What is it?

I was going to try to swap out a 12" TouchScreen with a 13". Both machines BIOS say they are close to 600MHz. I took the 13" off of a CF-28MCFAZCM (BIOS says it was a 496MHz) and attached it to a CF-28MBFGBDM (BIOS says it is a 597MHz) machine. Swap was easy thanks to posts here. Now the display on the CF-28MBFGBDM displays everything except that there is a 2" black space, top to bottom, on the right side of the screen. Also, the image is repeated at the bottom of the screen for about the same 2 inches.

Anyone have any ideas? Anyone know what a CF-28MBFGBDM is? I put the model number in the Configuator ( http://www.config.toughbook.com/) and it says "Model Number Not Found".

This all started because my big fat fingers broke the keyboard ribbon connector (that little brown sucker that filps up). In my attemps to put the keyboard back on I destroyed the ends of the connector and can't get the ribbon to make a connection.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

M - PIII 600Mhz
B - 12.1" SVGA Touch Screen w/ Std Keyboard
F - 20GB HDD - 128MB RAM
G - Floppy Disk Drive - Modem - Ethernet
B - Mobitex - No Wireless LAN
D - Windows 2000
M - North America

Don't know about the black bar. Assuming it is running windows, the desktop set to tile might give you the repeated image. Also, when I switched my 12" screen, the video was not initially set to the res. that the 13" could handle, and showed black margins on all four sides. Check/reinstall the video drivers and see if that helps - also if the vga out is any different.

 

As an aside...on that confiurator URL, dont fill in that model textbox, just scroll down alittle, to Discontinued Models, click All Discontinued Models, then scroll down to the Toughbook 28 and click configure...

 

Black border...I ran into the same issue...like klboo said check and reinstall. For some reason I had to reinstall my DMI and video drivers a second time???????? Dont understand it...but it worked!

 

Try resetting your resolution. LCDs are bad at displaying anything other than their native resolution, and won't scale them to fit in most cases. So try opening up the display properties and changing it to 1024x768.

If that doesn't work, try re-installing the video driver.

 

I had this problem when trying to connect a 13" screen from a 800 to a 600 CF28. I just assumed it was going from a mk2 to a mk1 that caused the problem, but maybe the 600s just don't like changing screen sizes. come to think of it, i just recently tried a 12" screen on an 800 that originally came with a 13", and it didn't look real good either. maybe there's something hard-coded in the BIOS for this, or some other way to tell the mobo what size of screen is attached? did anyone ever figure out what the dipswitches in the keyboard connector compartment of a 600 are for?

 

The LCD-ID info on the repair manual mentions:

FPID1 FPID0 PANEL
Short Open 13.3"XGATFT
Open Open 12.1"SVGATFT

If the board were set for 12.1, that could expalin the way the display appears. It is repeating the first part of the display in video memory, plus not using the full memory 'width' so you get the black margin on the right, and repeat the image on the bottom.

Are these regular jumpers or soldered? These jumpers must affect the way the video memory is configured.(?)

 

The switches I'm referring to are a pair of SMT dipswitches near where you connect the keyboard to the motherboard. That's good news if they select the screen size. Now I wonder how you do it on an 800 or 1000? They don't have the dipswitches.

 

Well guys, I tried "All of the above" and it is still the same. I flipped the DIP switch, left up and right down, still no-worky! I looked at the setting and it had Default Monitor and Digital Flat Panel 800x600. I changed that to 1024x768, but it still didn't change.

 

Mine doesn't show default monitor, but Digital Flat Panel (1024x768)
The graphics controller is also specific, Intel 830M Graphics controller.
And do you have the Intel Graphics Technology Tab when you go to Display, Settings, Advanced in the Control Panel?

Did you look for a driver file that would match your new configuration? I didn't have to change mine when I went from 12.1 to 13.3, but thats for an Mk2.
How did the output look on an external monitor.
Did you try changing the video to a generic driver, then reinstalling?

Just trying to be sure of what steps you went through...

 

I ran dxdiag and it has the following for DISPLAY:

DEVICE
Name: Silicon Motion LynxEM
Manufacturer: Silicon Motion
Chip Type: LynxEM
DAC Type: Intergrated RAMDAC
Approx. Total Memory: 4.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 800x600 (24bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Digital Flat Panel (800x600)

DRIVERS
Main Driver: smidispb.dll
Version: 5.01.240.0143 (English)
Date: 8/17/2001 08:56:04
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Mini VDD: smiminib.sys
VDD: n/a
DDI Version: unknown

I have attached a .gif of my screen if that helps.

 

I found this at the Silicon Motion site:
http://www.siliconmotion.com/en/en2/download2c.htm

Edit-Actually for mini graphics adaptor - mini-pci type??

The smidisp.dll file in the SM710 XP download is a newer date than yours, so maybe the drivers will work?

Might be worth a try. I don't have a mk1 so I can't test it. Maybe someone else can comment on this part??

 

I don't think the problem is at the windows driver level. I think the problem is at a lower level than that. How does the screen look before/during windows booting up? at that point, the driver would not be involved.

