I switched pc's to get the windas prog to recognize my monitor so I could select the model. I have no idea about the mdl file.....I repeat..I have no idea about the mdl file and was never worried or concerned it had anything to do with my "model select" problem. When I switched pc's the model select was available and the mdl file warning still appeared and appears everytime I start windas on either box.
Convergence doesn't really affect colors, it's basicly a 'geometry' setting for each of the guns, you want each to scan over the same area, else you see red/blue on edges of colors. Center of colors is unaffected. Bad convergence can also make fine text look colored, very annoying, WinDAS Dynamic convergence fixes it up though.
If you really want to get serious about color, you can properly do the whole whitebalance procedure (use a colorimiter, you can use these on LCDs/TVs etc. too).
Or you can turn up the CNT_MAX_BRT, that should help. Gamma and digital vibrance can also help make colors more apparent.
Cathodes do wear out with use, but raising G2 and ajusting G1s can make up for it. (White balance procedure)
About this no .mdl files stuff, I haven't had that happen to me, but another user, LAGRUNAUER, had it and fixed it somehow. I should ask him to post how he did that.
I remember he said "after much tweaking, I have it working". I don't know what he did.
I had sugested re installing windas from the correct setup file, there is a setup file on the ABLSERV site that isn'nt complete, my instructions don't refer to that one though.
Maybe attribute settings on the folders are a problem? the 'archive' attribute, maybe? Just try stuff with the windas folder you extracted.
SOLUTION FOUND!!! See posts below! I always think of the dumbest things that might be wrong when I don't actually know what is wrong
I received a Sony G500 today. It has the same ugly bright picture described in this thread. Further, the picture seams to be out of focus towards centre. Whenever I change a window to full screen, the monitor picture resizes itself. It scales up and back to normal size as if it is pulsing.
My question: Is it worth the money and trouble to make DAS working for my monitor? Can I solve all mentioned issues with that tool?
Thanks
This seems like a voltage probem, the sizing of the picture has to do with the average brightness on the screen raising the voltage output, which in turn gives the scan coils more voltage.
Some one refered to this as poor voltage regulation. I don't know enough about how these ciruits work to tell you exactly why the voltage on everything seems to be increased.
The same transformer supplies the high voltage to the focus grids, explaining why that has gone bad.
Maybe, if you corrected the G2 voltage, and limited changes in average brightness level(ABL) , you could make things suitable. I have no idea if the voltage regulator or some other circuit has been damaged, I doubt it.
If all you have is the overbright problem with the retrace lines, it's almost definitely easy to fix with WinDAS. The focous changes with G2, so I'm thinking the other stuff you mentioned are just side effects of the un-usual conditions.
And for the record, I'm not at all comfortable with telling people whether or not an attempt at repair is worth it.
I'm not a repair guy, I'm just a kid who got an overly bright monitor out of the trash because I didn't want to buy my own. (Previous one, also from the trash, developed some amplifier problem I'm still figuring out how to fix)I heard about WinDAS, gave it a spin, and wanted to make life easier for other people in my situation.
If I had repaired monitor after monitor for a living, I'd probably have the experience to tell you what is economicly repairable. Ask people who do it for a living, they are extremely pessimistic.
My goal is probably to build a monitor from scratch (parts from other monitors maybe (especially the CRT), mail order some parts etc.) So I basicly just dwell on electronics stuff because I really think it's a valuable skill , on par with reading/writing. I'd always wantetd to build a CPU from scratch, but it is impossible to build a usefull one by todays standards. A monitor happens to be something that can still be built from scratch (considering you start with a tube).
It's up to you. I wouldn't bet much on it, a used 21" monitor isn' t that expensive. Then again, with WinDAS you can make the monitor you have nearly perfect (considering it doesn't have serious hardware problems). Where without it , you have to pray for stuff to be adjsuted correctly and stay that way.
are we even TRYING to fix his problem anymore? anyway mine is also too bright. It is really really rich in color though. the white hurts my eyes and the black feels sooooooooo good. i have to turn up the brightness while playing counter-strike and turn it down to trype a document in word or surf the web.
