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Dual external monitors on E6520


Igashu

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So after months of working with it, I have most everything functional on my E6520 (currently Lion 10.7.3) - but one thing I'm still unable to get working is two external monitors (even with the dock, and both connected via DVI or DisplayPort)

 

Each works individually, but when I 'detect displays', it only sees one of them, and of course my built-in laptop screen. Is this a driver/kext issue? Is there something else I'm not doing? I have the NVidia Quadro NVS 4200M display adapter, so not trying to work with only Intel onboard gfx. I've also tried booting the laptop closed, from the button on the docking station. In this case I do get a signal on both monitors, but once the OS begins to boot, it goes away.

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I have these two great monitors on my desk but am unable to take advantage of them :) Thanks in advance.

 

9nBZd.png

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Dear igashu,

We would also love to look at that. If loralon can get his machine up and running to, we may consider to add it to EDP.

Cheer!

 

Sure. I have already submitted it via the EDP submission form, but to be honest, I think there are a lot of modified kexts in my S/L/E too. I'll upload both, and if your system is the same as mine hardware-wise, using both of these should get Lion mostly working for you. You can grab my Extra and SLE at:

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?oxab5yll51dhnxc (Extra) and http://www.mediafire.com/?5np8waofy9fvlo8 (SLE)

 

That said, I haven't been able to get things up and running in 10.8 yet. Would be interested if anybody is having success there.

 

With regard to the dual monitor question in my original posting, as I think more about it, I'm guessing that the Quadro NVS 4200M, like most other NVidia cards, can only drive two displays, regardless of how many DVI/DP connectors I have. That really reduces this to one of two questions:

  1. Is it possible to somehow disable the internal display, so that the card can instead drive two external monitors only?
  2. Is it possible to leverage the Intel integrated display adapter alongside the NVidia one (i.e. enable "Optimus" and get access to both display devices)

If none of this is possible, from what I've read, the last ditch effort involves picking up a USB->DVI external display adapter, which may not have sufficient bandwidth for things like HD video and gaming, but otherwise can do a serviceable job adding an additional display for desktop computing.

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Thanks Igashu,

 

I just wanted to mention that my model e6520 with i7-2640M @2.8GHz, with NVS 4200M.

I will report back on my results.

 

Cheers!

 

Hello everyone,

 

I tested the set of files sent by Igashu but got no luck with them.

 

Igashu, can you please let me know the chameleon version you are using? That may help.

 

On a side note, I currently have my system installed using Mountain Lion but I can only start in safe mode, once I try regular boot I get kernel panic.

When I boot in safe mode, the keyboard work but not the track pad, I have to use external mouse.

 

 

I am attaching my DSDT for someone with more experience to take a look at it and, if possible, fix it for me. I can then try to use it with the ML installation to see if it will work. I extracted the DSDT using Ubuntu live CD.

 

Thanks.

System: E6520

i7 @ 2.8GHz

Intel HD 3000

Nvidia NVS 4200 (1GB)

dsdt.zip

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Since this thread is rapidly spinning off-topic, let me redirect the conversation for E6520 Mountain Lion to https://osxlatitude.com/index.php?/topic/1689-e6520-mountain-lion/

 

Unless somebody has an idea for how to disable the built-in display (so that the video card can drive two external displays) or take advantage of the secondary Intel GPU, I think this discussion is probably closed. I did finally end up ordering one of these:

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011403&p_id=6038

 

Along with the latest DisplayLink drivers, this effectively provides an extra display in the display options to be dragged around and set up. It's slow, since the data is all going via USB -- not great for watching video, playing games, etc, at least not at 1920x1200 -- but sufficient for basic desktop computing (having an extra screen with terminal windows, web browsers, or an IDE)

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*BUMP* - Reviving old thread.

