Thinkpads Forum

I recently was advised to purchase a margi card for my 770z (PII 366, 138 mb ram) and it works great except there is a slight blue line along left-hand side of the screen (only when I play dvds). I thought it was just the margi software, but it looks the same under powerdvd. It's not actually obstructing the picture, but I was just wondering if this is fixable.

Also now that I have my margi card in I had to pop out my ethernet pc card...the ethernet card takes up both pc slots...the margi card only 1...is it possible to purchase an ethernet card that is smaller or will i need to switch on and off between the too cards?

Overall I am pleasantly surprised on how well this card works, esp for the price I paid ($21 after shipping charges).

I don't know what kind of ethernet card you have, but I use the Dell version of the IBM 10/100 card which I managed to find for the princely sum of $5.00. It uses an adapter cable that goes from the card to a male Net connector. The cable is too short to go to my outlet, so I use an adapter (F-F) and a short length of cable. My 10/100 card is single height so the other PC Card slot is free.

Hope this helps.

thanks. I have an intel pro/100 CardBus II, but it takes up two pc slots which sucks. Looks like i'll head over to ebay and look for one cheap.

also anyone know why I have a thin blue line on the side of my video playback? Maybe it's the margi software...

bump.

I still have a blue line across the lefthand side of my screen when watching dvds. If anyone knows how to fix this problem please let me know. Thanks!

Make sure you have the latest versions of DirectX and the Audio and Video drivers, plus any windows updates (what OS are you using?). Install/upgrade to WMP 9 and try DVDs with this (it uses PowerDVD's decoder). When you play the DVDs with PowerDVD you are not using the Margi hardware decoder, just PowerDVD's software decoder and your CPU.

Get a 3COM 3CXFE575CT xjack off e-bay for $10-$12. Nothing sticking out of the side and no dongles!

I have tried powerdvd and their is no blue line, only with the margi card compatible software (dvd express, interactual player and margi dvd player). I have win2k. And what is an x jack ? Thanks for the info.

The upside to having one of those cards that takes up both slots is that you can plug the ethernet cable directly into the card -- no extra parts needed. The down side is -- it takes up both slots.

If you want a card that just takes up one slot, you usually end up having an extra piece -- a dongle -- that you have to lug around with you. You forget/break/lose the dongle, no ethernet connectivity for you!

The X-jack attempts to solve this by having a card that takes up one slot, but has a little gizmo that slides out of the end of the card and allows you to plug the ethernet cable in directly again -- no dongle. There's 2 down sides: First, you have to be kinda' careful with them, they're breakable. Second, if your other card requires a cable, this contraption may obstruct the connection to your other card. Look it up on the internet to get an idea of what I'm talking about, I'm sure a picture won't be hard to find.

Erin:

DVD Express does not use the margi card - it's a software decoder. If you use it when the margi card is plugged in it just ignores it. Can't speak to Interactual but I doubt it uses the margi card.

Try VLC Media Player if you're not happy with the Margi setup or DVD express/PowerDVD - it requires less computing horsepower than most of the other decoders.

Keith

dvd express seems to use the margi card. the same blue line appears as with the margi software and the video is clear....with players like powerdvd and windvd the video is choppy and no blue line is displayed. I'm sure dvd express is recognizing the card. interactual lists margi card as supported on their site.

As a test, I have taken out the card and played the a dvd with dvd express, video is choppy. Then i stopped the dvd, closed the software and put my margi card in. Now opening dvd express (the version from this site), the video is clear and plays the entire movie this way. But there is now a blue line present.

Interesting! Well, whatever is happening with the Margi card, try decreasing the screen resolution from 1024x768 to 800x600 or 640x480. Also try decreasing the color depth to 256.