External widescreen X31.. Lenovo drivers don't list 1440x900

[Robert100]

Hello,

This is my first post here. I was glad to find this resource. I've been using my Thinkpad for 3 years trouble-free, but now I need some help. I'll try to be as detailed as possible.

I bought a Samsung 920bw widescreen LCD monitor and have it plugged into the X31 VGA port on the ultradock.
I've installed the monitor driver from Samsung.
I am running Windows XP SP2.
I have installed the latest video driver from Lenovo (1rd637ww.exe) as well as the X31 XGA display driver.

When I use "Extend my windows desktop onto this monitor" for the Samsung widescreen it only lists non-widescreen resolutions, ie 640x480,1024x768,etc. I am looking for 1440x900.

Now here is the interesting/frustrating part... I DID get this to work once, a couple days ago, after installing the 1rd637ww.exe driver. I was able to select 1440x900, only with 16-bit operation however. It would not allow me to use 32-bit. So for a few hours, until I shut the computer off when I went to bed, I had the widescreen fully functioning at 1440x900 and the X31 display at 1024x768 in 32-bit mode, functioning perfectly, playing a DVD even.

I turned my computer on in the morning, and the widescreen was back to 1024x768.

I've tried everything to get the 1440x900 option to be listed again in display properties, including:
-reinstalling 1rd637ww and Samsung monitor drivers, in various orders, and in safe mode
-reinstalling windows and installing these drivers in various orders

I also have tried:
-ATI Omega program / drivers
-ATI Catalyst program / drivers
-PowerStrip

All three of these will successfully make the widescreen LCD have a widescreen resolution, but it doesn't "fit" perfectly, ie there are blurred vertical lines going down the screen every inch or so. The most successful was Powerstrip, but it still is somewhat blurry, like the resolution being fed to the monitor isn't quite right.

I just want to get the Lenovo driver to work, because the one evening when it did work, it was perfect. I just can't get it to give me the 1440x900 option again. I haven't messed with Intel chipset drivers or anything like that.

Please help!

Thanks
Robert

[sjthinkpader]

X series are not suitable for these newer wide screens due to the lack of DVI support. WinXP is a real handicap also since it has mostly fixed resolution.

I used a A31p and WinXPP to drive a 720p TV using 1280x720 resolution with a small amount of cutoff on 4 sides. I could never get utilities such as Powerstrip to work properly. Reportedly WindowsXP MCE can drive wide resolutions but I never got around to buy a copy. I was surprised to find a T43p loaded with Win7 drove a new 1920x1080 1080p TV perfectly. The connection in these cases is via the DVI port on a dock plus a DVI-HDMI cable.

[Terrahawk]

I have the 1rd637ww.exe driver installed on my X31 and it works fine with my Philips 19in widescreen at 1680 x 1050. I am very sure it is possible to make it go. Is your monitor type shown correctly?

[Robert100]

Glad to hear it works on your X31. The monitor type "Samsung 920BW" is shown correctly, but I'm really starting to wonder if the driver is actually working. Installing the monitor driver after all other drivers are installed does not change any of the available resolutions (ie widescreen doesn't show up. I got the monitor second hand, so I had to navigate the Samsung website for drivers. I was really surprised at how bad the English is in the manual and on their support website. The driver installation is extremely quick, it doesn't appear to do very much. Perhaps the problem here is the monitor driver... The monitor driver may not be advertising itself in the system as widescreen. I will look into this.