Thinkpads Forum

Hello all, first post here. Glad I stumbled on this forum.

Anyway, I have a T61 (type 7661-E17) and a docking station (type 2504) and would like to know if it's possible to use dual external monitors. I have the Intel graphics (if I read correctly) - I know it can be done with the NVidia chipset, which we use at work.

Is what I'm looking to do possible? If so, I'd need to get the DVI to VGA adapter/cable - the docking station has a little different pinout than my DVI-to-VGA adapter, but don't want to search and buy the correct cable if the laptop cannot do it anyway.

Any helpful comments/links appreciated.

You can connect two monitors externally, one through VGA, one through DVI. No DVI-VGA adapters required.

The Advanced Mini Dock has a DVI-D (digital) connector. That connector has digital output only. Connecting it to a monitor's VGA connector doesn't work, even if you could find a fitting DVI-to-VGA adapter.

An advanced minidock has both a DVI and a VGA connector

TTY wrote:The Advanced Mini Dock has a DVI-D (digital) connector. That connector has digital output only. Connecting it to a monitor's VGA connector doesn't work, even if you could find a fitting DVI-to-VGA adapter.

There won't be a fitting dvi-to-vga adapter because the dvi output has nothing where the analog pins should be.

You can see here a dvi connector with the cross and four pins on the right side, called DVI-I, that's where the analog (VGA) signal travels.

And here you can see the connector of an advanced mini dock, no cross or pins on the right side, it's digital only, called DVI-D.