EDIT: it's a hyvision 17''
are we even TRYING to fix his problem anymore? anyway mine is also too bright. It is really really rich in color though. the white hurts my eyes and the black feels sooooooooo good. i have to turn up the brightness while playing counter-strike and turn it down to trype a document in word or surf the web.
EDIT: it's a hyvision 17''
What problem are you talking about?
Ok, for people getting the
No .mdl files
And the
Not able to open the Model Sel dialog.
I found the problem!!!!!
You didn't install MSFLXGRD !!!!!
Sorry, but my instructions don't work!!! heh, the MSFLXGRD .bat won't work for Windows XP! sorry!
I don't have Windows XP to test on, I promised to fix this before, some one told me how to do it %%SYSTEM%%% or something, can some one test it, and post something that works?
Thanks!
So yeah, um. You guys can manually use regserv32 under Start->run, untill someone writes a .bat that's generic enough to work on WinXP and Win9X.
Any other problems? Post it here please! There are no 'stupid' questions, I don't even care if you ask the same one twice, people have got to notice that this isn't black magic. This is real easy to get working, and if we have to document every pitfall, it's worth it because there are so many monitors out there with these problems that would otherwise get junked.
On windows XP SP2 here, so regsvr32.exe resides in the %systemroot%\system32 folder. It's in the path, so "copy msflxgrd.ocx %systemroot%\system32" and "regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\msflxgrd.ocx" are more appropriate. "%systemroot%\system" isn't in the path on XP by default.
After running windas and selecting the appropriate monitor and serial port/mode, windas bombs when attemping to select "Save Data to File".
Thankfully, it still remembers the settings you have chosen, and simply restarting windas and going straight to the "Save Data to File" option works fine.
Should mention that my E400 shuts the CRT down whilst EPROM reading/writing operations are in progress, usually for 15-30secs, and fires up again once complete.
The first time I performed a read operation on the display, i noticed afterwards that the Monitors external controls had ceased to operate!
Running windas again and performing another download operation restored the external controls.
Anyway, my E400's G2 setting was 106. I dropped it by 4-6 notches each time, testing in-between, and finally settled on 90 as a reasonable figure that gives pretty much a pure black screen in a black room at the user brightness setting of around 30. Much better than the constant 0 setting it had needed before whilst still displaying scanline-retrace during warm-up.
Great post that needs to be requoted
"copy msflxgrd.ocx %systemroot%\system32" and "regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\msflxgrd.ocx"
Ok , this should clear up all the 'no .mdl file' errors or the inability to open the model select dialog.
I'm actually adding this to the howto this time... Last time I promised to I never did it... sorry!
OK It's up! I added it. Thanks to Stay for notifying me, and for doing the work. If only I had posted it to my howto earlier people wouldn't have been in that mess.
As usual, let me know what I should add/do, the howto is geting ~15new people each day. Thanks to ABLserv for hosting windas! Incase they ever restrict access, I have a backup plan. The cat is out of the bag! People now controll the destiny of their own monitor!
Are there any other service programs used in other monitors? This thread is #1 for 'monitor too bright' so we ought to be addressing a more generic audience.
The resistor mod will work on ANY monitor, Sony or not. It's just... , not so quick and way too dirty for my tastes. Warmup time is easily hindered by it, and you had better have the resistor fit AFTER the monitor is warmed up. Color also inherits a tint when you change the G2 like that.
I figure, why more time on one monitor, when you can save time doing the Windas cable and fix countless monitors? Soldering on the CRT socket board is a real pain, and spillage will be hard to clean.You also loose the chance to adjust your convergence, hidden geometry settings, advanced color settings, atuo center/resize etc.
Ha, then, I bet if I had been the one to make up the resistor fix, I'd be bashing the Windas fix.
So yeah, Maybe we can get the Mitsubishi DAS, or Viewsonic DAS, or the holy grail:
Generic DAS
It probes the monitor, and then selects the correct protocol... actually, that's maybe not such a good idea, who would need to probe to find out what brand their monitor is?
Having a prob getting any response from my dell trin 1130 in Windas. Am I correct thinking that pin 1 is the top pin on the rear port?
It appears you got it correct, would you mind describing the pinout of the rear service port? Other people complained of this alternate service port and may find your description helpfull.
