Dual Display and Pivot issues with Radeon Mobility 9000 in a D600

Question

I have a new ViewSonic VP181b (1280x1024) that pivots to portrait, and I want to use it with my D600, undocked. Typically I will use the LCD screen alone, but for some tasks I want to share my desktop across both displays. Simple enough, right?........ I have had some problems getting things to work smoothly. Input on any of the issues below would be appreciated.  [By the way the D600 BIOS is  A09 (latest), the video BIOS is A04 (8/20/2003) and it has an  SXGA+ display (1400x1050). The onboard Radeon Mobility 9000 runs the ViewSonic via the VGA connection on the back of the D600. ] 1. 'Pivot Pro' software came with the ViewSonic. Should I use it? (I had BSOD errors with it and needed to uninstall it in safe mode, when I started with combined with A02 BIOS.) 2. To get pivot functionality without Pivot Pro, I need the latest video driver A04 (8/20/2003). (It adds 'Mode Persistence and Panel Rotation Functionality' over previous versions.)  Should I get my pivot capability this way? 3. What is Mode Persistence? Could it be responsible for the problem that I once I share my desktop across both displays, I am unable to 'unshare' my desktop to the ViewSonic? I have unchecked the box, hit 'Apply', but it still is shared. I even switched off the ViewSonic, rebooted, set my resolution to 1280x1024, turned on the ViewSonic, pressed Fn+F8 to get the display to show on both screens, but it was still shared, despite what was on the Display Settings. 4. In the Device Manager I always get 4 instances of 'Default Monitor', with no way to tell what they are or how they differ. I can delete them and reboot with or without the ViewSonic on and there are always just 4 'Default Monitor's. I have tried to update the driver for each of the 4 by pointing XP to the ViewSonic driver, but Windows claims that the driver is no better than what I already have installed. That should be enough for now ... Thanks in advance for any help on this mess!

Windian · Answer

For the benefit of others with similar issues, here is what I have figured out so far:

a) PivotPro seems unnecessary - I am getting by with the latest ATI driver.

b) I have more success avoiding Fn-F8, and always using ATI's "Displays" tab accessible through the Display Properties --Settings -- Advanced to turn signals to the monitors on and off.

c) There is a bug somewhere (XP, video driver, or monitor driver) that causes only text headings in portrait mode to be in the old landscape orientation when "Standard" font smoothing is enabled. (No smoothing or ClearType seem okay.)

trente · Answer

Hi guys,

I also have a problem with the Dual Display under XP Professional.

When I drag some window to the external monitor and try to maximize it, the laptop hangs completely.

By the way, D600 BIOS is A09, the ATI Bios version is 008.010.008.002 from 2002/11/07 the ATI driver version is 6.14.10.6371 from 2003-07-29.

Both LCD and external display have the resolution set to 1400x1050 pixels.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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