Handling Problems

Custom Resolutions

The custom resolution feature is experimental and may not work in all cases. The custom resolution feature works by patching the video BIOS if necessary. Newer Intel BIOS and ATI/ATOM BIOS are supported. Nvidia BIOS support is coming soon.

By default, the Panorama driver will query the display resolution and timing (EDID) via the Display Data Channel (DDC). If this succeeds, the Panorama driver will automatically add the native display resolution to the list of available resolutions that are displayed in the Screen Object settings. You can then select the desired resolution from the list. This is the best method of operation since the exact timings that are provided by the display are used.

If you have previously used a wide screen enabler, then there is a chance that Presentation Manager might use an incorrect resolution when switching to this new Panorama driver. To prevent this confusion, switch to a standard SVGA resolution (800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x1024) before installing the new Panorama driver. Reboot to make sure that the standard SVGA resolution you have chosen actually works, install the new Panorama driver, reboot and select your desired resolution from the list. If you did not do this prior to installing the new Panorama driver and the Presentation Manager has selected a non-displayable resolution, you can reset the Presentation Manager selected resolution as described below.

If you have problems with the custom resolution feature, the PanoUtil.exe program can be used to control the custom resolution functions. If you happen to boot to a resolution that cannot be displayed, you can type CTL-ALT-DEL to activate the CAD handler and go to a command prompt to execute these commands. If CTL-ALT-DEL does not work you can boot to the maintenance desktop using ALT-F1 then F4, or boot a different partition. If running the PanoUtil command from a maintenance desktop or from a different partition you must specify the drive to operate on.

To reset all the custom resolution settings to the default and set the PM resolution to 800x600:

PanoUtil -r
PanoUtil -p
PanoUtil -e 0

To manually set a custom resolution of 1920x1080:

PanoUtil -c 1920 1080

To remove the manual custom resolution:

PanoUtil -r

To completely disable all the custom resolution support:

PanoUtil -d

To reset the Presentation Manager selected resolution to 800x600:

PanoUtil -p

To see the status of the custom resolution settings:

PanoUtil -s

All of these commands can also be executed from a different boot partition or from the maintenance desktop if you specify the drive to operate on. For example, to change the settings on drive d:, add the drive specification to the end of the desired command:

PanoUtil -s d:
PanoUtil -r d:
PanoUtil -p d:
PanoUtil -c 1920 1080 d:
PanoUtil -d d:

Collecting a Testlog Log

1. Make sure your system is booted with the Panorama driver installed
2. Navigate to the \Panorama directory on your boot disk.
3. type:

   testlog panorama
   

4. Attach the LOG file to your ticket.

Systems Running the Debug Kernel Might Get an Unexpected Trace Interrupt

The video BIOS in some systems will sometimes generate an unexpected trace interrupt when the system is running the debug Kernel. You can simply disable the trace interrupt handling using the "vc 1" kernel debugger command. Systems running the retail kernel are not affected.