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Anyone interested in a Hi-def (1920 x 1200) mod for PB/MBP?

MichaelPrichard said:
jeep75,

I'm pretty sure (from earlier in this thread) that the Windows colors can be fixed simply by zapping your PRAM (all power/batteries removed, hold power button down 5 sec.), then booting straight into Windows. Mine works fine. I think the Windows colors only get hosed when Mac OS X tries to talk to the screen with the wrong refresh frequency (i.e. no SwitchResX) dumping some currupt values in the EFI bootrom and requiring a PRAM reset. Once you've got the screen working in OS X, and after you've done a PRAM reset, it shouldn't get polluted anymore.



I'd like to get an idea if others are experiencing some of the same issues I am:

- do any of the other resolutions work? (none of mine do other than native 1920x1200)
- do you experience any issues waking from sleep? About every 3rd time I wake from sleep, the screen will apparently freeze, although the mouse keeps moving, and I'll start getting odd video artifacts like big oblong black triangles in any section of the display that was receiving updates. Then, within a minute or so, everything will freeze and I'll have to power down the machine (Cmd-Ctrl-Power doesn't work even).
Click to expand...

I have tried the PRAM reset but it does not work for me. I am wondering if it has anything to do with that 200MB partition that was created when I installed Vista.

It is true that only 1920 x 1200 resolution works for me. Any other resolution does not work.
The only issue I have is the brightness going a little crazy when I connect to an external monitor sometimes.

This mod works great but has its issues. If anyone with knowledge of how the EFI works, maybe we can get it working better. I was thinking of trying out the Leapord preview to see if that solves any issues. Also I wanted to know if you restore from the original MAC OSX cds, would that restore everything to factory, like the EFI partitios?
 
jeeb75 said:
This mod works great but has its issues. If anyone with knowledge of how the EFI works, maybe we can get it working better. I was thinking of trying out the Leapord preview to see if that solves any issues. Also I wanted to know if you restore from the original MAC OSX cds, would that restore everything to factory, like the EFI partitios?
Click to expand...

No, using the OS X install CDs will not restore the EFI firmware.

It's good to know I don't need a 1920x1200 external to get it working, though.
Bah, I have to decide whether I want to buy a Samsung panel or not. I've already bought two panels trying to make this work :p
 
Got Vista Working with correct colors

I finally got Vista working. I downloaded a shareware program called PowerStrip. The way I got it to work was when I was in Mac OSX i checked the timing parameters for the resolution I created in SwitchResX. I noted the horizontal and vertical front porch, sync width and back porch settings. There is a copy button in SwithResX. I pasted these settings in textedit. Then in Vista I opened up PowerStrip. I first made a manual driver for the Samsung screen and then updated the driver in device manager. Then in advanced resolution settings I inputted the numbers for horizontal , vertical, front porch, sync width and back porch from SwitchResx into PowerStrip and it worked.

The numbers I got from SwitchResx are as follows:

PowerStrip timing parameters:
1920x1200=1920,126,206,332,1200,1,3,35,179284,7

attachment.php


So the settings I used are:

Horizontal:
Active - 1920 pixels
Front Porch - 126 pixels
Sync Width - 206 pixels
Back Porch - 332 pixels

Vertical:
Active - 1200 lines
Front Porch - 1 lines
Sync Width - 3 lines
Back Porch - 35 lines

These are the settings that worked for me under powerstrip.
I think the settings in the picture should also work but I have not tried them.



Here is the link for powerstrip: http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm

This will be useful if your PRAM reset is not working or if you dont want to use the PRAM reset after you run Mac OSX.

Now the only time the colors look messed up are all the way upto the login screen and the desktop until powerstrip loads. Then everything looks normal.
Hope this helps.
 
EDID (Extended Display Identification Data)

Well, as I mentioned already, I have a Sharp LQ154M1LW12. It works right away in Vista. In Mac OS X I tried EVERYTHING - no success. :mad:

I contacted Stéphane Madrau the creator of SwitchResX who was very kind and helpful. I thought if anybody out there knew how things work in Mac OS X he would be the one.

Well, we read out the EDID (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDID) of the panel. This is a data structure provided by the panel to describe its capabilities to the graphics card. In Windows you can use Powerstrip or Phoenix EDID Designer, in Mac OS X you can use SwitchResX (Export DDC) or simply ioreg -l | grep EDID.

When attaching the panel it is read out and stored in the registry. Powerstrip shows that exactly those timings are taken - and are working.

