Reading Daxx's and other's posts, it looks like the TxD and RxD are reversed. I am posting what I've read as the correct reading of TxD and RxD. I will find out first-hand once I get my RS232<->TTL cable.
Did you get WinDAS to work? I did with quite a bit of effort as it's not documented very well. Post on the forum if you get stuck and I'll try to create a better walkthrough.
Haven't even done anything with WinDAS except to download the files and folders. I will get to that soon I hope. I will surely ask for help here should I get stuck. Thank you!
Did you get WinDAS to work? I did with quite a bit of effort as it's not documented very well. Post on the forum if you get stuck and I'll try to create a better walkthrough.
I have the GDM-F500R schematic and it has Tx at pin 4 and Rx at pin 3, in agreement with the PCB though contrary to Daxx. I'll stay with the Sony documentation to begin, but no harm can be done if they're swapped, just wont communicate which you'll discover the moment you try any activity on WinDAS.
Reading Daxx's and other's posts, it looks like the TxD and RxD are reversed. I am posting what I've read as the correct reading of TxD and RxD. I will find out first-hand once I get my RS232<->TTL cable.
STOP!! READ THIS FIRST IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS!! STOP!!
DO NOT use windows notepad to change any values. Windows notepad changes the format of the DAT file. This will cause your DAT File to become corrupt and not flash your monitor.
Use Programmer's Notepad.
Ok guys,
Been following this thread for over a year now.
The otherday i recieved my cable and connected my to my P1110 successfully, backed-up my original settings etc etc as per the guide on the net...
HOWEVER - I used NotePad to edit the copy of my original settings - yeah i know, but i didnt check the forum for the latest info (as above)!
So i edited my G2 from 162 to 158, saved and uploaded.
On upload I got various messages:
1. Current model P1110 New model P1110(PCD) > Change to new Model?
I think i clicked yes
2. Mode data different
could only click ok
attempted to upload and then went black and stayed black.
Thought i'd wreaked it, but on using the 'save settings to file' command after the process was complete the moniter came back to life!
So - everything ok i thought - well yes and no.
The files that are created when saving settings are not readable in notepad, just a load of crap, they show up in word etc but thats no good...
Tried loading the original settings, and I get 'Mode Data Different' about half way through the upload and can only click ok, it stops uploading and stays black, and then have to do a 'save settings to file' to get the moniter up again.
Viewer will show the info from the downloaded .dat as will edit.com
I have attached a screen shot of the just downloaded 'strange.dat' with a 'copy' of the original settings below it - obvious difference exists.
It is worth noting I CANNOT verify the original settings file has not been through a Notepad Save command and could therefore itself be corrupt!
Can anyone tell me how i can sort this out? :bawling:
Notepad has been upgraded to work with Unicode or multibyte characters since ??? Windows XP or even Windows 2000. If you use it on an ASCII file, it will by default be changed from ASCII single-byte characters to double-byte Unicode. Which is why you can read it in Word which understands Unicode. Also, the Notepad-edited file doubles in byte-count size.
The upload to the monitor requires single-byte codes. If you sent it Unicoded file where each character is now two-bytes, everything is out-of-whack from the monitor's point-of-view.
Do as many has tolds us to do all here. Use Edit.com or any other editor (programmer's editor, hex editors, etc) that do not convert plain ASCII to Unicode. Or, use Notepad's Save As <file type ANSI> to retain the single-byte ASCII. Make sure that the byte-count of the original downloaded file DOES NOT CHANGE after you use Notepad's Save As <file type ANSI> !!!!!
If you are now stuck with a Notepad-edited Unicode file, and wish to get back the originally downloaded ASCII single-byte file, an easy way is to open it again in Notepad, and use File->Save As-> (select file type ANSI)->P1110.dat. Check that the byte-count of the new file is at least half that of the strange.dat. Right-click on the file->Properties to see the byte-count.
ANSI is default Save As in Notepad XP. Shouldnt be a problem to use then?
My testing shows that it does not matter in our current discussion. NEVER NEVER USE NOTEPAD to edit the downloaded monitor file! Use Edit.com instead, or a programmer's editor or a hex file editor.
Here's what I did to test on a Windows XP SP1 machine.
1. Started on a file (let's call this P1110.dat) that is used to upgrade a device's firmware. <br/>
2. Made a copy of of this, Copy of P1110.dat. <br/>
3. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are identical. <br/>
4. Opened Copy of P1110.dat in Notepad. Immediately File->Save.<br/>
5. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are different! <br/>
6. Deleted Copy of P1110.dat, and made a fresh Copy of P1110.dat from the original P1110.dat.<br/>
7. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are identical. <br/>
8. Opened Copy of P1110.dat in Notepad. Immediately File->Save As and with ANSI encoding. <br/>
9. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are different! <br/>
CONCLUSION: DO NOT USE NOTEPAD regardless of ANSI encoding. And so I take back everything I've said in my previous post to chilli. Forget about Notepad. It messes up the contents of the file by APPLYING ANSI encoding to a data file!
Thanks for your advice, but I am still having trouble.
Basically, files now downloaded from the monitor are 10,068 bytes
The original settings file is 10,061 bytes
As these are the same i fear the original file may have been through a notepad change.
