Chrometal49 video driver update for t23 tested

Message

fefrie · #1 Post by **fefrie** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:47 am

Hello, first time caller, long time listener.

I updated my video driver to the chrometal49 driver from the original driver and it seems to run fine, there was the annoying issue of an icon appearing in my systray, but I ran autoruns to stop it from running at startup

I ran the system tests at pcpitstop.com and I got a speed rating for my video driver of 48 MP/sec. This seems pretty quick in comparison to my Netvista all in one that runs at about 30 MP/sec. Playing flash games with a fps rating I notice that the game runs 25-30fps instead of the usual 16-20. A great improvement!

I forgot to run the pcpitstop test before I did the upgrade so I hope that someone with a similar system could run the same test and let me know how much of an improvement it is.

My roommate just bought a t43 for $700, based on my experience with my t23 and his experience with his dell 8100 which is literally falling apart at the hinges, so this recent video 'upgrade' doesn't make me feel so bad about being welfare. It's like having a 64mb video card (sort of)

I previously was in love with my 390x with the 15' screen and was sad to see it go, but when I got this t23 with wireless built in for $125 and rebuilt it with a toshiba drive (probably 4200, but fast enough and DEAD SILENT), and 640mb with a 14" screen, it's like trading in the old wife for the new girlfriend. It's sad to see the old mare go, but I'm really having fun now.

The t23 is a good size, pretty compact and solid, but not heavy feel. My 390x was a monster in comparison to this. Only 3 problems with this computer now
1. no usb 2.0
2. screen gets pinkish if I adjust the brightness to the lowest setting using Fn+end
3. Software sometimes tries to "Unplug or eject hardware" the DVD Rom where the dvdrom says "Unable to unplug or eject hardware, device is presently being used, please try again later"

Surprisingly, it does video editing with videostudio8 and complies a DVD with it fairly well. Just a slight annoying "pause" but that's it.

I'm hoping that once my roommate gets his t43 I'll think "meh" its nice, but i'll get it in a couple of years when my t23 konks out and the t43 is only$350.

There's something to be said about having an old reliable that you know will do the job, but don't have to worry about. It's got built in wireless, no messing around with a stupid wireless card anymore, that's probably the most important improvement for me.

Plus it's cheap to fix. One time when cleaning, I sprayed windex onto the keyboard directly, and it ruined the contacts underneath. New keyboard from ebay, less than $15. Now my computer types like new.

#2 Post by **dorronto** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:36 am

"I updated my video driver to the chrometal49 driver from the original driver"

Sounds interesting............ Where do you get the chrometal49 download from?

Ron

#3 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:02 am

You can get it here:
http://manian.dreamwiz.com/software/view.asp?no=15867
underneath where it says: 운영체제 ......: 2000/XP/2003 is a button with an Arrow Down. Click on that to download.
It's a very slow and unreliable server though, be warned!

Alternatively and more reliable, you can go to http://www.vga.pe.kr/view.php?id=dizn_pds&no=4
and scroll down until you see 'Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 Server'
and pick up an even newer Version 5
Where it says: v5.0 - New! / Release Note 한글 | English [게시물]
click on the ??? after 'English' to download.
(or click on the ??? after v4.9 and get that, same as in first link).

Advice: do NOT use any fast downloaders, use the ordinary 'Save to disk'.

#4 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:11 am

fefrie wrote:Hello, first time caller, long time listener.

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Can you be a little more specific about the type number of your T23? I have several (slight understatement, some might say) that I can play with to see what the improvement is between the drivers. The one difference from your system to mine is that I've got most of them running 512MB or 1024MB. Majority of them have 1.13GHz or 1.2Ghz CPUs.

dsigma6 · #5 Post by **dsigma6** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:05 am

Yea Ray, you do the testing. Let me know how it works out!

Phazer · #6 Post by **Phazer** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:03 am

fefrie wrote:3. Software sometimes tries to "Unplug or eject hardware" the DVD Rom where the dvdrom says "Unable to unplug or eject hardware, device is presently being used, please try again later".