Wow O_o - may i suggest you plug it into the place it fits?? if that doesnt work, i would also suggest that you dont try to force it into anything else, that may lead to a few, just a few, problems.
Wow O_o - may i suggest you plug it into the place it fits?? if that doesnt work, i would also suggest that you dont try to force it into anything else, that may lead to a few, just a few, problems.
If I'd know what 4 pin connector I have to use... and there are certainly a few connectors in that monitor. Thanks for your help!
There is a small plastic cover on the back of the monitor that you can pry out with a screwdriver. This will give you access to the correct 4 pin connector. When you are facing the back of the monitor the little cover is on the right side.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this forum. I have now fixed over 30 Dell P1110 monitors with the Windas solution! Now I was wondering if anyone has a fix for slow warmup times on these monitors? Roughly 1 out of every 5 of these monitors take as long as 85 seconds before a picture is displayed. The warmup time does not seem to be related to the brightness problem since the warmup problem remains after the brightness fix.
Has anyone else run into this problem? If there is a lot of interest, then I should probably start a new thread.
I bought a DELL P1130 from ebay and unlucky for me the monitor controls are either broken or locked out (most probably locked out). The display is also very bright and there is a problem with the colour reproduction on the left side of the monitor (the Start button is blue for example).
There wasn't a 4 pin connector visible at the back of the monitor but after removing the monitor casing I see a connector that looks like the old floppy drive power connector type connections which is probably what I need to use.
I'm in the UK so it's probably unlikely I will find somewhere that makes a cable allowing me to use WinDAS so it looks like I'll need to build one.
I'd appreciate any info on the P1130 and it's connector.
Also, if there is anyone in the UK who has built a cable, I'd appreciate a list of items to buy and where I can get them.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this forum. I have now fixed over 30 Dell P1110 monitors with the Windas solution! Now I was wondering if anyone has a fix for slow warmup times on these monitors? Roughly 1 out of every 5 of these monitors take as long as 85 seconds before a picture is displayed. The warmup time does not seem to be related to the brightness problem since the warmup problem remains after the brightness fix.
Has anyone else run into this problem? If there is a lot of interest, then I should probably start a new thread.
Hmm, this usuallly happens to people who do the resistor mod. Interesting that it happens on un-touched monitors.
See if you can find differences between a normal monitors .dat and a 'slow warmup' monitors dat. I doubt there is a warmup setting, but it's worth a look. Maybe it's one of the un-named REG* settings. Backup the .dat of a slow warmup one, then load in the .dat of a normal one, things will look screwy, but maybe it fixes the slow warmup problem. Who knows. If it does, narrow down to what value made the difference.
You may also want to confirm that the resistors in the G2 circuit are all within specs, just to completely rule out any hardware issues.
Goodluck, and be sure to let us know of a solution if you find it.
There wasn't a 4 pin connector visible at the back of the monitor but after removing the monitor casing I see a connector that looks like the old floppy drive power connector type connections which is probably what I need to use.
Yeah, the one currently talked about is the one that lookes like the floppy power connector, infact, others have used an old power supplies floppy connector to make hooking up to the port easier. Most monitors even have the pins labled. Refer to the howto for the pinout when facing the pins.
There is one other port I've heard of, labeled 'service'. You can actually plug a type of serial cable into it, my digital camera and colorimetr have the same connector. I'm pretty sure this one already has the ttl<>rs232 conversion done, but maybe it still requires it. I haven't added info about it to the howto, as I haven't really verified what it is or how it works. If you have this type of service port, talk about it. Thanks to Medieval for photographing it.
If more connectors are found, please describe them. I scrape your information for use in the howto.
Those in the UK should notice that previous posters have used Maplin.uk . Check out the previous posts. I guess I should add more options to those intsructions.
And on that note, the pre-built cable from hoby engineering has been quite a success, switching the plug pinout is said to be easy. I wish some one would post a specific account, just to reassure people that it works.
So yeah, listing the parts you bought/used could help people who aren't sure what they need to buy.
Xweebie said there are lots of interesting registers you can change in the .dat file. He said he found one that changed the format of the OSD menu. I wonder if there's a way to unlock the 'hidden' geometry settings, or to make the RGB drive settings available on the OSD of monitors which don't offer the adjustment.
