Hey guys, I need some help getting a couple of LCDs connected.

My boss bought 2 IBM 15" flat panel displays a while back now, and has never been able to get them running. He gave one to me on the condition that if I get mine running, I have to get his running too.

The problem is the connectors they use. The display cables are built in as with many monitors, and look at a glance exactly like DVI-D, but they aren't. They have a couple more pins than stock DVI.


I dug around a bit and found an adaptor I was sure would work:

http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_Page.asp?DataName=DVIMPDF

One end of this is clearly DVI-D, the other is apparently called 'P&D'. The pins are exactly right for what I need, but I had to hack the metal surround off each end of the P&D connector, as it wasn't square enough to fit into the monitors connector. It didn't work at all sadly.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? I couldn't find anything on the IBM website about it. I suspect if the monitor was actually being switched on by the computer, it would probably work, but something is missing somewhere.

Any help appreciated.

I think you may be in luck. That looks like a DVI-I connector, which is both analong and digital. Check out this thread post I made a while back.

http://www.macmod.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7942&postcount=4

No, its not a standard DVI connection. The three rows of pins on the P&D are rows of 10, not 8. The other end is a standard DVI-D though.

I'm in the same boat, but happen to own a dongle that came with the monitor that gets me from the p&d connect to dvi-d. The connections look identical to those in the picture of the adapter you purchased. Today I'm picking up a mini-dvi to dvi cable to attempt to use the monitor as an additional display for a macbook. I'll let you know how it turns out...

I bought a P&D to DVI cable. The pins looked right, but the ends were different shapes and wouldn't fit. I hacked one up with a saw, but even when I got it to fit, it didn't work.

OK! I think I have an answer to your problem. While I was putting up projectors at work, I noticed that they had a similar connector to the one you described. With rows of 10 instead of 8 and funky angled connector. I asked my co-worker if he knew what it was and he said that it is a specially designed connector that carries USB as well as video. (He said he thought it was called M1 but wasn't sure.) But he quickly pointed out that the cables are expensive and custom made (noting that I was carelessly whipping around the cables). So this might be the answer to your problem.