IBM ThinkPad i Series 1720 Resolution Errors \ VOGONS

IBM ThinkPad i Series 1720 Resolution Errors

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First post, by keeno

Posted on 2023-09-11, 17:20

keeno Offline

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I've recently purchased an IBM ThinkPad i Series 1720. I replaced the HDD and I put windows 98 on it.

I downloaded drivers from the following site:
https://thinkpads.com/support/Thinkpad-Driver … t/ddfm/390.html

For some reason, though, the resolution isn't going past 640x480. Also, it's not even scaling up to the size of the screen. I have a small box in the middle of the display that is being used, and large black bars around it. This remains the case even when using bios, and it was a problem before I even put an OS on.

First, I tried switching to a newer operating system. I loaded Windows XP 32x on it, but it got stuck on the "setup is starting windows" part during the installation. It hung on this for about 15 minutes before the screen went black. Then, I tried windows 2000. The same error happened. after checking my system requirements, I got to the "setup is starting windows 2000" screen, and it stopped.

So, I downloaded the BIOS System Program Diskette and upgraded my BIOS, but that didn't fix it.

I have what seems to be the correct driver, but i could be incorrect. On the display settings on win98, the driver title has my correct resolution, but I'm not able to move the slider past 640x480.

Anyone know what might be causing this? My thoughts are possibly leaky capacitors?

I can provide pictures if anyone needs.

Reply 1 of 5, by keeno

Posted on 2023-09-11, 19:23

keeno Offline

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Here are photos if anyone needs:

Reply 2 of 5, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2023-09-11, 21:59

rasz_pl Offline

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lcd panel scaling should be switchable in bios in ThinkPad 390, maybe even a keyboard shortcut

https://github.com/raszpl/FIC-486-GAC-2-Cache-Module for AT&T Globalyst
https://github.com/raszpl/386RC-16 memory board
https://github.com/raszpl/440BX Reference Design adapted to Kicad
https://github.com/raszpl/Zenith_ZBIOS MFM-300 Monitor

Reply 3 of 5, by keeno

Posted on 2023-09-11, 22:17

keeno Offline

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rasz_pl wrote on 2023-09-11, 21:59:

lcd panel scaling should be switchable in bios in ThinkPad 390, maybe even a keyboard shortcut

I've searched all over the bios but I can't find anything

Reply 4 of 5, by Thermalwrong

Posted on 2023-09-11, 23:55

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In your display settings picture it says it's a standard PCI graphics adapter (VGA) meaning it's running in basic VGA mode with a generic driver. You're looking in the right place for the driver software, so it's odd it's not working. In Win98 go into System > Device Manager to see if maybe there's an exclamation mark or if it's really just running the standard VGA driver.
I notice that your screenshot of the display settings shows the IBM specific monitor file has been loaded, but have you downloaded/installed the video features driver? That's the one for the video card: https://thinkpads.com/support/Thinkpad-Driver … es/vftpil9x.exe

For display expansion, looks like you need to go into the BIOS > advanced setup and enable "HV Expansion" under the others section: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/281753/Ibm- … ?page=36#manual That's also got keyboard shortcuts listed a few pages back, but oddly nothing for scaling. Scaling isn't very good with neomagic graphics btw, but it's fine for DOS games imo at 320x200 resolution.

Looks like you've already got the latest BIOS so win2k/xp should work. Since the laptop is getting this far in booting and running an OS, it's very likely fully working so don't worry about the capacitors yet.

Reply 5 of 5, by keeno

Posted on 2023-09-12, 00:21

keeno Offline

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Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-09-11, 23:55:
In your display settings picture it says it's a standard PCI graphics adapter (VGA) meaning it's running in basic VGA mode with […]
Show full quote

In your display settings picture it says it's a standard PCI graphics adapter (VGA) meaning it's running in basic VGA mode with a generic driver. You're looking in the right place for the driver software, so it's odd it's not working. In Win98 go into System > Device Manager to see if maybe there's an exclamation mark or if it's really just running the standard VGA driver.
I notice that your screenshot of the display settings shows the IBM specific monitor file has been loaded, but have you downloaded/installed the video features driver? That's the one for the video card: https://thinkpads.com/support/Thinkpad-Driver … es/vftpil9x.exe

For display expansion, looks like you need to go into the BIOS > advanced setup and enable "HV Expansion" under the others section: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/281753/Ibm- … ?page=36#manual That's also got keyboard shortcuts listed a few pages back, but oddly nothing for scaling. Scaling isn't very good with neomagic graphics btw, but it's fine for DOS games imo at 320x200 resolution.

Looks like you've already got the latest BIOS so win2k/xp should work. Since the laptop is getting this far in booting and running an OS, it's very likely fully working so don't worry about the capacitors yet.

Thank you so much, I installed the correct video drivers and it fixed the issue, and then I upgraded to Windows 2k and the problem is still fixed. I really appreciate it.

It seemed the issue with installing win2k and xp was that the BIOS was out of date.

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