The Problem
Recently I upgraded my HP Pavilion dv6 laptop to windows 8. Windows 8 detected and installed the default Intel HD video driver only. The switchable graphics driver was not installed. The ATI HD5650 was not being used.
The solution
The following instructions are what I did to successfully install the switchable graphics driver on Windows 8 Pro 64-Bit
1. Download the driver for your HP Pavilion model. My driver was for example here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?os=4063&lc=en&cc=au&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=4188763#N313
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-88549-1&cc=au&dlc=en&lc=en&os=4063&product=4188763&sw_lang=
2. Run the downloaded driver.
- Click Next
- Accept the terms and click next
- The default location will be something like “c:\swsetup\SP50640” click next.
(I will refer to this directory through the following steps, just use your specific directory) - The software will extract to that location
- When the driver installation starts click cancel
3. Install the C++ redistributable
- Enter the video driver directory e.g. “c:\swsetup\SP50640”
- Enter the C:\swsetup\SP50640\Packages\Apps\VC10RTx64\vcredist_x64 diretory (64-bit) or;
C:\swsetup\SP50640\Packages\Apps\VC10RTx86\vcredist_x86 for 32 bit - Choose properties and set the compatibility to Windows 7.
- Run as administrator
- Follow the prompts and complete the install
4. Install the ATI Driver
- 64-Bit – enter the C:\swsetup\SP50640\Bin64 directory
- 32-bit – enter the C:\swsetup\SP50640\Bin directory
- Choose right-click properties on the “InstallManagerApp.exe”
- Set compatibility to run as “Windows 7”
- Choose Run as Administrator
The driver should be successfully installed. IWOMM