Multi-monitor: t60p, advanced dock, pci-e graphics card?

Message

Thesp · #1 Post by **Thesp** » Mon May 29, 2006 3:58 am

I just integrated my father's new T60p into his home office.

As my dad authors large collaborative documents, triple multi-monitor was the mission for this particular project, and we'd originally specified a T60 with an Ati Radeon internal, and I'd bought an advanced dock and a sapphire Radeon x1300 pci-e card to get 3 outputs for three lcd panels. I'd heard good things about this combination for multi-monitor. This card is also passively heatsinked, an advantage for enclosed spaces.

Shipping was delayed indefinitely on the original T60, so I changed the order to the equivalent T60p, which has the FireGL graphics card rather than the Radeon.

Everything worked fine, until the time came to install the x1300 into the PCI-e slot. Booting on dock resulted in failure of boot with a variety of error messages, most often "memory parity error" during Windows boot. Hot-docking detected the card, but then corrupted the drivers for the firegl (the firegl catalyst drivers cannot coexists with the x1300 catalyst drivers), and then crashed. Switching primary/secondary video in BIOS did not resolve problems. removing the card restored perfect working functionality.

That concludes a description of my experience to date.

My questions, following on from this:

Has anyone got a pci-e video card working with the T60P with FireGL graphics, and if so, what card was used?

Do my symptoms resonate with anyone else's experience?

Does the card in the dock need to be a firegl card in this case, or do I waste my money if I buy a firegl pci-e card for the dock?

My ultimate requirement is to have 3 independent vga outputs from the thinkpad. Has anyone achieved this with a t60p with onboard firegl?

best,

Mark

#2 Post by **RonS** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:41 am

There are several cards mentioned in this thread and work fine in the Advanced Dock.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

Thesp · #3 Post by **Thesp** » Mon May 29, 2006 11:06 am

Yes, I had a look in that thread, but really was hoping for something heatsinked only. Well, I'll try to fidn an inexpensive 7600gs card, and report back. Anyone else had any experiences with other graphics cards working in the PCI-E bay, besides the NVidia 7-series? Another FireGL might be nice, anyone had experiences with these?

thibouille27 · #4 Post by **thibouille27** » Mon May 29, 2006 1:21 pm

BTW does the Advanced Dock works with (even if unofficial) the X60?

Razorback · #5 Post by **Razorback** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:08 pm

Thesp,

If you have the same experience I do, the nVidia 7600gs won't solve your problem, though I know others that use it (Pundit maybe?)

I have a 7600gs with the Advanced Dock and get parity errors - exactly the same experience you have. I have given up at this point and continue to run a desktop and a notebook (grrr.)

I also tried a FireGL 3200 to see if it was something unique to the nVidia cards, but encountered the same parity errors. (Plus the fan on the 3200 was NOISY!)

Note: I have tried this with two different T60p's and two different 7600gs video cards. The only thing in common was the dock.

Now that you are saying you have a similar problem, I'm doubting it is the dock.

Ideas guys?

#6 Post by **RonS** » Tue May 30, 2006 6:30 pm

Not so fast... Maybe it IS the dock.

I've used at least four different cards in the Advanced Dock (Matrox, NVidia, ATI) and haven't had a single problem with any of them. Now it sounds like Razorback and Thesp may have docks where every card fails.

It sounds to me like there may be a problem with some of the docks... I certainly wouldn't discount the idea.

Razorback · #7 Post by **Razorback** » Tue May 30, 2006 9:56 pm

RonS - you may be right. I'll see if I can still get another dock to try.

Did you do anything special in the BIOS to configure the card? I have tried setting both the AGP and the PCI Express as "primary" with similar results. I have not changed any of the IRQ settings.

Thesp · #8 Post by **Thesp** » Wed May 31, 2006 4:05 am

Well, I've a 7600GS on order - should I cancel it, perhaps?

One thing occurs - on the Dell docks, there are specific dock firmwares that can be downloaded and installed. I've looked for dock firmwares on the lenovo site, but can't see anything.

Are there dock revisions? Might we be seeing a problem that was known about and has been fixed?

The other thing that occurs to me - "memory error - parity error"? This seems a very odd error for the installation of a graphics card to produce. I'll report back if I have further success, but really I'd love to know what the memory parity error *really* means, and where it comes from.

