Support wide screen resolution on R52 thinkpad

[boazrf]

How can I set wide screen resolution for external monitor with my
thinkpad R52?
I'm running Win-XP SP2. My R52 is 1858-69G using Intel 915GM/GMS,
910GML chipset.
The presentation director sometimes (no always!) show the wide screen
resolution as an option but when selecting any wide screen resolution
I get message "the setting you have selected cannot be applied
properly". The tried all the possible combination, updated to the
latest version of bios, chipset drivers, presentation director
version, etc... Nothing works.
Anyone has any idea?

Thanks,

 

[Paul]

How can I set wide screen resolution for external monitor with my
thinkpad R52?
I'm running Win-XP SP2. My R52 is 1858-69G using Intel 915GM/GMS,
910GML chipset.
The presentation director sometimes (no always!) show the wide screen
resolution as an option but when selecting any wide screen resolution
I get message "the setting you have selected cannot be applied
properly". The tried all the possible combination, updated to the
latest version of bios, chipset drivers, presentation director
version, etc... Nothing works.
Anyone has any idea?

Thanks,

Does the display device you are plugging in, support DDC serial
interface and provide EDID data ? You can check that, by using
this tool.

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/moninfo.shtm

When the monitor is connected, that utility should be able
to display a page of info about the external display device.
It may list the max (native) resolution. (Mine lists 1280x1024.)
The video driver needs that, to validate the max resolution.
Without validation, the driver will limit resolution to a lesser
(safe) value.

My LCD monitor, also has a "monitor driver" available for
download. This is a 3KB .INF file, and it declares the
max monitor resolution. If the DDC method was busted for
whatever reason, installing the "monitor driver" will
keep the video driver for the laptop GPU, properly
informed.

Not all monitor makers provide a driver file, because they
insists all is "Plug and Play". Which is true if DDC is working,
but not true if it is broken for some reason.

The specs for 915GM, mention 16x9, so some modes other than
the old ones should be available.

Paul

 

[boazrf]

Paul,

Thanks for the answer and the elaborated info.
I followed your advice and ran the moninfo tool. This is my output:

Monitor
Windows description......... AOC 716Sw
Manufacturer description.... 716Sw
Manufacturer................ AOC
--------------------------------------------------------
Plug and Play ID............ AOC1716
Serial number............... D3277JA098593
EDID data source............ I2C bus (real-time)
--------------------------------------------------------
Manufacture date............ 2007, ISO week 28
EDID revision............... 1.3
Display type and signal..... Analog 0.700,0.000 (0.7V p-p)
Sync input support.......... Separate
Screen size................. 340 x 270 mm (~18")
Power management............ Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep

Color characteristics
Display gamma............... 2.20
Red chromaticity............ Rx 0.652 - Ry 0.324
Green chromaticity.......... Gx 0.300 - Gy 0.596
Blue chromaticity........... Bx 0.143 - By 0.078
White point (default)....... Wx 0.313 - Wy 0.328

Timing characteristics
VESA GTF support............ Not supported
Horizontal scan range....... 29-49kHz (est.)
Vertical scan range......... 48-75Hz (est.)
Video bandwidth............. 80MHz (est.)
Extension blocks............ n/a
Timing recommendation #1.... 1280x720 at 60Hz
Modeline................ "1280x720" 74.500 1280 1344 1472 1664
720 723 728 748 -hsync +vsync

Standard timings supported
640 x 480 at 60Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480 at 67Hz - Mac II
640 x 480 at 72Hz - VESA
640 x 480 at 75Hz - VESA
720 x 400 at 70Hz - IBM VGA
800 x 600 at 56Hz - VESA
800 x 600 at 60Hz - VESA
800 x 600 at 72Hz - VESA
800 x 600 at 75Hz - VESA
832 x 624 at 75Hz - Mac II
1280 x 720 at 60Hz - AOC
1280 x 720 at 60Hz - VESA

Raw EDID base
00: 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 05 E3 16 17 21 81 01 00
10: 1C 11 01 03 68 22 1B 78 E8 0E 80 A7 53 4C 98 24
20: 14 50 54 BF E0 00 81 C0 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
30: 01 01 01 01 01 01 1A 1D 00 80 51 D0 1C 20 40 80
40: 35 00 54 0E 11 00 00 1C 00 00 00 FF 00 44 33 32
50: 37 37 4A 41 30 39 38 35 39 33 00 00 00 FD 00 32
60: 4B 1F 3A 08 00 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FC
70: 00 37 31 36 53 77 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 74

Display adapter
Adapter description......... Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML
Express Chipset Family
Adapter device ID........... 0x25928086
Display settings............ 800x600, 32bpp



As you can see the max resolution for this monitor is 1280 x 720.
The AOC driver was installed, and the 915GM/GMS 910GML spec (if I
understand it correctly) should support it (see below, taken from:
http://download.intel.com/design/mobile/datashts/30526402.pdf).
Still - I can't get it to work. Any ideas? I'm ready to replace this
monitor with 19" that supports 1440x900 but how can I know if that
will work?

