Need a little help here...

[makai]

I searched the forum for about 3 hours looking for an answer, but cannot find anything conclusive.

Here's my question...

Can I connect my external LCD monitor 1280x1024 and run it at that resolution using a VGA cable connected directly to my TP... or must I use a docking station that has a DVI output?

Everything I've tried to get my external LCD to display at 1280x1024 has failed. I even tried two different TPs, and LCDs.

I'm confused as I would think that I could run the external at whatever it's native resolution was straight off the TP VGA connector.

Any help is appreciated.

makai

[lithium726]

It should work fine. I have a VGA LCD hooked up to my T40 every once in a while, and have done iton my T23 as well. Never given me an issue.

[makai]

Thanks for the reply....

I've been trying to get this to work for awhile now and just can't make it work. Both LCD screens are 19 LCDs.

I'm stumped!

[JHEM]

Got Presentation director installed?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-46022

Regards,

James

[levimax]

I had a similar problem because my KVM switch blocked communications between my monitor and the VGA port.

The only solution I found was a utility called "Powerstrip". You can "force" any resolution and refresh rate you want and it does some other cool things as well.

You can try it before you buy it at http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm

Good Luck

[makai]

Yes, I have Presentation director installed, but I have to wait until I get home to check the version. I did update all the software that was recommended for my T41, btw.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what exactly is happening and how things are supposed to work.

I finally did get the external monitor to "appear" to work, and Display Properties does say the resolution is at 1280x1024, and even though the display is "stretched" to fill the screen, the icons are all large like it's still at some lower resolution... ie 1024x768. Not only that, but when I click on Identify, both screens display a "1", which tells me that both are at the same resolution. It's confusing because I'm expecting to see my icons at the size they're supposed to be at. Sorry, this is difficult to explain! All I know is that something is not right, or I dont understand how this is supposed to work. Thanks for all the help so far!

[makai]

Well I downloaded and installed the PD as JHEM suggested, but things are the same. The screen size says it's 1280x1024, but all the icons are sized like 1024 desktops. This must be a limitation of the VGA output. I guess I'll see if I can borrow a dock station to test with DVI. It's quite irksome that the VGA output cannot display correctly on an external monitor. Quite sad too that IBM's site doesn't make this information readily available.

[kam_]

Hmm make sure you have 'extend my desktop to this display' when you select the second screen.

also check the specs of the monitor to see the refresh rate at the resolution you want. Try to force the driver to a LCD panel at that resolution, or a default CRT at that resolution. Make sure the fresh rate is right and it should work.

[makai]

Well, I finally found out how to get the external display to work.

Extending the desktop didn't do it. It appears (and I might be wrong, but it makes sense to me), that the vid card cannot output dual resolutions at the same time. If the TP LCD is on, then whatever is externally connected to the VGA connector will simply run at whatever the TP screen resolution is set at. If it's 1024x768, then the external monitor will run at 1024x768. Same thing applied to my SXGA TP... it ran the external at 1400x1050.

The only way to run the external LCD at it's native 1280x1024 resolution was to have the TP LCD commanded off. This meant creating/using a profile in PD and disabling the TP LCD. After I did that, my external ran just fine with all the icons showing up in sizes as they should be.

Lack of information on the IBM site and conflicting information throughout my searches confused me as to what to expect. In any case, I'm happy now that I can run the external the way it's meant to be run.

Thanks for all who helped! It's greatly appreciated!!!

makai