This error is also reported in conjunction with the t60p and dock here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=25629

and the t60p firegl here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ght=parity

and the video adapter here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... ght=parity

RonS - what exactly (make/model) were the cards you used? So far i've tried a Sapphire X1300 and I've an XFX 7600GS on order. Is your machine a T60 or a T60p? I'm not entirely convinced that it's not a conflict with the FireGL, given that it's a different class of adapter to the other consumer cards.

#9 Post by **RonS** » Wed May 31, 2006 2:47 pm

I've used four different T60's on my dock - with a video card installed - without problems. The T60's had various combinations of driver versions. I don't think there is a specific driver for the dock.

I do know that I have one of the first Advanced Docks. I ordered it with my first T60p order about five weeks before they were released.

Here are some video cards that I've used successfully in the Advanced Dock. Note that all of these cards are Dual DVI.

1. NVidia GeForce 7600GS, PV-T73P-UDS3, found here: http://tinyurl.com/n3n5e

2. NVidia Quadro NVS 280 64MB found here: http://tinyurl.com/nnmy9

3. Matrox Parhelia APVe found here: http://tinyurl.com/bhbuy

4. NVidia 7800 GTX card found here: http://tinyurl.com/nn6wq

5. NVidia Quadro FX 4500 found here: http://tinyurl.com/ezdc7

I also have an ATI X300 card that I had trouble using. There's a strange driver problem I haven't taken the time to track down It resulted in a "Memory Parity Error" when I booted it as a secondary display adapter. If I booted it as a primary adapter (set in the BIOS), then the X300 worked but I couldn't see the built-in v5200. I don't think this is related to the errors others are seeing, except that ATI cards may or may not work along side the built-in v5200. I'll bet that an X1600 would work fine, since they use the same driver set. Note that the Parity error appeared when windows was loading (on its way into protected mode), not during POST.

Thesp · #10 Post by **Thesp** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:24 am

RonS wrote:There's a strange driver problem I haven't taken the time to track down It resulted in a "Memory Parity Error" when I booted it as a secondary display adapter. If I booted it as a primary adapter (set in the BIOS), then the X300 worked but I couldn't see the built-in v5200. I don't think this is related to the errors others are seeing, except that ATI cards may or may not work along side the built-in v5200. I'll bet that an X1600 would work fine, since they use the same driver set. Note that the Parity error appeared when windows was loading (on its way into protected mode), not during POST.

Exactly my symptoms, with a X1300. I'm carrying on to get the 7600gs, as you've seen it work OK.

In the BIOS thread
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=25486
it is reported that the 1.06 bios is released. Lenovo says:
Version 79EY61WW (1.06)
* (Fix) Incomplete docking actions may happen. Devices plugged into the dockingstation side are not recognized. (BIOS)

I will try this patch on the weekend, if my 7600GS has arrived by then. I have to travel home (3hrs) to do hardwarey things to this pc...

Thesp · #11 Post by **Thesp** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:37 am

Rons,

Could you do me a lemon and tell me if your 7600gs card runs cooler if it's set as the secondary card rather than primary? I imagine that if it's passively cooled and it's actually doing some processing rather than just framebuffering, it'll heat up much more. I'm only planning on using it for multimonitor output - not as an accelerator, so anything to reduce the need for the dock to run its little fan would be useful!

Oh, and thanks so much for the advice and insight thus far. Saves me buying and trying more vid cards than I can afford!

#12 Post by **RonS** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:21 am

Sure, I'll do the lemon for you tomorrow.

I run the 7600GS with both of the Advanced Dock's fans disconnected (main fan and PCI-e bay fan off). Also, I left the cover to the PCI-Express bay removed. It passively cools enough for everyday work, and my setup is totally silent. The temp varies in the range of 90C and 100C, which seems hot but I don't care because it doesn't hurt anything.

Thesp · #13 Post by **Thesp** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 1:03 pm

Latest update - installed XFX Geforce 7600GS PCI-E in the dock. 2 DVI-VGA adapters to connect two VGA monitors to the 2 DVI-I ports on the card.

Restart, no card detected. Restart as Primary, hang on boot.

Undock machine and redock, Nvidia card detected, drivers installed, asks for reboot. Reboot, card disappears from Device Manager.

Undock, redock. Card appears with correct NVidia drivers, but now shows "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)"
Device instance ID: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0392&SUBSYS_22211682&REV_A1\4&2F707902&0&00E3

Resource settings show: "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system." No IRQ, no DMA, nothing.