Ofcourse, any adjustment can be made with the .dat file even if it doesn't appear on the OSD, but the OSD is more convenient.
hmmm... What else can I say.
I guess that's it. If anyone has problems, scream about them. I assume that the .mdl files thing is cleared up by selecting a monitor (with the Model Select menu which may have been disabled).
Good luck everyone!
Oh one last thing, MortalKind, about starting a new thread for the warmup issue.
That may not be such a good idea, because, there are other threads on other issues, and they don't get much traffic (basicly none). My current request has been to rename this thread to something like
Sony monitor too bright too dim color
Or something generic, so that it can address more issues without having to build up 2 years worth of page rank. The first post should have indexes to where certain issues are discussed, etc.
Thanks a lot for the detailed info and instructions, P991 DELL SONY!!! I finally managed to fix the brightness issue of my sony G500 without a workaround such as the resistor fix :):)
I'd like to add a note to running WinDAS on WinXP. Make sure to run it as Administrator as I found that I wasn't able to communicate with the monitor as a regular user.
Here are a few pics of my kickass cable ... was easy to make, thanks gain p991 ... used 1uf 50V capacitors, small breadboard, female db9 connector with an easy clamp, 4-pin connector, and a bunch of wire ... all were purchased @ supremetronic located in downtown toronto, canada: Google Maps Link for under $12CAD (tax included) ... (this price actually included a bunch of resistors in case the windas fix didnt work ...glad I didn;t have to use them since I don't have a soldering iron here).
Ok ... here are the pics:
[Edit]
Just to add another comment ... I had to edit the .dat file with a hex editor since it couldn't be opened by a text editor properly. Here are screenshots of b4 and after ... (compare light with light stripe and dark with dark stripes ... amazing ):
Thanks a lot for the detailed info and instructions, P991 DELL SONY!!! I finally managed to fix the brightness issue of my sony G500 without a workaround such as the resistor fix :):)
I'd like to add a note to running WinDAS on WinXP. Make sure to run it as Administrator as I found that I wasn't able to communicate with the monitor as a regular user.
Here are a few pics of my kickass cable ... was easy to make, thanks gain p991 ... used 1uf 50V capacitors, small breadboard, female db9 connector with an easy clamp, 4-pin connector, and a bunch of wire ... all were purchased @ supremetronic located in downtown toronto, canada: Google Maps Link for under $12CAD (tax included) ... (this price actually included a bunch of resistors in case the windas fix didnt work ...glad I didn;t have to use them since I don't have a soldering iron here).
Ok ... here are the pics:
Just to add another comment ... I had to edit the .dat file with a hex editor since it couldn't be opened by a text editor properly. Here are screenshots of b4 and after ... (compare light with light stripe and dark with dark stripes ... amazing ):
Yeah, my cable looks EXACTLY like yours, except my serial->wires interface is home improvised. (My digital camera has been out of batteries, just got new ones, so I'll post pics of mine soon.)
Thanks for adding the tip about using the Administrator user on XP. That darn text editor in XP seems to only use unicode. I heard that the dos 'edit' command works in ASCII still.
Thanks again for the wonderfully detailed post! It appears all XP related problems have been hammered out by contributers like you!
Thanks for being the first to completely photograph your adatper and describe each part! You have completely illuminated the once mysterious ECS cable for all to see in true 24bit color!
It's no longer the $240 proprietary Sony equipment that only people with soldering irons and complicated schematics could build.
Hey Guys... I am looking for the mdl and chassis files for the Sony SDM-P232W, and the Sony SDM-P234, both 23" widescreen flat panel displays. The version on WinDAS I have list 225 display models but does not list these models mdl and chassis files. It has the SDM-X202 and some other SDM's, but not these ones. If anyone of you have these monitors in your WinDAS version (check the tab "model sel", then scroll down to see if they are in the list of monitors), could you please be so kind to send it to me? My email is lagrunauer@aol.com. Thanks so much is advance. Luis A. Grunauer, Jr.
Hi P991 DELL SONY, I have been going through the instructions on your webpage (thanks!!!), however I am having trouble with the installation of WINDAS.
