How to activate VGA output on X24 in Dock?

Message

Jumphog · #1 Post by **Jumphog** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:53 am

Ive got a 'Thinkpad Dock' (2631) which I use with my X24 mainly to give it usb2 and firewire. Today I tried to hook up another monitor to the vga (not dvi) out on the dock, but im not getting signal to it. Is there some key combination or driver I need to use to enable it?

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:14 pm

FN+F7 to step between LCD - External - Both.

Regards,

James

Jumphog · #3 Post by **Jumphog** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:35 pm

Thanks for that, I usually do FN+f7 to change monitors when its not in the dock, but im just not getting anything with it docked. Ive done some testing and I cant get a signal with my other x24 either, but the thinkpad/radeon drivers both seem to think that a monitor is connected. I can enable the 2nd screen through windows and it'll boot up in a lower res (which I use for a projector) when a monitor is plugged in..

Perhaps Ive just got a duff dock where the vga out doesnt work...

_erazor_ · #4 Post by **_erazor_** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 2:02 pm

erm, how should the dock give the x24 the usb2 support ?!

the usb ports on the dock only support what the thinkpad itself supports ...

a usb 1.1 capable thinkpad in a dock only has usb 1.1 there too. a usb2 thinkpad has usb2 in the dock.

Jumphog · #5 Post by **Jumphog** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:42 pm

_erazor_ wrote:erm, how should the dock give the x24 the usb2 support ?!

the usb ports on the dock only support what the thinkpad itself supports ...

a usb 1.1 capable thinkpad in a dock only has usb 1.1 there too. a usb2 thinkpad has usb2 in the dock.

Ive got a USB2 & Firewire card in the PCI slot - thats how!

Any ideas about the vga output?

Kronic1968 · #6 Post by **Kronic1968** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:33 am

Jumphog wrote:Ive got a 'Thinkpad Dock' (2631) which I use with my X24 mainly to give it usb2 and firewire. Today I tried to hook up another monitor to the vga (not dvi) out on the dock, but im not getting signal to it. Is there some key combination or driver I need to use to enable it?

Hi,

i'm exactly in the same situation.
all my 2631 docking station ports work properly except VGA and PS2. (i put, just like you, a firewire/usb2 pci board inside the dock and it works perfectly).
the VGA-OUT of the X24 is working very well, i tested it.
but when i try to connect both VGA or DVI cables to LCD or CRT monitors to the dock, none are working. and i tested a lot of combinations of keys with different video drivers but none were successful.

thus i got some questions :
1) when i ask the video driver to use the external VGA port, how does it know to send it to the docking station instead to the X24 VGA port ? does it send the signal to both of them ?

2) i tried to look at video signals with a scope. i perfectly see red, green and blue signals on the X24 VGA port but i tried to look at these signals on the X24 docking port and i dont see anything... well there are a lot of pins, thus may be i miss them.
does anybody has the docking port pin-out somewhere ?

3) the conclusion for me is i'm not able to know if the X24 is not able to send the video signals to the docking station or if the the docking station is misfunctionning. did you try your X24 with and other port extension to test VGA out ? or did you try to put an other thinkpad or your docking station ?

Jumphog · #7 Post by **Jumphog** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 4:22 am

I have 2 X24s, The screen got crushed on my original one, so i brought a replacement. The original works fine apart from the LCD. As well as the dock I have a port replicator. I have just tested the vga out through the replicator and it works fine, Ive also tried both X24s in the dock and neither of them work. I havent tried to use the PS2 port on the dock, but Ill give that a go when I get home.

As JHEM said above, with a monitor plugged into the thinkpad OR the port replicator, FN+7 cycles through: internal lcd, external monitor, both. Ive got the omega radeon drivers installed, so I can use the VGA out as a second separate screen as well. There is definitely an output for a VGA signal on the X24's on the docking connector and Im pretty sure that there isnt a DVI output.

I wonder if theres firmware or something that can be upgraded in the dock?

Kronic1968 · #8 Post by **Kronic1968** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:19 am

very interesting post. you solve all the questions.
now, we are sure the X24 is properly sending video signals through the docking port to the station.

for me, there are 2 possibilities :
1) the 2631 docking station is misfunctionning, vga drivers chips are dead or something like that.
2) the X24 "software" is not able to send proper information to the 2631 station to ask it to let video signals going to the VGA port. (i opened the 2631 station and there is a big chip inside and i think it may be needed to send some informations from X24 to the station, this not completely pass-through).

thus, i have a "stupid" question :
is anybody able to use the VGA port of the 2631 with a X24 ???
if yes, it could be a good idea to test this station with many other compatible thinkpads. it could solve the 1st point.

for the 2nd point, one solution would be to try to install windows on the X24 while docked on the station in order to let it solve every conflicting access to all these new devices controlled by the 2631...
do you use windows XP or 2000 ?

Jumphog · #9 Post by **Jumphog** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:16 am

Kronic1968 wrote:very interesting post. you solve all the questions.
now, we are sure the X24 is properly sending video signals through the docking port to the station.

for me, there are 2 possibilities :
1) the 2631 docking station is misfunctionning, vga drivers chips are dead or something like that.
2) the X24 "software" is not able to send proper information to the 2631 station to ask it to let video signals going to the VGA port. (i opened the 2631 station and there is a big chip inside and i think it may be needed to send some informations from X24 to the station, this not completely pass-through).

I agree, hopefully its a software issue though.

thus, i have a "stupid" question :
is anybody able to use the VGA port of the 2631 with a X24 ???
if yes, it could be a good idea to test this station with many other compatible thinkpads. it could solve the 1st point.