The original file will open in notepad and is fully legible
Any file downloaded from the moniter now is illegible in notepad, (its all strange characters) but fully legible in 'Programmers Notepad'
If i copy the original file and use the <save as ansi> in notepad the byte size doesnt change, it seems they are already in ansi mode. ANSI is already present in the file type box, in the <save as> command.
However any file downloaded from the monitor, although illegible in notepad, if you use <save as> the file type is on Unicode, so I am guessing these files are in unicode. When I save them as ANSI format, they half in size, but then are illegible in Programmers Notepad and notepad and windas viewer.
My monitor is working, it seems, fine, and the G2 values have definetly made it a lot better (lowered from 162 to 150).
I'm just prefer to get everything back to how if should be...
Can you help me?
I have attached 2 .dat files, although i have had to change the extension to get them to post, so just rename them.
p1110_original.dat - the original file i downloaded from the monitor, I fear is also corrupt
p1110_311006.dat - the file i have just downloaded from the monitor.
Please help me!
Thanks guys!
Ps. Just a little annoyed the guide pages still say to use notepad - maybe this should be changed, so no-one else makes this error!
If you are now stuck with a Notepad-edited Unicode file, and wish to get back the originally downloaded ASCII single-byte file, an easy way is to open it again in Notepad, and use File->Save As-> (select file type ANSI)->P1110.dat. Check that the byte-count of the new file is at least half that of the strange.dat. Right-click on the file->Properties to see the byte-count.
Did you get WinDAS to work? I did with quite a bit of effort as it's not documented very well. Post on the forum if you get stuck and I'll try to create a better walkthrough.
I've just finished installing WinDAS. Had minor gotchas, but was able to get over these. Now WinDAS starts up with Model Name: GDM-F500R selected.
I did get the ASTRO AG xxx, missing Mdl error messages. That was before I went to Config and set SG Name to Manual. Is this what you encountered as well? I am no longer getting the ASTRO AG xxx, missing Mdl messages.
Thanks for being around just in case I need your help!
Thanks for your advice, but I am still having trouble.
snip...
My monitor is working, it seems, fine, and the G2 values have definetly made it a lot better (lowered from 162 to 150).
Please help me!
Thanks guys!
Hi chilli,
Check out my post #580 today. CONCLUSION: DO NOT USE NOTEPAD EVER for our work with monitor files. No no no. Throw away my advise to you earlier about Notepad and ANSI. Single-byte ANSI encoding is also BAD BAD BAD! Essentially, you do not want to encode it with ANSI nor Unicode!
In your present situation, since you have a currently working monitor, just download the monitor file and save it as your KNOWN-GOOD monitor settings file. Back it up!. If you want to work on it, make a copy and work on the COPY only. After your edit, the file must be the same size as the original.
And don't even look at it using Notepad. Continue using the Programmer's Notepad you have been using. Whatever you download MUST be legible in the Viewer. If it is not, it is no good!
I've checked the files you've attached. They are the same size, but they do not have the same contents per WinDiff. I've attached the WinDiff window. See that I've noted extra values that offset the values in the lines that do not match. I can't tell which is good/bad. There are some HUGE values like 32767 which is all 1's in binary. Is this reasonable? I don't know. Could someone else share their known-good P1110 monitor settings so you could sort of tell. Know that no two P1110's monitor settings are interchangeable. Each one gets its own settings I understand.
I haven't gone as far as you have chilli, still waiting for the cable I bought, so I may be able to help you more later as I learn more. But there are many here who've gone through the whole thing. Keep asking, they may see your question and enlighten us all.
People keep reminding me that my howto needs updating.
Specificly in the following areas:
Editing the dat file
In particular, my reference to notepad seems most problematic. It had been causing problems since the start and yet I never removed it from the howto. It does work for 95/98/ME, if you still happen to use it. In either XP or 95/98/ME you can still use the edit command from the commandline to edit in ascii (IIRC).
Using a hexeditor is the safest route, though downloading another editor such as Vim (vim.org) may be easier.
Dos DAS/ Windas Scripting Language
There is a scripting language for the DOS Windas (and the windows windas) Which allows you to modify any register in realtime (just like in the procedures you can run). This would making adjusting the G2 and contrast much more efficient than at present. Furthermore, every possible register for geometry, color balance, and other previously impractical adjustmets (via the .dat editing method) could be made practical without having to go through the entire geometry or whitebalance procedures.
Xweebie had figured out how to script the Dos DAS, and so scripting the Windas should not be impossible.I have not looked into myself, but If anyone is interested in further customizing your monitor, this may be the direction you'd want to head in.
It may be easier to just monitor the serial line to figure out the low level commands that change registers, rather than to see how windas reads the monitor config files to generate serial output. However, if you only monitor the serial line, you may only be getting a picture of how your specific monitor communicates, other monitors may differ significantly.
The holy grail of this pursuit would be a program that displays test patterns and runs through the das procedures from the same computer. That way, anyone can run any of the DAS procedures with no additional hardware other than the DAS cable (exept for the white balance procedure, which requires a colorimeter, though rough color balance could be made by tweaking the existing colorbalance settings.)
