(2010) is a modern machine, past the time that NVidia discovered
it had a solder ball problem.
It's hard to get a block diagram of that thing that I trust.
According to this, the Ion LE is the first generation one.
The 311 gets mentioned in the "netbook" link in the upper left.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/picoatom_specifications.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_73301.html
It looks like the Ion LE takes the place of the chipset, and
is more than just a GPU. It hosts up to six SATA drives. The
specs don't say it, but that chip would also connect to the
FSB (which usually requires a license from Intel). I thought
one of the other members of the ION family, connected to a
PCI Express x1 slot, with much less bandwidth. So this ION
appears to be a "well connected" first generation part. It
has the memory controller on board as well (so the GPU in the
ION, has a short path to get to the memory - it's still low
bandwidth by normal GPU standards, but every bit counts).
So that raises the question in this case, whether it
even makes sense to be running the GMA 3150.
OK, now if I look at the block diagram of an N450, I
see something entirely different. There is no FSB on
this chip, so you can't connect an ION first generation.
You'd need the ION with the PCI Express x1 interface.
The processor has the memory controller, the GMA 3150, and
the only bus is the relatively slow DMI to a Southbridge.
If you had an ION, it would connect off the Southbridge
via PCI Express x1.
http://files.hlama.net/uploads/posts/1289372273_intel_gma3150.jpg
DDR2-667 --- N450 --- VGA, LCD Panel, etc
|
| DMI (could be 1 or 2GB/sec)
|
NM10
Southbridge --- PCI Express x1 --- Nvidia ION
|
|
And that appears to be a different ION than the one I located.
*******
OK, this could be the makeup of your machine.
http://www.reghardware.com/2010/03/02/nvidia_ion_2/print.html
I suspect you'd need two drivers. A driver for the GMA 3150
(as that would be used for the regular desktop graphics),
and a driver for the ION 2 (as it would be running things
with 3D acceleration, maybe even movie playback/decoding
would be done there). The ION 2 is shut off when the
computer is idle, and the GMA 3150 runs the desktop
then. But when something needs graphics power, the ION 2
is switched on (clock speed raised, power state change).
This also requires some kind of solution to select signals
from one of the two chips.
Your best bet, is to use the HP site, and use the product
numbers on the sticker on the machine, to select the
right driver page. Due to my demonstrated uncertainty
above, about the hardware in the box, it might be
better to start with the hp.com page for your machine.
Maybe your machine is a 311c or something.
If you can figure out the correct URL for that, post
back the URL and I'll have a look at it. I suspect there are
several models of 311, and I don't want to pick the
wrong one. My guess is there are two drivers, but they
could package both of them in the same download file.
If you go to Nvidia.com and use their driver inspector
tool (which loads code onto your computer), I expect
it'll just tell you to go to the HP.com site. They may
not offer you a driver there. Laptops are generally
supported by the laptop maker (unless there is a
hacked driver package available on a laptop review
site).
Paul
