T410 - No video from dock until Windows Boots

[RLatND]

One of my T410 PC's (2539-CTO) has a problem when it's in the Series 3 4338 dock, no video will be displayed on an external video ports until Windows has booted. This means that you can't see the ThinkPad BIOS screen, etc. unless you open the lid.

I tried changing the BIOS video settings to "Digital 1 on dock" as the default startup display, but that choice isn't given. It only gives the choices for ThinkPad LCD, Analog VGA, and Digital on ThinkPad. On our other T410 computers, the BIOS gives the choice for "Digital 1 on dock" and "Digital 2 on dock".

I attempted to disable the Nvidia Optimus and use Integrate Graphics instead, but that did not cause it to give the digital dock options. I've also tried this unit in other docks.

Any ideas?

[richk]

Do the machines all have the same bios version?

[RLatND]

Hi richk,
Yes, they have the same version. In fact, this particular laptop even had the motherboard replaced for unrelated reasons, and the same issue existed with the old motherboard and the new motherboard.

It really makes me wonder if it has something to do with the upgraded nVidia Maximus video that's in this laptop, because I think the others might only have the integrated Intel graphics.

[richk]

When you talk about no video, my guess is that you mean no video on the digital outputs. I would guess that the VGA (analog) would work fine. It certainly is possible that the digital output would need the drivers loaded. I have no knowledge about differences between the video built onto the board on "integrated" vs. "switchable" models. If it were me, I would make sure I had the latest versions of the BIOS and chipset drivers and also turn on BIOS support for USB, because many of the dock devices actually attach as USB devices. I suggest these things, but I would be surprised if they helped.

If you feel adventurous, you might force "integrated" in the BIOS, instead of switchable, but when I tried that a long time ago, when the switchable drivers were newer and buggier, I had problems switching back