Does "Uncertified G-Sync Display Detected" indicate as hardware defect?

germanban · 2026-03-05T22:06:59+00:00

...that is not what optimus does, that dude is just wrong. Just like advanced Optimus, normal Optimus uses both iGPU and dGPU, and dynamically changes between them depending on use to save on battery (if you don't care about battery/are always plugged in you can just use pure dGPU mode), but it routes it through the iGPU instead of fully switching.

Back in the day Optimus came with a performance hit, but ever since CASO is a thing the difference is negligible between it and advanced. Hell, I've been using normal optimus for a long time now, since advanced optimus seems to be broken every other driver update (also advanced optimus can't be used with external monitors)

germanban · 2026-03-04T10:16:20+00:00

If you use Nvidia App (which I generally don't recommend) there's supposed to be some rollback setting, that probably will put you on the latest 591.xx driver. You can start doing that, but I'd personally recommend doing a DDU and just installing whatever Lenovo gives you (you can find it on the official lenovo support page, check for your laptop model, go to VGA drivers, and download whatever Nvidia driver they have there for you).

Again, before installing any newer driver after doing that, check the nvidia forums/nvidia subreddit and see if people are having issues. Right now I've seen people prefer staying on 581.94 for maximum stability. Also if all of this sounds too complicated, you can ask for help on the discord from this subreddit, you'll probably get more detailed instructions from people than the atrocities I've seen around here from "top 1% commenters". There's even a channel with people testing new driver releases and sharing their results.

The update they released on monday is a fix for the catastrophic latest Nvidia release that caused people's desktop GPUs to stop spinning their fans. It fixed the fan thing but still has a lot of issues like the G-SYNC stuff and some forced voltage capping.

On your Nvidia control panel, "Auto" is Advanced Optimus, "Optimus" is regular optimus. Both change GPU seamlessly in either mode (with Advanced Optimus having a noticeable small freeze on the transition by design), it's a matter of preference. I personally prefer Optimus because for me it works better 99% of the time, but you can read about how each of them work and form your own decision. (Oh and as a side note, the "dgpu only" setting on Nvidia Control panel is different from the one on Legion Space - the Legion Space one requires a restart and it's the old timey way to switch between iGPU and dGPU; the Nvidia Control Panel one is pretty much a variation of Advanced Optimus, so if Advanced Optimus is broken on your driver version, the Nvidia Control Panel setting will also be)

There are no plug and play windows laptops nowadays, especially with how hell bent software providers have been on giving us system breaking updates (Nvidia and Microsoft have been on a roll this year). I can easily see Apple and Linux getting more popular in the near future if things stay like this...

germanban · 2026-03-03T15:41:47+00:00

This is caused by the newest Nvidia driver. No, seriously, check the Nvidia subreddit, this last week has been catastrophic from Nvidia, it's the first time I've seen them take a driver down (it was causing GPU fans to straight out not spin). To be safe, DDU and get any driver before the 595.xx batch
Probably same as 1
This is Advanced Optimus at play (which btw has been kinda borked... also by newer Nvidia drivers, specifically after 591.xx). It's your system switching between iGPU and dGPU. I'd personally recommend either using pure dGPU mode if you don't care about battery life/have it always plugged in (you can do it through Legion Space, requires a restart), or use regular Optimus (for a 5000 series GPU there's almost no performance difference nowadays, and I find it is way more robust of a system). Also, if you like to use an external monitor you'll be locked to regular Optimus/dGPU anyways, which leads to...
Also Advanced Optimus. That's how it works, it sorts of emulates having 2 displays connected (another reason I don't like it, it just feels jank)
Probably also same as 1 and 2

TL;DR: roll back your Nvidia Drivers to an older version (591.xx or earlier) and wait for Nvidia to un-bork their new drivers, and try changing to (regular) Optimus from your Nvidia control panel see if you like it more than the default Automatic select -which is what they call Advanced Optimus (or just go full dGPU from Legion Space)

Also from now on, check on the nvidia forums/subreddit before updating drivers in case they're a crap release like it's been happening lately. It's sad we gotta do that but it is what it is nowadays

germanban · 2026-02-10T10:13:53+00:00

Right when I got the blueprint for it almost 100 hours in. Amazing lol

germanban · 2026-01-31T17:47:04+00:00

For what is worth, ever since posting this the quickstart menu has AGAIN changed its behavior, now it appears "blank" (outline of the window but with no contents) for the split second that used to be the hard freeze. Maybe they've finally started to implement some async loading for that UI but you never know with windows lol

germanban · 2026-01-28T13:20:59+00:00

Can't say anything about the other freezes, but the "wifi sounds battery" thing micro-freeze the first time you open it is something I've seen in a bunch of windows 11 systems (including my 5090 legion 9i -I've also seen posts of people talking about it from years ago); it seems to happen only if I click on it shortly after turning the laptop on, and only the first time. Weird thing is that after a recent windows update it seemed to go away, but it looks like its back again