This could be a sign of a broken ultrabay "guide rail". I'm presently in the process of repairing a T23 that did the same thing when you moved the screen. The hinge was tight enough that it eventually broke a mounting tab on the "metal cage" that the DVD slides into.

Check for the following things:

1. Broken keyboard bezel.
2. Excessive flexing of the lower unit, (especially with the DVD removed),

fefrie · #7 Post by **fefrie** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:13 pm

I got it from the website noted above with the "pink down arrow" I guess it's version 4.9. Would 5.0 be any better?

Could you go to pcpitstop.com and run their system test? I'm dying to know what my old MP/sec was, although this new driver is definitley faster.

Regardng the broken guide rail, is it a part of the dvd drive or is it inside the guts of the laptop itself.

It's an intermittent problem, so I'm fine with leaving it as is. If it's part of the dvd drive, then maybe I'd be into fixing it.

#8 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:20 pm

I'm using my daily driver (2647-HNU) at the moment so I'm not too comfortable with using IE and downloading some software onto this system. I will try to run it later tonight on one of my other systems. What is the configuration/model type of your system so that I can select one that is identical or close enough to be comparing apples to apples?

fefrie · #9 Post by **fefrie** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:58 am

Sorry I didn't mention it before. My system is 2647-9LU. 1.13ghz processor, 14'xga 640mb ram Win2k. There is a difference though.

My system is spec'd with an 1024x768 screen and not the higher res screen as shown on the lenovo site. Interestingly enough I discovered that both resolutions have the same connector onto the mother board, but different connections into the different lcds, and the mobo can recognize between the two resolution configurations.

If you're wondering about what happens when you run the application, here's what happens.

It for the most part it runs automatically and really quickly. At one point it will access the internet to open a web page with the big logo. If you have zonelabs, then you have the option of allowing it. I did, and nothing really happened. After that, it will ask to restart, and when you do there is an icon in the systray. You can adjust contrast, gamma, and brightness using the systray icon, or you can do it via the properties section when you right click anywhere on the screen. Using autoruns, I prevented the systray application/icon from running (as you can access the same features again using the right click method). Other than that no problems. Surprisingly it is a noticeable difference. I'm wondering why it does so much better of a job and what the difference is? Should there be a trade off?

Doesn't seem like it. If I get 10%less quality and 20% more speed, it would be worth it. I can't notice the 10% less if there is any, but I certainly notice the 20% incease in speed.

It works fine, no glitches yet.

I'm really paranoid about what I put onto this laptop, it runs as clean as a whistle. So I give this driver a thumbs up.

I'd just like to know how slow it used to be and don't want to uninstall a good thing and possibly muck something up.

pcpitstop.com full scan got me 48 MP/sec video performance. What was it before?

Thanks all!

fefrie · #10 Post by **fefrie** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:12 am

and yeah regarding the dvd issue, the keyboard bezel was broken a long time ago. I used a removable rubber glue to keep it down.

It broke at the classic point at the right arrow. The rubber glue helps to keep the bezel from seperating from each other at that point. And helps prevent the broken bezel from flipping up when you open the case. From my viewpoint, that is the weakest point of the case.

When I lift the laptop from the wrist wrest, there is a little flexing at that point. I try to prevent it by lifting from the hinge then getting my fingers underneath the laptop.

Xenomorph · #11 Post by **Xenomorph** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:13 pm

so what is the deal with these "ChoMetal" drivers?

why do they come from a Korean web site?

4.9 was recommended in the original post. is it better/worse to use the newer 5.0 drivers?

how much difference is there between the default drivers (either from IBM, or official S3 drivers) and these drivers?

has someone ran something like 3DMark2001 to test the performance?

games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament run great on my T23, but it would be nice to have better 3D performance.

edit:
ok, the ReadMe for the 5.0 drivers does not list the Savage line as compatible.
so im guessing they wont work on the T23.

wulfman · #12 Post by **wulfman** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 6:22 pm

I'd be highly interested as well. while I'm still quite happy with my T23 (just replaced display, keyboard & hdd), the lack of stable openGL-support is a big show-stopper. well, that and the lack of usb2, but anyway...

could somebody try the drivers with an openGL app and check for performance, glitches & stability? I'd do it myself, but I'm writing the final papers at the moment, can't spare the time for a reinstall if something goes wrong.

thanks,
wulfman

fefrie · #13 Post by **fefrie** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 am

if you can point me to a safe website with a safe app to run i'll run it.

