T500 dual digital DVI / DisplayPort

Hi guys

Current equipment is:
Thinkpad T500, ATI 3650 discrete graphics
ThinkVision L220x at 1920 x 1200
ThinkVision LT2452p at 1920 x 1200
Advanced Minidock

I've just purchased the L220x as a 2nd monitor and hoped to connected one to the Displayport connector on the side of the laptop and one to the DVI connector at the rear of the dock.

However Win 7 is not allowing me to extend the desktop across the two displays, the Catalyst control panel is not proving helpful either. When I change one of the monitors to the analogue VGA socket it *does allow extensions of the displays; but obviously at 1920 x 1200 the picture quality is quite poor.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I noticed an old post ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/515953-dual-digital-video-output-r500-t500-w500.html) where the user mentioned there is a solution, but never mentioned how to go about it.

There is the option of adding USB to DVI adapters / port replicators but w.r.t. performance these are not ideal.

Any help would be great! thanks..

 

You are referring to my article.

The trick for me is to use the DVI monitor first, and then connect the second monitor to the Displayport.

However, i used the Windows own display property to manage this extension rather then the Catalyst driver when i used the old W500 that i had.

 

Thanks for getting back to me.

I tried what you suggested (I think) - booted with DVI plugged into the back, once up in Windows plugged 2nd monitor into displayport; however I got the same message when I select extend desktop: "Unable to save * settings".

There's a Displayport to DVI converter in between the monitor and the Displayport. Could this affect matters?

Also, I noticed the W-series uses what appears to be a different ATI chipset. Though I know there's a practice of relabeling consumer chips to "FireGL" so for all I know it might be the same thing.

Tx
S

 

save settings? you are still using the Catalyst driver to control the windows extension?

 

Hi,

Sorry for the slow reply - I was waiting to get an actual displayport cable as opposed to a displayport to DVI converter.

So with ThinkVision LT2452p attached to a displayport cable and ThinkVision L220x to DVI cable, I:

* boot up with the 22" plugged into the DVI port at rear of dock
* wait until I'm logged in and see desktop
* plug in the 24" in the displayport on the left of the laptop
* open screen resolution settings
* click on the 24" monitor, and select 'extend these displays'

When I click apply, I get a dialog box saying "Unable to save display settings".

Also, I don't have any ATI/AMD software installed and the laptop lid is closed throughout.

Perhaps there is some difference between the T500/W500?

 

not sure, i don't have my W500 anymore. My T500 is Intel only and works perfectly with this setup. Although with your T500 switchable graphics card, when you are in Intel mode your dock's DVI is disabled.

 

Is the lid closed when you are booting?

 

Yup, it's closed at all times.