Re: no DVI with VAIO in docking station

Paul,

right again or even better, right after all.

First of all, the response from "moninfo" was indeed from the Philips
monitor connected (as listed in the report).

Today I managed to get hold of a simple monitor with DVI which I hooked up
to the laptop on DVI: it worked instantly.
So your conclusion that the Philips monitor itself is not functioning
properly was right.
Nevertheless the failure it exhibits is quite complex: it responds correct
to no cable and DVI-cable, it works fine on VGA and it partially responds to
the laptop when interrrogating is for DVI.

So Philips did a very bad repair job and Sony repaired the laptop fine.
Philips will deliver another monitor under warranty (I hope they now have
their quality control sorted out).
Sony accepted responsibility about the repair job which did not work out;
they asked me to send screenshots in order to effectively co-troubleshoot,
however it was not their fault after all.

Finally, thanks again for all support and suggestion in this tricky issue.


Kind regards,

René Meijn
Hoeven
The Netherlands



"Paul" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:g69dr4$nc2$1@xxxxxxxxxxx
R. Meijn wrote:
Paul,

using the ATi Catalyst Control Center I can indeed use the option to
detect displays, but with no result.
Another thing I tried is uninstalling the monitor drivers; the monitor
then becomes a "Plug-and-Play" type rather than being identified as a
Philips 200XW7.
Nevertheless, in both cases ATi CCC won't detect it.
With the Philips (Altiris) drivers installed this software independently
reports it cannot detect the monitor.
Note that the current external monitor works fine when connecting it to
either laptop or dockingstation with a VGA cable.
The cable that came with the monitor was already changed for a brand new
one; no difference (still I will check pin continuity on the new cable).

I checked all settings and all hardware reports it is working properly.

So the issue remains why the monitor is not detected; is there a
possibility that the interconnection between dockingstation and laptop is
faulty?
Specifically I am referring to the laptop connection at the underside.
Note it has recently been repaired by Sony (motherboard with integrated
graphics card interchanged) and I have asked them to confirm that the
checked DVI-output at the dockingstation connector of the laptop; no
answer yet


Kind regards,

René Meijn
Hoeven
The Netherlands


When you tried the "moninfo" program from entechtaiwan.com, did
you get a response from your Philips monitor ? (The Altiris software
is probably using the same interface, so you may have effectively
tested this already.)

http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/2/200xw7eb_00/200xw7eb_00_dfu_eng.pdf

If I wanted a simplistic test, I might try making a "dummy load
connector".
That would involve the purchase of four 100 ohm 1/4watt resistors, and
connecting
them to R,G,B, and clock pair on a bare DVI connector. By doing that, and
connecting that dummy plug to the computer, I could test the detection
function on the computer end. (I have a plug like that, which I made for
VGA 15 pin. That one connects a 75 ohm resistor to the R, G, and B
signals,
for a total of three resistors. I found that was suitable to fool my video
card
into thinking a VGA monitor was connected.)

I have a suspicion a cable is not hooked up internally somewhere, or
the repair job was not finished properly.

On the above document I just linked above, go to PDF page 34. The pinout
on the DVI connector is shown. There is a 5V power pin on pin 14. If you
were really careful, you could check to see whether +5V was present there.
And perhaps that might suggest whether the thing was wired up properly or
not.

I have a spare DVI connector on my video card (for the second monitor),
and checking pin 14 as shown in the manual, did show the presence of +5V.
That +5V is used to power the EEPROM connected to the DDC interface.
The reason for the computer sending power to the monitor, is so that
even if the monitor is turned off, the DDC interface is still powered
and should work. What I cannot promise though, is that all DVI connectors
have power on that pin. For example, on a laptop, they may choose to
switch off the flow of current to that pin. So I cannot make a blanket
statement that pin 14 will always be at 5V potential.

But that would be a simple external test, that the port was wired (if you
saw 5V on it, chances are other parts of the interface are wired also).
I was able to stick the tip of one of my multimeter probes, into the
connector far enough, to touch a contact and read the voltage. For a
ground connection, I connected the black lead of the multimeter, to
an adjacent I/O screw on the computer.

Paul



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