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Looking to rollback drivers on new Macbook Pro

W

willw9

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 7, 2008
5
0
OK. So I am trying to run 2 1920x1200 24" monitors via the Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition, achieving a "resolution" of 3840x1200. The old Macbook Pro (running NVIDIA GeForce 8600M) could do this, and my old HP Notebook (running NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400) could do this. However, the new Macbook Pro cannot.

Obviously something is not right here. It is completely illogical that NIVIDA could make a better, faster GPU in the same product line that can't handle this pretty trivial task, so that's out. To my knowledge, the "resolution" 3840x1200 isn't exactly a "real" resolution; it is basically just 1920x1200 done twice. My claim has been forwarded to the Apple Engineers, and they suggested that I get the Dual Link DVI cable. I know this cable is for running 30" monitors at 2560x1600, but since my old computer didn't need a Dual Link and neither did the old Macbook Pro, I don't think this is the solution. Also, isn't 2560x1600 technically a higher resolution than 3840x1200?

The only logical explanation really is that this is a driver issue, and since the new Pro's must be equipped with the latest drivers, it seems that rolling back the drivers should work.

So, I am wondering the easiest way to do this.

If this is not a great option, should I try to run the displays via Windows XP via VMWare Fusion (because it's presumably way easier to roll back drivers in Windows) ?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
willw9 said:
OK. So I am trying to run 2 1920x1200 24" monitors via the Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition, achieving a "resolution" of 3840x1200. The old Macbook Pro (running NVIDIA GeForce 8600M) could do this, and my old HP Notebook (running NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400) could do this. However, the new Macbook Pro cannot.

Obviously something is not right here. It is completely illogical that NIVIDA could make a better, faster GPU in the same product line that can't handle this pretty trivial task, so that's out. To my knowledge, the "resolution" 3840x1200 isn't exactly a "real" resolution; it is basically just 1920x1200 done twice. My claim has been forwarded to the Apple Engineers, and they suggested that I get the Dual Link DVI cable. I know this cable is for running 30" monitors at 2560x1600, but since my old computer didn't need a Dual Link and neither did the old Macbook Pro, I don't think this is the solution. Also, isn't 2560x1600 technically a higher resolution than 3840x1200?

The only logical explanation really is that this is a driver issue, and since the new Pro's must be equipped with the latest drivers, it seems that rolling back the drivers should work.

So, I am wondering the easiest way to do this.

If this is not a great option, should I try to run the displays via Windows XP via VMWare Fusion (because it's presumably way easier to roll back drivers in Windows) ?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Playing with drivers will cause you to lose video all together. Your trying to use 8600 drivers on a 9400+9700 card.. that isnt logical. It wont work.
 
willw9 said:
OK. So I am trying to run 2 1920x1200 24" monitors via the Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition, achieving a "resolution" of 3840x1200. The old Macbook Pro (running NVIDIA GeForce 8600M) could do this, and my old HP Notebook (running NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400) could do this. However, the new Macbook Pro cannot.

Obviously something is not right here. It is completely illogical that NIVIDA could make a better, faster GPU in the same product line that can't handle this pretty trivial task, so that's out. To my knowledge, the "resolution" 3840x1200 isn't exactly a "real" resolution; it is basically just 1920x1200 done twice. My claim has been forwarded to the Apple Engineers, and they suggested that I get the Dual Link DVI cable. I know this cable is for running 30" monitors at 2560x1600, but since my old computer didn't need a Dual Link and neither did the old Macbook Pro, I don't think this is the solution. Also, isn't 2560x1600 technically a higher resolution than 3840x1200?

The only logical explanation really is that this is a driver issue, and since the new Pro's must be equipped with the latest drivers, it seems that rolling back the drivers should work.

So, I am wondering the easiest way to do this.

If this is not a great option, should I try to run the displays via Windows XP via VMWare Fusion (because it's presumably way easier to roll back drivers in Windows) ?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

No you need the miniDP to Dual Link DVI cable.
 
For what it's worth, the Matrox product I have has 2 DVI inputs for the monitors, and one VGA output to plug into the notebook. Currently I have the mini-DP to VGA adapter to connect it all.
 
What does Matrox say about the issue? You'd think that they'd be hearing a lot about it by now.
 
Matrox definetely does know about this issue, and the specialist I spoke with today said that they have a new Macbook Pro on order to their lab but it hasn't arrived yet.
 
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willw9 said:
For what it's worth, the Matrox product I have has 2 DVI inputs for the monitors, and one VGA output to plug into the notebook. Currently I have the mini-DP to VGA adapter to connect it all.
Click to expand...

I could be misunderstanding you, but if you have 2 dvi inputs on the monitor why wouldn't you use those? Dvi should be much better than vga. If there's some other reason I apologize, just trying to help out. That dual link dvi is expensive so if that's the reason it makes sense.
 
willw9 said:
Matrox definetely does know about this issue, and the specialist I spoke with today said that they have a new Macbook Pro on order to their lab but it hasn't arrived yet.
Click to expand...

You need the dual link dvi cable.

The old laptops, etc, that you had had dual link dvi output, however the new mbp minidp -> dvi is only single link. That's why it's not working. There isn't enough bandwidth on a single link to support that high of a "fake" resolution.
 
Was their ever a solution for this?? I am trying to hook up my 2 24" 1920x1200 monitors and it is not working with my matrox dualhead2go.
 
What about for the new macbook pros that have the display port would i just have to get the Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter??
 
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