Now the main problem: In Mac OS X exactly those timings are shown in ioreg! If it just took those timings and synced the display no overriding with SwitchResX would be necessary. THIS DOES NOT WORK!!!

Stéphane said that sometimes the EDID timing parameters are wrong and don't work. Then those timings have to be overridden. However, this is not the case with my panel.

So, I am a little bit fed up of Apple always doing everything different from the rest of the world... ;)
 
jrsade,

Sorry to hear you could not get your panel working. I understand your pain as it took me basically three days to finally get everything working. I had some problems when I was trying to get my Samsung screen to work in Mac OS in the beginning. The screen would be totally blank when I started up. I could only get the screen to work when I had the DVI cable plugged into an external monitor in the beginning. Then the screen would be okay on the laptop. But as soon as I disconnected the DVI cable the screen on the laptop would go blank again. I figured an unsupported resolution was getting set when I disconnected the DVI cable. That is why i set up a hot key under SwitchResX with a supported resolution and I was finally able to get the screen working in Mac OS without connecting the DVI cable. I also set it up now to automatically get to this resolution at startup under SwitchResX.

So what is the problem with your screen, is it blank or weird colors. After the Mac OS was fixed for me, my Vista setup in bootcamp had weird colors coming up. I tried to reset the PRAM but that did not work for me. That is when I found powerstrip and put in my settings from SwtichResX and it finally worked. Have you tried the settings for the Samsung panel under SwitchResX, and have you been using an external monitor to set up your screen. Maybe your settings from powerstrip is not working because maybe the EFI is not messing up the colors on your windows installation. Also, when you installed Vista, did you delete that 200 mb partition. The reason I ask is becasuse i never deleted it and was wondering if that was causing my color problems.

These are just a few thing I tried, I really do not understand the process that well. I am learning as I go, and I am just following directions from others that posted here before. The most helpful was Narzola's instruction on page 15 of this thread. I also got the device ID overide steps from baxterbrittles instructions on his blog.
 
Hi,

I've been following this post for a long time now and am happy to see that some people succeeded in this mod. Congrats to all those people! (and all the other contributors)

In the time that has passed I decided that a wait for Leopard on the new C2D MBP was more my thing. Maybe some new developments or releases will come through in that time. But now I'm facing a dillemma. I came across a CD 2.0 MBP with a busted screen. And can get a great price on it!

So my question: It looks like there is no real difference between CD & C2D and the type of replacement screen used. Or am I wrong?
Do you really need an external hi def screen? Is this going to work with european components? (belgium)
 
tknomel said:
Hi,

I've been following this post for a long time now and am happy to see that some people succeeded in this mod. Congrats to all those people! (and all the other contributors)

In the time that has passed I decided that a wait for Leopard on the new C2D MBP was more my thing. Maybe some new developments or releases will come through in that time. But now I'm facing a dillemma. I came across a CD 2.0 MBP with a busted screen. And can get a great price on it!

So my question: It looks like there is no real difference between CD & C2D and the type of replacement screen used. Or am I wrong?
Do you really need an external hi def screen? Is this going to work with european components? (belgium)
Click to expand...

CD and C2D use the same WUXGA screen. It's only the Samsung model (as far as we can tell -- so far). You need some kind of external screen, though apparently a high-def one is not needed. It will work fine with whatever MacBook Pro 15.4" model you get, as long as you get the SAMSUNG screen that is listed earlier in this thread. There have been NO SUCCESSFUL attempts with any other brand.

I'm not sure what you mean by "european components" but you should be fine.
 
I have a CD MBP 1.83 GHz, installed a Samsung LT154U1-L01 panel. I've got the proper display settings in SwitchResX but am still having a color profile problem. I've tried reading the last few pages over and over again but am unsure what the fix is. Attempted to download narzola's profiles and use those, but I was either unable to get them added to my list of color profiles and they do not work on my panel. Further instruction would be greatly appreciated! :(
 
MichaelPrichard said:
I received my used Samsung LT154U1-L01 (vs. L03) and it works, although I also used a different simplified setting (CVT in my case). Also, the refresh rate always resets to 55.939hz from the 56Hz that I enterred which I'm assuming is related to the CVT setting or feedback from the display. I'm still having trouble getting the brightness working as there was already a DisplayProductID-3155 file (apparently created by SwitchResX) in the DisplayVendorID-4ca3 folder, and swapping it out with the -9c20 version (appropriately renamed) as recommended by Baxter killed my sync. I'll keep plugging away at the brightness controls, but in the meantime, I'm happy with it af full brightness.

