VESA-compliant Displayport Cables (Barely exist)

jackstar7

Lifer
Jun 26, 2009
11,679
1,944
126
So after some searching I have found out that most dp cables are not compliant. They pass power though an active pin-20. This feeds power back to your PC even when you've powered down. It also seems the likely cause of issues where the monitor drops out of synch with your video card.

People say that the Belkin cables are compliant (some tested with power meters to be sure), but the problem I am having is that it seems a mini-DP -> to DP cable that is compliant does not exist (as far as I can find).

I've liked Displayport from the start as a simpler solution with greater bandwidth over DVI and HDMI, but this one aspect is where I think the ball was dropped and it's an absurdity that cables are what would bring down an otherwise good bit of tech.

If anyone can help me figure out which brand(s) is/are worth getting then hopefully we could all shift our purchasing to that brand and let folks know to avoid all the rest until they address this issue and provide compliant cables.

So... little help?
 

heymrdj

Diamond Member
May 28, 2007
3,999
63
91
I have a 6m one. Apple display and lenovo t520 has no issues. But yeah the whole market seems hit or miss, definitely a disservice to the consumers and a black eye for DP adoption as a whole.
 

jackstar7

Lifer
Jun 26, 2009
11,679
1,944
126
I have a 6m one. Apple display and lenovo t520 has no issues. But yeah the whole market seems hit or miss, definitely a disservice to the consumers and a black eye for DP adoption as a whole.

Appreciate your offering your experience. Sorry, can you confirm 6m and not 6ft?

I may give it a shot... just been burned so many times...
 

KingFatty

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2010
3,034
1
81
Would it be possible to just block that pin? I know it's not like a serial port where you can simply clip off the pin, but maybe you can use a blade to pry it up and tear it out?

Or, maybe cut the cable in half, then re-splice all the wires together except for the wire for pin 20?
 

jackstar7

Lifer
Jun 26, 2009
11,679
1,944
126
Would it be possible to just block that pin? I know it's not like a serial port where you can simply clip off the pin, but maybe you can use a blade to pry it up and tear it out?

Or, maybe cut the cable in half, then re-splice all the wires together except for the wire for pin 20?

Some people have taken the surgical route. I'm just trying to push the companies putting out these crap cables to knock it off! :)
 

djsb

Member
Jun 14, 2011
81
0
61
Potentially a dumb question, but is there any reason why a full size -> mini adapter and a VESA compliant full size -> full size cable wouldn't work?
 

jackstar7

Lifer
Jun 26, 2009
11,679
1,944
126
Potentially a dumb question, but is there any reason why a full size -> mini adapter and a VESA compliant full size -> full size cable wouldn't work?

It's possible... but I believe the same flaw can exist in the adapters.
 

Peter Nixeus

Senior member
Aug 27, 2012
365
1
81
www.nixeus.com
Accell makes VESA compliant mini-displayport to dispalyport cables. They have been tested and resolved issues caused by non-compliant VESA Display cables.

http://www.accellcables.com/B143B.html

They are certified by VESA and DisplayPort organization.

We use some of their cables with our monitor testing and they work really well.

There was an issue with one of our customers getting BSOD from his windows 8 lenevo laptop via mini-displayport to displayport connection to our monitor when ever our monitor sleeps or power down. He tried several DP cables until we recommended him to get the Accell Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable - it resolved his BSOD issue and now he has 3 external monitors working perfectly with his laptop.

Also with adapters, most if not all are not VESA compliant and many of them have EDID syncing issues especially with higher resolution monitors. The best connection is always a direct cable connection without adapters/convertors/KVM.
 
Last edited:

3DVagabond

Lifer
Aug 10, 2009
11,951
204
106
Accell makes VESA compliant mini-displayport to dispalyport cables. They have been tested and resolved issues caused by non-compliant VESA Display cables.

http://www.accellcables.com/B143B.html

They are certified by VESA and DisplayPort organization.

We use some of their cables with our monitor testing and they work really well.

