers before the Intel Chipset(and basically the rest) and it's the same nevertheless.
I believe that this is a serious issue with Switchable Graphics Technology for Windows 7 Beta, since we have to make do with the generic Microsoft display adapter alone. I hope Lenovo engineers can put priority a solution for this as soon as possible.
 http://img269.imageshack.us/my.php?image=47492934.png
This is Dxdiag after i set other options than Switchable Graphics
 http://img30.imageshack.us/my.php?image=error3yyt.png
http://img41.imageshack.us/my.php?image=error2k.png
This is my updates.
PS: The Ati card is showing a triangle icon in Device Manager too, but i guess updating it brings the same bricking result.
Error msg "This device cannot start. (Code 10)"
Message Edited by ceecookie on 06-22-2009 07:07 AM
Message Edited by ceecookie on 06-22-2009 07:08 AM
Message Edited by ceecookie on 06-22-2009 07:41 AM

Answer 1

Sorry to hear you are having difficulties.
When I installed RC1 (build 7100), it came with a built-in driver that worked just fine for the discrete graphics in my W500.
A few weeks later, I installed the current release Vista driver for integrated graphics (this one) and it is working just fine as well.  Installing the Lenovo driver gave me the ATI control panel (not sure what use that is), otherwise, it didn't affect performance either way.
I have switchable graphics turned off in the BIOS, OS detection turned off, and have the machine set to use the discrete graphics only.  I think it would be a bit much to expect either Microsoft or Lenovo to support the switchable graphics this early in the development of Windows 7.  Besides, the discrete graphics doesn't eat up the battery that much - I still get 3 hours of battery life, which is sufficient for my needs.
Maybe try turning switchable graphics and switchable graphics detection off in your BIOS, that might get you running again.
Michael
W520 (4270 CTO), which replaced a W500 (4062-27U), which replaced a T42P, which replaced an A21P...