Increasing Contrast
Increasing the contrast is possible on all monitors with windas. Unfortunately, the exact register names differ depending on which monitor you are using (they are there, and the names are descriptive so look for them with the .dat viewer). And ofcourse, changing the contrast does very slightly throw your color off, so the proper way to adjust contrast is by doing the whole whitebalance procedure. Afordable colorimeters, such as the Spyder, can be bought and sold on ebay and other online auction sites. Make sure you have a method for displaying test patterns on your monitor while running windas and taking individual color measurements on another computer.
Even if you do change the contrast, you will also have to change the ABL_MAX_CON or something of the sort, else the ABL will limit your maximum average contrast, and so the maximum contrast will be dimmed when viewing a bright screen in order to keep the average contrast throughout the whole screen down.
I understand the ABL has something to do with keeping X-ray emissions under controll. So be carefull and do not completely disable the ABL. Read the SONY bulletins from Rayman that I posted earlier in the thread. It details a modification of the ABL circuit, assuring the tech this mod will not have an effect on x-ray emmissions. In addition, when modifiying the ABL values in the white balance procedure of windas, the program warns you with 'IMPORTANT wait untill the brightness stabilizes...'. Apparently,ABL settings are very serious.
If you know what the names of the registers that increased contrast were on your monitor, please email them and your monitor model to me. I want to add this information to the howto. Dont forget to look for the ABL settings, as these are directly linked to contrast.
Hardware problems
A smaller subset of people are having trouble with malfunctioning hardware. The classic brightness problem may (according to the internal sony bulletin from Rayman) be caused by a malfunctioning IC. Fortunately, this problem isremedied by changing the register controlling that IC.
Unfortunately, some ICs can have worse malfunctions which are not so easily remedied, and buying a replacement IC is prohibitively expensive (>$200). As far as I know, the death of an irreplaceable IC does not spell the death of a monitor. Knowledge of the ICs primary function enables you to mimic it (just like the resistor mod, though in this case, you loose controll via the monitors MCU, and so forfeit auto color balance). I am not really experienced enough to make a valid statement about the complexity of these ICS. However, I think that many of them can be implemented with discretes.
We have the service manuals for these monitors, and we have working monitors to study, so with some enthusiasm, perhaps schematics for IC replacements bulit with discretes can be produced? I doubt ICs performing the same functions in different monitors are very different in design.
A very optimistic pipedream probably. But I can't imagine that these monitors are all that complicated.
Take the case off an older monitor that doesn't have OSD controlls,has few adjustments, and doesn't have a large input scan range. There really isn't much to a CRT monitor. The latest greatest CRTs evermade don't change the fundamental concepts.
Speaking of which, I'm sure there are textbooks on circuit analysis, and maybe even a few on CRT design. There is all this comotion about obtaining service manuals detailling specifics of a certain model, but to my surprise, I have trouble finding a good 'all in one place' (think textbook) source for the general concepts that apply to every model.Links to good electronics, circuit analysis and specific CRT info would be great. Names of books too.
Something not Clear? Want me to add something? Want to add something of yours?
Please email me! I don't check my email very often, though this is the only one I have. gregua@yahoo.com
Or better yet, join my IRC channel:
Server: LosAngeles.CA.US.undernet.org Port: 6667 Channel: #mets
My nick on IRC is Entropic. You should be able to reach me from any undernet.org IRC server, asuming no netsplits exist.
Or simply post what you want to add to this thread.
My howto is now the #1 google hit for "sony windas" , and so if you have any additional information on windas, I'd like to make it accesible. If you think you can fix something, go ahead, fix it and email me the new version and I'll post it. Or just tell me what you want changed.
The biggest thing that needs to be fixed is the reliance on the windas software. The liscence agreement is no where to be seen, and so this prohibits me from posting the howto to shortmedia. This could be quite a task, so I don't expect this to be resolved by myself or anyone soon.
I know I've promised a section on CRT physics, months and months ago, well, I haven't forgoten atleast
Thanks to all who continue to support others and fill in for the howto after their own monitor problems are fixed!
Remember, this is your howto, all of the information in it was put together from this thread! Let's keep continue to pool our knowledge here at Short-Media!
Yeah, I did the howto on Windows 95/98/ME, unfourtunately, the WINXP notepad is different and doesn't write files in raw ASCII.
If worse comes to worse just use a hexeditor. That is a shame though, as the file seems meant to be text edited, or at least human readable. Else the values would have been stored as bytes (eg. A would be 65, space would be 20, etc.)
I understand. I was surprised myself with the change in Notepad's behavior. There should now be enough here to steer people away from using Notepad in Windows XP.
It doesn't take away from the primary meat of the software and the HowTo's. And for that THANK YOU VERY MUCH <b>P991 DELL SONY</b>! I'm eagerly looking forward to bringing my F500R back to life in another few days.
Hi
looked through this forum and hope you can help me fix my P1110 monitor which has the too bright problem.
I have set up the WINDAS software on my machine without any problems.
Got hold of the appropriate cable to connect my monitor to my serial port.
Now I am a bit stuck. The cable I have has 5 outlets on it labelled. GND, RXD,TXD,RTS, VCC.
Found the four pins on the back of the monitor I should connect the cable to.