Those are the resolution specs taken from: Mobile Intel(R) 915 and 910
Express Chipset Family of Products Datasheet

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.10.4 LVDS panel support
Table 10-12. LVDS Panel support
LVDS panel XGA
1024 x 768
SXGA
1280 x 1024
SXGA+
1400 x 1050
UXGA
1600 x 1200
Intel 915GM X X X X
Intel 915GMS * X X X
Intel 910GML X X X
Note: Intel 915GMS only supports single channel LVDS panel types.
Table 10-13. LVDS Wide Panel support
LVDS panel WXGA
1280 x 760
WSXGA+
1600 x 900
WUXGA
1920 x 1200
Intel 915GM X X X
Intel 915GMS * X
Note: Intel 915GMS only supports single channel LVDS panel types.

 

[Paul]

Paul,

Thanks for the answer and the elaborated info.
I followed your advice and ran the moninfo tool. This is my output:

Monitor
Windows description......... AOC 716Sw
Manufacturer description.... 716Sw
Manufacturer................ AOC
--------------------------------------------------------
Plug and Play ID............ AOC1716
Serial number............... D3277JA098593
EDID data source............ I2C bus (real-time)
--------------------------------------------------------
Manufacture date............ 2007, ISO week 28
EDID revision............... 1.3
Display type and signal..... Analog 0.700,0.000 (0.7V p-p)
Sync input support.......... Separate
Screen size................. 340 x 270 mm (~18")
Power management............ Standby, Suspend, Active off/sleep

Color characteristics
Display gamma............... 2.20
Red chromaticity............ Rx 0.652 - Ry 0.324
Green chromaticity.......... Gx 0.300 - Gy 0.596
Blue chromaticity........... Bx 0.143 - By 0.078
White point (default)....... Wx 0.313 - Wy 0.328

Timing characteristics
VESA GTF support............ Not supported
Horizontal scan range....... 29-49kHz (est.)
Vertical scan range......... 48-75Hz (est.)
Video bandwidth............. 80MHz (est.)
Extension blocks............ n/a
Timing recommendation #1.... 1280x720 at 60Hz
Modeline................ "1280x720" 74.500 1280 1344 1472 1664
720 723 728 748 -hsync +vsync

Standard timings supported
640 x 480 at 60Hz - IBM VGA
640 x 480 at 67Hz - Mac II
640 x 480 at 72Hz - VESA
640 x 480 at 75Hz - VESA
720 x 400 at 70Hz - IBM VGA
800 x 600 at 56Hz - VESA
800 x 600 at 60Hz - VESA
800 x 600 at 72Hz - VESA
800 x 600 at 75Hz - VESA
832 x 624 at 75Hz - Mac II
1280 x 720 at 60Hz - AOC
1280 x 720 at 60Hz - VESA

Raw EDID base
00: 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 05 E3 16 17 21 81 01 00
10: 1C 11 01 03 68 22 1B 78 E8 0E 80 A7 53 4C 98 24
20: 14 50 54 BF E0 00 81 C0 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
30: 01 01 01 01 01 01 1A 1D 00 80 51 D0 1C 20 40 80
40: 35 00 54 0E 11 00 00 1C 00 00 00 FF 00 44 33 32
50: 37 37 4A 41 30 39 38 35 39 33 00 00 00 FD 00 32
60: 4B 1F 3A 08 00 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FC
70: 00 37 31 36 53 77 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 74

Display adapter
Adapter description......... Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/GMS,910GML
Express Chipset Family
Adapter device ID........... 0x25928086
Display settings............ 800x600, 32bpp



As you can see the max resolution for this monitor is 1280 x 720.
The AOC driver was installed, and the 915GM/GMS 910GML spec (if I
understand it correctly) should support it (see below, taken from:
http://download.intel.com/design/mobile/datashts/30526402.pdf).
Still - I can't get it to work. Any ideas? I'm ready to replace this
monitor with 19" that supports 1440x900 but how can I know if that
will work?

