7720G Video Upgrade - Help Needed!

Hi guys,

Just put a 9300M GS 256mb into my Aspire 7720G notebook, but I get some weird colours and distortion. I have attached some photos so you get what I mean. Any ideas how I can fix this? I installed the latest drivers off the nVidia web site and my bios is updated to the latest 1.45 version from Acer's site. Also tried to find other Acer Vbios' for this card but had no luck. I also have this distortion when I boot up the notebook and the white Acer splashscreen appears, so its not a windows problem. Also attached two photos of GPU-Z. One I took with my camera and the other is a screenshot. Screenshot comes out perfect when viewing on another computer.

Thanks.

 

Seems like the MXM card is detecting your 6-bit LCD panel as 8-bit (or the other way around). Try the MXM-patched BIOS in the x920G vs. 9600M GT thread (it is the same one as for Aspire 5720G).

 

Tried the MXM-patched BIOS using Insyde Flash, but didn't seem to make any difference. Is there anything else I can try to fix this problem? Thanks.

 

Check the model of your internal LCD panel using Aida/Everest.

 

Is this what you were wanting to see?

 

Hmm, LP171WP4-TLB1 is definitely a 6-bit, dual link display - which, to the best of my knowledge, is just what the MXM structure states, even in the stock BIOS.

Can you upload a dump of the VBIOS (using GPU-Z)?

 

Hey .NetRolller, VBIOS dump attached. Thanks for the help btw!

 

Thanks.

Disassembly shows this to be a true MXM BIOS (though not without an obvious bug in the MXM structure parsing routine, that would cause the card to lock up in a 5920G with stock BIOS), so it is probably not hardcoding an 8-bit internal display.

Can you take a photo of http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/img/gradient-h.png displayed on the screen?

 

When I click that link, it come sup with an image saying don't hotlink images. How do I get to it going through the site? Thanks.

 

Copy and paste the URL into the title bar, to bypass referer checking. The problem is that the site itself has frameset checking, to force viewing the images in a specific order.

 

I've seen something very similar before.

My card was made for an HTPC. .NetRoller, you have the vBIOS, its a 9600 g.
Maybe this can help somehow.

My opinion based on experience is that you have an ES card, or a card made for an HTPC or blade server. It may have something to do with their normal LVDS outputs being used for TTL or DVI instead.

 

I think it's more likely that the card is outputting 8-bit (per channel) image, while the panel expects 6-bit. The least significant bits of one color overspill into the most significant bits of another.

 

Photo attached. What exactly does this mean?

 

That confirms my theory. The card is mistaking your display panel for an 8-bit capable one. (The display produces a full gradient for brightness levels 0-63, 64-127, 128-191 and 192-255, instead of a single smooth gradient for 0-255. That is, it is ignoring the 7th and 8th bits of each LVDS color signal.)

EDIT: Please check memory address 0xC0334 in RW-Everything. I suspect that your VBIOS simply bypasses the MXM structure parsing routines!

 

Is this what you're after?

 

Almost, but do it directly after a cold boot, and open ONLY the "Memory" view (NOT "Memory Index/Data" - the Index/Data actually overwrites the index byte, and makes the "Memory" reading bogus!)

 

Screenshot attached. Thanks.

 

This one is easier to read

 

Brrr. The byte @ 0xC0334 is 0, meaning, use hardcoded display identification data.

Here is your VBIOS patched to enable MXM parsing.

(This also fixes the 5920G lockup I mentioned earlier. It took just one byte to fix that one.)

 

Tried to flash the VBIOS using NVFLash but i got an error saying it can't read .bin files, only .rom or .nvr. Tried opening it with NibiTor and saving it as a .rom file, but still getting the same error. Any suggestions?

 

I think you merely need to rename it to .rom.

 

tried that before but didn't work. tried it again just now to be safe but still didn't work. any other suggestions? would it be easy to modify the vbios via RW-Everything or one of those other utilities?

 

No, RW-Everything can't program the BIOS into your card.

Perhaps try the DOS version of nvflash.

 

Managed to flash it, but still having the same problem :'(

 

Did 0xC0334 change after the flash?

 

I think this is what you are looking for:
http://ifile.it/t5nx1u9/G98 M JEIDA.bin

This is a 9300M GS VBIOS, which uses the JEIDA format for 8-bit LVDS links (where the least-significant bits of each color are transmitted after the synchronisation data, as opposed to VESA LVDS, which sends the most-significant bits separately).

This makes 8-bit JEIDA LVDS backwards-compatible with 6-bit LVDS.

So, while your card will still mis-recognize the display as 8-bit, it will cause no problems (apart from the lack of dithering/FRC, maybe), because it will use JEIDA 8-bit.

Also, a question: With the previous patched BIOS (with MXM structure parsing enabled), does the error still persist on the boot screen, or does it only come up in Windows now? (The latter would be more logical.)

 

I attached the screenshot of that memory address you asked about. Error still persists on boot up. Gonna flash VBIOS with the new file and let you know how I go. Thanks

 

.NetRolller that last JEIDA VBIOS you just posted worked!!!! Thank you sooooooo much, you are a legend!!!

 

Did you actually get smooth, dithered/FRCed 16.2M-color display (check the gradient pic I sent you earlier), or just undithered 262144-color?

 

Is this what you meant?

 

Looks like it is fully recognized now, as a 6-bit panel.