Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Project again, roadblock gone!

Finally, more work on the project.

Problem:

VGA-CAT5 adaptor works (discussed here), but now the monitor cannot detect that its plugged in. So whats been happening is that every time it changes resolution (pretty much start and end of any game) it pops up that annoying 'ANALOGE MODE' box in the upper left of screen for 10 seconds. Also, when the computers plugged in to power it displays the 'NO CONNECTION DETECTED' box that slides around the screen.
Massively annoying, as its a issue thats only cropped up.

Its taken me over a month to figure out how to fix it easily. Simple answer is splice a VGA cable, but damn I bet that would only cause problems down the track.

Reasoning

I figured that since CAT-5 cable has 8 cables, and VGA has 15 pins, obviously some pins arnt being connected. I also assumed that, since monitors don't display all the crap the moment there plugged into a PC even if its not powered on, it must be something hardwired into the plugs on the computer end that allows the monitor to detect its plugged in even if there's no power on in the PC.
It makes sence that it will run a lower power signal through one pin, and look for a reply down another ground line. But with 15 pins, what combination is correct???

Solution
http://www.monitorworld.com/faq_pages/q17_page.html. This is what got me started on the right track. I noticed on this some 'sense' pins and ground pins - this narrowed it down for me from something like 210 different combination's to try to 9 or so.
I hit on the right one on the second go - shorting pings 10 and 5 made the monitor turn blank ready for input like it used to.
From there it was a simple case of cracking open the cheap CAT-5 -> VGA adaptor and soldering a wire directly across pins 5 & 10. Put back together and re-insert. It was so simple! (Not!)


Creating a short that tricks the monitor into permanently realizing its connected on the analogue mode. Once the shell is fitted back on, its as if i hadnt modded it!