Those are the resolution specs taken from: Mobile Intel(R) 915 and 910
Express Chipset Family of Products Datasheet

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.10.4 LVDS panel support
Table 10-12. LVDS Panel support
LVDS panel XGA
1024 x 768
SXGA
1280 x 1024
SXGA+
1400 x 1050
UXGA
1600 x 1200
Intel 915GM X X X X
Intel 915GMS * X X X
Intel 910GML X X X
Note: Intel 915GMS only supports single channel LVDS panel types.
Table 10-13. LVDS Wide Panel support
LVDS panel WXGA
1280 x 760
WSXGA+
1600 x 900
WUXGA
1920 x 1200
Intel 915GM X X X
Intel 915GMS * X
Note: Intel 915GMS only supports single channel LVDS panel types.

Well, that answers the first question. It seems your display has a full EDID.

First, some display control panels have an option to "show supported resolutions"
or "show all resolutions". Sometimes, the less familiar resolution options are
hidden.

In this article, they say:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070618064717/http://shareit.intel.com/WikiHome/Articles/111111431

"Normally speaking, the Intel drivers seem to provide the standard list of resolutions:
640x480, 1024x768, even some "home theater" resolutions like 1920x1080 and 1280x720."

I'm not convinced you should have to hack the driver to get what you want.

Also, when reading articles like that one, be aware that in discussions of
notebook GPUs, there is driving the panel in the notebook itself, and then
there is driving the external monitor. Intel goes to great pains in their
documentation, to solve the first problem. So when you see an article like
the above one, verify they are actually talking about the external monitor
connection, and not solving an internal problem.

I found the above article, as a link on this page. But this one may be describing
the internal panel in the notebook, and I'm not sure about that.

http://www.ryosa.com/widescreendrivers.html

I think the resolution should really be visible in the panel already.
And your external monitor seems to be doing the right things.

A couple more articles - none of this should be necessary:
http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/isn/Community/en-us/forums/thread/30228982.aspx
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12731348

You wouldn't want to start this exercise in cloning mode, because that
might restrict the available resolutions. You'd want the two displays to
be independent.

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intel915g/sb/cs-013595.htm

I was hoping to find some pictures of the display control panel, to
see what options are available. For example, one release note mentioned
a "custom resolution dialog".

Paul

 

[boazrf]

Paul,

Thanks again for the help.
I tried all the above options - the INF change of the driver had no
effect - the new resolution never showed up in the options list. I
tried creating my own driver using IEGD - followed the instruction and
spent most of a day with different trials but all I manage to do is to
get red and blue squares on the screen over a blank background...

Then I tried PowerStrip and I managed to implement custom resolution
of 1280X720.
I don't' understand how exactly PowerStrip works and I wonder and
there is a "cost" in term of monitor performances to this solution?

Note also that the original 915GM /GMS resolutions list doesn't
include 1280X720 (I thought it does but I see now it was 1280 x 760).
I wonder if this is only a driver issue or inherited property of the
chipset?

Boaz

 

[Paul]

Paul,

Thanks again for the help.
I tried all the above options - the INF change of the driver had no
effect - the new resolution never showed up in the options list. I
tried creating my own driver using IEGD - followed the instruction and
spent most of a day with different trials but all I manage to do is to
get red and blue squares on the screen over a blank background...

Then I tried PowerStrip and I managed to implement custom resolution
of 1280X720.
I don't' understand how exactly PowerStrip works and I wonder and
there is a "cost" in term of monitor performances to this solution?

Note also that the original 915GM /GMS resolutions list doesn't
include 1280X720 (I thought it does but I see now it was 1280 x 760).
I wonder if this is only a driver issue or inherited property of the
chipset?

Boaz

I wasn't going to suggest PowerStrip, because in the past they didn't
support chipset graphics (only ATI and Nvidia separate graphics cards had
good support). If you got it to work, there is no performance penalty.

The Entechtaiwan site has a FAQ page.

http://forums.entechtaiwan.net/viewforum.php?f=7

This is why I didn't suggest PowerStrip.

http://forums.entechtaiwan.net/viewtopic.php?t=18

For quite some time, display devices have had programmable registers
for output resolution. Even the graphics card I built for my home computer
in the 80's had programmable registers. There are rules (like some have
the restriction that horizontal must be divisible by 8, vertical
divisible by 2), but other than that, you should be able to program
them over a wide range.

Paul

 

[boazrf]

Paul,

I certainly learned a lot from this session. It's only for the best
that I ended up with the simplest solution. Apparently PowerStrip is
supporting much wider range of hardware since they publish that answer
in 2003...

Thanks again for the help,

Boaz