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T40/A31p - Video Capabilities:

This is a transcript of a thread about monitor/video capabilities and modifications for the T40 (and luckily applicable in part to the a31p). This will be of interest to you if you have a T40 or A31p and

• you want to use DVI at resolutions above 1280x1024
• or want to display video sources (DVD, mpeg, avi etc. simultaneously on the LCD and external monitor)
• or display in Portrait mode on the LCD

Questions addressed here:

• External Monitor at 1600x1200 (DVI)
• non IBM ATI  Video Drivers

Registry Edits (see disclaimer)

• Theatre mode
• Landscape mode
• Theatre mode for A31p

External Links

• driverheaven.net
• Return to Thinkpads.com
• Bill's open forum

Original Thread - Aug 28-30, 2003

I am using an IBM L200 20.1" (DVI only) at 1600x1200 and it is wonderful. The IBM video drivers do not work with it. I downloaded the latest ATI catalyst driver and used the ATI mobility driver modder on it and it does work at 1600x1200. If you decide to go with 1600x1200, I can post links to the files you need.


John Zordan

 

Hi John,

Thanks for the recommendation.

I guess I misunderstood the product specs on the T40 -- I thought DVI was available from the T40 only when using the docking station, in which case it is limited to 1280x1024. I got this information from IBM's site:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q=t40+dvi&uid=psg1MIGR-46451&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&cc=us&lang=en

Are you connecting your monitor to a dock or directly to your T40? (My dock has a DVI port, but the T40 doesn't.)

Thanks,

. . . Phil
 

I am connecting to the dock. What I said is that it does not work with the IBM video driver. I an using the ATI driver that I down loaded from the ATI web site and then modified for mobility.

John Zordan
 

I've had so much good luck with these mods (just went through 240 pages of a 760 page PDF file while using "book mode") that I sat down and wrote it down (though it is a bit verbose because I attempted to be both simplistic and comprehensive.) It follows below and Bill can feel free to post it on the website. I also have a basic text file of it, in case this is too long to post on a forum.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Standard Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage you may do to your system by following these instructions. If you are uncomfortable with editing your system's registry please do not do any of the below.

Tested System: IBM ThinkPad T40p 2373-G1U running Windows XP Pro
Should work on all T40s with ATI graphics chipsets (this is inherit to all ATI technology)

Here are 2 Changes to give your laptop more versatility. They are both features that ATI implements but IBM doesn't "turn on" for its users. Below I've included a short description of what each does and any known issues.

--Abhay Manusmare 29/08/2003
--------------------------------------------------------------

***NOTE: None of these changes makes an actual immediate change. They both just make available "new tabs" in the "Display Properties>Settings>Advanced" menu. Once these edits are made, you must go to "Display Properties>Settings>Advanced" to switch the options on. No reboots are necessary.

All changes require using "regedit" program from the "Start>Run" menu.

#####################################
1) Theater Mode
#####################################

This is very helpful when you want to see the overlay (DVD playing) full screen on an attached monitor while working on other things on your laptop. In essence, work you're doing on your laptop doesn't change the DVD playing on the monitor (plus you can watch the DVD in a small pane on your window while the overlay is full size on the TV-- something the standard projection method doesn't allow because you can only have the overlay running on one screen.)

Known Limitations:
None that I've found.

REGISTRY CHANGES:
Use the "find" command (Ctrl+F) and "find again" command (F3) to find the keys below and change the entries as given. Please realise with REG_DWORD, you only have to change one number but with REG_BINARY, you have to change the first two numbers (end result, four sets of two digits.) I've attempted to give an approximate amount of times you'll find the keys that will have to be changed and in what type of directories so that you don't accidentally change the wrong keys just because some other program uses a similarly named key.

In "ATI Technologies" areas (should be 3 changes):
KEY: DisableOverlayTheaterMode
VALUE: REG_BINARY 01 00 00 00 -> 00 00 00 00

In all entries (over 10 changes):
KEY: DisableOvlTheaterMode
VALUE: REG_DWORD 1 -> 0

**NOTE, Watch out on this next one because you'll find the "DisableOvlTheaterMode" you just changed in the last step. Just skip over those and look strictly for the key below.

In all entries (over 10 changes):
KEY: OvlTheaterMode
VALUE: REG_BINARY 00 00 00 00 -> 01 00 00 00


MENU CHANGES:
To make these changes active, in "Display Properties>Settings>Advanced" go the the "Overlay" tab. You will now see a "Theater Mode" checkbox. Check it. Please remember that you will see no change unless you have another monitor attached to your laptop.

######################################
2) Landscape to Portrait to Landscape
######################################

I, personally, refer to this as my "Book Mode." It allows you to switch your LCD to display its image from the standard "Landscape" mode to a "Portrait" mode so that you can view a document as a full page running with the best proportionality. It was originally designed to be implemented on swivelling LCDs, but seems equally effective on the T40 because of the lightness and thinness of the model which makes it appear as a book. I tend to use it with Adobe Acrobat for viewing large files (using the PgUp and PgDn to move from page to page.) There is NO overhead on the system using this mode. (If you have your desktop background "stretched" you might want to change it to "center" or "tile", otherwise the background will be "elongated" to fit the new orientation.)

