Win 10 detecting but not enabling Nvidia GT 520 M

[11mrtom]

After upgrading my MSI CX640 16Y1 from W7 to W 10, device manager under display adapter shows both the Intel HD 3000 and the Nvidia GT 520 M as enabled.

I can access the Nvidia Control Panel, and thru G force experience update the drivers. However there is a icon “Nvidia GPU Activity” in the noticification area saying “There are no applications running on ths GPU”. So I imagine the graphics are provided by the i3 CPU. An inferior configuration for performance. In the previous W 7 OS there was only one entry in display devices; Nvidia, not two as present.
I have checked bios and there is no entry regarding graphics.
So has anyone come accross a solution to this issue ?

 

[Leeky]

I'm not overly sure it should be running direct off of the GT 520M for typical usage. Do you have any applications/games that can make use of the higher graphics performance that you can test?

I suspect the notification is actually telling you that right now there is no demand required of that GPU so it's not using it. If you fired up a game in Windowed mode (so the taskbar is still visible) I suspect it would read very differently.

 

[11mrtom]

So this Demand evoked process may have come or been activated by the upgrading to W 10, as it wasn't like this with the factory installed W 7 previously, nor was it mentioned in the MSI spec of the unit. Anyway as I dont have any demanding games, so I'l fire up a 1080p movie & see.
In the Nvidia Controll Panel there is only one entry, "3 D Settings", seems a bit thin!
Tell me if I install MediaCoder x64 and convert a file to mp4, would that trigger the GPU ?

 

[Leeky]

The way it manifests itself to you have changed between Windows 7 and Windows 10. As far as I have seen with Dell laptops utilising on-board and dedicated GPUs, you can usually run GPU aware software using either of the two GPUs. You shouldnt be forced to actively choose which one should remaining running and although Windows 7 handled most of these actions using proprietary software from the likes of nVidia and AMD, Windows 10 is a lot more aware than its predecessor.

If it is working it should automatically invoke usage as and when it needs more GPU-based performance. It does this to manage battery life as on-board graphics uses less power and your battery therefore lasts longer. You may find that running from the battery or in battery saving instances, it won't run at all.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[11mrtom]

The way it manifests itself to you have changed between Windows 7 and Windows 10. As far as I have seen with Dell laptops utilising on-board and dedicated GPUs, you can usually run GPU aware software using either of the two GPUs. You shouldnt be forced to actively choose which one should remaining running and although Windows 7 handled most of these actions using proprietary software from the likes of nVidia and AMD, Windows 10 is a lot more aware than its predecessor.

If it is working it should automatically invoke usage as and when it needs more GPU-based performance. It does this to manage battery life as on-board graphics uses less power and your battery therefore lasts longer. You may find that running from the battery or in battery saving instances, it won't run at all.

Let me know how you get on.

I'v fired up a high bit rate 1080 movie and the Nvidia pop up says "lockapp.exe" running". Laptop is pluged in.

 

[Leeky]

I assume lockapp.exe is the program you're using to play the 1080p movie?

Sounds pretty conclusive if that's the case. No applications will be running according to the app if it doesn't need the additional GPU resources it leverages. If it does, an application will then use it.

 

[11mrtom]

I assume lockapp.exe is the program you're using to play the 1080p movie?

Sounds pretty conclusive if that's the case. No applications will be running according to the app if it doesn't need the additional GPU resources it leverages. If it does, an application will then use it.

No, VLC is app. Unsure what lockapp is however Nvidia detects and runs it. We can safely establish that.

 

[11mrtom]

Ah.. I didn't know that this early low end card had Optimus enabled. So thanks to all who chimed in.
NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology1
Automatically transitions between NVIDIA graphics and Intel Integrated Graphics, seamlessly and in the background, to give you great performance and great battery life – whether you’re watching a movie, surfing the web, or playing a 3D game
As you may gather, I'm not a gamer, though occasionaly I let rip with the default pinball game.

 

[11mrtom]

hmmmm.....

 

[Leeky]

You might want to Google "Lockapp.exe" and have a read up.

Most people either notice this .exe because it's either crashing and causing issues with login from the lock screen or its malware related. I'd advise you investigate further using the information you find to confirm it either way. It probably isn't infected but reading up on it will give you more of an idea what it is.

 

[11mrtom]

You might want to Google "Lockapp.exe" and have a read up.

Most people either notice this .exe because it's either crashing and causing issues with login from the lock screen or its malware related. I'd advise you investigate further using the information you find to confirm it either way. It probably isn't infected but reading up on it will give you more of an idea what it is.

Interesting, I'v been searching for info at length on this particular .exe prior to my last post and can't find a clear explantion of its function. The most detailed list of process is listed in the site:
http://fxexe.com/file/lockapp.exe/931041
yet this level of detail is beyond me. As you stated most references are about malware & errors and no explanation / discription of its function. Some tech sites say its a W 10 inovation then others say " This file is part of unknown product process designed by unknown company". I'v done a SFC & sys health / restore scan and all is declared well, on line malware / viral scans, also searched my laptop for the "lockapp.exe" which is not detected, that alone as I said is interesting! I wonder if the sparsely populated Nvidia Control Panel is a clue ? I imagine by its name it is blocking Nvidia from running, fortunately this is a spare laptop which I upgraded to W 10 a couple of days ago. I await more input from all. thanks.

 

[Leeky]

No problem. I must confess to knowing little about lockapp.exe - certainly not seen any Windows 10 endpoints I look after showing that error. Nor can I recall ever seeing it listed. I've had a quick check on a few Windows 10 devices I have and lockapp.exe doesn't show in any of the tasklists.

You can check that yourself by opening a Command Prompt as administrator and typing tasklist.

That'll show every task running at the time of executing the command. Is lockapp.exe listed at all?

 

[11mrtom]

No problem. I must confess to knowing little about lockapp.exe - certainly not seen any Windows 10 endpoints I look after showing that error. Nor can I recall ever seeing it listed. I've had a quick check on a few Windows 10 devices I have and lockapp.exe doesn't show in any of the tasklists.

You can check that yourself by opening a Command Prompt as administrator and typing tasklist.

That'll show every task running at the time of executing the command. Is lockapp.exe listed at all?

Yes Its listed with a PID value 7100 / Console / Session 1 / Mem 47900

 

[Leeky]

I'll take a look at a few other computers today, but it would be worth hearing feedback from others in the meantime.

 

[11mrtom]

I'll take a look at a few other computers today, but it would be worth hearing feedback from others in the meantime.

Tell me Leeky does this image support the NVIDIA® Optimus™ theory ?

 

[Leeky]

Yes and no. PhysX is a real-time Physics engine that's used by GPUs to assist game environments with being more realistic and "life-like".

That aside, the fact it's showing it is proof that the GPU is not only recognised but is actively enabled on the system.

Personally, I'd just let the laptop do its thing - it'll use the GPU if needed. I appreciate that isn't the answer you probably want but everything from what I've seen appears okay.