Samsung 205bw SyncMaster

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Samsung 205bw SyncMaster

So we purchased this 20" Samsung 205bw SyncMaster LCD monitor. It's got DVI and VGA inputs, supports a native resolution of 1680x1050 and has some pretty nice specs other than that (for a consumer grade monitor that is.) Now the only problem we're facing is that the native supported display resolution mentioned is not available in the Displays prefs panel. The highest I have is 1600x1200 and everything under that is all at a square ratio, no wide format options at all. The monitor is recognized by the OS as a SyncMaster and I've found the color profile on the install cd...

I've made a few calls to the Apple Protection Plan 800 number. Each time I was sent to a 2nd level tech who in turn said he would have to speak with the engineers about our issue. Actually the first call I made the tech hung up on me, but that's besides the point. The best answer Apple can give us is that we need to wait for a firmware update to the mini... This is very absurd and basically what they're saying is "Buy an Apple Pro Display."

I've read other posts in the forums here that state users seeing the mini hooked up to a 22" display running native resolutions at 1680x1050. Now if the Apple displays can handle this resolution there should be absolutely no reason we can't "trick" the mini into pulling these resolutions for the Samsung monitor.

My suggestion, do not buy a mini, also do not buy a Samsung SyncMaster 205bw if you have a mini. It's a waste of your time until Apple gets this issue resolved, and who knows when that will happen with the 10.5 rollout coming in less than 8 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes and 20 seconds...

Mini 1.83 Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 18, 2007 10:51 AM

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Answer 1

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BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Oct 18, 2007 1:40 PM in response to balanceone

It sounds like the mini isn't getting good display driver information back from the monitor. That's unusual for Samsung because they are one of the better manufacturers in this regard. I suppose some bad monitors could have escaped the factory.

If you're up for it, download and install SwitchRes X Control Panel. Within SRX you will see a button labeled "Export DDC". When you click on it, a text file gets generated containing the Samsung's display driver data. Post the resulting text here and we can sift through it for clues as to what's going wrong.

http://www.madrau.com/

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Answer 2

balanceone Author

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Oct 19, 2007 9:22 AM in response to BSteely

Here's that report, you can see that the native resolution is not being sent by the display clearly. I have however noticed that you can add custom resolutions using this tool so let's do a reboot here and see if it worked. Thank you for your response Steely, I never knew this program existed and if it's worth it we'll purchase to use after the 10 day trial.

DDC block report generated by SwitchResX for display
SyncMaster

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
-----------------------------------------------------
0 | 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 4C 2D AE 01 30 32 41 48
1 | 2A 10 01 03 80 29 1F 78 2A EE 95 A3 54 4C 99 26
2 | 0F 50 54 BF EF 80 A9 40 81 80 81 40 71 4F 01 01
3 | 01 01 01 01 01 01 48 3F 40 30 62 B0 32 40 40 C0
4 | 13 00 98 32 11 00 00 1E 00 00 00 FD 00 38 4B 1E
5 | 51 11 00 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FC 00 53
6 | 79 6E 63 4D 61 73 74 65 72 0A 20 20 00 00 00 FF
7 | 00 48 56 46 41 41 30 34 34 38 30 0A 20 20 00 23

-----------------------------------------------------
Valid DDC block: checksum passed

EDID Version........1.3
Manufacturer........SAM
Product Code........44545 (AE01) (01AE)
Serial Number.......1212232 *

Manufactured........Week 42 of year 2006
Max H Size..........41 cm
Max V Size..........31 cm
Gamma...............2.20

DPMS Supported Features:
------------------------
Active off

Display type:
-------------
RGB color display

Input signal & sync:
--------------------
Digital

Color info:
------------
Red x = 0.640 Green x = 0.300 Blue x = 0.150 White x = 0.313
Red y = 0.330 Green y = 0.600 Blue y = 0.060 White y = 0.329

Established Timings:
--------------------
800 x 600 @ 60Hz
800 x 600 @ 56Hz
640 x 480 @ 75Hz
640 x 480 @ 72Hz
640 x 480 @ 67Hz
640 x 480 @ 60Hz
720 x 400 @ 70Hz
1280 x 1024 @ 75Hz
1024 x 768 @ 75Hz
1024 x 768 @ 70Hz
1024 x 768 @ 60Hz
832 x 624 @ 75Hz
800 x 600 @ 75Hz
800 x 600 @ 72Hz

Manufacturer Reserved Timings:
------------------------------
1152 x 870 @ 75Hz

Standard Timing Identification:
-------------------------------
#0: 1600 x 1200 @ 60Hz (A940)
#1: 1280 x 1024 @ 60Hz (8180)
#2: 1280 x 960 @ 60Hz (8140)
#3: 1152 x 864 @ 75Hz (714F)

