T60 w/X1400 GPU and Windows 10; driving external WUXGA LCD?

[iganas]

Hello again fellow ThinkPadders. I have acquired a pristine condition T60 15" 4:3 with an IPS display and x1400 GPU. Works like a charm (almost) and is overall an impressive difference from my totally basic T60 14" 4:3 with XGA screen, aside from the compromised portability.

However the beefier GPU is unable to drive my external 1920x1080 monitor on it's native resolution - only at 1600 horizontal max, while the GMA 950 had no issues with it. I am aware that it has to do with me running Windows 10 and drivers having been discontinued by ATI at the wake of Windows 7. I have tried various legacy Vista/7 drivers from Windows Update Catalog - all to the same effect, some adding few more resolution options, but all topping at 1600. Most annoyingly, none of the resolutions offered by the driver are 16:9, thus stretching or narrowing the screen beyond natural image..

Have any of you solved this issue, perhaps by manually editing the driver? I am certain this is solvable, except that probably no one cares to mess with a GPU that is over 10 years old

[Pokrzept]

First of all please check Windows 10 section/T60 topic for most actual drivers. I have posted an link to a modified catalyst drivers which provides native support for x1x00 cards @ W10. It did worked on Release Candidate phase and it does work at this moment - got them installed @ my T60p with FireGL V5200. If this wont help there's probably other reason why you face this problem. Since you have not spoken a word about docking station I assume that you're trying to connect FHD display using VGA cable. If that is true @ some cases this is no-go situation, since VGA output usually supports all resolutions up to 1600x1200@60Hz. You may try to force your graphic card to run on non-standard settings and add custom resolution - 1920x1080@60Hz. Native resolutions for your graphic cards are:

Code: Select all

640x480  	60, 72, 75, 85, 90, 100, 120, 160 Hz
800x600	  60, 70, 72, 75, 85, 90, 100, 120, 160 Hz
1024x768	 60, 70, 72, 75, 85, 90, 100, 120, 150, 160 Hz
1280x1024	60, 70, 75, 85, 90, 100, 120, 160 Hz
1400x1050	60 Hz
1600x1200	60, 75, 85, 100, 120 Hz
2048x1536	60, 66, 70, 75 Hz

EDIT: Your case bothered my a lot and I have decided to make an test on my own setup. I did used VGA cable to connect T60p mentioned above to an Samsung FHD TV. New screen was detected immediately and switched into mirror mode and ran HD resolution on both screens. Once I selected extended desktop option in CCC both internal and external displays switched to its native resolution. This leads me to a conclusion that modified drives I have mentioned before shall solve all your problems with external display.

Moderator edit: Snipped unnecessary quoting.

[iganas]

Unfortunately all this modded driver achieves is a dozen of BSODs and hours burned trying to make it work.. Crashes with PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (atikmdagB.sys) during every install attempt, either through included installer or manually. Then once restarted gives another BSOD of SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION and loops until you uninstall the driver from Safe Mode with Display Driver Uninstaller.

So either it is outdated or not meant for x1400 and/or Win 10 combo.

And no, I'm not using any docking stations, just connecting the TV through VGA port. My other T60 with GMA 950 has no issues with that combo and 1920x1080 resolution. Might throw in a v5200 mobo one day to try out your combination, except that it makes too much heat to be usable on a daily basis

Running Win 10 latest build 10586.218

[RealBlackStuff]

Here are a few more downloads to try: http://www.guru3d.com/files-categories/ ... win-7.html
Info: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insi ... b42?auth=1

[Pokrzept]

Unfortunately all this modded driver achieves is a dozen of BSODs and hours burned trying to make it work [...]

That is really bad. I'll try to recreate this situation on my spare T60 T5600, 4GiG RAM, X1400 15" SXGA+ today and let you know how about my results.

EDIT: Just like I promised:
Screenshot as an proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/keqcc0p00srb5 ... 0.png?dl=0
Link to an working drivers: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ua1jquoahse65 ... TA.7z?dl=0

[thinkpadcollection]

Is there a modded driver that turns V5200 into x1600 on T60 motherboard? The notebookcheck mentions this but does not say where or how to get the modded driver.

