Widescreen Gaming Forum

I've been reading about the frustration & pain of trying to get newer Nvidia drivers to work with the DTH2Go.
I figured I'd put my 10+ years of IT experience to good use and take a stab at the issue.
So after about 12 hours worth of research, installing, re-installing, testing, searching thru System and Application logs
I managed to get 5040x1050 working with the latest Nvidia drivers 190.62 in Vista Home Premium x64 & Windows 7 Pro x64.
This includes use of Windows Aero, the PowerDesk, and Bezel managment in both OS's.

A few notes before I get into it.

To ensure what I had found was working and not just a fluke I completely removed it and reinstalled the drivers & software 3 times on each OS with the exact same result.

Now I cannot guarantee this will work on everyone's system. Your mileage may vary.

I have not test any games yet to see if any performance improvements. I've spent most of my time just getting it to all get along together.

I only worked with the 64-bit Versions of Vista and Windows 7. My version of Windows 7 Pro x64 is the full RTM release coming out Oct 22 not an earlier beta version.

So without wasting anymore of your time let's cut to the chase.

List of Software you need:

Driver Cleaner Pro (or Similar driver cleaning program)

Latest Matrox DTH2Go firmware THDE_v2.3.40.t6.56 (Straight from Matrox.com)

Previous firmware update THDE_v2.3.40.t6.52 (Optional, Will explain further on.)

PowerDesk GXM Software 2.4.0.11 (This is the only version that will work.)

Latest Nvidia 64-bit driver 190.62 WHQL release date 2009.08.21 (Straight from Nvidia.com)


Step One:

Update your DTH2Go firmware to the lastest release THDE_v2.3.40.t6.56 and reboot.

Now if you have not already updated to it and you're like me and am not a big fan of the latest firmware make sure to make a backup copy of the previous firmware.
(This was the optional part and will need it later)


Step Two:

Uninstall any and all versions of the PowerDesk GXM. You do not have to reboot.

Uninstall all Nvidia display drivers and now reboot.

Special Note: On reboot if Windows automatically reinstalls an Nvidia display driver you will need to uninstall it again making sure to choose the option to delete the driver from the system and reboot again.
(This mainly applies to Windows 7)


Step Three:

Run Driver Cleaner Pro (or Similar driver cleaning program) to ensure the OS is clean.
(Reboot is optional depending on the cleaner software)


Step Four:

Install the latest Nvidia 64-bit driver 190.62 WHQL.
On reboot in both Vista & Win7 your resolution should be automatically set to something like 3840 X 1024 (recommended).


Step Five:

Install PowerDesk GXM Software 2.4.0.11 (Again this is the only version that will work.)
Once installed go thru the normal setup process choosing 5040x1050 and reboot.

On reboot the software WILL FAIL to insert the custom resolutions. Not to worry just finish the setup.


Step Six:

We will now have to setup the custom resolutions manaully for 5040x1050 & 4320x900.
This is where Vista and Windows 7 take a slightly different road. However it is only a small difference.
Go into the Nvidia Control Panel and add your custom resolutions (See below settings).
Once competed apply desired resolution and reboot. On reboot you should have your custom resolutions still.

In Windows 7:

Horizontal desktop pixels: 5040
Vertical desktop lines: 1050
Refresh rate: 57 Hz
Bits per pixel: 32
Timing standard: Manual
Horizontal front porch: 64
Vertical front porch: 3
Active horizontal pixels: 5040
Active vertical lines: 1050
Horizontal total: 5376
Vertical total: 1068
Horizontal sync width: 64
Vertical sync width: 4
Horizontal sync polarity: +
Vertical sync polarity: -

Horizontal desktop pixels: 4320
Vertical desktop lines: 900
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Bits per pixel: 32
Timing standard: Manual
Horizontal front porch: 16
Vertical front porch: 3
Active horizontal pixels: 4320
Active vertical lines: 900
Horizontal total: 4480
Vertical total: 934
Horizontal sync width: 16
Vertical sync width: 9
Horizontal sync polarity: +
Vertical sync polarity: -


In Vista:
Note: notice the below refresh rate changes on both resolutions.
These are required to work in Vista, otherwise you get the dreaded "Test Failed" Error.

