Smaller resolutions cause Black Boarders around the display on W500 with Windows 7 64Bit

[unverusa]

Hello,

I have recently purchased W500 with Windows 7 64 Bit OS. Its default resolution is set to 1920 x 1200 which is the highest, however if I change it to lower resolution, there are black bars appearing around the screen. Laptop came with ATI Fire GL V5700 software with the v8.641.1.1-090824a-089811C version. I called Lenovo tech support and the Representative advised to reinstall the ATI software. I did but it didn't solve the problem. Then I just uninstalled the ATI Fire GL V5700 and rebooted the laptop, after reboot, Windows 7 self installed the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1) driver and black boarders are disappeared at any resolution.

it seems the problem is solved with different ATI driver however, I am questioning it as am I loosing any performance with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)  when compering it to ATI Fire GL V5700. Called Lenovo back and advised the Representative and asked her to forward my case to developers to review the issue, maybe they can explain or fix it.

By the way, there is an option to Screen Scaling in the  ATI Fire GL V5700's CCC to set the screen to 'Full Screen" which is supposed to stretch the display over those black boarders, it is not doing it when I click on it and apply the change.

If anyone is familiar with this issue or has suggestions how to fix it, replies are highly appreciated.

Thank you,

Kevin

[ChipMonster]

Bump..  I've also seen this issue only with the latest ATI switchable driver.  Old (Vista) driver - no problem.

I *do* get full screen at 1280x800 - as well as 1920x1200 - but only those two.

And using integrated (Intel) - all resolutions are also supported at full screen.

[unverusa]

Yes it works in full screen only at  1280x800 and 1920x1200 resolutions. I was going to install the Intel driver but I heard it doesn't support Display Port connection to an external LCD. Is it the case? Are you able to use Display Port with the Intel display driver?

[kivnic]

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unverusa wrote:

Yes it works in full screen only at  1280x800 and 1920x1200 resolutions. I was going to install the Intel driver but I heard it doesn't support Display Port connection to an external LCD. Is it the case? Are you able to use Display Port with the Intel display driver?

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This is freakin' terrible. Why would Lenovo ship a laptop that works like this? What about having to lower your resolution for presentations? for games? for videos? I'm surprised to hear that it's not an issue with one of the Vista drivers. I have both a Windows 7 and a Windows XP partition, and I see the problem in both OSes.

[kwkokorelis]

Download the ATI (AMD) Catalyst software.  The file you want is:
10-8_mobility_vista_win7_32-64_ccc.exe

Then go to this url at AMD and follow the instructions on how to screen scale:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/UnableToSetGPUScaling.aspx

NOTE:  Some resolutions will still have the black border but as of writing this message I am running 1280x800 and my eyes feel a whole lot better.

[eburbeck]

At least for me, the key in the link in that post was:

• A digital connection must be used between the graphics card and output display device:
  • A DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort connection is required
  • A VGA connection is not supported

Thanks for finally resolving!

EB

[unverusa]

Thank you for the info. I googled the file you mentioned, saw few blogs and found  the 10-8_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe file which upgraded my ATI driver from 8.641.1.1-090824a-089811C-Lenovo to 8.762-100803a-103697C-ATI. As you mentioned there are still black bars at most resolutions except 1400 x 1050 with the new driver which seems much better.

I also want to point out what I saw at AMD's website, the link you posted, that scaling to full size is not desinged to fix the black bars.

"Scale Image to Full Panel Size: 
Expands the current image to the full size of the monitor for non-native resolutions.  For example, at a resolution of 1280x1024 (4:3 aspect ratio), the screen will stretch to fill the monitor. This is the opposite effect of Maintain Aspect Ratio.  This is useful to users who deliberately want to stretch a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution on a widescreen monitor. Note: This feature is not designed to fix the black borders around the display with High Definition Televisions (HDTV) using an HDMI connection"

Thanks again.