Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hey Sideeffect,

thanks for all your input and help to others in terms of getting to grips with this wonderful new technology's minor teething issues. I'm amazed and thankful every day when I start up Windows 7 and my 2 T221's display at full res/refresh thanks to Eyefinity + the EDID hack.

I have been following certain complaints on this board and it appalls me that "lack of positive confirmation" is the sole reason not to do a 10 minute EDID workaround. It is well known that most of the people who post on any kind of forum are the ones who have negative experiences (i.e. the vocal minority). Obviously the ones who have tried something and had it work are too busy playing games to post on forums. It is the complainers who never contribute anything of any value, even when they are spoonfed a possible solution, that drives me insane.

Yeang

Ok, after exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes of hacking - I got it working. Looking back, I could now get it done in under 5 minutes. But what people need to realize is that's after you've done it once. I could say the same thing about adjusting the tensioner on my S2000's supercharger: Boy, it sure seems simple now.

Bear with me here, as apparently I'm just one of those "complainers who never contribute anything of any value". :roll: Guys - let's go easy on insulting every single user here, shall we? Not everyone has the time or inclination to play with this stuff - which is over the head of 99.9% of end-users out there.

Here are some (hopefully, humbly) simplified instructions:

1. Rather than manually input all the monitor values, simply open up the existing registry entry like so:
Find the monitor entry (you'll figure it out) and open it.


2. Then, go to File... and then uncheck Read Only. Now you have an editable monitor .dat file to build from without the need to laboriously input all those values.

3. BUT, you need to clean out everything having to do with other possible resolutions. Our goal is to reduce the eventual monitor .inf to a single selectable resolution - So Eyefinity will be forced to use it. Here's what it all should look like (based on my particular monitor, of course).


Notice here how I've unchecked everything.


Again, all unchecked - remember to select "5-8" as well and uncheck all on that page.


If you run into trouble, it's probably going to be on this last page - Detailed Timings. I input the values given by Sideeffect (thanks) and they worked. But I have a suspicion that may be dumb luck on my part. I'm not sure if those timings will work for everyone, or if they're universal for 1680x1050. I'm just a doctor, Jim, dammit - not a monitor designer (I really am a doctor, btw). Ahem.


4. Now this is important. You have to get rid of the values on "Block 2" or else Windows will identify the res there as your max res, even if you've fixed things on Block 1. Just select "Unused" to get rid of that secondary resolution/timing info. BTW, That's my fault for sucking the monitor values out of the registry, instead of creating a .dat (and eventually an .inf) file from scratch. So shoot me. But learn from me :D


5. You should now be good to go. Just run Moninfo as instructed, open the .dat file you just created, and create an appropriately-named monitor .inf file from it.

6. One last thing - it's a very minor time saver. There's a simpler way to get to your "Advanced Settings". Just Right-click on the desktop and choose "Screen Resolution". No need to "Personalize...Display...Adjust resolution" as previously instructed. This is on Win7 BTW.

7. Don't forget to reboot! Windows won't re-load the registry entry you just created until you do. You'll have to go back in and re-create your Eyefinity group - but it should work.

This isn't a totally ideal solution, because - if you are using one monitor type for all 3 displays - you lose your 1920x1200 resolution completely. But this is where I'm lucky. I have a different monitor type in the center, so I can still drop down to 1920x1200 on that monitor for games that don't work with Eyefinity.

Pretty slick. Thanks to ychng and Sideeffect for their original work, which I've simply tried to streamline a bit for the casual end-user out there.

If I want to switch back and forth between 5040x1050 and 5760x1200 (depending on game), how would I do that?

Kondor999, guess I'll have to eat my words - great guide and screenshots here! Glad you finally got it working; I apologize for veiled comments regarding complainers :D

Regardless, thanks for adding and refining to this method, hopefully for every person who posts a success here 10 people are reading it and doing it without comment!

Yeang (also a doctor, strangely)

The most straightforward answer that comes to mind (but cumbersome) would be to make two separate INF files, one with 1680 x 1050 as your max res and another with 1920 x 1200; but a reboot would be required before every switch between resolutions. From what Dave Baumann has indicated regarding the mechanics of how Catalyst currently selects the "intermediate" resolution, I doubt that making a file with 1920x1200 and 1680x1050 as selectable resolutions will work. Worth a try maybe!

If I want to switch back and forth between 5040x1050 and 5760x1200 (depending on game), how would I do that?

The most straightforward answer that comes to mind (but cumbersome) would be to make two separate INF files, one with 1680 x 1050 as your max res and another with 1920 x 1200; but a reboot would be required before every switch between resolutions. From what Dave Baumann has indicated regarding the mechanics of how Catalyst currently selects the "intermediate" resolution, I doubt that making a file with 1920x1200 and 1680x1050 as selectable resolutions will work. Worth a try maybe!

[quote]If I want to switch back and forth between 5040x1050 and 5760x1200 (depending on game), how would I do that?

Yep, that would be how to do it. Ychng - glad we could bury the hatchet on this one for the benefit of all. I owe you big-time for this awesome fix :cheers

Hey Sideeffect,
thanks for all your input and help to others in terms of getting to grips with this wonderful new technology's minor teething issues. I'm amazed and thankful every day when I start up Windows 7 and my 2 T221's display at full res/refresh thanks to Eyefinity + the EDID hack.
Yeang

Thanks Yeang, yes I feel the same way about my setup.

Ok, after exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes of hacking - I got it working. Looking back, I could now get it done in under 5 minutes. But what people need to realize is that's after you've done it once. I could say the same thing about adjusting the tensioner on my S2000's supercharger: Boy, it sure seems simple now.

Congrats on getting it working kondor999 and thanks for the useful feedback. It took me hours of messing the first time also :).

If I want to switch back and forth between 5040x1050 and 5760x1200 (depending on game), how would I do that?

You would be stuck with the 3 available resolutions that 5040x1050 users have. The only way to switch back would be to install the different EDID and restart the computer. It doesn't seem to work if you don't restart the computer although restarting the display driver might also work.

I did notice that when I installed the 9.12 driver on top of the 9.11 hotfix it automatically replaced my monitor EDID with a older WHQL version from DELL that was previously installed and changed my refresh rate back to 60Hz during the time in the install when the screen goes blank for a second or two.

So I am thinking a possible 'quick fix' could be to install EDID then use a restart display device option in software like ATI tray tools which basically does a VPU recover.

@ ychng, kondor999 & Sideeffect:
Excelent display of good community spirit! :twothumb

@ ychng, kondor999 & Sideeffect:
Excelent display of good community spirit! :twothumb

What unites us is far greater than the stupid spat that divided us. I, for one, am sorry I was so damn irritable.

I get that way when my hardware doesn't work (no metaphor here!!). Does anyone else get that way? When the supercharger belt was slipping, my GF says I was impossible to be around.

Hmmm - maybe I need meds or something :doh

What unites us is far greater than the stupid spat that divided us. I, for one, am sorry I was so damn irritable.

I get that way when my hardware doesn't work (no metaphor here!!). Does anyone else get that way? When the supercharger belt was slipping, my GF says I was impossible to be around.

Hmmm - maybe I need meds or something :doh

We all get annoyed when somethings doesn't work. Everyone can get into heated discussions as well. However, the way you three sorted it out afterwards showed great community spirit.

You three were letting bygones be bygones and turned this into something constructive instead. I bet it took a bit swallowing of pride to come back with a feedback on the solution and you should be proud of the way you handled it by doing so. :cheers