Brand New T420 - NVidia 4200M Graphics Card Issue

[majavix2k]

I ordered a T420 laptop with the NVidia NVS 4200M Graphics Card, and received it today. The packaging label on the outside of the box lists the card as being present with the quantity being 1. However, I have no idea if the laptop shipped with the card or not.

Are there additional ports on the laptop with the NVidia option, that would distinguish it from the one without?

Also, when I try to invoke the NVidia Control Panel, the sytem gives me a message saying "NVidia Graphics Card not detected" - I'm running Win 7 Professional 64.

This is the second laptop that I've ordered that seems to give me the same issue. I'm wondering if the laptop shipped both times without the card, or if there's something that needs to be configured.

I ordered a T420 before as well, and had to ship it back because I kept getting the Graphics Card not detected issue. It seems strange that Lenovo would mess up things twice in a row.

Any thoughts/insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[ColonelONeill · Accepted solution]

Go into BIOS and look for switchable graphics related options. If it exists, then you shoudl have the NVidia card. Updating all of the drivers might help.

[majavix2k]

Thanks! I enabled the discrete only option in the bios and restarted. Upon bootup, the nvidia drivers were installed successfully.

[ColonelONeill]

i'd recommend putting it on Optimus for the sake of battery life. You should only put it on discrete only if you have incompatibilities.

[nibs Guru]

Discrete only will kill your battery life. Please let us know if it works right now that the drivers are installed.

[majavix2k]

Thanks for the inputs guys! I reset the bios settings back to Optimus and the laptop seems to run beautifully now.

[wkearney99]

It seems the T420 does not ship with drivers or software updated to recognize the 4200 setup.  Once you run the MS and the Lenovo updates, and reboot, the card will be seen properly.  I had this happen with my brand new T420 delivered two days ago.

On one hand I can understand the hassles of trying to create a system image for new hardware.  Lots of updates come out all the time so any install image is going to be out of date.  But it seems odd there's not at least a driver installed that recognizes the installed hardware from the start. 

So be sure to perform both the MS and the Lenovo updates for a T420.

[ThorsHammer]

Is Lenovo at least shipping Windows 7 SP1 already installed now?

I agree, there's NO excuse for shipping Optimus systems improperly configured.