Thinkpads Forum

I could not find this with a search, so please excuse me if it has been answered.

I have a W500 4061-BL2 with an ATI FireGL V5700 card. The default resolution is 1920 x 1200 which changes to 1680 x 1050 when I use my 23 inch View Sonic monitor. However, if I try to change the W500's resolution size to say to 1440 x 900 when the View Sonic is not hooked up, the display area on the screen also reduces, leaving a large black border and no real improvement in display...it's still too small to read easily.

Does anyone have any idea to get the display to fill the entire screen when I reduce the resolution. And...why if I use the duplicate facility, the display of the 1680 x 1050 is rendered correctly on the built in screen?

TIA

There may be a setting in the BIOS or somewhere in a submenu of your ATI driver control panel to control how the display handles a lower resolution -- whether it will display it exactly pixel-for-pixel like is happening now or if it will scale/stretch it (which it sounds like you want, even though it will make it a little blurry).

You cannot set Windows to have different monitor at different resolutions when duplicating/mirroring the displays, as you've found. To have different resolutions, you'd need to choose "Extend my desktop onto this monitor." That should let you set the resolution of each individually, but each display will also have different content.

Yes, thanks and I agree that there SHOULD be a setting to stretch the display to fill the screen. I just can't find it...assuming it exists.

Sorry I couldn't help. You might want to post your exact BIOS revision and the version of the video driver/control panel software you're using (and what OS) so someone who actually has that equipment might be able to check it out for you.

David,

You are correct, thanks for the reminder. Here is the information.

Motherboard
Manufacturer LENOVO
Model 4061BL2
Memory 8 GB

BIOS
Vendor LENOVO
Version 6FET87WW (3.17 )
Release Date 3-Dec-2010

CPU
Name Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9400 @ 2.53GHz
Family P6, P2, P3, PM
Model P3 (0.25 µm)
Manufacturer Intel
Calculated Core Speed 2,527 MHz
CPU Socket None

Graphics Card
Adapter Name Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Video RAM -2.893926E+08 bytes
Driver Version 8.752.4.0
Adapter Name ATI Mobility FireGL V5700
Video RAM 512 MB
Driver Version 8.752.4.0

Window 64 Bit Ultimate N SP1
Last Update Check 7 April 2011

Not sure about the W500, but with the older ThinkPads I have there is a setting in the BIOS under "Display" for HV Expansion, you want that set to "on", so that any resolution will fill the display.

Neil,

Yes, and in the ATI Catalyst center there are three options:

1) Preserve Aspect Ration --- Black Line on top.
2) Full Screen -- Scale to full screen with possible loss of display integrity <<== This is my selection
3) Centered -- Turns off scaling -- may result in black boarders around screen <<== This is what is happening.

It is interesting to note that these options are only available when I duplicate the desktop onto the ViewSonic. When I go native....laptop display only...the options are greyed out, with the FULL SCREEN being the option selected by default. But it's obviously the "Centered" that is being used.

As I mentioned, with the ViewSonic hooked up, the laptop screen is rendered correctly no matter what resolution I choose. But when I switch to laptop only, that's when the black border appears. It truly looks like a driver error. I phoned Lenovo support, and they 1) had me restore the drivers, and 2) in any case said it was a software problem.

I tried to get a driver from the ATI site, but when I went to install it the installer balked and sent a "Go to Lenovo" message.

Thanks,

So I finally resolved the problem, but not until I downloaded the May 2011 Intel chipset and the April BIOS. I did not try each update separately, but together they appear to work.

Prior to these upgrades, I only saw a couple of screen resolutions on the Windows Screen Resolution or ATI Catylist Control Center. Now I see every possible combination, and I can get to the 1) Preserve Aspect Ratio; 2) Full Screen (which is what I want to eliminate the black border) and 3) Centered options on the Notebook Panel Properties screen. That's the good news. I can set the resolution to 1280 x 800 and the new large text and graphics fill the screen.

The bad news is that some of the screen resolutions default to Centered e.g. 1600 x 1200 or 1400 x 900, and still leave a black border.

The good news continued from my original question is that if I have my View Sonic hooked up and duplicate the display, all resolutions supported by the VS are available, even on the PC screen, i.e. the 1400 x 900 works as it should. There is still some obvious problem...why does 1400 x 900 only fill the PC screen when the external monitor is attached?...but at least I can read the laptop when it's not connected to the external monitor without squinting.

FYI, when I installed the new Intel chipset, it took me to the ATI site after it finished and automatically downloaded the latest ATI driver. I had tried to get this directly from ATI before, but only got the message that Lenovo supplied the graphics drivers for my my W500...the one with the November date. Lucy, you got lots of 'splain to do.