Yep, anyone else had any luck with this?

for the 2nd point, one solution would be to try to install windows on the X24 while docked on the station in order to let it solve every conflicting access to all these new devices controlled by the 2631...
do you use windows XP or 2000 ?

Im running XP at the moment, but my other X24 is running 2000, and it didnt work.
You know, I think I might have actually put my current install of XP on while using the dock - I wanted to make sure the USB2/Firewire drivers were installed from fresh..

Kronic1968 · #10 Post by **Kronic1968** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:24 am

Hi,

yesterday, i tried to find if some software was possibly related to our problem.
there is some ibm pages about that :

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-41987

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4LXTHS

i updated the BIOS and the embedded controller BIOS (but they where already up to date).
i used the supplement files package v1.30 for XP.

but nothing changed, always unable to swap to dock external display...
did you try to make it work with a clean IBM install image of windows ?

Kronic1968 · #11 Post by **Kronic1968** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:46 pm

i got a new 2,5" hard drive to try to install a original IBM windows system to see if there is any effect on the docking station VGA port.

but i dont have any recovery CD.
do you know where i could have the CD or the image of it ?
any website ?

Kronic1968 · #12 Post by **Kronic1968** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 4:58 pm

my last unsuccessful try :
with a new HD, i installed a fresh windows XP SP1 while the X24 was on the dock.

thus i
1) installed new video ATI drivers from the IBM X24 drivers web site.
2) installed IBMLCD.inf TFT display configuration file (from supplement files v1.20)
3) reboot

correct swapping between internal display and X24 external display
impossible to get any image on the docking external display.

4) installed ICH3inf.reg from supplement files v1.30 (from instructions, it was not necessary).
5) reboot

=> nothing changed.
always correct swapping between internal display and X24 external display
always impossible to get any image on the docking external display.

the last try could be to test an IBM version of windows 2000 or XP from a recovery disk... is anybody got one here ?

Dummvogel · #13 Post by **Dummvogel** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 6:00 pm

I own a X22. The VGA-Port works with dock 1 and dock 2 plus port-replicator 1 and 2.

I'm using the default drivers from IBM.

Kronic1968 · #14 Post by **Kronic1968** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 4:47 am

Hi Dummvogel,

thanks for your help.

do you use the default windows installation coming with your thinkpad (or coming from recovery CD) + updated IBM drivers
or is it a standard windows installation + IBM drivers ?

did the "display property" windows change if a docking station is installed ?

is any change in the "device manager" when you put the docking station ? (especially inside the "system devices" tree)

Dummvogel · #15 Post by **Dummvogel** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 3:15 pm

I don't have any Recovery-CDs for any of my Thinkpads. Its a standard XP Pro SP2 plus the stuff Software installer downloads(And Presentation Director, because that is not officially supportet on the X22)

The Dock adds a PCI-PCI-Bridge, behind that is the Stuff in the Dock like PCMCIA-Controller, but that has nothing to do with the VGA-Port.

Jumphog · #16 Post by **Jumphog** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:19 pm

Ive missed a few things in this thread, but unfortuantely Ive nothing to report. I dont have recovery disks, all my installs have been from normal xp disks and ive tended to use the latest/best drivers I can rather than the old IBM ones. Next week Ill try and get hold of an X20 to test in the dock and see what that does.

Kronic1968 · #17 Post by **Kronic1968** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:15 pm

i will buy a new docking station to make a new test.
the answer in some days......

Kronic1968 · #18 Post by **Kronic1968** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:01 pm

Hi guys,

some fresh news here :
i changed my 2631 docking station by another one and..... it works !!!
now i'm completely able to swap between internal display and the docking vga display with the FN+F7 key.

thus we have 2 possibilities :

1) my first docking station was faulty.
2) the 2 docking stations are not completely the same and it's some kind of firmware problem.

i dont have the answer but if i read carefully the label on the 2 docking stations, there is one difference :
"faulty one" : P/N 02K8660 - FRU P/N 08N1585
"working one" : P/N 02K8660 - FRU P/N 08N1579

tell me which kind of station you got (FRU) and if VGA port is working on station, it would be interesting to make some statistics.

i hope it helped.

Jumphog · #19 Post by **Jumphog** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:17 pm

Kronic1968 wrote:Hi guys,
"faulty one" : P/N 02K8660 - FRU P/N 08N1585
"working one" : P/N 02K8660 - FRU P/N 08N1579

I think you might be onto something here. My non working one is also an 08N1585. Perhpas Ill have to find a cheap 1579 and see if it makes a difference.

Thankyou for the information..

Dummvogel · #20 Post by **Dummvogel** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:51 am

08N1585 -> Works. But since I have a X22 it may be X24-specific.(T23-VGA works in it too)

Kronic1968 · #21 Post by **Kronic1968** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:44 am

i recently bought several 2631 docking stations for 1 euro

i have to test them all to be sure about the 1585 / 1579 behavior.
the answer in some days...

Kronic1968 · #22 Post by **Kronic1968** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:09 am

bad news...
it seems it's not a firmware related problem.

i tried today 2 other 2631 FRU P/N 08N1585 docking stations, and with my thinkpad X24, it's working :
i'm able to get display working at the VGA output of the dock.

i tried back the faulty FRU P/N 08N1585 docking, and it's still faulty.
thus, i suppose some display driver chips burnt...

How to activate VGA output on X24 in Dock?

How to activate VGA output on X24 in Dock?

Re: How to activate VGA output on X24 in Dock?

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