Device manager-> view resources by connection, no Geforce present to diagnose conflicts.

I installed the new 1.06 BIOS, no luck.

I am wondering now about power. Does the dock provide enough power to drive the 7600GS card? I am british, running off a 13A 240V socket. 60Hz cycle. Is this an american/british power issue? I noteice eveyone who has had success with this pci-e bay has been from over the water.

I am lost for ideas and I have spent over £300 on graphics cards that don't work. Anybody got a suggestion?

RonS - do you see different behaviours docking and undocking or having secondry/primary PCI-E?

Also, the whole point of buying this new laptop + dock + monitors + card was to have a triplehead setup. Currently, I have exactly the same experience as I used to! I really wish industry standards were standards!

#14 Post by **RonS** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:56 am

RonS - do you see different behaviours docking and undocking or having secondry/primary PCI-E?

The only difference I see for secondary/primary PCI-E is during boot. The primary display shows the boot. Once Windows starts, they all behave the same. And, I haven't noticed any difference in temperature between the settings.

I think you should get you Advanced Dock exchanged. It sounds to me like it's defective. I've treated me AD very hard, and it's been very reliable for me.

Thesp · #15 Post by **Thesp** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:14 am

Thanks. I'm into Lenovo at the moment, asking them about 'official compatible' graphics cards. If all else fails, then back to Lenovo it is...

all the best,

Mark

Thesp · #16 Post by **Thesp** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:25 am

Oh razorback, did you get to try a different dock? Any luck?

atb,

t

Razorback · #17 Post by **Razorback** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:13 pm

Thesp,

I have not tried a different dock yet. I will try to get another dock in the next week and report back.

GL

Thesp · #18 Post by **Thesp** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:48 am

Finally through to Lenovo. They agree it's odd, and are deabating whether to send an engineer or send out a new dock for me to try. Razorback, any luck with a different dock?

mj

marcusb · #19 Post by **marcusb** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:05 pm

I am looking to connect three (3) ThinkVision L201P Monitors to a T60p via Advanced Dock.

Thesp, what was the outcome with Lenovo?

Which graphics card do you / Lenovo recommend for triplehead independent displays (main purpose) and surround gaming (rarely)?

Thesp · #20 Post by **Thesp** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:35 am

Still waiting. I think the consensus so far is that if it's going to work, most cards will do OK, but the Geforce 6600 passively-cooled card from PNY is the one to get.

Razorback · #21 Post by **Razorback** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:34 pm

Hey guys,

I just tested a second (new in box) Advanced Dock with the 7600GS DDR 2 Dual DVI.

This time I get no video output - nothing from the T60p panel, the internal PCI, nor the 7600GS DVI ports.

I tested multiple configurations including setting the boot device to "PCI Express" vs. "Internal."

One thing I note is that the machine is not booting when the 7600GS is installed. It just powers up and sits there. As soon as I remove the 7600 GS from the PCI Express slot or I undock the machine, it will boot fine. The external DVI port on the dock works fine as well (when the 7600 GS is not installed of course.)

This is my second advanced dock and second 7600 gs card and still no-go. Is this a bad batch of docks, or what????

Razorback

#22 Post by **RonS** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:07 pm

I have the same setup I've been using for months (T60p with Advanced Dock and th 7600GS card) and it's run perfectly since day one.

I have no idea what could be going wrong on your end. It seems like more than just "bad luck."

Thesp · #23 Post by **Thesp** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:10 am

Based on the successes reported in
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=27757
I attempted my Sapphire Radeon X1300 512MB again.

Different problems to the 7600GS, I grant you, but now

If Primary:
Both screens on the x1300 initialise at boot, and then crash on Windows load. Dock VGA stays black.

If Secondary:
Laptop screen initialises fine, Windows does not detect the card.

Any further movement on getting a replacement dock from lenovo? I am chasing this through them too - they say that it should be a supported configuration.

Thesp · #24 Post by **Thesp** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:11 am

For clarity, ongoing adventures in this are reported in the original Advanced-dock Mini-Review thread.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=22358

best,

Mark

Multi-monitor: t60p, advanced dock, pci-e graphics card?

Multi-monitor: t60p, advanced dock, pci-e graphics card?

7600gs

Second Advanced dock test

Who is online