trying to connect my Viewsonic monitor/HDTV to my laptop

[Nate Nagel]

Hi all,

I'm having a REALLY bad couple of months, computer-wise. I have a
Gateway 7330GZ laptop - well, really two of them. The first one, which
I bought new a couple years ago, developed a bad hard drive. I had that
replaced by the local computer repair place. Then the backlight for the
LCD died - had that replaced by same place. THEN I had an "incident"
where the keyboard died and I think I also fried the wireless card. So
I bought an identical puter off eBay and swapped the new HDD into it.
Well guess what, the backlight died in that LCD as well.

I've now got it hooked up to a ViewSonic monitor/HDTV, model NX1932W,
which I got cheap off Craigslist as a bedroom TV (to replace my bulky
old CRT which was about 15 years old.) I grabbed this because I thought
that it would be handy as a backup monitor and that I could then get rid
of my big bulky Samsung CRT that I've had for about 10 years. It's
small, it's light, but unfortunately I can't seem to set it for anything
higher than 1280x768 - suddenly, it's 1990. According to the
literature, it can be set for higher resolutions, but according to my
"display" options, the only higher resolutions supported are *higher*
than that of my built in monitor - and when I try to set Monitor 2 to a
higher resolution (or even the same resolution) and then flip over to
Monitor 2 only, I get "out of range" on the display, even if it is a
resolution supposedly supported (e.g. 1280x1024) Also the highest
resolutions (1360x768; 1440x900) are simply not listed at all. Is that
a limitation of my video card or is this evidence that my computer is
simply not recognizing a supposedly "P&P" monitor?

Also, I did install the driver's found on Viewsonic's web site, but
Monitor 2 is simply listed as "Default Monitor." Shouldn't it show up
as "Viewsonic NX1932W?"

Finally, if anyone has any words of motivation to help me through
swapping the screen and/or backlight from my old computer to my "new"
one that would be appreciated as well. I'm on vacation starting
Thursday and would really like to take my laptop with me; I'm not real
motivated to take my TV with me as well.

thanks (and extra thanks if you've actually managed to read this far)

nate

 

[Paul]

Hi all,

I'm having a REALLY bad couple of months, computer-wise. I have a
Gateway 7330GZ laptop - well, really two of them. The first one, which
I bought new a couple years ago, developed a bad hard drive. I had that
replaced by the local computer repair place. Then the backlight for the
LCD died - had that replaced by same place. THEN I had an "incident"
where the keyboard died and I think I also fried the wireless card. So
I bought an identical puter off eBay and swapped the new HDD into it.
Well guess what, the backlight died in that LCD as well.

I've now got it hooked up to a ViewSonic monitor/HDTV, model NX1932W,
which I got cheap off Craigslist as a bedroom TV (to replace my bulky
old CRT which was about 15 years old.) I grabbed this because I thought
that it would be handy as a backup monitor and that I could then get rid
of my big bulky Samsung CRT that I've had for about 10 years. It's
small, it's light, but unfortunately I can't seem to set it for anything
higher than 1280x768 - suddenly, it's 1990. According to the
literature, it can be set for higher resolutions, but according to my
"display" options, the only higher resolutions supported are *higher*
than that of my built in monitor - and when I try to set Monitor 2 to a
higher resolution (or even the same resolution) and then flip over to
Monitor 2 only, I get "out of range" on the display, even if it is a
resolution supposedly supported (e.g. 1280x1024) Also the highest
resolutions (1360x768; 1440x900) are simply not listed at all. Is that
a limitation of my video card or is this evidence that my computer is
simply not recognizing a supposedly "P&P" monitor?

Also, I did install the driver's found on Viewsonic's web site, but
Monitor 2 is simply listed as "Default Monitor." Shouldn't it show up
as "Viewsonic NX1932W?"

Finally, if anyone has any words of motivation to help me through
swapping the screen and/or backlight from my old computer to my "new"
one that would be appreciated as well. I'm on vacation starting
Thursday and would really like to take my laptop with me; I'm not real
motivated to take my TV with me as well.

thanks (and extra thanks if you've actually managed to read this far)

nate

There are sites that show disassembly of laptops, but they might not
be for Gateway and your specific model. Sometimes you can find a
manual on a manufacturer site, but I didn't manage to find one on
Gateway for that model. In any case, this site will illustrate some
of the concepts.

http://www.irisvista.com/tech/

If you're going on vacation, and so soon, I wouldn't be in a
rush to start this job. You need to take the time to do it right.
If you get half way through the job, and run into a problem,
you're going to be pissed, and do something you're regret later.
You'll also need a fairly large clear space to work, one where
preferably, kids cannot get their hands on stuff. Some laptops
have a ton of screws in them, and it'll be a chore just keeping
track of all of them.

An alternative to changing the panel from one machine to the other,
might be to move keyboard, wifi, and hard drive the other way. Probably
more screws, but less chance of cosmetic damage to something
important like the display.

