V1.8 Alpha issue: no resolution choice on rotated monitor

[pdimarzio]

Per request I'm reposting this on a new thread ...

MacBook Pro 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GM RAM
OS X 10.7.3
Acer 2216w horizontal driven by mini-display port
Acer 223w vertical driven by Iogear USB adapter

When I installed the Alpha both screens came up fine, the rotated display driven by the USB came right up in proper orientation - even remembered the background picture. However when I moved a text window to the rotated screen I noticed the resolution was very poor. In the past I've used the max resolution of these monitors (1680x1050 horizontal, 1050x1680 vertical). With the new v1.8 driver there is only one option returned: 1200x1920 (which doesn't seem to be a native res for the Acer, as it doesn't show up in the list for the horizontal monitor).

I've also found that the horizontal monitor does not get driven when I bring the machine out of sleep. Since this is the main window, with the logon screen, I have to shut off both external monitors, lift the cover of the MBP to logon, then turn the monitors back on. Of course everything gets quite confused, all the windows switch from one monitor to the other - then back again - and all need to be resized.

This is really not usable and I'm going to have to uninstall the driver and hope for a better version - I'll leave it on temporarily if there's any data I can gather for you (but you'll need to give me instructions on how to gather it). Thanks.

[ChristianP]

Thanks for your report.
You could use the tool here http://www.displaylink.com/support/ticket.php?id=269 to gather information and post the output zip file. Thanks

[pdimarzio]

Thanks for the link to the tool, Christian. The file is attached, hope it is useful.

Of course the displays did properly wake this time - after failing the previous 3, go figure! But the resolution problem remains.

[pdimarzio]

Has the debug file helped at all? Wondering if there are any thoughts as to why I can only get one resolution on the monitor, thanks.

[gdawson]

I too am having the same issue where I am using a rotated vertical display and the only option I have is 1200x1920 - which is not native to my monitor apparently so the text is unreadable. I upgraded to the alpha 1.8 in order to be able to rotate my display again in the latest OSX update.

Is there anything I Can do to force a resolution? Any feedback I can provide as well? I'm using Veiwsonic VX2450 series monitors.

Thanks!

[Carlo]

The current workaround we implemented for the OS bug introduced in OS X 10.7.3 makes available some resolutions but not all the resolutions supported by the display.

On most monitors the available resolutions include the native one, but depending on the information the monitor is returning to the OS the native resolution might be missing.

The issue does not seem to be fixed in 10.7.4. We are looking into improving the workaround but at this stage don't know if it's possible and how complicated it would be.

I know this is not a great answer but it's where we are at the moment. We might spend months developing a solution for then just seeing a fix in an OS update..

Cheers,
Carlo

[Sang]

I had the same issue but found a workaround:

1. 10.7.3 - Alpha driver rotation and resolution worked

2. updated to 10.7.4 - when rotated, monitor would only display 1920 x 1200 as resolution and generic monitor profile.

3. plugged the displaylink adapter into a USB hub instead of directly into the Mac and suddenly the correct monitor profile and resolution choices came up.

S

[pdimarzio]

Sang - interesting! But I've always had my adapter running into a Belkin hub so there must be some different problem with my setup.

[Sang]

When I rebooted my Mac, the displaylink monitor went back to the same behavior of only one resolution on rotation.

When I unplugged the displaylink adapter from the usb hub and then plugged it back in (a different port, don't know if makes a difference), it suddenly recognized the displaylink monitor and had it set to the correct rotated resolution automatically.

It was literally two weeks before I had to reboot my Mac so didn't observe this behavior before.

Sang

[pdimarzio]

I saw on a different thread that the 1.8 driver was now official (or at least no longer alpha), so I installed it to see if my problem was cured. No luck! Although the vertical monitor is correctly rotated it still only offers the non-standard 1200x1920 resolution for my Acer monitor - which is unusable for text.

I even took the monitor off the hub and connected it directly to the MBP just to see if USB port makes a difference, but it does not.

Is there any hope at all that I'll be able to get back to a 2-monitor system??