I have an original MBP CD 2.0GHz machine delivered in the very first few weeks. It has the latest BIOS and OS updates.
Click to expand...

Question: did you have any issues with your colors after you got the refresh to work? If not, what was your step-by-step method? (I've been a bit confused about the whole DisplayVendorID business.) My brightness adjust buttons have worked the entire time. I've tried a few of the copy and pastes as per the instructions at the other site, but they seemed to have no effect.
 
I suck.

Still looking for a fix for my color problem... I've tried and retried the VendorID business to no avail.

Anyone want to help me fix my MBP before winter break is over so I can have my laptop back in service for classes? ;)
 
AznAstronaut said:
Still looking for a fix for my color problem... I've tried and retried the VendorID business to no avail.

Anyone want to help me fix my MBP before winter break is over so I can have my laptop back in service for classes? ;)
Click to expand...

Have you updated to the latest bios? There seems to be only one person who got it working with a core duo. I have a C2D. I have been using the new screen for a couple weeks now with no problems.

Try to ask the guy who got it working in his core duo what settings he has in SwitchResX.

Also, do you have boot camp installed and the screen running with windows?
 
System Version: Mac OS X 10.4.8 (8L2127)
Kernel Version: Darwin 8.8.1

Running 10.4.8 with all updates, including EFI firmware upgrade from November 2006 (if that's what you mean by BIOS). I don't have bootcamp installed as I was under the impression that doing this only got the timing information for your panel, not color info... Please advise if this is not the case. Also, with bootcamp I can resize and create partitions on the fly, correct? If I had to install Windows, I wouldn't have to back up all of my data on my current partition before doing so, correct?

I've tried private messaging MichaelPrichard, since he has the same panel as me, but as of yet he hasn't responded.
 
I would try to install xp and download and use powerstrip in xp to get the timing information. I had a problem with windows xp color being messed up. I tried everything including PRAM reset and that would not work. So I took the timing information from SwitchResX on the Mac side and popped it into Powerstrip on the windows side and finally got the color to look normal. What I think the problem is in the EFI and I think these programs SwitchResX or Powerstrip overide those settings. I would suggest trying the windows and try the timing changes. I was frustrated for 3 days with my windows XP color not working until I found Powerstrip and was able to finally fix it. Hope this works. All you can do is experiment. Sorry I dont have a better understanding of how all this works to help you out, I kind of just followed directions from others to get it to work on the MAC OSX side.
 
DisplayVendorID, DisplayProductID partially explained?

Here's my lame attempt at describing what I think is going on with the various ID files/folders. When the machine boots up, it asks the LCD for it's IDs, and depending on the answers, uses the settings from the appropriate matching file. For Apple supplied screens, these are all in the "DisplayVendorID-610" folder. For non-Apple supplied screens, or screens that weren't delivered with special Apple requested firmware (for their custom ID numbers), the appropriate file will be in one of the other DisplayVendorID-xxxx folders, in Samsung's case, DisplayVendorID-4ca3.

When I installed and ran SwitchResX, it automatically created the appropraite vendorID folder and the DisplayProductID-3155 file (in the DisplayProductID-4ca3 folder) that apparently matches my screen. The contents of this file were something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>dspc</key>
<array>
<data>
CEaAmHKwJ0B+zhMAAAAAAAAA
</data>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

which contains a Base64 encoded binary timing info. Others in this thread then discovered that an additional field was required to get the brightness controls to work:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>dmdg</key>
<data>
AAAAAg==
</data>
<key>dspc</key>
<array>
<data>
CEaAmHKwJ0B+zhMAAAAAAAAA
</data>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

I believe that these are the only 2 keys required to get one of these custom displays to time correctly with brightness control working. All gamma values will be some built-in default, and all apparent screen resolutions will be displayed as reported from the LCD screen itself, regardless of how well they actually work.

Apple's ID files for many of their screens contain a lot of gamma tables and screen resolution overrides which generally restrict the available resolutions to those that I suspect Apple has determined work or look the best.

Now, the instructions earlier in this thread addressed the lack of brightness control by copying one of the Apple supplied ID files into the appropriate VendorID folders, but I think it was missing the critical step of the addition of the "dspc" key since I couldn't get my screen to work when I followed those instructions to the letter. I ended up experimenting a bit to find the best looking gamma settings and copied those bits from one of the Apple supplied files (DisplayProductID-9c20 in my case). Note, I deleted the "scaled resolutions" overrides so that I could get the full complement reported by my LCD, although none of them work (still trying to get it to work).

