crt_emudriver problem. Mobility HD 4250 on Toshiba L655D-S5093

[buttersoft]

As the title says, I'm having trouble with crt_emudriver on this model laptop >>> http://www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/satellite/L650/L655D-S5093

It has a Radeon Mobility HD 4250 inside. When i try to install crt_emudriver for Win7 x64 it says it installs (with an error msg saying i need msvcr100.dll unless i install the right Visual C++ update first. If I install that update, crt_emudriver installs without the error msg). Either way it works the same afterwards, and when i check in device manager it says the "ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Series" is working properly.

I then run VMMaker, generating the xml from Mameui64. In the command prompt window, it says the first two displays are working properly, but the next 3 are not connected. (i think they are called DisplayV1, v2 and v3? I might actually say something like this when i install the driver, about it not installing for those extra items, v1,v2,v3 because they're not connected?). I don't get that msg on the older XP32 laptop i use.

After that, VMMaker works as expected, but,

When I open ArcadeOSD the list of resolutions looks... wrong. The low resolutions are listed, but everything in the list says 60P. If I use quickres1/2 everything is 32bit (no, i didn't enable that option in VMMaker.ini). Then when i try to use these 15kHz resolutions via the laptops VGA-out to my PVM, i get the classic multiple-images-side-by-side, sometimes two sometimes three, with a little tearing and wavering. So i'm getting 31kHz or very nearly, i guess.

I've looked at a few threads in the groovymame forum:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130646.msg1337857.html#msg1337857
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,109742.msg1163704.html#msg1163704

I've tried to mod crt_emudriver using the mobility mod tool Calamity suggested in those threads >> http://www.hardwareheaven.com/tools

I tried pointing it at the directory crt_emudriver was in, the "driver" directory, and the "W86A_INF" directory inside that. I says everything goes seamlessly/the mod works; but when i check, no files or folders have been modified (nothing is dated with today's date, and nothing with Mobility Mod's dates either...i  don't think). (I did use it 3 times at once, i'll admit, but only because i wasn't sure where to point it. It seemed happy each time, and changed nothing i could find. And i'm not meant to point it at the self-extracting exe, I presume.) So using the Mobility Mod tool and then installing crt_emudriver just does the same thing as not using it. 


I realise not every combination of card and hardware can be supported, but does anyone have any ideas about what I could try next?

(I should add that I'm reinstalling Win 7 each time to make sure i get a clean run at the drivers, clean registry, etc.)



BTW, awesome forum and absolutely amazing dedication by Calamity and the team. I've used the crt_emudriver package with great success before, as i implied. I'm even thinking of dipping my toe into grovvymame when i find the courage, or when I find the time to find the courage

[Calamity]

Hi buttersoft,

You said you're using a laptop. Please describe the process you're following to output video through the VGA. Hopefully you're enabling a proper extended desktop and then applying the right mode to that desktop (using Arcade OSD).

[buttersoft]

Please describe the process you're following to output video through the VGA...  and then... (using Arcade OSD).

Hi Calamity, thanks for helping! Big update here. I do get some stable modes, but things get weirder and weirder. First, to answer your request:

Before installing crt_emudriver, I right click on the desktop, screen resolution, detect, select 2nd display that appears, go to the "multiple displays" box and tell it to "connect anyway". I do not touch anything else in there.

I then install crt_emudriver, and after that VMMaker as described in my original post.

Opening ArcadeOSD, I hit down arrow once, then 2, 1, 2 to lock the program to Display 2 (the grey title bars says display 2, and that display 2 is connected.) I then hit the up arrow and select a 15kHz resolution, but fail to get 15kHz


(I do exactly the same thing with this older laptop and it works fine, save that it's running XP32 not Win7 x64 and i don't have to enable the 2nd display because it appears by itself after i install crt_emudriver 9.3 x32, it's just greyed out and i tell windows to extend the desktop. I don't have to mobility-mod crt_emudriver, it just installs.)

I should probably admit to making my own VGA-BNC cable with a home-cooked sync combiner. This cable works fine with crt_emudriver on my other laptop. It runs (negative) H-Sync into a 1N4148 diode, then into V-Sync, then the combined line runs through a 330R resistor and two 100uF caps in parallel. As i noted, this works fine with the older laptop linked above.