Thanks and cheers, thinkpadcollection

[TuuS]

Since it sounds like you really like this T60 15" laptop (as do most of us here), so have you considered upgrading to a T61 board? There are brand new NOS boards available here (exclusively) and on sale for less than ever before so it might be something you want to consider. The 2010 (ish) era of the nVidia graphic chips on these boards are also rock solid and don't have the abnormal rate of failure that the original boards had, and at one time these boards were considered just an urban myth, but I still have a couple cases of them if you are interested, and if you are and come across any of these elsewhere be careful as there are refurbished boards going around which have the orange "serviceable used part" stickers on them (which can be removed, so be careful). When they came into liquidation we selected out all of the NOS boards, the rest of the refurbs went into the wind to brokers all over, but as far as I'm aware the new NOS boards can only be purchased here and a few other through our friends websites.

The advantages besides much more powerful graphics and drivers that never stopped developing, is faster cpu options, much more ram (3gb vs 8gb max), SATA1 vs SATA2 (twice the transfer speed with middleton bios installed), and the only downside is the loss of your dialup modem.

However if you want to keep the X1400 and the modded drivers don't work for you, you could try the vista drivers which are the last supported by this chipset and I've used them on windows seven without a problem other than the install won't work so you have to go into device manager and update manually after you extract the vista drivers to the target location. You may also consider running windows 7 or vista, as many report being unhappy with windows 10, and both vista (when updated to SP2) and seven are both very stable operating systems.

[iganas]

That is really bad. I'll try to recreate this situation on my spare T60 T5600, 4GiG RAM, X1400 15" SXGA+ today and let you know how about my results.

EDIT: Just like I promised:
Screenshot as an proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/keqcc0p00srb5 ... 0.png?dl=0
Link to an working drivers: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ua1jquoahse65 ... TA.7z?dl=0

Okay, here's an update - managed to install the driver from a fresh user account with all apps and antivirus closed. The driver shows up as version 23-05-2014 in Device Manager, and CCC works fine as in your screenshot. However...the resolution issue was still there: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8tvrvs8ix35t ... 2.png?dl=0

So I googled on how to force a custom resolution and found this Custom Resolution Utility, which seem to have done the trick: http://www.monitortests.com/forum/Threa ... tility-CRU
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5dzj6p3t4p4g3 ... 9.png?dl=0
However almost a minute later got the same BSOD as mentioned before. But after a restart and one hour of testing the new resolution I didn't get any more BSODs.

So all seems to be back to normal, thanks to all of you. Next test is Morrowind running full hd on this new driver. I'd be surprised if it reaches 20FPS on average )

Off Topic:
The biggest paradox is that this T60 usually sits on top of my high-end PC that was built from the best components in the market (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxd1qkfquc6k2 ... o.jpg?dl=0), but I still end up fiddling with this 10year old laptop and using it for 95% of the tasks. And when T60 becomes too smooth, I grab my X31 to lectures. T20 might be up next. There must be a medical explanation to all this...

[iganas]

Since it sounds like you really like this T60 15" laptop (as do most of us here), so have you considered upgrading to a T61 board?

Thanks for the offer, but I already have a spare T60p motherboard, and having two spare functioning motherboards lying around with no market to sell them to is just against my internal logic. If I happen to find a T60 chassis or my own x1400 kills itself, then I'd probably get in touch with you

[Pokrzept]

[...]
Off Topic:
The biggest paradox is that this T60 usually sits on top of my high-end PC that was built from the best components in the market (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxd1qkfquc6k2 ... o.jpg?dl=0), but I still end up fiddling with this 10year old laptop and using it for 95% of the tasks. And when T60 becomes too smooth, I grab my X31 to lectures. T20 might be up next. There must be a medical explanation to all this...

Well the truth is that it is really hard to let leave those oldies alone. I do use oldies of mine for pretty lots of tasks, even at this moment one of my A31ps works as an remote display. If there's anything better than a FlexView UXGA it is surely two UXGAs
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ggc872e4xfdsh ... 4.jpg?dl=0

[FryPpy]

...
Off Topic:
The biggest paradox is that this T60 usually sits on top of my high-end PC that was built from the best components in the market (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxd1qkfquc6k2 ... o.jpg?dl=0), but I still end up fiddling with this 10year old laptop and using it for 95% of the tasks. And when T60 becomes too smooth, I grab my X31 to lectures. T20 might be up next. There must be a medical explanation to all this...

What driver have worked for you. May be direct link can help others.