The step where I need to get TransDll.dll RegDll.dll and LimitDll.dll does not appear to work. (I installed astro SG, but it does not dump those files into the windows/system folder).
I just did the mod on my Dell P1110. I could on find a 10Mohm 1/4 watt, resister from my local radio shack. So i soldered it in parallel with the existing one. I turned the monitor back on and after about 20 min the color got good and dark. the only problem is when I turn it off for the night and come back in the morning It is bright again and doesnt get dark until it warms up for about 20 min also, it intermintently switches back to bright and then dark again. Does this mean i didnt solder it good enough?
I just did the mod on my Dell P1110. I could on find a 10Mohm 1/4 watt, resister from my local radio shack. So i soldered it in parallel with the existing one. I turned the monitor back on and after about 20 min the color got good and dark. the only problem is when I turn it off for the night and come back in the morning It is bright again and doesnt get dark until it warms up for about 20 min also, it intermintently switches back to bright and then dark again. Does this mean i didnt solder it good enough?
That is typical warmup compensation. Happens on all monitors, though ideally should cancel out the monitors warmup peroid , which is darker than normal. After recalibrating my monitor with Windas, at brightness 31 warmup behavior just cancells out the darkness the tube would have when first being switched on. I think 31 is too dark though, so I usually use about 60, problem is, at 60, it's too bright during warmup. Oh well.
Actually, it all really depends on how bright the ambient light in the room is, in a well lit room, the sRGB setting is pretty much the best, maybe with the contrast bumped to max. When it gets dark, sRGB is too bright.
Hi P991 DELL SONY, I have been going through the instructions on your webpage (thanks!!!), however I am having trouble with the installation of WINDAS.
The step where I need to get TransDll.dll RegDll.dll and LimitDll.dll does not appear to work. (I installed astro SG, but it does not dump those files into the windows/system folder).
Is there any other place to get these file?
Thanks for all the help
What version of windows? I've been told DLLs go into a different folder on winXP. Either way , they should still be available to the program for use.
These are shareable portions of the ASTRO SG program, so there really shouldn't be any other way to get them, unless, some one takes them and hosts them separately. I imagine there are DLLs with the same filename , but that are totally different, so getting them somewhere other than from the ASTRO SG software probably won't work.
Maybe do a search (including sub folders) on the Windows directory for RegDll.dll, and see where it actually resides. Again, the dlls should be somewhere available for use by any program if the installer completed.
The whole point of putting the .dlls into the folder with windas, was to keep your system clear of 'used by one or none' dlls. It also makes the folder a nice thing to zip up, and send/store, all ready go once you uncompress it. It's recomended, but shouldn't be necessary.
Let me know where you find them, my instructions need some more fixing up.Thanks for speaking up about this.
NEED THE WINDAS CABLE? It's all exlpained here!
CHECK MY HOWTO!!! http://www.geocities.com/gregua/windas/
Thanks, sheesh... and I thought I had it plastered all over the place!
Hello folks. I posted in this thread a year ago, being very thankful to everyone who tried the resistor fix and posted their results. Now, I have returned to see reams of new information about how to fix the problem through software! Thanks so much to everyone who's been experimenting!
Has anyone who originially did the resistor fix gone back and done it through software, and did you get back to the black level you had through the resistor fix? Obviously the resistor fix is nonideal (my OSD controls are all fuxored up), but the black level is very satisfactory and I don't want to put a stock valued resistor back in unless I'm pretty sure I can get back to where I am now with the software.
So, if you've switched the stock resistor back in and used software to fix, please post! Thanks so much!
Comments
If you really want to get serious about color, you can properly do the whole whitebalance procedure (use a colorimiter, you can use these on LCDs/TVs etc. too).
Or you can turn up the CNT_MAX_BRT, that should help. Gamma and digital vibrance can also help make colors more apparent.
Cathodes do wear out with use, but raising G2 and ajusting G1s can make up for it. (White balance procedure)
Let me know what works, thanks.
I remember he said "after much tweaking, I have it working". I don't know what he did.
I had sugested re installing windas from the correct setup file, there is a setup file on the ABLSERV site that isn'nt complete, my instructions don't refer to that one though.
Maybe attribute settings on the folders are a problem? the 'archive' attribute, maybe? Just try stuff with the windas folder you extracted.