EDIT: I don't think it's the cable. With more testing on the Toshiba/Mobility HD 4250 I actually do get some stable 15kHz & 16kHz modes. 384 x 240, 384 x 256, 448 x 240, 1088 x 256 all work (all are at 60p)  but there's no common factor i can see. 320 x 240 @ 60p fails to sync, as do most of the modelines. And like i said, the list of resolutions doesn't look right to begin with. No interlaced modes appear in the list at all, like they do with the older laptop. Not even 640 x 480 @ 30, and i left that untouched in the reslist.txt for both systems. (Should any correct resolution i add in there as @ 30 produce an interlaced mode?) There are actually one or two 58p modes in the list, but otherwise they're all @ 60p.


EDIT2: It's not the cable! Or at any rate, when I put my multimeter on the cable at 448 x 240 @ 60p 15.650kHz, it reads about 15.45kHz. When i do the same for 320 x 240 @ 60p 15.637kHz, it reads about 200kHz. I built a VGA breakout for testing a while back, and this produces almost identical results across the sync lines twisted together with no components at all! For example, at 448 x 240 @ 60p I get 15kHz, where 320 x 240 @ 60p gives over 200kHz! The non-working modelines all seem to cough up higher Sync rates, anywhere from 40-ish kHz to just over 1MHz. Can't remember which mode gave me the 31kHz-looking Side-by-side image, but it might have been a 45kHz rate with ~3 images?

I tested the raw output on my older laptop, and it always gives 15/16kHz and works for modes that the 4250 does not.

I'm using a lite version of Win7 x64 (with a legit key, as it happens), could this be the problem? I'm sure i tried my original disc for one install as well, and it had the same problems.


EDIT3: Screenshots of what the installer for crt_emudriver says when it installs (i use the setup.exe in \driver\, yes?) - 

is crt_emudriver's install msg,

a close up with the box scrolled down. There are three lines of text, the lower two saying the same thing. I do not let it restart after this, and then set test mode on.

[ur=http://i.imgur.com/KwOMVPA.jpgl]Third [/url]shot is VMM maker opening up, showing those 3 extra "displays".


Hope all this editing doesn't ninja anyone trying to help

[Calamity]

You have two issues going on there:

1.- Interlaced modes don't show because you have a monitor detection problem. Check this.

2.- Your card most likely doesn't support low dotclocks. This is the case for Hd 2xxx and 3xxx cards, and probably mobility 4xxx. Real HD 4xxx don't have this problem. Fortunately this is a minor annoyance, just create the resolutions using the "DotclockMin = 8.0" option in vmmaker.ini. Use the same value for the dotclock_min option in mame.ini. This will duplicate the width of modes, but the picture quality is 100% unaffected.

[buttersoft]

1. The PVMs have their own 75R terminations, of course. All I  had to do was run crt_emudriver with the monitor plugged in (but not on/extended). I must be an idiot, or just unlucky not to have tried that. I thought Windows needed the EDID to find a screen; does crt_emudriver take feedback from the VGA port? Or is Windows actually doing that?

2. I soooo already knew point 2, but didn't even think of it in the heat of battle I guess i was hoping that while the 4250 was based on a 3000 series card, it had been updated

VMM now says it's created 15 modes (through my mainmain.txt and reslist.txt) but there must be 120 in the list. The interlaced modes are there, and everything above a dotclock of 8MHz works fine. Why is it creating that many modes though? (with a max set to 20, and it says it's only doing 15. My reslist.txt has exactly two modes in it. Is it the custom/xml table options then?)

Thank you again for your tools, your expertise, and your willingness to help. It's nice to get things working. I'll have to swing by Eiusdemmodi and say thanks.

You have two issues going on there:

1.- Interlaced modes don't show because you have a monitor detection problem. Check this.

2.- Your card most likely doesn't support low dotclocks. This is the case for Hd 2xxx and 3xxx cards, and probably mobility 4xxx. Real HD 4xxx don't have this problem. Fortunately this is a minor annoyance, just create the resolutions using the "DotclockMin = 8.0" option in vmmaker.ini. Use the same value for the dotclock_min option in mame.ini. This will duplicate the width of modes, but the picture quality is 100% unaffected.