Speed imporvemtn I notice already, stability has been good so far.

wulfman · #14 Post by **wulfman** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:29 am

you could try google earth, although in direct3d. was not working with the old drivers, as far as I remember.

mfg
wulfman

fefrie · #15 Post by **fefrie** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:27 pm

Well, doing another test on PCpitstop.com, the video rating has somehow jumped from 48MP/sec to 90-110MP/sec.

If I were to guess that the original speed was 30MP/sec, then that would be a four fold increase in speed.

There was one flash game that I was playing where there was some strange artifacting and ghosting, but again all other applications and flash animations seem to be moving much quicker.

EDIT- Read my later post, I had the colour setting at 16 instead of 32bits, which would account for the double increase in speed

alagregg · #16 Post by **alagregg** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 5:44 am

directx works on google earth with these drivers. (it used to cause a bluescreen before)

however in windows display settingsI now appear to get a message that tells me a my saved color settings are different and it will reset to the saved ones, This happens whenever i go into the advanced display settings. (i then click cancel because i am happy with my colors as they are).

- Al

#17 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:38 am

Running My T23 (see signature) on PC Pitstop with the original (IBM-provided) drivers gave me this:
Acceleration: enabled
Performance: 50.01 MP/s (109% of 20 similar).

I have XP-Pro/SP2 with indexing turned off (both the Service AND the harddisk). I also use the MS-Cleartype option.

I'll take an image first, then install first v4.9, test on pcpitstop, restore original image, install v5, test again, and then publish results.
This may take a while, so be patient.

UPDATE: v4.9 refuses to install on my laptop
UPDATE: v5 does NOT find compatible hardware on a T23.

fefrie · #18 Post by **fefrie** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:48 pm

Well I figured out why my readings of 90MP/sec was so high. I turned down the colour depth to just 16bits instead of the regular 32 bits. With the colour depth back to the 32bit setting, I'm reading 60MP/sec, which falls more in line as an improvement with your stock 50MP/sec reading

I've got some screen caps, but its resultls are from the 16 bit setting.

http://www3.telus.net/public/notsniw/hardware.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/notsniw/results.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/notsniw/info.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/notsniw/gamma.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/notsniw/display.jpg

There is still an improvement. On one of my flash games, usually had something around 26ish Frames persecond, and with the new driver, there are times when it gets pegged at the 30fps MAX, which it never did before.

http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-151.html

Not sure why you wouldn't be able to install the driver, but hopefully my screen caps can give you some clue.

#19 Post by **dorronto** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 5:03 pm

This is getting interesting. It might be time to download a NEW video driver...................But I'm still not 100% convinced yet. Since I don't do any gaming, is it worth it????????????/

Ron

#20 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:05 am

I wouldn't mind trying that v4.9 but can't install it.
When I doubleclick on the downloaded file, it unpacks in a new directory, then wants to go online (why I have not been able to find out) to this Korean site, and then dies on me.
There are three SETUP programs, in the root, in the Chrome and in the Legacy directories. Which one should work?
On my laptop, none of them do.
I'm very well versed on XP, but I don't manage to get it going.
A program wowexec.exe (for 16-bit apps) hangs at the same time as any of the 3 setup.exe programs, so I assume it wants to install the Legacy setup. Neither of those can be stopped in Task Manager.

Would you mind giving me the whole procedure for installing this as in 'Install Graphics For Dummies' style?

fefrie · #21 Post by **fefrie** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:05 pm

It should be a one click process. It created a directory with the files you describe, but I never clicked on anyof them. It ran right away and once it quickly installs, it asks to restart the computer pretty fast. (Or i could be wrong. I can't quite remember)

If you have problems installing it, then maybe you should check to see what video chipset you have installed on your laptop. In my previous posts, I've got a screenshot of my hardware. maybe you can look and compare.