SOLUTION FOUND!!! See posts below! I always think of the dumbest things that might be wrong when I don't actually know what is wrong
This seems like a voltage probem, the sizing of the picture has to do with the average brightness on the screen raising the voltage output, which in turn gives the scan coils more voltage.
Some one refered to this as poor voltage regulation. I don't know enough about how these ciruits work to tell you exactly why the voltage on everything seems to be increased.
The same transformer supplies the high voltage to the focus grids, explaining why that has gone bad.
Maybe, if you corrected the G2 voltage, and limited changes in average brightness level(ABL) , you could make things suitable. I have no idea if the voltage regulator or some other circuit has been damaged, I doubt it.
If all you have is the overbright problem with the retrace lines, it's almost definitely easy to fix with WinDAS. The focous changes with G2, so I'm thinking the other stuff you mentioned are just side effects of the un-usual conditions.
And for the record, I'm not at all comfortable with telling people whether or not an attempt at repair is worth it.
I'm not a repair guy, I'm just a kid who got an overly bright monitor out of the trash because I didn't want to buy my own. (Previous one, also from the trash, developed some amplifier problem I'm still figuring out how to fix)I heard about WinDAS, gave it a spin, and wanted to make life easier for other people in my situation.
If I had repaired monitor after monitor for a living, I'd probably have the experience to tell you what is economicly repairable. Ask people who do it for a living, they are extremely pessimistic.
My goal is probably to build a monitor from scratch (parts from other monitors maybe (especially the CRT), mail order some parts etc.) So I basicly just dwell on electronics stuff because I really think it's a valuable skill , on par with reading/writing. I'd always wantetd to build a CPU from scratch, but it is impossible to build a usefull one by todays standards. A monitor happens to be something that can still be built from scratch (considering you start with a tube).
It's up to you. I wouldn't bet much on it, a used 21" monitor isn' t that expensive. Then again, with WinDAS you can make the monitor you have nearly perfect (considering it doesn't have serious hardware problems). Where without it , you have to pray for stuff to be adjsuted correctly and stay that way.
thanks to all that contributed
EDIT: it's a hyvision 17''
What problem are you talking about?
Ok, for people getting the
No .mdl files
And the
Not able to open the Model Sel dialog.
I found the problem!!!!!
You didn't install MSFLXGRD !!!!!
Sorry, but my instructions don't work!!! heh, the MSFLXGRD .bat won't work for Windows XP! sorry!
I don't have Windows XP to test on, I promised to fix this before, some one told me how to do it %%SYSTEM%%% or something, can some one test it, and post something that works?
Thanks!
So yeah, um. You guys can manually use regserv32 under Start->run, untill someone writes a .bat that's generic enough to work on WinXP and Win9X.
Any other problems? Post it here please! There are no 'stupid' questions, I don't even care if you ask the same one twice, people have got to notice that this isn't black magic. This is real easy to get working, and if we have to document every pitfall, it's worth it because there are so many monitors out there with these problems that would otherwise get junked.
Thanks again!
Great post that needs to be requoted
"copy msflxgrd.ocx %systemroot%\system32" and "regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\msflxgrd.ocx"
Thank you
So yeah, do this instead or
copy msflxgrd.ocx %systemroot%\system32
regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\msflxgrd.ocx
just put those in the activex.bat file.
Ok , this should clear up all the 'no .mdl file' errors or the inability to open the model select dialog.
I'm actually adding this to the howto this time... Last time I promised to I never did it... sorry!
OK It's up! I added it. Thanks to Stay for notifying me, and for doing the work. If only I had posted it to my howto earlier people wouldn't have been in that mess.
http://www.geocities.com/gregua/windas/
As usual, let me know what I should add/do, the howto is geting ~15new people each day. Thanks to ABLserv for hosting windas! Incase they ever restrict access, I have a backup plan. The cat is out of the bag! People now controll the destiny of their own monitor!
Are there any other service programs used in other monitors? This thread is #1 for 'monitor too bright' so we ought to be addressing a more generic audience.