Problem is which cable outlet goes on which pin on my Dell P1110 monitor as the pins don't seem to be marked and I can't see anything in this forum which tells you which is which!
Hi
looked through this forum and hope you can help me fix my P1110 monitor which has the too bright problem....
...and I can't see anything in this forum which tells you which is which!
Ken
As per post #438
Top to bottom as you face the back of the monitor.
GND
VCC (+5)
TXD
RXD .
:rolleyes2
Just DON'T USE NOTEPAD - EVER - EVER - EVER!!!
BTW - when you download your settings from the monitor could you please email me the file to chilli_pepper@ntlworld.com - as I have corrupted my original file with notepad, and need something to compare with so I can sort it out (see above posts FYI)
I've received my cable and hooked up everything. Success! My over-bright problem with visible retraces are gone! Looks like I need to redo the white-balance however now...
I've semi-permanently connected the RS232<->TTL cable to the ECS port and just let the RS232 connector hang out the back of the monitor so I could tweak it further if necessary without having to keep opening/closing this beast.
I've found the SONY Factory Service Invoice. Have a look at the evaluation I was sent home with.
Did they know that it can be fixed with WinDAS but just would not fix it? Why? Would they not have had the CONFIDENTIAL SONY service bulletins explaining the problem and the fix? Clearly the problem is NOT the CRT tube. Why did they tell me that "this monitor requires a new CRT" tube?
What did most other people do when told that it could not be fixed? It occurred to me to say to them: "Kindly dispose of it for me." But I was unwilling to let it go just like that. Glad I drove over and took it home. Otherwise, someone would have a perfectly working >$1,000 monitor for free.
I love you guys. My P1110, which I saved from a university computer lab junk heap, came with TRASH written on the top with Sharpie. But! It is TRASH no longer, thanks to all of you.
I got my cable from Digital Nemesis, in Australia, and it took about a week for them to get it to me in the US. Worked perfectly.
Here's an archive of Windas as I used it - all of the DLLs in the right folder and the ActiveX batch thing in its own directory alongside it. It'll stay online until someone sends me a cease and desist, which I doubt will ever happen. I didn't clean it up in any way or anything, but it's got everything I needed right in there, as far as I know!
First off, this was such an incredible help to me. Had a CPD-G520 that I was practically ready to get rid of, due to the fact that it was incredibly bright. Following the Windas procedure, everything is under control.
Except for one small thing.
Since using Windas, I have only been intermittently able to get into the monitor's on-screen menu. Most of the time, it displays the green lock key in the bottom left corner and I have no access to any of the controls. I read here that someone was able to bypass this by somehow cycling the monitor on and off, but nothing has worked for me so far.
If anyone happens to know a way to get around this, or has experienced something similar, please let me know.
First off, this was such an incredible help to me. Had a CPD-G520 that I was practically ready to get rid of, due to the fact that it was incredibly bright. Following the Windas procedure, everything is under control.
Except for one small thing.
Since using Windas, I have only been intermittently able to get into the monitor's on-screen menu. Most of the time, it displays the green lock key in the bottom left corner and I have no access to any of the controls. I read here that someone was able to bypass this by somehow cycling the monitor on and off, but nothing has worked for me so far.
If anyone happens to know a way to get around this, or has experienced something similar, please let me know.
Thanks again for all of the help!
-Chris
Go to Adjustment > Procedure and then look for Finalize. Tell it yes, that's what you want to do, and then once it's done it you're back in menu business.
I was just about to give up in despair as could find nothing on the web to fix the problem so well described here, and then before I could get around to doing the resistor change my PC went caput and moreover the process seems to have put my P991 display into permanent power save mode.
Ive tried with a couple of known working laptops to drive the dispaly (they still work on a different display) and it just sits there with the amber led flashing. I tried the manual suggested methods which indicate that turning it off and pressing the reset button for 2 secs resets everything. Well no joy there either.
Any suggestions as you guys seem to know your way around this piece of hardware.
By the way I havent got to the bottom of the failure of the PC yet either.
Now that the over-bright / too bright with visible retrace problem is solved, I have a white balance problem to solve. The image is too red.
So I tried the COLOR->EASY->Image Restoration (which requires a 30-minute warm-up), and voila! The white balance problem is now gone too!
My monitor is as good as new!
hotpoco
Success thanks to you! Hooked up my RS232 cable (looks same as yours, must be the same friendly Canadian vendor), never would have guess to short Rx Tx and launched winDAS. Selected to save the default.dat and computer locked up before the Save As dialogue box appeared. Great, now what. Crashed and relaunched computer and this time winDAS lets me save the .dat. Made some backup copies and launched Programmer's Notepad. A little bit of work to find word wrap and locate the G2 parameter but after that no problem. Default G2 on GDM-F500R was 199! Moved down to 160 and monitor looks like new again. Just a quick one-
Where do you find the color restoration? I dont see it in winDAS. Fortunately my monitor didnt have the red hue (maybe weak gun in yours) but would like to have the resouce.
I wonder what continues to happen over time? Will we eventually program G2 down to 0?
Sony's solution was to offer to send me a refurb unit (running winDAS probably the extent of the refurb) for $300 provided I shipped (yeah right, and found some way to pack this 80lb hulk) to San Diego, Phoenix service center expired some time ago.