 

I have spent several months on and off messing with this trying to get 2 external monitors to work off an e6520 attached to a port replicator on both Lion and ML.  I have one DSDT.aml (DSDT 1 ) that will enable the VGA port + built-in LCD and another (DSDT 2) that will enable the DVI port + built-in LCD. I'm no expert when it comes to DSDT patching and mods so this is all from messing around with different files. DSDT 1 also has shutdown working whereas DSDT 2 does not have shutdown working. Sleep is working on neither, and restart works on both. Here they are for reference in case someone wishes to mess around with them. I believe one of them is from Igashu. I have an e6510 that has both externals working perfectly on the same port replicator but of course I'd rather use the 6520.

 

Attached are both files for those that wish to try them out or venture into patching/editing them.

DSDT.aml.dvi.zip

DSDT.aml.vga.zip

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Ok nobody is responding.  :(

All I would like to know right now is whether anyone has managed to get 2 external monitors to work on an e6520. As I stated above and as Igashu has stated prior, it seems like the Nvidia 4200 in these things drives only 2 displays of which one has to be the built-in LCD panel. It's ironic because I can get an e6510 to work off the same E-port replicator and it drives 2 externals: 1 DVD, and 1 VGA. But I simply do not like that laptop as much as I do the e6520. Dual external monitors is a make it or break it deal for me so if it is confirmed that it isn't supported, then I will halt all efforts and either force myself to use the 6510 or see about getting an e6430. The dual monitor issue didn't work for me on 10.7.5 and isn't on 10.8.3 either.

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Both tables do differ... Now, I'm far from a DSDT expert (quite the contrary) but I can make the following comments:

 

  • I see this part of DVI table (under 'Device (PEG0)') not included in the VGA table:
                Device (PEGP)
                {
                    Name (_ADR, 0xFFFF)
                    Method (_PRW, 0, NotSerialized)
                    {
                        Return (GPRW (0x09, 0x04))
                    }
                }
                Device (VID)
                {
                    Name (_ADR, Zero)
                }

 

  • Also, I note that in DVI table you have:
            Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)
            {
                Store (Package (0x22)
                    {
                        "rom-revision",
                        Buffer (0x10)
                        {
                            "OSXLatitude.com"
                        },
                        "@0,compatible",
                        Buffer (0x0B)
                        {
                            "NVDA,NVMac"
                        },
                        "@0,device_type",
                        Buffer (0x08)
                        {
                            "display"
                        },
                        "@0,name",
                        Buffer (0x0F)
                        {
                            "NVDA,Display-A"
                        },
                        "@0,built-in",
                        Buffer (One)
                        {
                             0x01
                        },
                        "@0,pwm-info",
                        Buffer (0x14)
                        {
                            /* 0000 */   0x01, 0x14, 0x00, 0x64, 0xA8, 0x61, 0x00, 0x00,
                            /* 0008 */   0x08, 0x52, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
                            /* 0010 */   0x00, 0x04, 0x00, 0x00
                        },
  • whereas in the VGA table, you have:
                    Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)
                    {
                        Store (Package (0x1C)
                            {
                                "@0,compatible",
                                Buffer (0x0B)
                                {
                                    "NVDA,NVMac"
                                },
                                "@0,device_type",
                                Buffer (0x08)
                                {
                                    "display"
                                },
                                "@0,name",
                                Buffer (0x0F)
                                {
                                    "NVDA,Display-A"
                                },
                                "@0,built-in",
                                Buffer (One)
                                {
                                     0x01
                                },
                                "@0,pwm-info",
                                Buffer (0x14)
                                {
                                    /* 0000 */   0x01, 0x14, 0x00, 0x64, 0xA8, 0x61, 0x00, 0x00,
                                    /* 0008 */   0x08, 0x52, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
                                    /* 0010 */   0x00, 0x04, 0x00, 0x00
                                },

 

and what follows, related to "@1, [...]" looks the same in both tables....

Try and copy/replace the part from DVI to VGA or vice versa.

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