The resistor mod will work on ANY monitor, Sony or not. It's just... , not so quick and way too dirty for my tastes. Warmup time is easily hindered by it, and you had better have the resistor fit AFTER the monitor is warmed up. Color also inherits a tint when you change the G2 like that.
I figure, why more time on one monitor, when you can save time doing the Windas cable and fix countless monitors? Soldering on the CRT socket board is a real pain, and spillage will be hard to clean.You also loose the chance to adjust your convergence, hidden geometry settings, advanced color settings, atuo center/resize etc.
Ha, then, I bet if I had been the one to make up the resistor fix, I'd be bashing the Windas fix.
So yeah, Maybe we can get the Mitsubishi DAS, or Viewsonic DAS, or the holy grail:
Generic DAS
It probes the monitor, and then selects the correct protocol... actually, that's maybe not such a good idea, who would need to probe to find out what brand their monitor is?
Yay. ok. Long live the thread!
It appears you got it correct, would you mind describing the pinout of the rear service port? Other people complained of this alternate service port and may find your description helpfull.
Thanks, great work!
If I'd know what 4 pin connector I have to use... and there are certainly a few connectors in that monitor. Thanks for your help!
Has anyone else run into this problem? If there is a lot of interest, then I should probably start a new thread.
There wasn't a 4 pin connector visible at the back of the monitor but after removing the monitor casing I see a connector that looks like the old floppy drive power connector type connections which is probably what I need to use.
I'm in the UK so it's probably unlikely I will find somewhere that makes a cable allowing me to use WinDAS so it looks like I'll need to build one.
I'd appreciate any info on the P1130 and it's connector.
Also, if there is anyone in the UK who has built a cable, I'd appreciate a list of items to buy and where I can get them.
Thanks.
Hmm, this usuallly happens to people who do the resistor mod. Interesting that it happens on un-touched monitors.
See if you can find differences between a normal monitors .dat and a 'slow warmup' monitors dat. I doubt there is a warmup setting, but it's worth a look. Maybe it's one of the un-named REG* settings. Backup the .dat of a slow warmup one, then load in the .dat of a normal one, things will look screwy, but maybe it fixes the slow warmup problem. Who knows. If it does, narrow down to what value made the difference.
You may also want to confirm that the resistors in the G2 circuit are all within specs, just to completely rule out any hardware issues.
Goodluck, and be sure to let us know of a solution if you find it.
Yeah, the one currently talked about is the one that lookes like the floppy power connector, infact, others have used an old power supplies floppy connector to make hooking up to the port easier. Most monitors even have the pins labled. Refer to the howto for the pinout when facing the pins.
There is one other port I've heard of, labeled 'service'. You can actually plug a type of serial cable into it, my digital camera and colorimetr have the same connector. I'm pretty sure this one already has the ttl<>rs232 conversion done, but maybe it still requires it. I haven't added info about it to the howto, as I haven't really verified what it is or how it works. If you have this type of service port, talk about it. Thanks to Medieval for photographing it.
If more connectors are found, please describe them. I scrape your information for use in the howto.
http://www.geocities.com/gregua/windas/
As always, here's the HOWTO.
Those in the UK should notice that previous posters have used Maplin.uk . Check out the previous posts. I guess I should add more options to those intsructions.
And on that note, the pre-built cable from hoby engineering has been quite a success, switching the plug pinout is said to be easy. I wish some one would post a specific account, just to reassure people that it works.
So yeah, listing the parts you bought/used could help people who aren't sure what they need to buy.
Xweebie said there are lots of interesting registers you can change in the .dat file. He said he found one that changed the format of the OSD menu. I wonder if there's a way to unlock the 'hidden' geometry settings, or to make the RGB drive settings available on the OSD of monitors which don't offer the adjustment.
Ofcourse, any adjustment can be made with the .dat file even if it doesn't appear on the OSD, but the OSD is more convenient.
hmmm... What else can I say.
I guess that's it. If anyone has problems, scream about them. I assume that the .mdl files thing is cleared up by selecting a monitor (with the Model Select menu which may have been disabled).
Good luck everyone!
Oh one last thing, MortalKind, about starting a new thread for the warmup issue.