Thanks again for all the contributions.
Thanks for your advice, but I am still having trouble.
Basically, files now downloaded from the monitor are 10,068 bytes
The original settings file is 10,061 bytes
As these are the same i fear the original file may have been through a notepad change.
The original file will open in notepad and is fully legible
Any file downloaded from the moniter now is illegible in notepad, (its all strange characters) but fully legible in 'Programmers Notepad'
If i copy the original file and use the <save as ansi> in notepad the byte size doesnt change, it seems they are already in ansi mode. ANSI is already present in the file type box, in the <save as> command.
However any file downloaded from the monitor, although illegible in notepad, if you use <save as> the file type is on Unicode, so I am guessing these files are in unicode. When I save them as ANSI format, they half in size, but then are illegible in Programmers Notepad and notepad and windas viewer.
My monitor is working, it seems, fine, and the G2 values have definetly made it a lot better (lowered from 162 to 150).
I'm just prefer to get everything back to how if should be...
Can you help me?
I have attached 2 .dat files, although i have had to change the extension to get them to post, so just rename them.
p1110_original.dat - the original file i downloaded from the monitor, I fear is also corrupt
p1110_311006.dat - the file i have just downloaded from the monitor.
Please help me!
Thanks guys!
Ps. Just a little annoyed the guide pages still say to use notepad - maybe this should be changed, so no-one else makes this error!
Well, my .dat's have never been viewable in notepad, just wordpad, of course I edit only in Programmer's Notepad, and they download into the monitor without problem.
But, here's one of them configured for the P1110, you just need to verify and modify the values if necessary.
i was able to get the cover off my p1130, cable came in the mail, software seems to work. The only problem is that after i open my saved dat file with the viewer i dont get anything in the right window? i get the viewer list but nothing on the right window any help help would be nice. windows xp sp1 thanks
i was able to get the cover off my p1130, cable came in the mail, software seems to work. The only problem is that after i open my saved dat file with the viewer i dont get anything in the right window? i get the viewer list but nothing on the right window any help help would be nice. windows xp sp1 thanks
which viewer? try view>word wrap. in the windas expert viewer i dont get any information in the right window. in the left window i get the viewer list 1:fact free 2:color 3:umt 4:tdt 5:scap1 6:scap2 7:reg_8_1 and the list goes on.i can select any of them click go and it goes back to the expert window? i can drop my dat file into programmers notepad any view it in word wrap but i cannot tell wich number is for the g2 value. so iam stuck on number three in the in the how to procedure. i must of missed something along the way. thanks
Comments
Ok guys,
Been following this thread for over a year now.
The otherday i recieved my cable and connected my to my P1110 successfully, backed-up my original settings etc etc as per the guide on the net...
HOWEVER - I used NotePad to edit the copy of my original settings - yeah i know, but i didnt check the forum for the latest info (as above)!
So i edited my G2 from 162 to 158, saved and uploaded.
On upload I got various messages:
1. Current model P1110 New model P1110(PCD) > Change to new Model?
I think i clicked yes
2. Mode data different
could only click ok
attempted to upload and then went black and stayed black.
Thought i'd wreaked it, but on using the 'save settings to file' command after the process was complete the moniter came back to life!
So - everything ok i thought - well yes and no.
The files that are created when saving settings are not readable in notepad, just a load of crap, they show up in word etc but thats no good...
Tried loading the original settings, and I get 'Mode Data Different' about half way through the upload and can only click ok, it stops uploading and stays black, and then have to do a 'save settings to file' to get the moniter up again.
Viewer will show the info from the downloaded .dat as will edit.com
I have attached a screen shot of the just downloaded 'strange.dat' with a 'copy' of the original settings below it - obvious difference exists.
It is worth noting I CANNOT verify the original settings file has not been through a Notepad Save command and could therefore itself be corrupt!
Can anyone tell me how i can sort this out? :bawling:
Notepad has been upgraded to work with Unicode or multibyte characters since ??? Windows XP or even Windows 2000. If you use it on an ASCII file, it will by default be changed from ASCII single-byte characters to double-byte Unicode. Which is why you can read it in Word which understands Unicode. Also, the Notepad-edited file doubles in byte-count size.
The upload to the monitor requires single-byte codes. If you sent it Unicoded file where each character is now two-bytes, everything is out-of-whack from the monitor's point-of-view.
Do as many has tolds us to do all here. Use Edit.com or any other editor (programmer's editor, hex editors, etc) that do not convert plain ASCII to Unicode. Or, use Notepad's Save As <file type ANSI> to retain the single-byte ASCII. Make sure that the byte-count of the original downloaded file DOES NOT CHANGE after you use Notepad's Save As <file type ANSI> !!!!!
If you are now stuck with a Notepad-edited Unicode file, and wish to get back the originally downloaded ASCII single-byte file, an easy way is to open it again in Notepad, and use File->Save As-> (select file type ANSI)->P1110.dat. Check that the byte-count of the new file is at least half that of the strange.dat. Right-click on the file->Properties to see the byte-count.
Good luck!
hotpoco
My testing shows that it does not matter in our current discussion. NEVER NEVER USE NOTEPAD to edit the downloaded monitor file! Use Edit.com instead, or a programmer's editor or a hex file editor.