Paul

 

[Nate Nagel]

There are sites that show disassembly of laptops, but they might not
be for Gateway and your specific model. Sometimes you can find a
manual on a manufacturer site, but I didn't manage to find one on
Gateway for that model. In any case, this site will illustrate some
of the concepts.

http://www.irisvista.com/tech/

If you're going on vacation, and so soon, I wouldn't be in a
rush to start this job. You need to take the time to do it right.
If you get half way through the job, and run into a problem,
you're going to be pissed, and do something you're regret later.
You'll also need a fairly large clear space to work, one where
preferably, kids cannot get their hands on stuff. Some laptops
have a ton of screws in them, and it'll be a chore just keeping
track of all of them.

An alternative to changing the panel from one machine to the other,
might be to move keyboard, wifi, and hard drive the other way. Probably
more screws, but less chance of cosmetic damage to something
important like the display.

Paul

Well I must be handier than I gave myself credit for. swapped the
screen this PM in about 1.5 hours, typing this on laptop.

Any guidance re: the Viewsonic would be greatly appreciated as I was
hoping to perhaps use it for occasional CAD use etc. I suspect that
after playing with it for a while it is an issue with my graphics card
not supporting higher than 1280x800 (not a supported resolution on the
Viewsonic) are there any add on graphic cards for a laptop? maybe
something that uses a PCMCIA slot?

nate

 

[Paul]

Well I must be handier than I gave myself credit for. swapped the
screen this PM in about 1.5 hours, typing this on laptop.

Good work I've worked inside something similar (a device that looks
like a laptop, but the keyboard isn't fastened to the display), and
depressing the tabs without marking up the plastic was nerve wracking.

Any guidance re: the Viewsonic would be greatly appreciated as I was
hoping to perhaps use it for occasional CAD use etc. I suspect that
after playing with it for a while it is an issue with my graphics card
not supporting higher than 1280x800 (not a supported resolution on the
Viewsonic) are there any add on graphic cards for a laptop? maybe
something that uses a PCMCIA slot?

nate

Now that the hardware part is out of the way, you could play with
drivers. What I can't tell you, is whether a driver downloaded
from the Intel site, will work on a laptop properly without screwing
it up. Yet, I don't see a warning on the Intel site, to not use it.

Graphics are via Intel 852GME.
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Gateway/7000Series/4997sp3.shtml

The Gateway driver is from 2004.
http://support.gateway.com/support/...=Gateway Display DriversVersion: 6.14.10.3619

The monitor is 1440x900 native.
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/lcdtv/NX1932w/#specs

The Intel site has drivers for their chipset graphics. Sometimes,
Intel in their infinite generosity, add resolution capabilities
to their older hardware. The thing is, graphics devices have
been fully programmable since about 1980 or earlier, and
virtually any resolution up to the DAC bandwidth limit,
should be available. The drivers are "neutered", to "protect"
multisync monitors from damage. (Some CRT monitors from
about ten years ago, could be damaged by a high resolution
or refresh setting.)

Select: Graphics, laptop graphics, 852GME
http://downloadcenter.intel.com

Once you've selected the OS, there is a readme file. You
can check the readme, to make sure your chipset is listed.
Example here.

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/10099/ENG/readme_2k_xp.txt

You should have a way to back out, like a restore point or
imaging the hard drive so you can put it all back again.
My worry would be, installing the driver, rebooting, and
getting a black screen. You could probably get out in safe
mode, uninstall the driver, and put the old one back. Make sure
you also have a copy of the old one, to reinstall, before you
start.

In terms of tools, I'd run Moninfo, and see if there is
an EDID present and visible to the computer. The EDID is
the monitor's plug and play info, and it comes across
the VGA cable on a serial interface. Even though my monitor
has a working EDID, Windows still didn't recognize the
monitor, so I was forced to install the "monitor driver"
downloaded from NEC.

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

If you're still not making any progress, the Viewsonic
site has monitor drivers. To me, the main value of this,
is the addition of one registry entry, declaring the
max resolution. (Some manufacturers offer this kind
of driver, as an INF plus a couple other files, so
you can open the INF with Notepad and read all about it.
The files here, look like they'll install a hundred
monitor drivers... They look like Installshield, so
I cannot read them first.)

http://www.viewsonic.com/support/drivers/drivers.cfm?category=1&formName=monitor

Entechtaiwan also makes a tool called Powerstrip. You
can trial it for a limited period, before buying it. It
mainly works with ATI and Nvidia desktop video cards, and allows
weird custom resolutions to be set up. The FAQs in their
forum, say they don't generally support laptops, due to the
wider variety of interfaces they'd have to program for. But
you could still give that a try, if nothing else works.

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm (product)

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

The "no joy for laptops" FAQ page...
http://forums.entechtaiwan.net/viewtopic.php?t=18

HTH,
Paul