Displaying only on an external monitor using the IBM Workpad z50

Applies To

• Handheld PC Professional, SP1

Overview

The IBM Workpad z50's supports displaying on an external monitor using an integrated DSUB connector. The IBM Rapid Access utility allows you to switch between two modes

1. LCD Only (Power Saving Mode)
2. CRT and LCD Simultaneously

There is no option given to allow you to disable the integrated LCD display to view exclusively on an external monitor. This article discusses how to set the z50 to display through the integrated DSUB port only.

More Info

The process of switching to the external monitor as the dedicated display mode will render the integrated LCD into a powered down state and thus unusable for the duration of the modification.

Any user wishing to switch back to dual mode or the integrated LCD will require the use of an external display to visually restore the device settings. Anyone attempting to perform this modification should fully understand this before proceeding.

The steps outlined below involved editing the Windows CE registry. HPC:Factor strongly recommends all users backup their Handheld PC before making changes to the registry. For more information on obtaining a registry editor see CESD-S-0082.

How-to Guide

The IBM Rapid Access program contains a procedure by which it can systematically switch the mode of the display driver ad-hoc, circumventing the need to perform a soft reset of the Handheld PC.
In order to carry out this tweak, either to enable exclusive display on an external monitor, or to disable it. You are required to soft reset the z50 using the reset button on the base of the unit.

1. Open your registry editor
2. Navigate to the key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\Display\ITE8181
3. Locate the DWORD value named:
   Dmode
4. Modify the Hex data value to 3
5. Save the changes
6. Soft reset the z50 with an external monitor attached

To reverse the process repeat steps 1 to 3 above. Set the Hex data value to 1 to display exclusively on the integrated LCD, or to 2 to use the dual display mode.
Save changes and soft reset your z50 to return to normal operations.