Monitor Description blocks:
---------------------------
Descriptor #0 is Timing definition:
Mode = 1600 x 1200 @ 60Hz
Pixel Clock.............162.00 MHz Non-Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active..................1600 pixels 1200 lines
Front Porch............. 64 pixels 1 lines
Sync Width.............. 192 pixels 3 lines
Back Porch.............. 304 pixels 46 lines
Blanking................ 560 pixels 50 lines
Total...................2160 pixels 1250 lines
Scan Rate............... 75.00 kHz 60.00 Hz

Image Size.............. 408 mm 306 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines

Sync: Digital separate with
* Positive vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

Descriptor #1 is Monitor limits:
Horizontal frequency range.......30-81 kHz
Vertical frequency range.........56-75 Hz
Maximum bandwidth unspecified

Descriptor #2 is Monitor name:
SyncMaster
Descriptor #3 is Serial number:
HVF *****

Message was edited by: balanceiD

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Answer 3

balanceone Author

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Oct 19, 2007 9:37 AM in response to balanceone

Problem solved, thank you for your help! Now circles are circles and squares are squares!!! It's absolutely amazing! LoL Much appreciated Steely, just wish guys like you were working at Apple, Intel and Samsung... neither of the three of them could give me an adequate response. My boss had me submit an RMA form for this monitor yesterday, but now I think he will be pleased. Again I appreciate your time and hopefully this helps bring some attention to the issue.

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Answer 4

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Oct 19, 2007 6:01 PM in response to balanceone

Nice work, balanceiD. I appreciate the compliment. But I already work at a company that's better to work for than Apple, Intel or Samsung. 😉

That monitor definitely has a messed up EDID. It looks like Samsung accidentally put the SyncMaster 204B firmware inside of it instead of the 205BW firmware. I wonder how many got built that way? You might still want to return it for another one, hopefully from a different production lot.

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Answer 5

balanceone Author

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Nov 6, 2007 10:10 AM in response to BSteely

Man, this is a pain ... I've been trying to contact Apple and Samsung regarding this issue, although we did buy SwitchResX because we need to use this monitor, we shouldn't have to do such things for advertised plug-and-play compatibility. The company we bought this monitor from "Legend Micro" will not return the monitor, no reason given why they wouldn't, but I stated in my RMA form that the advertised comparability is inaccurate. Samsung blames Apple all day long about this issue and I have to say, I was just about blue in the face after 3 phone calls and an hour and a half later. So I said fine, let's call Apple, we bought a protection plan so they will answer questions... right? UM NO, wrong, Apple is blaming Samsung all day long and when I finally convinced the tech at Apple to transfer me to a 2nd level tech, I was placed in "on hold" limbo with no hold music, nothing for over 30 minutes. (At which time I simply hung up because, sheesh what a waste of cell phone minutes...)

I'm sorry but this is just ridiculous. Apple refuses to look into the issue, Samsung refuses to replace the monitor and Legend Micro refuses to return and exchange. I really wish that it wasn't so difficult with these people, but hey whatever... We paid our 20$ for SwitchResX and are sated for the time being. If this is the future of Apple product support, I am very ashamed and unimpressed. They (Apple) are starting to feel as cold as Bill Gates unmentionables.

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Answer 6

balanceone Author

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Nov 5, 2007 7:06 PM in response to BSteely

So I guess my question remains, how do I convince Samsung they put the 204 firmware on it? They don't seem to trust that I've been talking with some technically inclined individuals...

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Answer 7

MagicCat

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Nov 5, 2007 7:30 PM in response to balanceone

For what it's worth, I have a Samsung 205BW hooked up to my Mini and working fine without any problems. Looks great.

I previously had a G4 Mini and could not get it to work with this monitor using DVI - I had to revert to VGA. However, when I upgraded to an Intel Mini, I tried DVI again and it "just worked".

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Answer 8

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Nov 5, 2007 10:54 PM in response to balanceone

I would ask the support people at Samsung for an email address. Then email them the driver data you posted earlier in this thread. Ask them why there are no wide format options in the driver, especially the native format, which should be resident under Desriptor #0. They will have to send that up to level 3 tech for an answer.

MagicCat confirms a 205BW that is working fine, so it appears at least some of the monitors leaving Samsung's factory have the correct EDID inside of them. I suspect a bad lot were produced.

Don't bother calling Apple. It's not their fault the display driver is foobarred inside the Samsung. There's nothing they can do to help. The mini is responding appropriately to the driver data it is receiving.

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