Known Limitations:
A) The trackpoint/UltraNav seems not to re-orient itself even if the Mouse Track Checkbox is checked. What that means is the orientation of mouse movement doesn't change to match the change in the display. It takes a little getting used to when in Portrait mode to figure out how to move the mouse in the direction you want it to go and honestly I don't recommend it when in this mode (use key combinations instead.) If you attach an external mouse, the mouse DOES follow the correct orientation with the "Mouse Tracks" box checked.

B) Rotation only has 3 options. You can only rotate it 180 degrees (Landscape upside down), Standard (Landscape normal) or 90 degrees (Portrait, screen turned 90 degrees clockwise.) Choosing 90 degrees right or left seems to only change the screen 90 degree right. (Why?? I don't know but I'm trying to find out) It seem OK for me, though, because it positions the keyboard to the right when looking at the screen in Portrait mode, giving my right hand's fingers easy access to the PgUp and PgDn keys when holding the notebook on its side.

REGISTRY CHANGES:
Use the "find" command (Ctrl+F) and "find again" command (F3) to find the keys below and change the entries as given. Please realise with REG_DWORD, you only have to change one number but with REG_BINARY, you have to change the first two numbers (end result, four sets of two digits.) I've attempted to give an approximate amount of times you'll find the keys that will have to be changed and in what type of directories so that you don't accidentally change the wrong keys just because some other program uses a similarly named key.

In all entries (over 10 changes):
KEY: DisableTabletPCRotation
VALUE: REG_DWORD 1 -> 0

In "ATI Technologies" areas (should be 3 changes):
KEY: HideMouseTracksRotationCheckbox
VALUE: REG_BINARY 01 00 00 00 -> 00 00 00 00

In "ATI Technologies" areas (should be 3 changes):
KEY: Rotation
VALUE: REG_BINARY 00 00 00 00 -> 01 00 00 00

MENU CHANGES:
To make these changes active, in "Display Properties>Settings>Advanced" you should see a new menu tab marked "Rotation." Configure a Hotkey for the mode you want and enjoy (I set Ctrl+Alt+B to toggle between 90 degrees and Standard; "B" for book :)
 

Abhay

and all...

You only have to go this far (see /-- inset below) on an A31p ...

I don't actually watch DVD's on the computer, but

I was curious if it would solve the problem of trying to display mpeg file inside Windows Media Player.

It works!

oh - and the DVD thing - I managed to dig one up - it works too.

Thanks for that Abhay.



/------------------

REGISTRY CHANGES:
Use the "find" command (Ctrl+F) and "find again" command (F3) to find the keys below and change the entries as given. Please realise with REG_DWORD, you only have to change one number but with REG_BINARY, you have to change the first two numbers (end result, four sets of two digits.) I've attempted to give an approximate amount of times you'll find the keys that will have to be changed and in what type of directories so that you don't accidentally change the wrong keys just because some other program uses a similarly named key.

In "ATI Technologies" areas (should be 3 changes):
KEY: DisableOverlayTheaterMode
VALUE: REG_BINARY 01 00 00 00 -> 00 00 00 00

/-----------------------




Jim
Just Another ThinkPad Owner
A31p H5U, ex-A30p, ex-X22, ex-A20p, 600X, 770Z, 770ED etc.etc.etc and a pair of dueling TransNotes

Here are the ATI and Modder links:

http://mirror.ati.com/support/driver.html

http://mirror.ati.com/support/drivers/winxp/radeonwdm-xp.html?type=xp&prodType=graphic&prod=productsXPdriver&submit.x=8&submit.y=7

http://www.driverheaven.net/patje/

John Zordan


 

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Topic:	Registry Hack Update for Rotation and ATI's new drivers (1 of 1), Read 14 times
Conf:	ThinkPad News & FAQ
From:	Abhay Manusmare (amanusma@netscape.net)
Date:	Monday, September 22, 2003 06:41 PM

I just setup the new Catalyst 3.7 drivers with the mobility modder (replaced out IBM drivers) and there are no longer any rotation limitations from the previous hack listed on Bill's main page. You can now rotate the screen both left and right 90 degrees (previously, selecting left would still rotate right for inexplicable reasons)

Also, there are fewer registry entries for each key change (it seems ATI cleaned up its registry entries), so less work is needed to hack those previous changes (same keys, just located in fewer places.)

Added features to ATI's Catalyst that are still not in the IBM standard include:

SmartGart which can adjust AGP bandwidth (on the fly) to insure stability; it also lets you monitor its settings.

Better PowerPlay management (colour depth settings; profiling based on current battery life.)

Better Multi Screen support (more configurations including differentiating a CRT monitor from a LCD monitor for external hookup)

Those are the main changes (plus the standard fact that the Catalyst set support the higher DVI output settings if using a Dock with DVI output)

Abhay

(PS, I haven't played with the new HydraVision but there may be more updates there too)

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