If you can, allow it to access the internet, or temporarily disable your firewall.

I know it can be a little scary, but it was safe enough for me.

I'll host the file on my webpage for a little while, so if you're having problems downloading from the korean site, you can do it here:

http://www3.telus.net/public/notsniw/Ch ... 9_2kxp.exe

Should be a blazing fast download as it comes from my internet provider. It uploaded at my maximum rate.

I'll leave it up as long as it doesn't become a problem.

Someone asked if it was worth it. I'll say yes. Although I don't use any graphical programs or 3d stuff, it does work better with my dvd player and also on youtube. There is less clipping of the picture and sound which I would suspect to mean that the processor is not being stressed as hard.

fefrie · #22 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:14 am

alagregg wrote:directx works on google earth with these drivers. (it used to cause a bluescreen before)

however in windows display settingsI now appear to get a message that tells me a my saved color settings are different and it will reset to the saved ones, This happens whenever i go into the advanced display settings. (i then click cancel because i am happy with my colors as they are).

- Al

Alagregg, so google earth works better now that you've installed these drivers? Would you call it a success?

alagregg · #23 Post by **alagregg** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:06 am

yeah i would,

the drivers seem to work well and support things that didn't work before (at least they didn't work for me). and i had no problem installing them.

there is the color setting message, that appears to want the colors to be a bit darker. i will probably just say yes to this.

all in all am a happy with these drivers and will be burning them to my t23 backup cd, as websites don't last forever

- Al

jruschme · #24 Post by **jruschme** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:56 am

FWIW, Chrometal 49 will also install on a T20. No problems with the installation, though I don't see the tray icon that other people have mentioned. The driver even seems to know that it is a ThinkPad version.

I don't have any good speed tests, but things don't seem any slower.

OTOH, Chometal 5.0 will not even install on the T20 (no supported hardware found).

#25 Post by **dorronto** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:05 am

"If you can, allow it to access the internet, or temporarily disable your firewall. "

Question.....Do you have to have access to the internet when installing the driver? Can you you just install it without access at the time.

Thanks,
Ron

#26 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:55 pm

With a lot of effort I finally managed to install the v4.9 drivers.
Not sure if it's worth it, the result is sobering:
Before: Performance: 50.01 MP/s (109% of 20 similar).
After..: Performance: 49.52 MP/s (No similar CPU/MHz/video).

fefrie · #27 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:15 pm

Maybe the real test would be the websites that you visit. You may find an improvement there.

I don't know if it will install if you don't have the internet connected. You can try.

#28 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:35 pm

I had to revert back to basic VGA, then run that program which creates the install directory, then go in screen properties, select Update Driver, and use the .inf file from the Chrome directory.
Too much hassle for a negative result in the end.
I don't play games or DVDs on my laptop, so I'll give it a 'miss'.
Thank goodness for Acronis TrueImage.

#29 Post by **dorronto** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:44 pm

Thanks fefrie for the download. I installed it, no problem. As far as it being overall better, I'll have to play with it.

Seems fine so far.............................

Ron

PS. I have XP installed, not W2k.........

fefrie · #30 Post by **fefrie** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:00 pm

realblackstuff wrote:I had to revert back to basic VGA, then run that program which creates the install directory, then go in screen properties, select Update Driver, and use the .inf file from the Chrome directory.

I would guess based on your experience, if it takes too much effort to install it, then you'll probably not get a good result.

If I had as much trouble installing as you did, I probably wouldn't do it too. Saying that, it was simple for me. Almost a one click experience. I'm not sure why you had so much trouble. maybe this is an upgrade for win2k users only as it seems that others that have had problems were using xp

Chrometal49 video driver update for t23 tested

Chrometal49 video driver update for t23 tested

Re: Chrometal49 video driver update for t23 tested

Re: Chrometal49 video driver update for t23 tested

T20

T23 Gamma driver

Who is online