Gadgets 7.8.0 - inspired by AddGadgets.com Sidebar Gadgets

[redorbroder]

Does the Windows Device Manager show your GPU(s)? The motherboard seems to have a Crossfire configuration, but that shouldn't matter unless the GPU utilities temporarily disable the card when not used (apparently, this sometimes happens with Optimus for NVidia cards, albeit HWINFO64 does apply some tricks to wake it). Other than that, it could be either a hardware, driver, or HWINFO64 version / support problem - might worth to post about this on the HWINFO64 forums, since in this case a Rainmeter skin only works with what the SMV provides, can't show GPUs out of thin air.

Maybe SilverAzide has other / better ideas?

Thanks for your answer, much appreciated!

Yes, the GPU shows up in Device Manager.




Looked through Properties drop down list and the only thing similar to settings SilverAzide showed on screenshot is this:


Yes, I am fully aware that Rainmeter/Gadgets can't show GPUs out of thin air.

Thank you, kind regards,
redorbroder

[SilverAzide]

Hello Redorbroder! I'm sorry to hear you are having issues.

Is this a new PC? I have never seen a case like you are showing with HWiNFO, where it does not see your dedicated GPU!

Is your PC a laptop by any chance, or a machine that has an integrated GPU (Intel or AMD) in addition to your dedicated nVidia 4060? My laptop has a switch in the BIOS where I can force the dedicated GPU to be active all the time (which kills my battery, but I rarely use it not plugged in anyway). It might be that nVidia's Optimus technology (which dynamically switches between your integrated and dedicated GPUs) is tricking HWiNFO into not seeing the GPU. I have never been successful on my machine to get the HWiNFO option(s) to "wake sleeping GPUs" to work.

If you want to try turning off the integrated GPU, you can go into your BIOS and disable nVidia Optimus (it might be called something else), but essentially you want to force your 4060 RTX to be active all the time.

Let me know how it goes...

[Yincognito]

Thanks for your answer, much appreciated!
[...]
Yes, the GPU shows up in Device Manager.

Well, then in theory, the culprit shouldn't be the driver. Besides the Optimus possibility, HWiNFO seems to have added this card since v7.47-5135 Beta:
https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/threads/hwinfo-v7-47-5135-beta-released.8970/
although some variations of the card were added much later on, in v7.73-5390 Beta:
https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/threads/hwinfo-v7-73-5390-beta-released.9574/
Just curious though, forget about SMV for a moment, is the card shown in the HWiNFO's Sensors window?

HWiNFO GPU.jpg

[SilverAzide]

Good point; we actually have not seen a shot of your HWiNFO sensors screen. If you are using the 6.42 version (the final free/unlimited one), then this might be the cause of your missing GPU, since it wasn't added until recently.

[redorbroder]

Thanks guys for trying to help! Much appreciated!

Old PC, antique, just like myself...

Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Deluxe.
In BIOS (System Agent Configuration -> Primary Display) I can select, Auto - PCIE - PCI, none of these settings make a difference.
What I did was pulled out old ASUS Geforce 960, put in new 4060 in same slot as old, new drivers (552.44).

Can it help with new install of HWiNFO?
What I use now ->HWiNFO 6.42 Build 4360<-
Is this there a newer free version, without limitations?

Sensors (The only thing I can see that is GPU related is marked in red, there is no integrated GPU).

The rest of the list is only SSD and HDD.

I wonder how come Top GPU Meter works? Is there any valuable info to read from it?
Don't know if this is related at all but it just popped up:
A year ago I created a group policy that prevents Windows and Microsoft from updating hardwaredrivers.
Annoying is only the first name when Windows update wants to install drivers for my 2 Dell 27" displays...?

If we've reached the end of the road with this, just let me know.
Maybe it's better to move this issue as Yincognito suggests to the Rainmeter forum?

Thanks and best regards,
redorbroder

EDIT:
Looked at licenses for HWiNFO Pro and will buy a 3 year license.
The pension came and went with terrible speed so not until the next pension...
A question about this;
will my precious Gadgets need to be reconfigured completely if I install the latest versions of Gadgets and HWiNFO Pro?

[Yincognito]

Well, now it's clear what the problem is, but I'll let SilverAzide answer that part since it's his suite / thread and he's more familiar than me with the HWiNFO pricing plans (I don't use HWiNFO with my skins, I simply tried to help with more general matters), but a few quick observations...

