New i3 notebook, stuck at openGL 1.1, regardless of using latest Intel driver

[idata]

I have just been out and bought my son a Toshiba L635 notebook for his birthday. Although not purchased as a gaming machine, it is unable to run what is a pretty undemanding game such as Minecraft. Java fails when trying to run this game with the error:

org.lwjgl.LWJGLException: Pixel format not accelerated

After quite a bit of research I have come to the conclusion that although the i3-380M processor is capable of better than openGL 1.1.0, something about the hardware configuration or the driver, or Windows 7 64bit is forcing it to always use the Windows default/built-in 1.1.0 openGL version.

I have spoken to Toshiba about this issue and they seeem unable to help, or even understand my question for that matter. I am hoping that someone in this community will be able to help.

I am running Windows 64 Home Premium edition. Initially the computer was loaded with Toshiba's customized version of the Intel 8.15.10.2086 driver. I went to the Intel page where it can check if you are running the latest driver and it said that I had a customized driver installed and to contact the manufacturer. After getting nowhere with Toshiba I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade the driver to the latest (8.15.10.2279). The driver update went ok, but still the computer is running openGL 1.1.0

I then tried uninstalling all the drivers (computer then reverted to VGA), and installing the 8.15.10.2279 driver buit still it is stuck at openGL 1.1.0.

I have read of some issues with certain chipsets and Windows 64 that Windows overrides whatever driver you have installed and forces the default openGl version which is built into Windows to be loaded. I have also read about some registry hacks to work around this, but in the instructions for that, the author says not to attempt on computer with on-board graphics for some reason.

I have read many Intel articles on the i3 and the Intel HD Graphics technology and as far as I can tell my version of the i3 should be able to at least version 2.1 of openGL

I have queried the configuration of the computer and determined the following (gathered using HWINFO program):

Intel HD Graphics (Ironlake)

Intel Auburndale/Arrandale Processor

Integrated Grapics Controller

Chipset Intel HM55 (Ibex Peak-M DH)

can someone please help?

[idata]

I have some more information, this was gathered using OpenGL Extension Viewer 3.35 from realtech-vr.com ..

System Info:

Renderer: GDI Generic

Adapter RAM: 1723 MB

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor

Display: 1366 x 768 x 32 bpp (60 Hz)

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M380 @ 2.53GHz

OpenGL:

Version: 1.1

Driver version: 8.15.10.2279 07-Jan-11

DirectX:

Version: 9.0c - April 2007, 10.0

Shader model: vs_4_0, ps_4_0

Report section:

Renderer: GDI Generic

Vendor: Microsoft Corporation

Memory: 1723 MB

Version: 1.1.0

Shading language version: N/A

Extensions: 3

GL_EXT_bgra

GL_EXT_paletted_texture

GL_WIN_swap_hint

Core features:

v1.1 (100 % - 7/7)

v1.2 (12 % - 1/8)

v1.3 (0 % - 0/9)

v1.4 (0 % - 0/15)

etc

Also, further down in the report:

"OpenGL driver version check (Current: 1.1.0, Latest known: 1.1.0):

Latest version of display drivers found

According the database, you are running the latest display drivers for your video card

No ICD registry entry

The current OpenGL driver doesn't expose the SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows(NT)/Current/Version/OpenGLDrivers registry entry. Unable to detect the driver version, driver revision name and filename"

Note, I also found this link on another Intel forum ..http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=72880 http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=72880

This describes the same issue and looks as though it is isolated to Windows 7. Unfortunately the forum administrator appears to have removed the posts which might have provided the solution.

And this is from a blog where someone is explaing how to use the OpenGL Extension Viewer from realtech-vr.com and how to interpret what it is telling you:

"The last part you should check out is the "Renderer" menu option. This menu lists the OpenGL driver(s) installed on your machine. It should show two options, 1) "GDI Generic" and 2) the name of your video card and/or driver. If it only shows "GDI Generic" then something is wrong with your driver installation. "OpenGL Generic" is Microsoft's generic software emulation driver. It's only used when no real OpenGL driver is installed on a system."

hope this helps

[idata]

Hello, it has been a couple of days now and I wondered if anyone has any ideas about the OpenGL issues I raised?

I am not sure where the problem lays at the moment, I suppose that it could be with the Intel driver, Toshiba's installation of Windows 7, or Windows 7 itself.

I spoke to Toshiba technical support and eventually was put in touch with a senior technician. He confirmed that the i3 processor installed in the Toshiba laptop I am using, supports OpenGL 2.1. He also stated that there is nothing in the hardware design of my laptop that should be preventing OpenGL 2.1 from running.

For whatever reason, Windows 7 is loading the generic display driver on my laptop. Even if I install the latest generic driver from Intel, it is clear from running the OpenGL extension viewer that it is still using the Microsoft generic display driver.

If I remove the Toshiba customized Intel driver (which came preloaded) and the 8.15.10.2279 Intel generic driver which I installed the other day, when the laptop reboots it installs the Microsoft generic driver automatically, even before I have a chance to tell it that I want to install some other driver.

Apparently, in Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions, there is UAC (User Account Control) which you can use to prevent Windows installing the generic drivers automatically. The problem is that UAC is not available in the Windows 7 Home Premium edition which came installed on my Toshiba laptop.

If anyone knows how to prevent Windows installing the generic driver on a Windows 7 Home Premium machine can they please let me know. I read a discussion on the Minecraft forum where the poster gave instructions on how to modify the registry, but stated that it should not be attempted on a system with on-board video for some reason.

I will scour the Microsoft forums again to see if I have missed anything, but I did do an extensive search the other day.

thanks in advance for your help,