svideo tv-out doesn't work on my Abit. [UPDATE]: new cable fixed problem

Packy

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Mar 8, 2001
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I have an Abit Siluro GF4ti 4200 paired with a K7S5A mobo and running in XP. I got this card from newegg and it was brand new a month or two ago. RCA (composite) tv-out works perfect, but svideo has always refused to output to my 36" VEGA no matter what I try. The tv-out is from a dongle which splits the tv signal into the RCA and svideo connectors.

I'm running the newest, non-leaked nvidia drivers, I have the newest bios flashed to the card, but still nothing. I tested my 50' svideo cable to make sure that wasn't the problem, and it's working fine. I've tried booting with only the svideo cable plugged in, and while nview seems to detect there is a cable plugged in, it doesn't display. If I swap the cables, RCA always works.

ANY suggestions? Anyone else experiencing this? Is there a way to enable a dialog box to allow me to chose composite or svideo signal??

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

[UPDATE] JUST found this set of posts regarding Abit 4200's, and all these people have the same problem, no svideo tv-out.
newsgroup postings

[update 2] I've sent emails to both Abit and Newegg. Newegg said that since it has been more than 30 days I can only replace the card with the same model! BIG help that is, since Abit's 4200 line might all have non-working svideo :(

[update 3] A tech person from Abit wrote back and said they'd send me a new video cable! Wahoo! I just hope this is the problem, otherwise I'll still have to RMA the stupid thing.
 

Packy

Platinum Member
Mar 8, 2001
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You're very welcome. If I had known about even the possibility of svideo not working, I wouldn't have purchased this card.

BTW, Newegg is standing firm behind not being able to exchange for a different product. What if the new one doesn't have working svideo though?! And no response from Abit, but I'm not really expecting one. I may just RMA the card with Abit rather than Newegg. I wish Newegg could be a little more flexible. It's a product defect problem, not just me wanting to trade to another card for the hell of it.
 

SpYdEr2723

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May 25, 2001
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You might have tried this but make sure that the refresh rate for the resolution you want to output to the TV is at 60Hz. When ever I use the refresh rate fix and I forget to leave 640x480 and 800x600 at 60Hz my TV out won't work. Just an idea, and this is on a GeForce 2 so nVida might have changed it.
SpYdEr
 

Packy

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Mar 8, 2001
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Thanks for the response, Spyder. Yeah, I made sure it was going out at 60hz... I wish it was the problem, actually :) It's just odd since composite works fine but only svideo is broken.

I do have an UPDATE though. Someone from Abit actually emailed me back and said they'd ship a new video cable out to me! If it is something as simple as the video cable going bad then I should be all set!
 

Packy

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Mar 8, 2001
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UPDATE: The new cable from Abit arrived today and fixed the problem! S-video tv-out now works :D