Gfx Card, Driver, or Monitor Issue?

[mphartzheim]

Right now I'm running Crossfire on two HIS HD4850's with the Catalyst 8.7 drivers and two 20" LCD monitors hooked into them. Both monitors are hooked into the primary card. I'm running Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

When I installed the 4850's, I decided to do a clean format because of numerous upgrades I'd done since the initial install. It was something that was long overdue. However, I've had a very annoying problem ever since the install, and I don't know where the problem is coming from.

Every time I reboot my computer two annoying things happen.

1) The primary monitor acts like it isn't receiving a video signal (black screen, status light is flashing red indicating it's in standby mode) until I physically unplug it and plug it back in. The secondary monitor acts normal (black screen, status lights are blue indicating it's on and active).

2) The monitor positions in the CCC revert to the default of [1] on the left and [2] on the right. My desk is setup with [2] on the left and [1] on the right. I have to reset this every time I boot my computer.

I've also noticed that any time the video mode changes (for instance, loading a game that changes the resolution of the primary monitor) I encounter problem #1... the primary monitor acts like it isn't receiving a video signal.

I can't tell if my Gfx cards are to blame for this... if it's the Catalyst drivers that are to blame... if the monitors are bad... or if I messed something up with the Vista install.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[chizow]

What happens when you only use the primary without a secondary monitor attached? Are you using any type of HDMI to DVI converter or an HDMI/DVI switch? Passing the video signal through a receiver? Try switching the two outputs physically, then adjusting the primary output via software. Try adjusting the monitor designations in Vista instead of CCC by right-click desktop > personalize > display settings, then set each panel there. It could be a driver issue or display EDID problem, but I'm probably leaning toward driver problem.

Edit: also try changing primary displays by switching the monitors. If the other panel doesn't have this problem its probably an EDID/input source problem with the display you want to use as main.

 

[mphartzheim]

The primary monitor is connected via DVI cable. The secondary monitor is connected via VGA cable and is using a DVI adapter to hook into the video card. There isn't any extra hardware involved here. Monitors are both hooked directly into the 4850.

The CCC settings and the Vista display settings are tied together, I believe. If I change the monitor order in one, it is reflected in the other.

I swapped the monitors physically, and I was surprised to see that nothing changed there... even though the plugs were reversed, the same monitor still came on as the primary monitor. I thought the port they were hooked into determined that.

Next I changed which monitor was connected via the DVI cable and the VGA cable. This time the monitors were switched... what was the primary monitor now came up as the secondary, and the secondary as the primary. So it looks like there is a preference for the DVI monitor to be the main monitor. The DVI monitor (the "secondary") monitor had the same video signal issue as the other monitor... so it doesn't appear to be a monitor issue.

Does that leave it at a driver issue?

(Thanks for the help so far, chizow.)

Edit: Looks like I have new 8.8 Catalyst drivers available that were released on 08/20/08. I'll give those a try and report back.

 

[mphartzheim]

Now I'm just frustrated. Installing the 8.8 Catalyst drivers just made things worse. After installing the drivers I got an error message that said there was no supported ATI hardware installed. Device Manager reported a problem and said there were no drivers installed.

The good news is problem #1 from the first post was gone when the computer booted with 8.8 drivers.

 

[SolMiester]

I've had issues like that with Vista and NV drivers on a 8500GT and 2 monitors, I used to think it was the DVI port, however I install Ultra Monitor and its all sorted. I think the issue is Vista as I havent come across this issue with XP

 

[Majic 7]

Something is not right somewhere. I just installed a 4870X2 on my Vista 64 system and hooked up a 19" CRT along with the 22" LCD so I could check temps on the new video card while I ran 3DMark 06. Worked OK, but when I got on the internet and came here all of a sudden my scroll wheel became a resolution changer, from normal to like 100 by 120 or something. Opened a new tab when I tried to switch forums, this is on Firefox. Disabled secondary monitor and everything is fine. Never had any problems on XP machine. Seen some references to problems with the 8.8 drivers with multiple monitors, I'm on the betas that came on the disk, haven't checked into it though. Before anyone asks the 22" will eventually go to the XP machine and the Vista will get something bigger. Also the CRT looked like crap, kind of blurry, not quite focused and the colors were really muted. LCD hooked up with DVI-D and the CRT with a VGA to DVI-D converter.

Just looked it up and it seems there have been lots of problems with multi-monitors on Vista, mostly 64, for a long time now. On both ATI and NVidia, some have switched makers and the problem went away and think it was their original makers fault but it seems to be a luck of the draw thing. Driverheaven and the AMD Forums have some lengthy threads about it.

Take these for what they are worth, advice I've read: Disable Aero, disable HD sound, download HD Sound drivers? seems odd. These are all from different sources.

 

[mphartzheim]

Just wanted to update this. I believe I have a corrupt EDID on both of my monitors. This same setup was previously used with a GeForce 8800GTX, and my research has shown quite a few people getting corrupt EDID's when switching from Nvidia to ATI (and vice versa).

My problem now is 1) finding out if my EDID is actually corrupt and 2) fixing the corrupt EDID.

I've seen a lot of differing methods and opinions on how to do that. So far none of them have worked for me.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Doesn't the "Pro" version of PowerStrip allow you to reflash EDID info?