Hi Yonaga, it seems you are the first person in the forums that have found the solution to the problem, I exactly have the same issue mentioned in this forum. I have tried to update the BIOS drivers and Intall Intel Chipset, but it did not solve my problem and it did not took me to the ATI website after updating them. maybe I am installing the wrong driver.
Will you please share the links that you have updated your drivers from!
and sorry if I sound newbie, but where can I change the settings you have mentioned? I am talking about these ones:
1) Preserve Aspect Ration --- Black Line on top.
2) Full Screen -- Scale to full screen with possible loss of display integrity <<== This is my selection
3) Centered -- Turns off scaling -- may result in black boarders around screen <<== This is what is happening.

Thanks for you help!

Amir,

I got all the drivers from the Lenovo site : http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/researc ... MIGR-70443

There were two 64 bit BIOS released on 10 April, and I used the one with the highest release number, 3.18/3.20 : http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... MIGR-70353

The Intel Video Chip set...because Intel chip has video drivers in the firmware and I suspect they may be at odds with the ATI (or AMD or whomever they are these days) drivers : http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... MIGR-70129 But WAIT, read on before using this.

There is a newer driver released on 16 June. It purports only to fix a cable length problem with external monitors and with MSN live (which I don't use.) I have not installed this yet, but my cable is 2 meters or less. I got to this driver only when I went though the detailed selection of my PC model, a 4061-BL2. Could this be the answer? I'll let you know as I'm still only able to get certain resolutions to work, even though all resolutions display correctly on the PC in "duplicate" mode if the ViewSonic is attached.

The ATI drivers : http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... MIGR-73641 Interestingly enough, these are not separately available on the 4061-BL2 specific page, but the new 16 June Intel drivers are stated to contain both the Intel and ATI update!!!! There are also instructions to EXPRESS UNINSTALL ALL ATI Software before applying this update, if you do it manually. Could they have finally found the problem?

So, if I were you, I'd update the BIOS and then install the newest Intel VIDEO driver available for your specific model. I'm guessing you don't have a 4061-BL2, so you will have to search using the product selector page : there is a link in the subheading of the first URI at the top of this message. I'd include it here but it keeps taking me to the 4061-BL2 page and I don't have time to delete the cookie right now!

Good Luck

Amir,

I applied the 16 June Video update, and things are better, but still not perfect. On the Catalyst Control Center without the ViewSonic hooked up, I used the GRAPHICS, Desktops & Displays and set the Configuration to FULL SCREEN. I did an OK, and closed the center. Apparently if you just do an APPLY and go to other options, the first option does not necessary have the desired effect. Yours may already be set to FULL SCREEN, but I would choose another option, select OK and them come back and do FULL SCREEN again just to ensure everything is reset. I don't like having to do this as it means the problems remain undetected, but hey...it's only a PC, not a Cruise Missile.

Then back on GRAPHICS and Desktop Properties, I started trying various displays. Although the 1680x1050 works with the ViewSonic active (dual display) it still gets the ring of death with only the LCD active. However there is some good news.

Most of the resolutions at or below 1440x1050 (actually above in the drop-down list) work in full screen. For some reason the 1440x900 reverts to the ring of death, but that still leaves you with a dozen or so to use.

It appears that most of the problem has been resolved with this latest driver fix, so this may be as good as it gets. I'd still like to know why if 1680x1050 is full screen with the ViewSonic hooked up, it has the ring of death without it...but as John Paul Jones said, "If one can not have what one would like, one must learn to like what one can have."

Cheers,

Yonaga,
Thanks for your replies, I have installed the BIOS new drivers as you mentioned, and then I installed the newest Intel Video Driver for my laptop(model: 4058-CTO) while installing it the screen was going blank and came back again and I saw the resolution was changing and I got exited as I thought the problem has been fixed but it was not quite.
the good news is I actually can change the resolution to 1280 * 800 and some other resolution. but the screen is blurry and It is not easy to work with it.
I am agree with John Paul Jones but "one has to sacrifice his eyes to learn to like what one can have."
Cheers,

another good news is:
I just found out that the laptop work much better with another screen,
I have connected it to another screen and every thing looks perfect on the external LCD!
at least I can use that screen for now until I find the solution.

Amir,

Sorry your stand-alone resolution is not good. This is obviously a problem, but I doubt that Intel/AMD/Lenovo will ever fix it.

If the PC screen works correctly when an external monitor is hooked up, and poorly when the external monitor is disconnected, you should be able to put a fix in to fool the PC display all the time. Unfortunately this may be a hardware fix, and that ain't likely to happen.

Short story: I had a Toyota Supra that I loved, and kept for 18 years. But in its old age it developed a warning light problem that someone traced and found would not display if the hood (bonnet) was open. They also found there is a switch to tell the ECU the hood is open. Solution, move the switch down a centimeter so it always sent the message the hood was always open!

Perhaps I'll put a null external monitor cable on the PC to see what happens! Of course I've never heard of these, but an old cable and a pair of diagonal cutters should do the trick!

Cheers,