Mobility Modder for laptop users

[Negus]

So what's the deal, what exactly is Mobility Modder?

ATI have for many years had their hands tied with laptop manufacturers (OEMS) who request that ATI do not offer support for their device in the Catalyst Driver. This may seem strange, however makers such as Dell may have implemented their own support system and they do not want their customers downloading "reference" drivers from ATI's home page.

Unfortunately if you have just spent a few thousand $/£ on a new laptop and you want to keep your graphics drivers updated this leaves you in a bit of a pickle and many people frequently are waiting for their OEM to furnish them with new drivers. Right now the only option is to keep emailing your OEM to request that they update their drivers on a regular basis. However, we all know in real life that this rarely makes a difference.

This is where Driver Heaven comes to the rescue and has done now for years with our FREE Mobility Modder for Windows XP. Over 8,000,000 downloads would suggest that many people wanted the newest ATI drivers on their laptop, with good reason.

Driver:

http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php
also available in vista.

I dunno if doing this would void the warranty of newer laptops. some manufacturer's do allow use of reference drivers but a lot still design their own (DELL) but seldom update theirs. :fire:

[Jun aka Pekto]

I've always used reference drivers with my laptops, all which use ATI graphics chips. So long as the chipset is supported.

[Negus]

I've tried and tested the modder. It works.

My toshiba satellite A135 series laptop (celeron 1.6Ghz Ati Xpress 200M graphics - bought in 2007) won't accept ATI reference drivers. Install log always indicate failed driver installation. Toshiba proprietary graphics driver can only upgrade upto driver version 8.383.1.1000 (driver date 6/21/2007 :).

After modding newer reference drivers I was able to upgrade it to driver version 8.561.0.0 (catalyst driver 8.12 - 12/1/2008). I've tried modding catalyst driver 9.3 (3/18/2009) but it doesn't work. Maybe support for the mentioned graphics chip ended.

As for performance, notable smoothness when opening multiple windows. Smoother graphics too when light gaming (Dota, older MMOs).

From the website, It is mentioned that laptop manufacturer support for refence drivers started in 2007. So I guess this modder tool would only help owners with older laptops which rejects ATI reference drivers.

Terry Makedon: AMD Manager for Software Product Management Graphics Product Group issued Driver Heaven with the following statement in April of 2007:

"AMD (formerly ATI) introduced the concept of Catalyst Mobility which is a generic driver that works decently for most laptops. The only way we are able to do this is through permission by a laptop manufacturer (OEM) to include their device in the Catalyst Mobility. We were the first company to provide graphics drivers for laptops to the general public, and we believe there is great value in this. At this point we only have permission from a few vendors and I personally wish more of them would let us. My suggestion is you contact your manufacturer and ask them to have your laptop included in Catalyst Mobility. As for Vista specifically we do not have permissions yet, but as soon as we do we look forward to releasing Vista drivers for laptops."

[Jun aka Pekto]

I've tried and tested the modder. It works.

My toshiba satellite A135 series laptop (celeron 1.6Ghz Ati Xpress 200M graphics - bought in 2007) won't accept ATI reference drivers. Install log always indicate failed driver installation. Toshiba proprietary graphics driver can only upgrade upto driver version 8.383.1.1000 (driver date 6/21/2007 :).

After modding newer reference drivers I was able to upgrade it to driver version 8.561.0.0 (catalyst driver 8.12 - 12/1/2008). I've tried modding catalyst driver 9.3 (3/18/2009) but it doesn't work. Maybe support for the mentioned graphics chip ended.

As for performance, notable smoothness when opening multiple windows. Smoother graphics too when light gaming (Dota, older MMOs).

From the website, It is mentioned that laptop manufacturer support for refence drivers started in 2007. So I guess this modder tool would only help owners with older laptops which rejects ATI reference drivers.

You may be right. I have a Toshiba A215-s4757 (AMD 1.8ghz Turion X2/2GB RAM/250GB SATA 4200rpm hard drive)that I bought back in September 2007. It's graphics chip is an ATI X1200. The laptop is supposed to be Vista only. But, I scrounged around for reference XP device drivers and downgraded it to XP Home. It took the reference ATI Catalyst drivers just fine.

I originally went back to Vista Home Premium. But, my daughter installed Photoshop Elements 7 and wanted faster performance. Downgrading to XP Home provided that added boost as well as allowing me to run several games (including C&C: Generals, Pacific Fighters, DCX) more smoothly.