 

Okay, did the Siliconmotion download. Still the same. F2'd to the BIOS screen. Same screen image as when I go into WinXP Pro. Slapped in my extra HDD caddy with Win2000 with the same results. I'd leave well enough alone but 800x600 is to me like 640x480 in the beginning! I really appreciate all your help. I'm glad I took Gravitar's advice from the Yahoo Groups forum and came here.

 

Well, This thing must be a native 800x600. I plugged in an external monitor and it displayed the same image on both. When I changed to 1024x768 both screens shifted with the cursor to the extremities. I think I'll just use this unit with the 12" for radio programming. Thanks to you all for your help.

Mike

 

Well! guys, ok! the problem there is not the driver nor the screen its the LCD cable pin assignment. Base on the photo that Ema... posted if it is the driver the blacken area suppose to be left and right and top and buttom portion like square.

 

Hi
I am new to the forum but I have a lot of experience with the MK! cf28
In my opinion the described issue is hardware related.
I just compared two mk1 motherboards (one from a 12 and one from a 13) and found a small difference.
I will post a picture later

 

EMA Chief -

One thought - I've seen a similar fault on an LCD display with the screen refresh rate set too high. Go to display properties, settings tab, advanced button, monitor tab. See if the refresh rate is anything other than default or 60hz. Also see what modes are supported in the adaptor tab. You may be able to find what you need there...

mnem
No electrons were harmed in the posting of this message; however a great many were terribly inconvenienced.

 

Okay... Everyone ele has chimed in... My turn now.

I'm thinking you need to reseat the monitor connections. VERY CAREFULLY. Make sure they go in straight. I've also used the following... (From TweakXP.com)

Ok, I found out how to change your video resolution to anything you want using regedit. I reccomend you back up your registry before tweaking it. Also, don't Go over your video cards min/max resolution.

1. Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO\{Address of primary video card}\0000\

2. Find 'DefaultSettings.XResolution'. That is your y axis. Edit as a Decimal to what you want it to be. IE 1152.

2. Find 'DefaultSettings.YResolution'. That is your x axis. Edit as a deciaml to waht you want it to be. IE 863.

3. Restart, and your done.

Note from forum admin (TweakXP): This tweak may or may not work for everyone for the resolution you want.
Or you can go here to read about it...

http://www.tweakxp.com/article36759.aspx

It's worth playing around with... I'm with ohlip though... Pin assignment... but an accidental mis-alignment though...

An easy try and fix if this is the case...

 

It wasn't mentioned specifically in the OP but I think he's having the problem at ALL times, right from when you first turn the computer on. That is how it has been when I have tried going from 12 - 13 or 13 - 12. This points to either a firmware/BIOS difference, or (even worse) a hardware difference. I don't believe they used two different mobo's depending on the screen.. These are made in Japan after all, and making two different mobos for seemingly a small variation would be totally un-kaizen

 

The problem will be evident right from boot up.If you go to the bios you will notice that the page just covers a part of the screen and start to repeat at the bottom if going from a 12 to a 13 screen or a part of the screen is not visible if going from a 13 to a 12 definitely a hardware difference.I have always had to replace a board from a 13 with one from another 13 (same with 12) in order to avoid that problem
I have several 12 and 13 boards around and they look exactly the same except for the first one that I took apart to check that had a bridged connection with a cable and that bridge is what I thought may be the difference but I took apart another mk1 13" board and didn't see that connection so most likely that wasn't the difference
The bios seemed to be the exactly the same file and version.
Probably the p3 800 and 1ghz are different so they may actually behave in a different way when swapping screens I am not sure because I have very little experience with non mk1 cf 28's

 

I think he said that the error shows on an external monitor as well - and not at 800x600, only at 1024x768. That shouldn't be affected by the LCD cables at all. And the dxdiag output appears to show the resolution is set at 800x600while he apparently had it set for 1024x768, for the image.
The graphics chip is different fomr the 800's/1000's - may be a function of that. Maybe Pana used different mobo/video chip combinations in the 600's?

 

Possibly a bad motherboard then?

If my swap (That I've been delaying for a long time) from the 600 board to 800 goes alright, you can have my 600 board for cheap.

Where are you located?

 

There is something that has been in the back of my mind ever since I took my first CF-28 display apart...just a random drive-by thought.

There is a variable resistor, pot, trimmer type thing behind the top right corner of the display under an easily lifted plastic tab. Anyone know what that does?

Added thought: I assumed it was for brightness...but this thread has me wondering.

 

Fishing around "Flea-Bay" I came across an item for a 600MHz CF-28 Motherboard: http://cgi.ebay.com/Panasonic-Tough...ryZ60265QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The description states that there are two different motherboard versions. One for the 12" and one for the 13" screen. It says "they don't interchange."

I guess that answers my original question. I put the original screen back on and everything works fine. So I guess that it must affect the VGA output also since it was the same with the original screen and funky with the 13".

Thanks to all of you that are so very help full.

Mike

 

didn't someone find jumper settings for that on the mobo in the service manual?