My MBP i7 is stuck on NVIDIA graphics

[tekmoe]

I downloaded bitninjas gfx status app (great app btw) and I haven't seen my MBP use the Intel graphics for the past few days. I've tried creating a new user account and it is still using the NVIDIA graphics. It seems like the issue may have started after I installed some drivers for my IOGear ESata Expresscard. But now I can't figure out how to uninstall the drivers to see if the problem goes away. I've checked the Activity Monitor and have tried killing any processes that I can to see if it will revert back to the Intel graphics but I'm not having any luck. Attached is a screen shot of my Activity Monitor. Does anyone see anything that would be causing my MBP to use NVIDIA graphics instead of Intel graphics?

BTW, I installed a blank hard drive and loaded a fresh intstall of Snow Leopard from the cd that came with MBP. When doing this it reverts back to the Intel graphics so I know it is something specific to my environment. I'm just not sure how to figure out what it is.

 

[reini1305]

BTW, I installed a blank hard drive and loaded a fresh intstall of Snow Leopard from the cd that came with MBP. When doing this it reverts back to the Intel graphics so I know it is something specific to my environment. I'm just not sure how to figure out what it is.

In your attached image I see two non standard programs. "Wakoopa Tracker" and "3G Watcher". Have you tried removing them?

 

[BlackZ]

I have the same, I never saw it run on Intel, always on Nvidia even when all my apps are closed for a while.

 

[tekmoe]

In your attached image I see two non standard programs. "Wakoopa Tracker" and "3G Watcher". Have you tried removing them?

Wakoopa Tracker keeps track of my computer usage. 3G Watcher is for my AT&T wireless card. Even with both of these apps closed (as well as any other app), the NVIDIA graphics is still running.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

I've seen some weird 'helper' apps that trigger the Nvidia GPU. Like someone over at the Apple forums was struggling with this and discovered that the MS Office 'updater' was running in the background, monitoring for updates. For whatever reason, it was triggering the Nvidia GPU full time. Once disabled, Intel GPU kicked on.

 

[BryanLyle]

Yeah. I still have to use MS Office 2004. It has background tasks for Auto update and Entourage. Those kick mine into Nvida 100% of the time. Quitting those two processes sends me back to Intel.