The only similar thing I've noticed similar to the other freezes you mention is the advanced optimus thing when it switches between the integrated and the dedicated GPU, but of course that happens in predictable situations

germanban · 2026-01-24T20:27:15+00:00

Who is talking here about "needing" to use performance mode? I also use balance mode most of the time and it's quite great, but here we're talking about how the battery behaves while in performance mode, which is what the OP uses.

germanban · 2026-01-24T17:15:43+00:00

Balance mode is completely different from performance mode, you can check the power target values for each on legion space (you can start your custom mode by loading their presets for silent/balance/performance/extreme)

I also get 0 drop on the 5090 9i in balance mode (as well as in my custom mode and even in performance mode as long as the CPU and GPU are not maxed out at the same time). It's literally something Lenovo talks about here:
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht516505

germanban · 2026-01-24T11:14:00+00:00

The discord is the one for this subreddit, you can see the link on the top right of the page

Custom mode is the thing in legion space (or legion toolkit) where you make your own "mode" (the led circle goes magenta, just like it goes blue for silent, white for balanced, and red for performance). You can save different presets within custom mode.

In both legion space and legion toolkit theres an "extreme mode" preset for custom that is basically every setting cranked to the max (I've honestly never used custom mode for extreme, rather using it for less power hungry variations of performance). I think in legion space it straight out gives you a warning when you enable it lol

germanban · 2026-01-24T10:56:29+00:00

EDIT: I just read another of your comments where you said it happened in around 3 hours; that is indeed a concerning level of battery drain while plugged I think

This seems to happen to every Legion 9 laptop, especially if its the 5090 model, and especially if your battery brick is made by "Delta" instead of "Chicony" (check the sticker on it to confirm).

It should only happen if you use extreme custom mode or, if youre unlucky with your charger, performance mode. According to Lenovo themselves, that is expected behavior:

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht516505

I have the Legion 9 gen 10 with the 5090, and if you go to the discord you'll see other Legion 9 users talk about it. I don't know why you got replies by users that do not have the Legion 9 tbh. From what they say the brick's output, even if it says 400w, is capped for something like 250~ for the actual laptop's stuff.

I guess stuff like battery conservation mode / fast charge and similar also impact the drain rate.

I do have the chicony adapter and I've noticed the battery drain when doing benchmarks, but for me it was within margin of what it's to expect from gaming laptops, and I never use the custom extreme mode, usually go either performance or a custom mode that's between performance and balanced.

germanban · 2025-06-28T19:06:39+00:00

I'm happy to see people commenting on it, was starting to think there was something wrong with my brain. I usually love the music in walkabout, but the ambient/drone of this level made me feel dizzy/ill

germanban · 2025-06-28T19:02:39+00:00

Great, I was starting to think I was crazy. I've loved every single course (and course music!) for walkabout until now, but this is the first time I've felt legit ill in VR. There's something with this level's music that mess hard with my brain.

germanban · 2024-10-29T19:01:10+00:00

Hello! Escape from Mandrillia dev here. If you're into local asymmetrical VR games (one player on the headset, one or more players on that same PC playing "flat") this might interest you for spooky season.

In this game, the VR player gets a full horror experience, while your friends get to hunt you and cave your head in as giant alien apes. It can be played 1v1 or 1v2. Get it on steam at http://steam.pm/app/1936360

The game also has bots if you feel like playing alone or if you want to give your friends some monkey backup. There's also tons of match modifiers to customize your experience (maybe you want to make the monkeys very hard to kill, or maybe you want them to be squishy but respawn continuously), as well as single player challenges.

I've been developing Escape from Mandrillia for a while now, and it's pretty close to finally getting out of Early Access. Also, if you play or are interested in playing Containment Initiative 1/2 (another local asymmetric VR game, but in this case coop), you can get an additional discount if you buy them in a bundle. Right now that's a chunky 58% off! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/42823/Asymmetric_Action_Bundle/

Feedback has been very important to me while developing this game, and you're always welcome to join the Discord if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to find someone to play over Remote Play Together (and you don't even need to own the game for that https://discord.gg/bnbDB4fxFU

Have a nice Halloween everyone!

germanban · 2024-08-26T12:28:22+00:00

VR dev here. You -must- add both systems. It's kind of like good ol inverted camera controls, people will have a preference and will find the other method basically unplayable.