Here's what I did to test on a Windows XP SP1 machine.
1. Started on a file (let's call this P1110.dat) that is used to upgrade a device's firmware. <br/>
2. Made a copy of of this, Copy of P1110.dat. <br/>
3. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are identical. <br/>
4. Opened Copy of P1110.dat in Notepad. Immediately File->Save.<br/>
5. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are different! <br/>
6. Deleted Copy of P1110.dat, and made a fresh Copy of P1110.dat from the original P1110.dat.<br/>
7. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are identical. <br/>
8. Opened Copy of P1110.dat in Notepad. Immediately File->Save As and with ANSI encoding. <br/>
9. Used Windiff to compare the P1110.dat and Copy of P1110.dat. Result: files are different! <br/>
CONCLUSION: DO NOT USE NOTEPAD regardless of ANSI encoding. And so I take back everything I've said in my previous post to chilli. Forget about Notepad. It messes up the contents of the file by APPLYING ANSI encoding to a data file!
hotpoco
Thanks for your advice, but I am still having trouble.
Basically, files now downloaded from the monitor are 10,068 bytes
The original settings file is 10,061 bytes
As these are the same i fear the original file may have been through a notepad change.
The original file will open in notepad and is fully legible
Any file downloaded from the moniter now is illegible in notepad, (its all strange characters) but fully legible in 'Programmers Notepad'
If i copy the original file and use the <save as ansi> in notepad the byte size doesnt change, it seems they are already in ansi mode. ANSI is already present in the file type box, in the <save as> command.
However any file downloaded from the monitor, although illegible in notepad, if you use <save as> the file type is on Unicode, so I am guessing these files are in unicode. When I save them as ANSI format, they half in size, but then are illegible in Programmers Notepad and notepad and windas viewer.
My monitor is working, it seems, fine, and the G2 values have definetly made it a lot better (lowered from 162 to 150).
I'm just prefer to get everything back to how if should be...
Can you help me?
I have attached 2 .dat files, although i have had to change the extension to get them to post, so just rename them.
p1110_original.dat - the original file i downloaded from the monitor, I fear is also corrupt
p1110_311006.dat - the file i have just downloaded from the monitor.
Please help me!
Thanks guys!
Ps. Just a little annoyed the guide pages still say to use notepad - maybe this should be changed, so no-one else makes this error!
I've just finished installing WinDAS. Had minor gotchas, but was able to get over these. Now WinDAS starts up with Model Name: GDM-F500R selected.
I did get the ASTRO AG xxx, missing Mdl error messages. That was before I went to Config and set SG Name to Manual. Is this what you encountered as well? I am no longer getting the ASTRO AG xxx, missing Mdl messages.
Thanks for being around just in case I need your help!
Still waiting for my cable!
hotpoco
Hi chilli,
Check out my post #580 today. CONCLUSION: DO NOT USE NOTEPAD EVER for our work with monitor files. No no no. Throw away my advise to you earlier about Notepad and ANSI. Single-byte ANSI encoding is also BAD BAD BAD! Essentially, you do not want to encode it with ANSI nor Unicode!
In your present situation, since you have a currently working monitor, just download the monitor file and save it as your KNOWN-GOOD monitor settings file. Back it up!. If you want to work on it, make a copy and work on the COPY only. After your edit, the file must be the same size as the original.
And don't even look at it using Notepad. Continue using the Programmer's Notepad you have been using. Whatever you download MUST be legible in the Viewer. If it is not, it is no good!
I've checked the files you've attached. They are the same size, but they do not have the same contents per WinDiff. I've attached the WinDiff window. See that I've noted extra values that offset the values in the lines that do not match. I can't tell which is good/bad. There are some HUGE values like 32767 which is all 1's in binary. Is this reasonable? I don't know. Could someone else share their known-good P1110 monitor settings so you could sort of tell. Know that no two P1110's monitor settings are interchangeable. Each one gets its own settings I understand.
I haven't gone as far as you have chilli, still waiting for the cable I bought, so I may be able to help you more later as I learn more. But there are many here who've gone through the whole thing. Keep asking, they may see your question and enlighten us all.
hotpoco
People keep reminding me that my howto needs updating.
Specificly in the following areas:
Editing the dat file
In particular, my reference to notepad seems most problematic. It had been causing problems since the start and yet I never removed it from the howto. It does work for 95/98/ME, if you still happen to use it. In either XP or 95/98/ME you can still use the edit command from the commandline to edit in ascii (IIRC).
Using a hexeditor is the safest route, though downloading another editor such as Vim (vim.org) may be easier.
Dos DAS/ Windas Scripting Language
There is a scripting language for the DOS Windas (and the windows windas) Which allows you to modify any register in realtime (just like in the procedures you can run). This would making adjusting the G2 and contrast much more efficient than at present. Furthermore, every possible register for geometry, color balance, and other previously impractical adjustmets (via the .dat editing method) could be made practical without having to go through the entire geometry or whitebalance procedures.
Xweebie had figured out how to script the Dos DAS, and so scripting the Windas should not be impossible.I have not looked into myself, but If anyone is interested in further customizing your monitor, this may be the direction you'd want to head in.
