From: Deanna Berman (dberman_at_dimensional.com)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 14:37:28 EDT
MessageA couple of suggestions, even though neither may make sense
logically for the symptoms you have...
1) In BIOS, try toggling the PCI/AGP video adapter boot sequence.
2) Check the registry to see exactly what files are loading.
Microsoft indicates that in both XP and 2000, it is possible that a
third-party program may be replacing some of the video driver files
that should be loading. Step-by-step instructions:
XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314854
2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q200435
Deanna
dberman_at_dimensional.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Morrow
To: Greg Langham ; 'Justin Maas' ; thinkpad_at_cs.utk.edu
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 00:20 AM
Subject: Re: Thinkpad A31p with docking station
greg..
its a puzzlement.. :-)
my first gut reaction after reading your well described problem is
BIOS..
i think there is a new bios since that A31p arrived..
second guess is some sort of disagreement between the two video
chips...
<------------------------------->
Cordially, :-)
Bill Morrow
WEB page http://thinkpads.com
thinkpads.com Open Forum
http://www.afaonline.com:8080/webboard/$webb.exe/~2/login?
or go to thinkpads.com and link from there
E-Mail: bill at thinkpads dot com
----- Original Message -----
From: Greg Langham
To: 'Justin Maas' ; thinkpad_at_cs.utk.edu
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 11:43 PM
Subject: RE: Thinkpad A31p with docking station
I have one Viewsonic VP201MB and one Dell 2000FP.
My problem still existed when I connected an analog CRT to
either of the video cards in question (both cards have both DVI and
DB15 connectors).
Thanks,
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: Justin Maas [mailto:jmaas_at_msn.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 10:31 PM
To: 'Greg Langham'; thinkpad_at_cs.utk.edu
Subject: RE: Thinkpad A31p with docking station
Greetings,
What brand are the 20" DVI Flat Panels youa are trying to use?
Cheers
Justin Maas
MixTec
mailto:jmaas_at_msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Langham [mailto:greg_at_ubh.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 7:43 PM
To: thinkpad_at_cs.utk.edu
Subject: Thinkpad A31p with docking station
Hey folks:
I just received a new Thinkpad A31p from Bill Morrow. All I
can say is "wow" this thing is great. Good keyboard (better than
A2x series), great screen, fast, and doesn't get warm on the bottom.
My only minor gripe is the mouse button layout, but I'll get used to
it.
I am replacing an A22p that I used on a Thinkpad dock. In the
dock is an Appian Hurricane PCI video card with DVI output. The
Hurricane is an ATI Radeon VE card. What I did with the A22p was run
a 20" DVI flatpanel with the Appian card and another 20" DVI
flatpanel on the DVI output of the Thinkpad; it worked great. It is
great to run dual 20" flat panels in digital mode at 1600x1200.
Lot's of real estate and easy to see!
Unfortunately, the A31p isn't cooperating with this setup. I
can get one of the flatpanels to work with the DVI output from the
docking station. When I enable the Appian card, the card acts like
it works fine and the DVI monitor comes alive. However, once I move
a window to that monitor and do something that creates quite a bit
of video activity will lock the machine solid (no keyboard, mouse,
etc.) The only option is to hold the power button until the machine
turns off.
Here's what I have tried to solve this problem:
1. I thought it might be a driver conflict between the
ATI driver in the Thinkpad and the ATI driver for the Appian, so
after some searching I found an Inno 3D PCI DVI card. This card is
an nVidia gForce II based card. This card exhibits the exact same
behavior as the Appian (it locks the machine within a couple of
minutes of use.)
2. I'm using the latest A31p BIOS (released 5/31/02).
3. I tried another Thinkpad dock - same results.
4. We actually have a couple of identical A31p machines
in the office. The owner of the other A31p was gracious enough for
me to try that machine. Same results. This pretty much rules out a
hardware issue with my machine.
5. I have tried all sorts of video drivers. I have tried
that latest IBM drivers for the internal ATI video, different
drivers for the Appian and the nVidia card. All with the same
results.
6. These machines are running XP, while the A22p was
running W2K. So, Bill was gracious enough to send me a W2K product
recovery CD. Unfortunately W2K locks up just like XP does.
7. I have tried all sorts of changes to the PCI IRQ
settings in the BIOS. However, XP and 2000 both use ACPI and tend to
handle interrupts on their own. Within 2000 and XP I have absolutely
no control over what IRQ that the PCI video card uses.
8. I tried disabling the on board video and just run the
PCI card. This isn't a good long term solution, but it would pretty
much let me know if the video chipsets were conflicting. I was able
to lock the machine with just the PCI video functioning.
9. Both of the PCI video cards also have an analog
output. I thought maybe something about the DVI output was the
problem; however, connecting an analog CRT to the PCI video
reproduced the same results.
10. I have called IBM and it's been more than a week. They
say it is with "level 2" engineering, but they don't have any
answers yet.
11. Out of desperation I tried a Margi PC-Card to drive the
second monitor. However, its support is weak at 1600x1200 DVI
resolution, and it's slow.
Now, here's the really "interesting" part: We also have an SGI
1600SW 17.3" flat panel with a 3D Labs Oxygen VX1-1600 PCI video
card. This card and monitor have a proprietary LVDI connection. This
card and monitor works fine. I have been running with it for several
days without problems. However, I would really like to get the
second 20" monitor running instead of the SGI.
At this point, I'm guessing that there is a BIOS glitch with
the A31p and the PCI slot on the dock.
Do any of you Thinkpad experts have any other ideas? I know it
may seem like a crazy configuration, but it worked great on the A22p
and would like to get it working with the A31p.
Greg Langham
United-Bilt Homes, Inc.
479.756.2527 x422
mailto:greg.langham_at_ubh.com
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