OffTop
After acquiring my first thinkpad i've completely abandoned my PC. It is here (next to me) but i haven't turn it on about a year;)

...even at this moment one of my A31ps works as an remote display

How do you do this? What is the OS and Software?

[iganas]

What driver have worked for you. May be direct link can help others.

I used the German modded driver that Pokrzept linked to his dropbox.

I do have to admit after a whole day of using this driver that it isn't totally perfect - screen glitches occasionally, and websites go funky once in a while by overlaying content on top of each other. And no visible framerate improvement in Morrowind (which is odd knowing that this is a 7year more up-to-date driver)

Oh, and a side question - is the IPS display supposed to be so overly warm-colored? I do appreciate the detail, viewing angles etc., but color reproduction is just unrealistic. White is more towards pale yellow, and blacks are so deep that shadow details are either completely lost or barely there..

[Pokrzept]

[...]

...even at this moment one of my A31ps works as an remote display

How do you do this? What is the OS and Software?

Well there's few ways to do so, some of them allow to achieve quite different goals, i.e. software KVM, multiple virtual desktops, remote display. Most of them are pretty nicely described over the Internet. Since I need some extra space for PLC programming IDE and UXGA is not enough (sic!) I had to connect another UXGA screen remotely over LAN. To do so you have to force Windows to use fake display over VGA output, switch it into extended mode and in the end connect to that virtual display with an 3rd party software. I do use TeamViewer for that purpose since it is my main tool for remote service tasks over VPN and I do have an proper license allready. You may find short tutorial over here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQBTn21214Q. You can also check other piece of software like Synergy (licensed), Spacedesk (free but under development) or any VNC Client/Server. If you use MacOS or Linux there's also way to do so. And to be honest *NIX based OSes provide plenty of ways to get what you need. Unfortunately I'm stuck with Windows since there's literally no other solution for what I do on daily basis (PLC/SCADA programming, automation and electrical CAD/CAE).

Oh, and a side question - is the IPS display supposed to be so overly warm-colored? I do appreciate the detail, viewing angles etc., but color reproduction is just unrealistic. White is more towards pale yellow, and blacks are so deep that shadow details are either completely lost or barely there..

Color reproduction most likely depends on wear of CCFL and type of the display. I did compared two SXGA+ LG-Philips LP150E05-A2 displays and what I can say that one of those is really bright and colors are really intense. Other one has an worn CCFL in it, and this produces really dark and reddish image - the gray background on main BIOS screen is rather orange/pink when it shall be rather grayish/blue. After that i did compared that nice and shiny SXGA+ with two UXGA displays connected to my Frankenpad. It seems that CCFL in SXGA+ ones produces warm, slightly reddish light and CCFL in UXGA gives sligthly colder bluish light. At least that is what I have noticed. And when it comes to the color reproduction - it depends on what kind of screens you had to work before - if you compare it with rathre rubbish TN screens that IBM/Lenovo put into most of their thinkpads than FlexView intensity (SXGA+ mostly) might be quite shocking. But if you haven't had to work on Dell M6500 with RGB-LED WUXGA screen you haven't seen nothing yet.

[FryPpy]

Thank you both Pokrzept and iganas for your replay.

is the IPS display supposed to be so overly warm-colored?

Different IPS displays have different color representation. For example XGA from X61t now working in my X61 have yellow tint. I can recalibrate it but i like this warmth. CCFL UXGA in my frankenpad on the other hand is more cooler. Original SXGA+ form T60 (before frankenpadding) had superior colors but it have infamous aging bug which makes it yellowing over years. If you can see Pokrzept's dual IPS - you can notice that left (A31p) have slightly yellowish than right T601... may be because A31p is slightly older

To do so you have to force Windows to use fake display over VGA output, switch it into extended mode and in the end connect to that virtual display with an 3rd party software.

Interesting thing... i have noticed that you using extended screen but have no ideas how to do it before you answered. Thanks.

BTW

and UXGA is not enough (sic!)

May be QXGA from R50p can help. It can add some more pixels, but it makes things smaller and slightly darker!

[iganas]

And when it comes to the color reproduction - it depends on what kind of screens you had to work before

I work with 1-2 new screens each day, as I fix computers as a hobby-job, so I compare this IPS to the general LCD experience out there
It does make sense to blame the aging CCFL, and luckily that's a cheap and easy swap