It may be easier to just monitor the serial line to figure out the low level commands that change registers, rather than to see how windas reads the monitor config files to generate serial output. However, if you only monitor the serial line, you may only be getting a picture of how your specific monitor communicates, other monitors may differ significantly.
The holy grail of this pursuit would be a program that displays test patterns and runs through the das procedures from the same computer. That way, anyone can run any of the DAS procedures with no additional hardware other than the DAS cable (exept for the white balance procedure, which requires a colorimeter, though rough color balance could be made by tweaking the existing colorbalance settings.)
Increasing Contrast
Increasing the contrast is possible on all monitors with windas. Unfortunately, the exact register names differ depending on which monitor you are using (they are there, and the names are descriptive so look for them with the .dat viewer). And ofcourse, changing the contrast does very slightly throw your color off, so the proper way to adjust contrast is by doing the whole whitebalance procedure. Afordable colorimeters, such as the Spyder, can be bought and sold on ebay and other online auction sites. Make sure you have a method for displaying test patterns on your monitor while running windas and taking individual color measurements on another computer.
Even if you do change the contrast, you will also have to change the ABL_MAX_CON or something of the sort, else the ABL will limit your maximum average contrast, and so the maximum contrast will be dimmed when viewing a bright screen in order to keep the average contrast throughout the whole screen down.
I understand the ABL has something to do with keeping X-ray emissions under controll. So be carefull and do not completely disable the ABL. Read the SONY bulletins from Rayman that I posted earlier in the thread. It details a modification of the ABL circuit, assuring the tech this mod will not have an effect on x-ray emmissions. In addition, when modifiying the ABL values in the white balance procedure of windas, the program warns you with 'IMPORTANT wait untill the brightness stabilizes...'. Apparently,ABL settings are very serious.
If you know what the names of the registers that increased contrast were on your monitor, please email them and your monitor model to me. I want to add this information to the howto. Dont forget to look for the ABL settings, as these are directly linked to contrast.
Hardware problems
A smaller subset of people are having trouble with malfunctioning hardware. The classic brightness problem may (according to the internal sony bulletin from Rayman) be caused by a malfunctioning IC. Fortunately, this problem isremedied by changing the register controlling that IC.
Unfortunately, some ICs can have worse malfunctions which are not so easily remedied, and buying a replacement IC is prohibitively expensive (>$200). As far as I know, the death of an irreplaceable IC does not spell the death of a monitor. Knowledge of the ICs primary function enables you to mimic it (just like the resistor mod, though in this case, you loose controll via the monitors MCU, and so forfeit auto color balance). I am not really experienced enough to make a valid statement about the complexity of these ICS. However, I think that many of them can be implemented with discretes.
We have the service manuals for these monitors, and we have working monitors to study, so with some enthusiasm, perhaps schematics for IC replacements bulit with discretes can be produced? I doubt ICs performing the same functions in different monitors are very different in design.
A very optimistic pipedream probably. But I can't imagine that these monitors are all that complicated.
Take the case off an older monitor that doesn't have OSD controlls,has few adjustments, and doesn't have a large input scan range. There really isn't much to a CRT monitor. The latest greatest CRTs evermade don't change the fundamental concepts.
Speaking of which, I'm sure there are textbooks on circuit analysis, and maybe even a few on CRT design. There is all this comotion about obtaining service manuals detailling specifics of a certain model, but to my surprise, I have trouble finding a good 'all in one place' (think textbook) source for the general concepts that apply to every model.Links to good electronics, circuit analysis and specific CRT info would be great. Names of books too.
Something not Clear? Want me to add something? Want to add something of yours?
Please email me! I don't check my email very often, though this is the only one I have.
gregua@yahoo.com
Or better yet, join my IRC channel:
Server: LosAngeles.CA.US.undernet.org Port: 6667 Channel: #mets
My nick on IRC is Entropic. You should be able to reach me from any undernet.org IRC server, asuming no netsplits exist.
Or simply post what you want to add to this thread.
My howto is now the #1 google hit for "sony windas" , and so if you have any additional information on windas, I'd like to make it accesible. If you think you can fix something, go ahead, fix it and email me the new version and I'll post it. Or just tell me what you want changed.
The biggest thing that needs to be fixed is the reliance on the windas software. The liscence agreement is no where to be seen, and so this prohibits me from posting the howto to shortmedia. This could be quite a task, so I don't expect this to be resolved by myself or anyone soon.
I know I've promised a section on CRT physics, months and months ago, well, I haven't forgoten atleast
Thanks to all who continue to support others and fill in for the howto after their own monitor problems are fixed!
Remember, this is your howto, all of the information in it was put together from this thread! Let's keep continue to pool our knowledge here at Short-Media!
I understand. I was surprised myself with the change in Notepad's behavior. There should now be enough here to steer people away from using Notepad in Windows XP.
It doesn't take away from the primary meat of the software and the HowTo's. And for that THANK YOU VERY MUCH <b>P991 DELL SONY</b>! I'm eagerly looking forward to bringing my F500R back to life in another few days.
hotpoco
So anyone think they can help me out with a known good, un tampered P1110 .dat file? (and one that hasnt even been opened with notepad!!!
so i can compare and correct my files? Hopefully then they should upload without the <mode data different> errors!