Horizontal desktop pixels: 5040
Vertical desktop lines: 1050
Refresh rate: 56 Hz
Bits per pixel: 32
Timing standard: Manual
Horizontal front porch: 64
Vertical front porch: 3
Active horizontal pixels: 5040
Active vertical lines: 1050
Horizontal total: 5376
Vertical total: 1068
Horizontal sync width: 64
Vertical sync width: 4
Horizontal sync polarity: +
Vertical sync polarity: -

Horizontal desktop pixels: 4320
Vertical desktop lines: 900
Refresh rate: 58 Hz
Bits per pixel: 32
Timing standard: Manual
Horizontal front porch: 16
Vertical front porch: 3
Active horizontal pixels: 4320
Active vertical lines: 900
Horizontal total: 4480
Vertical total: 934
Horizontal sync width: 16
Vertical sync width: 9
Horizontal sync polarity: +
Vertical sync polarity: -


Step Seven:

This is where the Optional firmware comment comes in.
If you are good with the lastest firmware and how it acts on your machine then you are done.
But if you are like me and prefer the previous one, perform a firmware downgrade using your backup you made or from the previous release.
(We only needed to upgrade to the new firmware to get the custom resolutions created.)

Once you reboot you should see your resolution set to a "recommended" single screen resolution. Example: 1920x1200 (recommended).

Go back into the Nvidia Control Panel and your custom resolutions should still be there. Just reapply them.

Note: Worst case senerio you would have to recreate them, however this was not the case in all my attemps on both OS's.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I do have a lot of details as to why things where not working and who's at fault (Nvidia or Matrox).

Since I have not had time to test many games yet, let me know if this works for you and any performance improvements in games.

Well thank you for your time and I hope this fixes your issue. I know I'm enjoying mine.

THE1REBEL

Thank you THE1REBEL

I thought I would be stuck in 182.50 forever.

Only problem I had was in Step Six. I had to change refresh rate to 56 hz and do a CVT reduced blank before selecting manual on timings. Once I did that custom resolution worked.


Thanks Again :cheers

8086

I've followed these steps to the letter, I can get the 4320x900 working but not he 5040x1050

I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

Win7 x64 release
proper GXM and Nvidia drivers.

I put in the stats for the 5040 and I get a

"Custom Resolution Test"
Test failed.
Custom resolution 5040x1050 at 57Hz (32-bit) is not supported by your display.


I know it is I've used it under Windows XP pro, and Vista Ult 32-bit


edit: I've also tried what 8086 suggests but no dice.

Thanks for your time mate, alas - no luck here, either. I first tried with 191.03 beta (couldn't resist!), then 190.62 WHQL in Vista64 SP2. Using driver Sweeper in safe mode and all. 4320x900 and 5040x1050 both don't work. Same old, same old : tests fail.

I strongly suspect that any solution involving custom timings & settings is bound to work for a fraction of users only. The weak link here is each user's monitor model. I'm afraid there's no universal values to fix this stupid resolution problem... Here's hoping your method will help at least a few other ppl anyway !

thanks for posting your results and direction to achieve this holiest of grails. i too can not ge it to work. i am able to add the 4320x900 and run it but 5040x1050 is a no go. when testing it says display can not run this. so started doing some configs on my on. and endeup with using new drivers from nvidia and new firmware, gxm from matrox. so i got all the newest drivers running. so now im looking at the nvidia contol panel and attempting to add new resolutions. but in the add resolutin screen the highly sought after resolutions are there already. so i checked the resolution 5040x1050 included. all the resolutions but the 5040x1050 resolutions show up. hmmmm....now correct me if im wrong now when it says display can not handle or use the resolution dose it mean the gpu or the monitor itself?

It'd be the monitor; but it can very well be the software (display driver) going nuts for whatever reason. Not the GPU itself anyway.

could it be that i have two different monitors?
would that cause this?

any word from matrox and windows 7 support?

Am i missing something here, where am i able to download "PowerDesk GXM Software 2.4.0.11 (This is the only version that will work.)"

The only version i see available for download is 2.05.00.020

Check the Archived drivers section ;)

Hey guys, thanks for writing up the guide.

I just upgraded to windows 7 x64 from vista 32 bit and I can't get my 5040 x 1050 working anymore.

I had the latest 191.07 working beautifully using the custom resolution trick with the exact same values as this guide.

Why it states that the tests fail in windows 7 is beyond me. I tried everything and every driver with every version of power desk I could find and nothing.

It all worked completely fine on windows vista 32 bit so it can not be my monitors when I used the same values listed in this guide.


Is there a driver for windows 7 that is almost guaranteed to work like the 182.50s for vista?

If not, back to slow vista for me. Sigh..

Thanks.