[ale] Dual video on HP pavillion running Centos

Sun Jul 21 23:18:28 EDT 2013

Since it's a DVI connection it'll probably "JustWork". DVI has a bit of
"smarts" in it (can detect a connection being made, etc). So plugin a
second monitor. Poke up the display tool in System->Preferences and tell it
to detect the second monitor.

I had total crap fits trying to get the second video chip to work in a
ThinkPad W520. Turn out my version of the W520 had a bios/mobo bug that
blocked the use of both chips at once. Bummer. The laptop had a DVI and
HDMI port on one chip and internal screen and vga on the other. I was
drooling about using 4 displays off a laptop. Version 2 of the W520 worked.
:-(

Oh well. I had a quad core i7 with 16GB ram which was a beefier system than
most of the servers :-}

On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 10:58 PM, Neal Rhodes <neal at mnopltd.com> wrote:

> **
> Thanks for reply.   Note, there is no NEW chip.  There is just the chip on
> which I am now writing your response at 1920xwhatever.
>
> That chip also feeds a DVI port under a plastic "do not remove" cover.
>
> Part of what I was asking - on Win7 and Ubuntu systems, you just plug in a
> monitor, or turn it on, and they instantly react to it being there - no
> need to restart.
>
> lspci says:
>
> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core
> Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA
> controller])
>
>         Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device
> 2ac2
>
>         Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ
> 29
>         Memory at fe000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable)
> [size=4M]
>         Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable)
> [size=256M]
>
>         I/O ports at f000
> [size=64]
>
>         Expansion ROM at <unassigned>
> [disabled]
>
>         Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable-
> 64bit-
>         Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version
> 2
>
>         Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced
> Features
>
>         Kernel driver in use:
> i915
>
>         Kernel modules: i915
>
> That still doesn't quite seem to pin down the actual chip being used.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Neal
>
>
> On Sun, 2013-07-21 at 21:32 -0400, Jim Kinney wrote:
>
> What an odd combination of hardware exclusions!
>
>
>  If you can "see" the on board chip with lspci then the proper driver
> should be able to address it. Do swome digging with data from lspci and see
> if the Intel chip can support dual output.
>
>
>  You might have to restart X to get it to "see" the new chip once and
> detect dual monitor capability.
>
>
>
>  On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 5:49 PM, Neal Rhodes <neal at mnopltd.com> wrote:
>
> So, we've been running Centos 6.3 on an HP Pavilion p7-1131 Desktop PC
> for about 1.5 years now.   And loving it.
>
> We now lust after running two 24" monitors for work.  No games, just two
> decent monitors at 1920x1080.
>
> The unit was delivered with an additional card: an HP 634478-001, which
> is an HP flavor of AMD Radeon, which has DVI and HDMI only. (no VGA;
> weird.)  If this card is present, then I've experienced that  it takes
> precedence, the onboard VGA goes dormant, and there ain't no BIOS setup
> options which pertain to making both of them play nice with each other.
>
> And the really interesting thing is that the system board has a DVI
> connector, which is mounted onto a header and goes through a port in the
> back.   And on the DVI port on the back is a black plastic cover screwed
> on which says "DO NOT REMOVE".    (reminds me of a 78 Alfa-Romeo sedan
> which had a sticker on the rear seats: "rear seats not to be occupied
> when vehicle is in motion".)
>
>
>
> Based on HP's website, the specs on the unit say:
>
> Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD Integrated graphics (DX10.1)
> *Integrated video is not available if a graphics card is installed.
>         Supports PCI Express x16 graphics cards
>         DVI and VGA ports (both ports can be used at the same time)
>
>
> Curious-er and Curious-er.   This thing was shipped with Win7.
>
> Various HP articles indicate they stick those plastic covers on when the
> additional video card would have caused the onboard video ports to be
> disabled.   I don't see any way this thing would have driven the VGA as
> delivered.
>
> My inclinations are to try using the onboard DVI port, since I took the
> Radeon card out.  I'm trying to figure out how to figure out if the
> Intel video chip would fail to drive the two ports at full resolution if
> it could do one.
>
> Any reason to not try?  Is my dipstick gonna fall off?
>
> I'd have to get a DVI-to-VGA cable to hook up the 2nd monitor.  Can I
> just hook it up and run the Display Preferences utility and tell it to
> Detect Monitors?  Or do I have to reboot?  Reason being that I'm
> switching these two monitors back and forth with client notebooks.
>
> Neal Rhodes
> MNOP Ltd
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
>
> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
> at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
> It won't fatten the dog.
> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>
> *http://electjimkinney.org*
> *http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/*
>
>
>

-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
*
*Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
*
http://electjimkinney.org
http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
*
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