Perhaps, if you have these gamma settings fully copied from one of the Apple files as I (and most others on this thread, I believe) have done, then the colors would reset. It's a long shot since I don't understand what's causing the color corruption in the first place, but certainly worth a try. My hope is that, with just the SwitchResX created ID file, there is no gamma information, thus, whatever values might have been gleaned from EFI may be carried over into OS X blindly.
 
Hmm, thanks for the bit about the VendorID. I tried changing some of the gamma values by copying info from the 9c20 file into the 3155 file, but no dice. If anyone has anymore ideas I'm all ears. :)
 
Michael, would you mind just sending me your 3155 file? In theory we have the same screen (the L01), we both have CD MBPs, it seems worth a shot. I'll send my email to you in a private message.
 
Complete ID file I'm using

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>DisplayBlueGamma</key>
<real>1.839996</real>
<key>DisplayBluePointX</key>
<real>0.15299989999999999</real>
<key>DisplayBluePointY</key>
<real>0.099990839999999998</real>
<key>DisplayGammaChannels</key>
<integer>3</integer>
<key>DisplayGammaEntryCount</key>
<integer>256</integer>
<key>DisplayGammaEntrySize</key>
<integer>2</integer>
<key>DisplayGammaTable</key>
<data>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</data>
<key>DisplayGreenGamma</key>
<real>1.9799960000000001</real>
<key>DisplayGreenPointX</key>
<real>0.32199100000000003</real>
<key>DisplayGreenPointY</key>
<real>0.55499270000000001</real>
<key>DisplayProductID</key>
<integer>39968</integer>
<key>DisplayProductName</key>
<string>Built-in WUXGA LCD</string>
<key>DisplayRedGamma</key>
<real>2.1999970000000002</real>
<key>DisplayRedPointX</key>
<real>0.61199950000000003</real>
<key>DisplayRedPointY</key>
<real>0.34399410000000002</real>
<key>DisplayVendorID</key>
<integer>1552</integer>
<key>DisplayWhitePointX</key>
<real>0.31269839999999999</real>
<key>DisplayWhitePointY</key>
<real>0.32899479999999998</real>
<key>SRDisplayProductName</key>
<string>Color LCD</string>
<key>SRdspc</key>
<array/>
<key>dmdg</key>
<data>
AAAAAg==
</data>
<key>dspc</key>
<array>
<data>
CEaAmHKwJ0B+zhMAAAAAAAAA
</data>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
 
jrsade said:
Well, we read out the EDID (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDID) of the panel. This is a data structure provided by the panel to describe its capabilities to the graphics card. In Windows you can use Powerstrip or Phoenix EDID Designer, in Mac OS X you can use SwitchResX (Export DDC) or simply ioreg -l | grep EDID.
Click to expand...

Just curious jrsade, does the ioreg command return the manufacturer name and model number of the attached LCD correctly?
 
iW00t said:
Just curious jrsade, does the ioreg command return the manufacturer name and model number of the attached LCD correctly?
Click to expand...

Well, I do not have the ioreg output for the panel any more. However, SwitchResX uses ioreg to get the DDC information and showed manufacturer name and model number correctly...
 
Thanks for your efforts Michael but it didn't work. :) I guess my last hope is Boot Camp and Windows XP? Or is this pointless as it will only get me the timing information? Something that already works for me?
 
I'm dense

jeeb75 said:
I would try to install xp and download and use powerstrip in xp to get the timing information. I had a problem with windows xp color being messed up. I tried everything including PRAM reset and that would not work. So I took the timing information from SwitchResX on the Mac side and popped it into Powerstrip on the windows side and finally got the color to look normal.
Click to expand...

So yes, I should install Windows XP, as it could also fix my color issue. I'm waiting on borrowing an external HD from my brother, as when I try to create a partition for WinXP Boot Camp displays the error, "Some file could not be moved," and aborts the partitioning process.
 
I actually have the LQ154M1LW02 sharp panel from a dell d800 laptop. I will try the mod out either tonight or on Saturday and post my findings. Hopefully it works as well as the OP did on his powerbook :) Am I right in believing noone else has tried the LQ154M1LW02 sharp, just the LQ154M1LW12 sharp right??
 
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