T42 still flickering with Vista?

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Edward Mendelson · #1 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:53 am

I gave up on Vista on my T42 with ATI7500 because of the screen flicker described in many earlier threads. Am I right in assuming that the problem still hasn't been solved? There haven't been any references to it in the past few weeks, but I can't tell whether or not that means either (1) that everyone has given up on the problem or (2) that everyone has solved the problem.

Any information gratefully received.

DirkM · #2 Post by **DirkM** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:15 am

I have two T42 (same model) with the ATI display adapter, using the same build and BIOS and one flickers all the time and the other is fine. I tried various drivers without any difference. Since we have about 2000 of those T42 and plan to keep them for at least another 18-24 months I hope Lenovo will offer some ideas on how to solve this when we talk to them in a couple of days.

davenet · #3 Post by **davenet** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:47 am

Either of you two guys find out anything more about this flickering topic? I am still sitting on my T42 with the FireGL card from ATI that won't stop flickering. It is stuck at 50Hz, instead of the 60Hz it runs at when using Windows XP.

David

schimmi · #4 Post by **schimmi** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:49 am

davenet wrote:Either of you two guys find out anything more about this flickering topic? I am still sitting on my T42 with the FireGL card from ATI that won't stop flickering. It is stuck at 50Hz, instead of the 60Hz it runs at when using Windows XP.

David

I thought that all T4x-displays are using 50Hz _maximum_. They normally even work at 40Hz in battery safe mode without flickering. (Under WinXP)

I just installed Powerstrip and modified the Pixel Clock Rate. The funny thing is, that Vista says "50Hz" in the Display Tab but Powerstrip 60Hz. After setting the Refresh Rate to 50Hz the flicker was gone. After Reboot i had some screen distortion, so be careful with this tool.

Looks like some kind of VideoBios Incompatibility

SHoTTa35 · #5 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:25 pm

yeah still have that issue too and while it doesn't bother me i would like to get it taken care of most definitely. I am just hoping they come out with these drivers asap. IT just seems to me that it needs to be edited in the drivers or something? When i checked the capabilites they were all listed at 50Hz even at low resolutions like 640 x 480.

lolypop · #6 Post by **lolypop** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:10 am

after reading schimmi's reply about using powerstrip to check the refresh rate of the lcd, i installed it myself and amazingly the screen stopped flickering. i didn't change any thing. even after i uninstall powerstrip the flickering is still gone. then i tried the ati catalyst 7.2 and flickering came back. i have to repeat the install and uninstall of powerstrip to get rid of the flickering.

lolypop · #7 Post by **lolypop** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:18 am

based on my little experiment with powerstrip, i believe the flickering issue doesn't have anything to do with drivers, it's just some misunderstanding between the video card and the monitor under vista.

schimmi · #8 Post by **schimmi** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:22 am

SHoTTa35 wrote:yeah still have that issue too and while it doesn't bother me i would like to get it taken care of most definitely. I am just hoping they come out with these drivers asap. IT just seems to me that it needs to be edited in the drivers or something? When i checked the capabilites they were all listed at 50Hz even at low resolutions like 640 x 480.

Yes, 50Hz is also shown in the display tab on my system, but it seems that vista is using 60Hz. --> flicker. This is definitely too much for the display, so we should be "glad" that the display is working at all.

lolypop wrote: based on my little experiment with powerstrip, i believe the flickering issue doesn't have anything to do with drivers, it's just some misunderstanding between the video card and the monitor under vista.

I think so, too. The only way to fix this is a new BIOS. I hope they release one soon.

Edward Mendelson · #9 Post by **Edward Mendelson** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:33 pm

On my system, the flicker goes away if you select the "Standard VGA" video driver. That turns off all eye-candy, which is fine with me.

lolypop · #10 Post by **lolypop** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:41 pm

Edward Mendelson wrote:On my system, the flicker goes away if you select the "Standard VGA" video driver. That turns off all eye-candy, which is fine with me.

i found a tool called MobilityDotNet which can convert the regular vista driver to mobile card driver. i used this tool to install the newest catalyst 7.5 and my screen is doing ok. plus, i'm not using powerstrip now. i hope this way the flickering problem would be gone forever.

davenet · #11 Post by **davenet** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:53 pm

I'll have to try the MobilityDotNet thing and see if it helps. I just got this reply from AMD tonight.

We do not provide drivers for laptops, the drivers available for download on our site are strictly for the Retail add-in Workstation boards. Your laptop manufacturer is your source for drivers for your mobile workstation product.

David

TJMacGyver · #12 Post by **TJMacGyver** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:31 pm

My screen just suddenly started flickering again. (it's the external one, a brand new samsung 225MW 22" lcd (it didn't flicker until 10 min. ago.)

it's a bar, approx. 3-4 cm thick blinking on the screen at random places.

the first blink, then 1 sec after another, then 10 sec after another blink, and last blink is 6 sec after that. (it loops)

it's really bugging me.

davenet · #13 Post by **davenet** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:07 pm

Well, installing that MobilityDotNet thing did give me a different driver, but it seems the real problem is that my LCD panel is not being correctly detected. It's a generic PNP screen, not the IBM LCD panel like it shows in XP. If I can figure out how to get the correct LCD driver in there, then maybe this will finally get fixed.

David

SHoTTa35 · #14 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:36 pm

you can download the drivers for the thinkpad T42 LCD.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44320

it doesn't say for Vista but it will show the thing as you wanted and also has to color profiles for your monitor.

DirkM · #15 Post by **DirkM** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:03 am

SHoTTa35 wrote:you can download the drivers for the thinkpad T42 LCD.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-44320

it doesn't say for Vista but it will show the thing as you wanted and also has to color profiles for your monitor.

So that driver is working under Vista?

SHoTTa35 · #16 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:37 pm

well it isn't necessarily the video card drivers. It's the LCD drivers so it shows up as a Thinkpad LCD 1400 x 1050 or whatever resolution you have. This was said to help with the flickering problem as it then tells Vista your LCDs full capabilities.

This didn't do anything for me other than change it to the right name. I still have the 50Hz thing there and i still see flickering.

T42 still flickering with Vista?

T42 still flickering with Vista?

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