I may need someone to help me out correcting my files though! I'm very new to this...
Thanks again
Chilli_P
looked through this forum and hope you can help me fix my P1110 monitor which has the too bright problem.
I have set up the WINDAS software on my machine without any problems.
Got hold of the appropriate cable to connect my monitor to my serial port.
Now I am a bit stuck. The cable I have has 5 outlets on it labelled. GND, RXD,TXD,RTS, VCC.
Found the four pins on the back of the monitor I should connect the cable to.
Problem is which cable outlet goes on which pin on my Dell P1110 monitor as the pins don't seem to be marked and I can't see anything in this forum which tells you which is which!
Thanks for any help
Ken
As per post #438
Top to bottom as you face the back of the monitor.
GND
VCC (+5)
TXD
RXD .
:rolleyes2
Just DON'T USE NOTEPAD - EVER - EVER - EVER!!!
BTW - when you download your settings from the monitor could you please email me the file to chilli_pepper@ntlworld.com - as I have corrupted my original file with notepad, and need something to compare with so I can sort it out (see above posts FYI)
Cheers!!
Chilli_P
I've received my cable and hooked up everything. Success! My over-bright problem with visible retraces are gone! Looks like I need to redo the white-balance however now...
I've semi-permanently connected the RS232<->TTL cable to the ECS port and just let the RS232 connector hang out the back of the monitor so I could tweak it further if necessary without having to keep opening/closing this beast.
For documentation, I've taken these pictures:
hotpoco
So I tried the COLOR->EASY->Image Restoration (which requires a 30-minute warm-up), and voila! The white balance problem is now gone too!
My monitor is as good as new!
hotpoco
Now that G2 is at 90, I went for Image Restoration to fix the white balance:
hotpoco
I've found the SONY Factory Service Invoice. Have a look at the evaluation I was sent home with.
Did they know that it can be fixed with WinDAS but just would not fix it? Why? Would they not have had the CONFIDENTIAL SONY service bulletins explaining the problem and the fix? Clearly the problem is NOT the CRT tube. Why did they tell me that "this monitor requires a new CRT" tube?
What did most other people do when told that it could not be fixed? It occurred to me to say to them: "Kindly dispose of it for me." But I was unwilling to let it go just like that. Glad I drove over and took it home. Otherwise, someone would have a perfectly working >$1,000 monitor for free.
I got my cable from Digital Nemesis, in Australia, and it took about a week for them to get it to me in the US. Worked perfectly.
Here's an archive of Windas as I used it - all of the DLLs in the right folder and the ActiveX batch thing in its own directory alongside it. It'll stay online until someone sends me a cease and desist, which I doubt will ever happen. I didn't clean it up in any way or anything, but it's got everything I needed right in there, as far as I know!
Windas, 1.62MB .zip
First off, this was such an incredible help to me. Had a CPD-G520 that I was practically ready to get rid of, due to the fact that it was incredibly bright. Following the Windas procedure, everything is under control.
Except for one small thing.
Since using Windas, I have only been intermittently able to get into the monitor's on-screen menu. Most of the time, it displays the green lock key in the bottom left corner and I have no access to any of the controls. I read here that someone was able to bypass this by somehow cycling the monitor on and off, but nothing has worked for me so far.
If anyone happens to know a way to get around this, or has experienced something similar, please let me know.
Thanks again for all of the help!
-Chris
Go to Adjustment > Procedure and then look for Finalize. Tell it yes, that's what you want to do, and then once it's done it you're back in menu business.
Ive tried with a couple of known working laptops to drive the dispaly (they still work on a different display) and it just sits there with the amber led flashing. I tried the manual suggested methods which indicate that turning it off and pressing the reset button for 2 secs resets everything. Well no joy there either.
Any suggestions as you guys seem to know your way around this piece of hardware.
By the way I havent got to the bottom of the failure of the PC yet either.
Success thanks to you! Hooked up my RS232 cable (looks same as yours, must be the same friendly Canadian vendor), never would have guess to short Rx Tx and launched winDAS. Selected to save the default.dat and computer locked up before the Save As dialogue box appeared. Great, now what. Crashed and relaunched computer and this time winDAS lets me save the .dat. Made some backup copies and launched Programmer's Notepad. A little bit of work to find word wrap and locate the G2 parameter but after that no problem. Default G2 on GDM-F500R was 199! Moved down to 160 and monitor looks like new again. Just a quick one-
Where do you find the color restoration? I dont see it in winDAS. Fortunately my monitor didnt have the red hue (maybe weak gun in yours) but would like to have the resouce.
I wonder what continues to happen over time? Will we eventually program G2 down to 0?
Sony's solution was to offer to send me a refurb unit (running winDAS probably the extent of the refurb) for $300 provided I shipped (yeah right, and found some way to pack this 80lb hulk) to San Diego, Phoenix service center expired some time ago.
Thanks again for all the contributions.
Well, my .dat's have never been viewable in notepad, just wordpad, of course I edit only in Programmer's Notepad, and they download into the monitor without problem.
But, here's one of them configured for the P1110, you just need to verify and modify the values if necessary.
which viewer? try view>word wrap.