There was an issue with one of our customers getting BSOD from his windows 8 lenevo laptop via mini-displayport to displayport connection to our monitor when ever our monitor sleeps or power down. He tried several DP cables until we recommended him to get the Accell Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable - it resolved his BSOD issue and now he has 3 external monitors working perfectly with his laptop.

Also with adapters, most if not all are not VESA compliant and many of them have EDID syncing issues especially with higher resolution monitors. The best connection is always a direct cable connection without adapters/convertors/KVM.

I've also been told that accellcables are compliant. Considering the source here ^^^, it seems like solid advice. :thumbsup:
 

jackstar7

Lifer
Jun 26, 2009
11,679
1,944
126
I'm using one (Accell) and it still has issues for me, though not frequently.

I wish I had the meter to check the cable myself, but since I don't I am hopeful that Accell mDP to DP does work as promised and I might just have a different fault somewhere in my setup.

But I will say that I'm not wild about the site hyping their cable as 1.2. All DP cables are compatible with 1.2. When a place makes that claim about their cable that irks me a bit.

Hopefully I'm not the only one affected by this issue and this thread helps some folks out.
 

birthdaymonkey

Golden Member
Oct 4, 2010
1,176
3
81
This issue really soured me on DP as well. I tore my hair out and my computer apart trying to find out why it wouldn't boot one night. The cable worked if the computer was on when it was plugged in, and I hadn't turned it off for a few weeks, so it took me quite a while to figure out it was the cable (?!) causing the problem. This was with a Startech miniDP-DP, I believe. I returned the cables and went back to DVI. Ridiculous.
 

jackstar7

Lifer
Jun 26, 2009
11,679
1,944
126
My distinct hope is that people only buy from the compliant sellers and soon it becomes unprofitable for companies to cheap out on the cables and then we can actually move to DP, since it is superior to DVI in so many ways.
 

Peter Nixeus

Senior member
Aug 27, 2012
365
1
81
www.nixeus.com
Either way, some time there are bad DP cables that come off the production line. We recently resolved an issue where a customer had a Galaxy GTX 670 4GB but could not get full resolution with our monitors using a DisplayPort cable purchased from NewEgg. He finally got the full 2560x1440 resolution when he received a compliant DisplayPort cable.

Believe it or not, there are DisplayPort cables out there that only goes up to 1920x1200.
 

ST Nathan

Junior Member
Feb 6, 2014
2
0
0
Just a note for anyone finding this thread through Google as I did. A quick and easy way to fix a non-compliant displayport cable is to take a very thin (about 1/16") strip of electrical tape, and wrap it around pin 20 on one of the connectors. Pin 20 is the one closest to the angled notch in the connector. As long as you're careful to completely cover pin 20, and not the adjacent pin 18, that will cause the cable to act as if that wire wasn't connected, which is how it's supposed to be.

This is a lot easier than trying to pull the pin out, and it's a lot harder (like, impossible) to break your cable doing it. Took me about 45 seconds per cable, and now everything works!
 

lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
6,893
14
81
been having issues with my 4k/780 ti sli setup. Mainly waking on boot and syncing issues..... just tore the #20 pin out of my cable. It still works =P now hopefully it'll fix my issues....
 

ST Nathan

Junior Member
Feb 6, 2014
2
0
0
Just a note for anyone finding this thread through Google as I did. A quick and easy way to fix a non-compliant displayport cable is to take a very thin (about 1/16") strip of electrical tape, and wrap it around pin 20 on one of the connectors. Pin 20 is the one closest to the angled notch in the connector. As long as you're careful to completely cover pin 20, and not the adjacent pin 18, that will cause the cable to act as if that wire wasn't connected, which is how it's supposed to be.

This is a lot easier than trying to pull the pin out, and it's a lot harder (like, impossible) to break your cable doing it. Took me about 45 seconds per cable, and now everything works!

Ah, here, this demonstrates it well: http://sepczuk.com/techblog/2013/07/displayport-sleep-resume-problem-resolved/. That's essentially what I did, except with electrical tape instead of a sandwich paper-scotch tape monstrosity. ;)