External LCD goes pink/strange when using dockingstation

[backdoorman]

Very strange, I tried to use my T60 with my type 2054 dockingstation and everything powers up and seem to work as it should. Except that the colourscheme on the remote LCD is all pink and very tiresome to look at. I have tried changing the gamma and contrast on the Intel media accelerrator but can't make it normal.
When using the laptop as standalone again, everything's fine.

What can I do about it?

[pianowizard]

Have you adjusted the external monitor's color balance, through the monitor's setting buttons?

[backdoorman]

I have tried mixing with them, yes. Is it the colorbalance that I should alter?
I have used the external monitor with another comp. without having this strange scheme.
Maybe the external monitor is giving up?

[pianowizard]

I see. Can you change the color balance through the Intel software? Maybe the red channel is too high and/or the other channels are too low.

[backdoorman]

Very irritating this. Shouldn't this be some kind of automatic procedure? I have tried altering the settings on both the external and on the controlpanel but not been able to get a decent colorscheme. Impossible to adjust this manually.

Do I need to download a new driver for the Samsung 940B which is the name of the monitor?

[dr_st]

See if you can find any color temperature settings in the Intel control panel, and play with them.

I've had this exact issue with the ATI X1400 settings in my T60, as described here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=89490

Don't know what are the chances of something like this also being present in the Intel GPU software, but worth checking.

[backdoorman]

Can not find any temperature settings in the Intel graphics manager either. Seems like I can not use external monitor...

[pianowizard]

Since the monitor looks fine when hooked up to another computer, we know that this monitor isn't the culprit, and the VGA cable is also working properly. The next possibility is that the docking station's VGA output is defective. So, connect the monitor directly to the Thinkpad and see if the problem goes away. Also, if this docking station has a DVI out and the monitor has DVI in, it's worth testing that as well.

[backdoorman]

Tried connecting directly and problem is still there. Yes, both docking and LCD has a DVI port as well, not sure I have a cable though.
Seems to me that changing to DVI shouldn't help since problem must be the signal my computer sends to external monitor. Strangely enough seem to differ from that sent to device's own.

[dr_st]

The signals sent on VGA and DVI are different, and other circuitry is involved. The settings used by the driver are also separate for each type of output. There is substantial reason to believe that the output will be different.

[rkawakami]

I have used the external monitor with another comp. without having this strange scheme. Maybe the external monitor is giving up?

Just to clear up a possible issue... My question is: When was the last time you used the external monitor on another computer? If it has been some time (like weeks or months), then yes your monitor could be going out. If you plug in your monitor into a different computer now, what does it look like?

[backdoorman]

Less than a week ago, monitor should be no problem. I will have to locate a DVI cable to check if that helps.
Could it be that the videocard driver has to be updated? Very strange with different outgoing signal..

/J

[alofano]

How long have you had the Dock ? Did you buy it new or used ? To me it sounds like a docking issue !

Are you sure it's a type 2054 ?

[backdoorman]

The DVI cable made the trick or at least got me around the problem. I had to update the driver though and install it as digital. Very strange but at least it works now.

[pianowizard]

Great!

After updating the driver, have you tried VGA again, to see if it's the driver update (rather than the DVI) that fixed the problem?

[backdoorman]

I first installed the driver choosing "analog" and that did not fix the problem. After installing it as "Digital" I haven't tried the VGA again. Are there any downsides with DVI?

[pianowizard]

Are there any downsides with DVI?

Image quality is usually better through DVI, but the downside is that you need the docking station to use DVI.