Thinkpads Forum

Hi all

I've just picked up a 2503 Advanced Dock with ATI X1300 GFX card, to use with my T61p 15.4". I mainly bought it so that I could use the DVI output from the dock rather than the VGA I was using on my 2505 dock. That said, it would be handy at some point to get another monitor and use the ATI card in the dock and run a dual-monitor setup.

However, when I docked the T61p and tried to boot it the Thinkpad POST screen was all garbled. Windows (7 x64) booted ok, but the two GFX cards seemed to be clashing and in Device Manager the on-board Quadra card had been disabled due to insufficient resources (I forget the exact words). So, I took the ATI card out of the dock and now the T61p boots fine and the display is lovely and crisp. Much moreso than the VGA connection I used previously with it's horrible ghosting.

I would like to get this working, but am I on a hiding to nothing? This Lenovo page http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 61232.html doesn't mention the T61p as supported in this configuration though, so I fear it'll never work.

Any thoughts appreciated.

As you have found out, Lenovo only certifies the X1300 to be used with T60 and Z61 ThinkPads. With T61p, you have video card resource/driver conflict because the ATI X1300 in the dock is made by different company than the nVidia Quadro in your ThinkPad.

IMO, the best course of action is to remove the X1300 card from the advanced dock, and the video signal will be passed from your T61p's nVidia Quadro to the DVI port on the back of the dock.

Thanks for the reply. Looks like I'll be putting the ATI card on Ebay then, shame.

I wonder if an nVidia Quadro would work in the dock?