Re: Dell Latitude video presentation is larger than the display!




"Desert Tripper" <destrip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:pum7n1p7n8o6fdg6hh67h0sg9v0845tk0a@xxxxxxxxxx
> (Also posted on Dell support forum)
>
> Hello! I recently purchased a Latitude C800 from eBay - great price,
> but issues with the display. I had to cannibalize a high-voltage
> supply from a second, broken display included with the system to get
> the backlight to work. It came preloaded with a 2000 installation that
> had some adware I couldn't remove with ANYTHING so I zapped it and
> threw XP on it. The kind people at the Tech Support Guy Web forum are
> helping me purge my system of that adware crap, which fed me a popup
> ad 5-6 times a minute!.
>
> Now I am up and running, but with an irritating problem: The
> presentation on the builtin display is somewhat larger than the LCD
> panel, causing part of the screen to run off the bottom and right of
> the panel. Everything at the bottom and right sides is impossible to
> see - which, irritatingly, includes the Taskbar and scroll bars on a
> maximized window. I have a feeling it is not a Windows or driver issue
> as the BIOS setup screens show up the same way. Also, when I use Fn-F7
> to blow up the tiny presentation when it's in VGA mode, it goes beyond
> the screen like it does in the driver-supported modes. Can't find
> settings in the BIOS to change anything video related. I attempted to
> update the BIOS but the utility won't let me without a battery (I
> don't have a battery yet for the computer.) Tweaking the
> Dell-supplied ATI Mobility drivers gives me different resolutions, but
> all with the same problem.
>
> Could it be that there is improper "mating" between a (probably)
> replaced LCD panel and the system? The panel itself is virtually
> flawless, so I would like not to have to shell out anything extra
> that's panel related at the moment. Could it be some type of thing
> that was hardcoded when the laptop was manufactured?
>
> I would greatly appreciate any suggestions!
>
> Thanks, Doug
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Doug the Desert Tripper - Exploring Southern Cal deserts and the Net
> since '94
> www.geocities.com/destrip
> destrip at sonic dot net
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> .

You will notice a set of DIP switches somewhere on the mainboard. These
are used to set up different LCD panels that might be used in
manufacturing. Since there are at least eight switches (1-256 as
binary), it is possible, I suppose, to do a round of testing on the
effect of switch positions on the LCD setup, but if you can find a
service manual you *might* get some idea of which panels are used and
the switch positions required for those panels.

The default resolution of the panel is a one to one mapping of pixels.
The fact that the display overflows suggests that the original panel was
say 1280x1024 and was replaced with one at 1024x768, thus the overflow
of the display at the right and bottom. If Dell offers the same
mainboard with different panel resolutions, then the DIP switch setting
*might* be simply a difference of one, two, three - plus or minus - in
the binary number represented on the switch as it is currently set. You
might try it to see. Simple sometimes actually works!

Q


.



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