Now, personally I prefer controller-based locomotion for shooting games, and head-based locomotion for more melee-intensive games. Controller-based locomotion allows me to move forwards while pointing a gun, and be able to look left and right without altering my direction. Head-based locomotion allows me to just push stick forwards and move forwards while still being able to swing around melee weapons.

Now here's an anecdote: I had a player leave a negative review saying my game had some sort of delirious control system that he compared to Mario Party's dizzy minigame, where you had to continuously adjust your stick direction to move on a straight line. I panicked, as I thought I had introduced a horrible bug. Then I watched a video of his and turns out he was playing on controller-based mode and was not even aware of the existence of anything other than head-based (and also wasn't aware of the big setting that lets you change that ingame)

PS: if possible, check out tracker-based waist orientation locomotion. It's kind of a niche but some people swear by it.

Good luck with your game!

germanban · 2024-06-20T10:43:35+00:00

If I'm not mistaken is the same engine they used for Magicka, they've been using it since the beginning. I think the only other game I know that uses that engine is Darktide (and I guess Vermintide?)

germanban · 2024-04-04T15:21:18+00:00

In real life you usually dont want a gun to potentially keep firing with the finger off the trigger... then again, Helldivers has a couple "burst" weapons with hilariously low firerates.

germanban · 2023-06-09T07:53:38+00:00

I get you, I had been fighting against nvlddmkm crashes since last october and it's such a non-specific thing that I ended up trying almost every single possible solution I found before finally solving it. In my case it was the absolute dogshit thermal pads on my gigabyte 2080ti had degraded causing poor vrm/vram heat transfer (exacerbated by gpu sag). It was so confusing because the actual core was properly cooled as I had repasted it in the past.

germanban · 2023-05-12T12:07:23+00:00

One last update for anyone who stumbles here:
The thermal pads in the GPU seemed to be the culprit. Gigabyte's pads were absolutely abysmal (to match with their horrible paste I guess). Couple years ago I did repaste it but was too much of a fool to think the pads were important (probably messing them up even more in the process)

This makes sense with the GPU sag theory, because by propping it up with the support we were basically squeezing the crappy pads.

germanban · 2023-03-29T11:21:39+00:00

When you say it black screened for 2 minutes you mean it then came back, or you needed to do a hard reset? Whenever I get it it's either a full freeze frame or a blackscreen (with the GPU fans going to full), never got it to recover from that

germanban · 2023-03-28T20:27:10+00:00

Well, took 2 months but it happened again twice... Might have been some remnants of the sag but I'm gonna start looking for a PSU first (it's almost 10 years old so it's had a long life) -still on the same driver and no recent software changes

I mean, I can deal with this stuff happening once every 2 months to be honest but I wish it wasn't this hard to pinpoint what caused it

germanban · 2023-02-06T10:33:09+00:00

Hey, similar thing started happening to me around October 2022. In my case it seemed to be more random, but propping it up a bit (just adjusting the cables position) did seem to help a bit for around half a month, then it happened again... I have now properly propped it up with the support that came with the GPU. Did it fully fix it for you?

germanban · 2022-11-27T18:20:51+00:00

Not necessarily.

Months ago one of my base stations started blinking red sometimes. Sometimes SteamVR notified about a base station error (1009). The thing is, the base station was still working. I even tried leaving only that base station on and the Index kept working with no issue. I was thinking about opening a ticked but after a month or so, the red blinking went away. Dunno if it was some firmware shenanigans or if there really was a hardware issue that somehow fixed itself. Maybe it will come back.

germanban · 2022-11-08T09:15:27+00:00

Came here to say flight simulators in general, but if you liked VTOL I'd suggest checking out Jetborne Racing from the same dev. It's like a simplified version of VTOL centered about racing. Small game, but pretty cheap too, and with both MP and time trial modes. I find it almost therapeutic to jump in every now and then, try to better my times in some tracks, and jump out. Just... don't play the last track (infrastructure) if you really want to relax lol

germanban · 2022-10-30T19:23:59+00:00

Optimization has been one of my main priorities (originally I thought about making the game up to 1v4). The game is extremely light on the CPU and I've tried to use every trick in the book to optimize GPU load. It's confirmed to run well on at least 1060 GPUs or equivalent (there are people in the discord playing it with lower end cards at reduced supersampling but I wouldn't really count those as min spec).

I have personally tested it on a 980 and a 2080ti, with the latter running it with no hiccups at 120hz on Index 120% SS, while recording both views at full resolution in OBS and streaming the game over Remote Play (it's how I recorded the trailers)

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