[TUTORIAL] ATI Mobility widescreen support (changing resolutions)

Have you ever installed XP with the Graphics_A driverpack on your notebook and didn't get the screen resolution you KNOW your laptop supports (i.e. 1280x800 widescreen)?

In the below example, I will show you how to add support for the Gateway M505 notebook which uses the Radeon 9600 Mobility chipset and has a native screen resolution of 1280x800 at 60Hz.

Hopefully this will help you modify the driverpack to support your own unique situation.
Things you will need:
HWID save
7Zip
A text editor (notepad)
Latest Graphics_A driverpack

1) Use HWID to find your unique chipset.
(example)

=========== 
PCI devices 
=========== 
  
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_206117C0&REV_00\4&13B9B28C&0&0008: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600/9700 Series

2) Copy the first part (vendor, device & subsystem) of your hardware string (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_206117C0) to the clipboard.

3) Decompress the graphics_A driverpack to a working folder.
Find the 'mobility.inf' file in the directory: \D\G\A\1

4) Open the 'mobility.inf file in your text editor.

5) Do a keyword search for the string in step 2 (i.e. PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_206117C0).

6) If your graphics chipset is too new and not supported...STOP.  Post your HWID string to these support forums for official Bâshrat the Sneaky input.
If your HWID string is found, awesome.  Continue with step 7.

7) Copy the code paragraph where you found your HWID string

;--- on Acer notebooks (zorro1) --- 
"ATI MOBILITY M10 (Acer)" = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_00461025
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 (Acer) " = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_206117C0
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 (Acer)  " = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_005C1025

and paste below the original entry and rename for your hardware.

;--- on Gateway M505 notebooks (mr_smartepants) --- 
"ATI MOBILITY M10 (Gateway)" = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_00461025
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 (Gateway) " = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_206117C0
"ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 (Gateway)  " = ati2mtag_M10, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_206117C0&REV_00

8) Copy your graphics chipset type from mobility.inf
(example)
ati2mtag_M10

9) Scroll all the way to the bottom of the mobility.inf text, click anywhere in the bottom text, hit 'CTRL-F3' to 'find'.

10) Paste your text into the 'find' box and select the 'Direction Up' button.

11) Keep hitting the 'Find Next' button until you get to the entries:
[ati2mtag_M10GL_SoftwareDeviceSettings]
[ati2mtag_M10_SoftwareDeviceSettings]

NOTE
This is where it gets tricky.  You only need to change one screen resolution setting for each of the above entries to support your native resolution.
It's critical that you do NOT adjust the resolution settings beyond what your screen will support.  Hardware damage may occur.

The codeblock will look something like this:

[ati2mtag_M10GL_SoftwareDeviceSettings]
HKR,, DALRULE_NOTVANDLCDONCRTC,             %REG_DWORD%,    1
HKR,, WmAgpMaxIdleClk,			    %REG_DWORD%,    0x20
HKR,, DisableIDCT,                          %REG_DWORD%,    0
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run",ATIModeChange,,"Ati2mdxx.exe"
HKR,, DALR6 CRT_MaxModeInfo,                  %REG_BINARY%,00,00,00,00,40,06,00,00,B0,04,00,00,00,00,00,00,3C,00,00,00
HKR,, DisableFullAdapterInit,      %REG_DWORD%,    0
HKR,, MemInitLatencyTimer,         %REG_DWORD%,    0x775771BF
HKR,, GCORULE_FlickerWA,             %REG_DWORD%, 1
HKR,, DALRULE_FORCEMISLABELEDEDIDTO11,    %REG_DWORD%,    1
HKR,, SMOOTHVISION_NAME, %REG_SZ%, "SMOOTHVISION 2.1"
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD1, %REG_BINARY%,08,48,04,80,00,00,00,60,08,48,04,80,00,00,00,75,08,48,04,80,00,00,00,85,12,80,07,20,00,00,00,60,12,80,07,20,00,00,00,75,12,80,07,20,00,00,00,85,12,80,09,00,00,00,00,60,13,60,07,68,00,00,00,60
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD2, %REG_BINARY%,13,60,07,68,00,00,00,75,13,60,07,68,00,00,00,85,14,40,09,00,00,00,00,60,19,20,10,80,00,00,00,30,19,20,10,80,00,00,00,85,08,00,04,80,00,00,00,60,10,24,04,80,00,00,00,60,10,24,06,00,00,00,00,60
HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD3, %REG_BINARY%,12,80,06,00,00,00,00,60,12,80,07,68,00,00,00,60,14,00,10,50,00,00,00,60

In this example we are going to change one of the unneeded resolutions (1280x768 60hz) into our needed 1280x800 60hz resolution.

12) Find the last code string 'NonStandardModes' and find the coded resolution you want to change.

HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD3, %REG_BINARY%,12,80,06,00,00,00,00,60,12,80,07,68,00,00,00,60,14,00,10,50,00,00,00,60

Change this code into the coded resolution you want

HKR,, DALNonStandardModesBCD3, %REG_BINARY%,12,80,06,00,00,00,00,60,12,80,08,00,00,00,00,60,14,00,10,50,00,00,00,60

13) Now repeat steps 11-12 for the next entry for your chipset [ati2mtag_M10_SoftwareDeviceSettings]

14) Now save and close your modified 'mobility.inf' file (overwrite the existing .inf file).

At this point, you may (if you choose) delete the nVidia drivers you feel they're not needed
Just delete the folder DP_Graphics_A_wnt5_x86-32_701\D\G\N\

15) Use 7Zip to recompress the new driverpack using the directions here

16) Rename your modified driverpack from DP_Graphics_A_wnt5_x86-32_701.7z to DP_Graphics_A_wnt5_x86-32_701b.7z

17) Drop your new driverpack into the 'Driverpacks\DriverPacks\' folder and integrate as normal.

I hope this works for you as well as it works for me.  Please report back if it doesn't work as it should.
Remember to always work with a copy of the original files in case you screw something up.
Standard disclaimers apply.  No warranty is given or implied.  I'm not responsible if you ruin your XP install by following these directions.  La De Dah De Dah!

**Edit
This mod also works with the standard ATI Catalyst drivers.  But two INF files need to be modified to work.
The pathway for the two INF files is:
C:\ATI\SUPPORT\7-4_xp_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_44981\Driver\2KXP_INF\
The two INF files are named: C2_44981.inf  &  CX_44981.inf
Enjoy. 

Last edited by mr_smartepants (2007-04-19 08:26:38)

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