That may not be such a good idea, because, there are other threads on other issues, and they don't get much traffic (basicly none). My current request has been to rename this thread to something like
Sony monitor too bright too dim color
Or something generic, so that it can address more issues without having to build up 2 years worth of page rank. The first post should have indexes to where certain issues are discussed, etc.
Just a thought.
Alrighty then.
I'd like to add a note to running WinDAS on WinXP. Make sure to run it as Administrator as I found that I wasn't able to communicate with the monitor as a regular user.
Here are a few pics of my kickass cable
Ok ... here are the pics:
[Edit]
Just to add another comment ... I had to edit the .dat file with a hex editor since it couldn't be opened by a text editor properly. Here are screenshots of b4 and after ... (compare light with light stripe and dark with dark stripes ... amazing
Yeah, my cable looks EXACTLY like yours, except my serial->wires interface is home improvised. (My digital camera has been out of batteries, just got new ones, so I'll post pics of mine soon.)
Thanks for adding the tip about using the Administrator user on XP. That darn text editor in XP seems to only use unicode. I heard that the dos 'edit' command works in ASCII still.
Thanks again for the wonderfully detailed post! It appears all XP related problems have been hammered out by contributers like you!
Thanks for being the first to completely photograph your adatper and describe each part! You have completely illuminated the once mysterious ECS cable for all to see in true 24bit color!
It's no longer the $240 proprietary Sony equipment that only people with soldering irons and complicated schematics could build.
Thanks!
I got a Yahoo Page Not Found. Hmm.
I'm looking into this, If you have problems viewing the HOWTO, speak up, I have NO INTENTION of removing it.
I should look for other hosting.
The step where I need to get TransDll.dll RegDll.dll and LimitDll.dll does not appear to work. (I installed astro SG, but it does not dump those files into the windows/system folder).
Is there any other place to get these file?
Thanks for all the help
That is typical warmup compensation. Happens on all monitors, though ideally should cancel out the monitors warmup peroid , which is darker than normal. After recalibrating my monitor with Windas, at brightness 31 warmup behavior just cancells out the darkness the tube would have when first being switched on. I think 31 is too dark though, so I usually use about 60, problem is, at 60, it's too bright during warmup. Oh well.
Actually, it all really depends on how bright the ambient light in the room is, in a well lit room, the sRGB setting is pretty much the best, maybe with the contrast bumped to max. When it gets dark, sRGB is too bright.
What version of windows? I've been told DLLs go into a different folder on winXP. Either way , they should still be available to the program for use.
These are shareable portions of the ASTRO SG program, so there really shouldn't be any other way to get them, unless, some one takes them and hosts them separately. I imagine there are DLLs with the same filename , but that are totally different, so getting them somewhere other than from the ASTRO SG software probably won't work.
Maybe do a search (including sub folders) on the Windows directory for RegDll.dll, and see where it actually resides. Again, the dlls should be somewhere available for use by any program if the installer completed.
The whole point of putting the .dlls into the folder with windas, was to keep your system clear of 'used by one or none' dlls. It also makes the folder a nice thing to zip up, and send/store, all ready go once you uncompress it. It's recomended, but shouldn't be necessary.
Let me know where you find them, my instructions need some more fixing up.Thanks for speaking up about this.
NEED THE WINDAS CABLE? It's all exlpained here!
CHECK MY HOWTO!!!
http://www.geocities.com/gregua/windas/
Thanks, sheesh... and I thought I had it plastered all over the place!
Oddly enough the file search did not find them (perhaps I am inadvertently using a filter that excludes them).
Got WINDAS working now....time to build the cable. Thanks
This has been a fantastic thread!
Does anyone know if the resistor fix as described in the link
http://www.hutzelman.com/home/hardware/mods/monitor/
works with a p1130?
What resistor should I get, and where should I put it? Is it in the same place as the photos?
Also with the windas solution. What cord would I need to use? Where would I connect the cord to the monitor?
Has anyone who originially did the resistor fix gone back and done it through software, and did you get back to the black level you had through the resistor fix? Obviously the resistor fix is nonideal (my OSD controls are all fuxored up), but the black level is very satisfactory and I don't want to put a stock valued resistor back in unless I'm pretty sure I can get back to where I am now with the software.
So, if you've switched the stock resistor back in and used software to fix, please post! Thanks so much!