T500 Three Monitors : Win7 64bit, 2504 Adv Minidock, DVI+VGA+Lappy Screen [ Edited ]

[plankalkul]

Greetings,

I have a T500 and am running Windows 7 Enterprise, 64-bit.

There are a few people here who are running three monitors simultaneously, and it seems to be a hack of sorts, because I simply can't get this working. Netiher can they. Seems to work better with old drivers.

At any rate, does anyone know what I have to do / what sequence things need to be installed to get the Laptop Monitor, my SLI monitor, and the VGA monitor to all play nice?

I'm not sure what BIOS mode to set in during install, after, versions, and all of that. It seems like you have to build this puzzle in the precise order, or else it's remove your onboard video and display no screens (thats where I was last time I tried to get this going )

Anyone have any tips who has this running?

Thanks in advance, cheers!

Aaron

t500

2504 dock

win7 ent 64-bit

4g ram

7 cups of coffee

[fmyhr]

Hi Aaron,

Welcome to the Lenovo forum!

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plankalkul wrote:

There are a few people here who are running three monitors simultaneously

---

Really? Can you provide links? AFAIK the hardware supports at most two monitors simultaneously. Unless you add more GPUs. By, for example, using a PCI Express video card in the Advanced Dock, or adding USB video card(s).

Thanks,

Frank

[plankalkul]

Hey Frank,

Thanks for the welcome...

Had I not left my phone at home, I'd take a picture. Which I might get fired for, so forgetting the phone all makes sense now.

There are two guys here who are running a T500 + Adv Mini-Dock I think it's called, + Win7 64b. And they've got three monitors all up at the same time, Lappy, SLI, VGA, all independent (not mirrored screens).

In device manager, one of the working machines shows this under DIsplay Adapters:

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650

Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family

The driver version for the Intel 4 Series is 8.15.10.1872 (8/13/2009)

I've heard reports that newer drivers kill the third monitor, but cannot substantiate.

From what I've read on this computer, it shouldn't be possible. However it is, I just can't figure it out.

Right now I'm running two monitors off of the 3650 card, and have somehow lost my driver for the Intel 4.. if I could get that to fire up, I might be in business... It's just frustrating having this three monitor envy and only two monitors rockin'.

If anyone has ideas, would love to hear em, and if/when I figure out the magic behind this, will follow up.

[fmyhr]

Intriguing! The models with switchable graphics do have 2 GPUs built in: the Intel and the ATI. The "switchable" bit means that normally you'd choose to run one or the other, but sounds like the guys at your office may have found a way to run them simultaneously? AFAIK the Intel is not physically connected to the digital outputs, so maybe that one is driving the VGA and the ATI is driving the laptop and DVI (?) screens? (I'm no gamer so was not familiar with SLI... I don't think the T500 does that, especially since it seems to be an Nvidia thing and the T500 uses ATI.  )

If you find out more, please share!

Thanks,

Frank

[plankalkul]

Sorry, I incorrectly swap the terms SLI with DVI, I meant (through this whole thread) just the DVI out.

When I have the 3650 as the primary video device in BIOS, Win7 can see all three monitors.

When I switch to the integrated, I can only see the Laptop and the VGA out. No more DVI.

Unfortunately, when I reboot, it takes 15 minutes (thank you GPO), so it's a slow go. I have to schedule reboots around lunch and bathroom breaks. Gotta love 2010 technology.

Anyway, this time when I restarted, the Intel card is active, and the 3650 "couldn't start"... logically, there should be no reason both cards couldn't run at the same time unless it's crippleware / easier to write drivers for non-concurrent use. And since there are people here running 3 monitors, it's definitely possible, but a strange puzzle.

Will keep posted

[plankalkul]

Checked one of the systems working:

Intel is running the lappy and the VGA (1 and 2)

3650 is running his DVI (3|4)

On mine, the Intel isn't doing anything, the 3650 doing my DVI and Lappy.

I did have a moment where it looked like it was working, I backed out the 3650 drivers completely, and during the reinstall, it showed 4 monitors. By the time setup finished, it only showed three monitors.

Definitely possible.

His drivers are all from April 2009.

[plankalkul]

No update as such, haven't had much time to work on it.

However, during the course of my day, and running debugview, I see the intel card screaming at me:

[1288] ATTACHED to desktop
[1288] Intel Driver is not Active
[1288] Discrete driver -- dont process anything further

And

1288 igfxpers.exe - persistence Module

 *sigh*

Also, some guy had no problems until he joined our Windows Domain, dunno if that's relevant, but worth mentioning. The two guys who don't have problems are not domain members.

[fmyhr]

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for the update. I'm not 100% sure, but think that igfxpers.exe is probably not a required service. I guess the lines you report are simply igfxpers telling you that only the ATI GPU is active at the moment. So, probably a symptom of not having simultaneous ATI & Intel GPUs, rather than a cause.

If you feel like it, you could search and/or ask around at:

NBR Lenovo board

thinkpads.com forum

Lots of techies there.

Good luck & please do keep us updated!

-Frank

[plankalkul]

OH MY GOD!

Okay, so I uninstalled the 3650 drivers, and was having a horrible time getting the system to see the 3650 again. So after many reboots and fiddling around, I got the 3650 to fire again.

I was in device manager, and the 3650 showed up with a yellow exclaimation point. I removed it, did a scan, and lo and behold, 4 monitors appeared. I actually had all three monitors running at the same time!!!!

About 30 seconds later, windows went through another detect, and kablammo, back down to two monitors running off the 3650.

Theres some sort of voodoo where the 3650 is saying I'm better than the Intel driver, and shutting it down.

But for 30 glorious seconds, I had all three monitors running.

I'm trying the 9.4 drivers, I'm not sure which one was active when it went through and worked.

So close. Yet so very very far and wonky.

[plankalkul]

I have been running on three monitors for the past three days.

Awwww yeah, baby.

Details to follow, however I can say

a.) it IS possible

b.) the dock HATES three montiors and Eject/Resume

c.) my desk looks pretty badass

d.) after i got it running, two of my coworkers got it working, and they're working on a third. The key appears to be the older drivers.

And they said it couldn't be done. Pffffftthhhthhhhpppptttt