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    External Screen on CF30

    Discussion in 'Panasonic' started by gothed, Aug 4, 2009.

  1. gothed

    gothed Notebook Consultant

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    I read some time ago that the maximum external resolution on the cf30 is 1200x1024. I find this hard to believe.

    Has anybody ever tried this? or can anybody hook it up to a good old CRT monitor.

    Specifically I want to know if it is able to do at least 1920x1080.

    thanks guys, really wanna know max res.

    Dominik
     
    gothed, Aug 4, 2009
    #1
  2. Zakalwe

    Zakalwe Notebook Consultant

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    The Toughbooks do tend to be a bit limited in their external resolution, and it is not the technical capabilities of the graphics chipset that are to blame, rather it seems someone (Panasonic, I suppose) is imposing an artificial resolution restriction in the video bios for nefarious reasons. My CF-19 Mk2 indeed hit the ceiling at 1280x1024, and it uses the same chipset as the CF-30 Mk2 (things may be different for Mk1 and Mk3, of course).

    However, you can get around the limit by customizing some driver files, like described in this guide:
    custom resolutions on intel graphics

    Basically, if a resolution is "forbidden" in the bios, the computer can be made to run at a resolution a few pixels off the desired forbidden resolution, which makes an almost unnoticeable difference but bypasses the bios limit.
    Using this I now have my CF-19 hooked up to a 1920x1200 display when I'm at home, and it works nicely at a resolution of 1912x1200.
     
    Zakalwe, Aug 5, 2009
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  3. gothed

    gothed Notebook Consultant

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    sweet, could not have hoped for a better answer.
     
    gothed, Aug 5, 2009
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  4. onirakkiss

    onirakkiss Notebook Deity

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    Can u pls paste ur inf here?
     
    onirakkiss, Aug 6, 2009
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  5. SCICOM

    SCICOM Newbie

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    sir,
    i have the same problem with my cf19 i connected to a external LCD monitor and installed .INF software, but i cant set it to 1440x900 res. pls help. thanks.
     
    SCICOM, Aug 6, 2009
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  6. Zakalwe

    Zakalwe Notebook Consultant

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    Ok, I have attached my igxp32.inf. Specifically, this is the relevant part:

    Code: 
    [NonEDIDMode_AddSwSettings]
HKR,, TotalDTDCount, %REG_DWORD%, 1  	; This shows number of DTDs to be used. ;  0-->Disable the feature.
;Following keys have 20 bytes (18 byte DTD + 2 Byte flags).
HKR,, DTD_1,%REG_BINARY%, 28,3C,78,A8,70,B0,23,40,30,20,36,00,DA,28,11,00,00,1A,37,01		;[email protected]
HKR,, DTD_2, %REG_BINARY%, 01,1D,80,D0,72,1C,16,20,10,2C,1A,80,00,00,00,00,00,86,37, 01		;[email protected]
HKR,, DTD_3,%REG_BINARY%, 01,1D,00,BC,52,D0,1E,20,B8,28,25,40,00,00,00,00,00,04,37, 01		;[email protected]
HKR,, DTD_4, %REG_BINARY%, 01,1D,00,72,51,D0,1E,20,6E,28,25,00,00,00,00,00,00,06,37,01		;[email protected]	
HKR,, DTD_5,%REG_BINARY%, 00, 00, 00 ,00, 00, 00,00, 00, 00,00, 00, 00,00, 00, 00,00, 00, 00,00, 00	;Fifth DTD
    And of these, only the first DTD line ("HKR,, DTD_1...") was modified. The comment to its right still says "1920x1080" because I didn't bother fixing it, but the actual hex numbers result in a 1912x1200 resolution.

    I'd really suggest reading that guide, though, as they recommend using the free MonInfo tool to get the raw hex code numbers from the monitor, and they explain which of the numbers to insert into the inf-file and which of them to modify. I did this like recommended, so the numbers are from my Lenovo L220x, and I have no idea how well they work with other monitors.
     

    Attached Files:

    Zakalwe, Aug 6, 2009
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  7. Toughbook

    Toughbook Drop and Give Me 20!

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    Excellent work! Rep to you!
     
    Toughbook, Aug 6, 2009
    #7