I wonder how come Top GPU Meter works? Is there any valuable info to read from it?

The said skin gets the top processes that are using the GPU, and has nothing to do with HWiNFO - that's why it's not affected by this particular issue. It gets data from the Windows Performance Monitor (aka perfmon.exe) via the UsageMonitor plugin in Rainmeter.

A year ago I created a group policy that prevents Windows and Microsoft from updating hardwaredrivers.

Just so you know, you can block updates or any other stuff you don't want to have internet access via a software firewall too, if you deny relevant processes from connecting to the internet (or even better, if you use a whitelist system and only allow the essential for a working connection and any other software actually needing internet access to function). Nowadays, I use the free Windows Firewall Control from MalwareBytes / BiniSoft for this, which is basically an extension to the Windows Firewall.

Maybe it's better to move this issue as Yincognito suggests to the Rainmeter forum?

I didn't suggest this, but hey, since it looks to be an (otherwise logical) HWiNFO update requirement in order to retrieve data from newer GPU cards (something that other users might encounter as well), I don't know. Up to SilverAzide to advise on whether this is worth doing or not.

[redorbroder]

Thanks for your feedback!

Sorry, I meant move topic to HWINFO64 forums.

I use ESET Internet Security which includes a very good firewall, easy to configure with learning mode enabled.
Anything that wants to "call out or in" can be configured to allow or block at different levels.
Some Windows OS/Microsoft/Office I want to be able to update regularly.
But sometimes I really want to just completely turn off Microsoft's updates... argh...

Best regards,
redorbroder

[SilverAzide]

Can it help with new install of HWiNFO?
What I use now ->HWiNFO 6.42 Build 4360<-
Is this there a newer free version, without limitations?

Absolutely, yes. This seems to be the source of the problem. HWiNFO can't see your newer GPU, so you'll definitely need to upgrade. However, don't spend your pension just yet unless you want to. The creator of HWiNFO very generously worked with the Rainmeter team to create a way for their new HWiNFO app to work with Rainmeter for free. The newer versions of the Gadgets use this method, so you do not need the SMV (shared memory viewer) or the old HWiNFO plugin anymore.

So, before you change anything, please read this article first to get an idea about what you will need to do in advance: HOW TO Configure HWiNFO. It is a much simpler process to configure HWiNFO and the Gadgets, no more copying and pasting of weird hexadecimal numbers.

will my precious Gadgets need to be reconfigured completely if I install the latest versions of Gadgets and HWiNFO Pro?

Definitely, but not all of them! There have been many many changes since Gadgets v5.5.x. You only will need to reconfigure the GPU Meter and CPU Meter, since they are the ones that use HWiNFO. Most of the other skins should migrate over smoothly (I hope, I've never tried making that big of a jump from 5.5 to 7.7). Please note that the "Top Process" patch is no longer needed, these skins are part of the Gadgets now.

You can always post here if you run into any issues.

As a tip, before installing the new Gadgets, make a copy of your existing Gadgets folder to keep your configuration safe. Copy the folder C:\Users\your_user_name\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins\Gadgets to someplace safe. You could even create a new folder under the Rainmeter\Skins folder named Gadgets551, and copy everything from inside Gadgets to there. Then you can still use them if things go sideways.

[Yincognito]

Sorry, I meant move topic to HWINFO64 forums.
[...]
I use ESET Internet Security which includes a very good firewall, easy to configure with learning mode enabled.

Oh, I see - no need to post there yet, better try what SilverAzide mentioned, cause it should work based on the info we have so far.

Yeah, I used ESET previously as well and I was very happy with the quality of their products. Learning mode is not what I meant, since the firewall decides on its own what to allow or deny in that case, based on reputations. As a result, OS programs will be allowed even if you don't want that for all. I referred to building that shorter whitelist manually or googling for the essential rules while denying the update related parts (which you can easily allow when needed afterwards), and then adding to it various other non OS programs as desired. Anyway, this is off topic in the current thread, so I'll just stop here - just wanted to clarify these things a bit.

[redorbroder]

Thanks for the info and link!
I will read more about this!
Found the thread and topic where jsmorley talks about "Using HWiNFO with Rainmeter"
About backup: That is what I do, just copy the "Skins" folder to another drive.

Best regards,
redorbroder