Vista 64 Aero problem w/ 3 monitors and 2 video cards

[SirFelixCat]

(x-post from Video)

So I just got my new Gateway 30" XHD3000 to go in the middle of my dual 20" Dell 2001FP's and everything is just gorgeous and wonderful, save for one little problem.


I am running Vista Ultimate 64 with a Q6600, 4Gig RAM and an 8800GT for the Gateway and 1 Dell and a 7900GT for the other Dell. Also, I'm using the 169.09 Nvidia driver (for both vid cards).

The monitors are set up like this:

#3(Dell in portrait on 7900GT)---#1 (Gateway on 8800GT port 1)---#2 (Dell in portrait on 8800GT port 2).

Now, before I got the Gateway tonight, I was running Aero w/o problem on both Dell's. But now that I throw a 3rd monitor in the mix on a 2nd video card, monitor in the #3 spot goes haywire. It's getting a signal from the computer, but it's diagonal and completely scrambled.

I have tried "updating my score" (which is 5.7), I have tried both DVI ports on the 7900GT, I have tried switching which monitor is hooked up to 7900GT. Nothing has fixed the problem and I'm beyond frustrated now.

If anyone has encountered the same problem and/or knows of a fix of this, PLEASE let me know.

TIA.

eta: I took a screenshot to try and show what I was talking about, but in the screenshot, the monitor appears just fine.

So I took a photograph of it. Please forgive the cables etc...just set it up to get it working. Not permanent like that


One last edit here...

The 7900GT works fantastically running everything BUT the Aero Theme. Grrrrrrrrr.

 

[seemingly random]

Start with the basics. Remove one card and try all monitors in question on it - individually and in dual mode. If all work, then swap cards and repeat. Then try both cards.

I would run the big monitor on 8800gt by itself.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Start with the basics. Remove one card and try all monitors in question on it - individually and in dual mode. If all work, then swap cards and repeat. Then try both cards.

I would run the big monitor on 8800gt by itself.

I tried running the big monitor on the 8800GT by itself, but that's when this problem first surfaced.

Thank you for the advice though. Anyone/anything else? Please?

 

[seemingly random]

Has the Gateway ever worked correctly in any configuration? I assume that both cards are dual-link capable and there is a dual-link cable. I'm not sure if the cable that came with the 2001fp was dual-link.

I see that the current nvidia website 8800gt driver for vista64 is 169.02. I assume you got the 169.04 with the card. There's a 169.09 beta which may or may not help.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Has the Gateway ever worked correctly in any configuration? I assume that both cards are dual-link capable and there is a dual-link cable. I'm not sure if the cable that came with the 2001fp was dual-link.

I see that the current nvidia website 8800gt driver for vista64 is 169.02. I assume you got the 169.04 with the card. There's a 169.09 beta which may or may not help.

The Gateway is perfectly fine and displays Aero w/o problem. It's one of the side Dell 2001FP monitors.

And the 2001's both have DVI single link cables. Is that my problem? Any way to test this out w/o buying 2 new DVI Dual Link cables?

The Gateway obviously has a Dual link cable though...but single for the side monitors.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Nope...


Tried a DVI-Dual Link cable on the 7900GT hooked up to one of the 2001FP's and the same problem came up. So it's not a cable issue.

Other ideas?

 

[seemingly random]

Ok, I thought there was a problem with the Gateway - glad there's not. And good that a possible cable problem has been eliminated.

I assume the current configuration is:

8800gt: Gateway
7900gt: 2x2001fp
And the current problem is that one of the 2001fp's is not right.

I assume that if the 2001fp that's not right is removed then everything is working. First I'd switch 2001fp just to verify that they're both ok. Next, I'd try attaching just one on the other port on the 7900gt.

What happens if the two 2001fp are attached to the 7900gt and nothing is attached to the 8800gt?

I'd also verify that the sli feature is not getting in the way in the driver configuration.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Ok, I thought there was a problem with the Gateway - glad there's not. And good that a possible cable problem has been eliminated.

I assume the current configuration is:

8800gt: Gateway
7900gt: 2x2001fp
And the current problem is that one of the 2001fp's is not right.

Correct

I assume that if the 2001fp that's not right is removed then everything is working. First I'd switch 2001fp just to verify that they're both ok. Next, I'd try attaching just one on the other port on the 7900gt.

Swapped them and the problem appears to be on DVI port #1 on the 7900GT. If I just run one of the 2001's in port #2 and the Gateway on the 8800GT, Aero works on those two monitors.

What happens if the two 2001fp are attached to the 7900gt and nothing is attached to the 8800gt?

In that case, DVI port 1 is still messed up even w/ the Gateway in Port 1. I also tried just running Gateway and a 2001 on the 8800GT and a 2001 on Port 2 of the 7900GT and everything works perfect.

I'd also verify that the sli feature is not getting in the way in the driver configuration.
How do you check that?

Now, I'm going to reboot and make sure that the problem does NOT come back. Either way, I'll report back what happened after a normal reboot.

BTW, whether this fixes it or not, I really appreciate you trying to help.

 

[seemingly random]

Don't know anything about sli but once had a 2x monitor setup problem on a 7600gt and the driver ui reported that it was configured for sli. Could not figure how to disable it and ended up removing/reinstalling the driver and all was good - this was over a year ago so don't remember if the reinstalled driver was a newer version.

Has the 7900gt been used with two monitors in the past? if so what's changed? different driver or monitors? This setup 'should' work in any configuration that you choose. Will the 2x2001fp's work on the 7900gt with the 8800gt removed? And just for completeness, do the 2x2001fp's work on the 8800gt by itself?

6 months ago, I installed a 8800gtx and a 8600gt in a vista32 pc unsuccessfully - haven't attempted it again with updated drivers.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Don't know anything about sli but once had a 2x monitor setup problem on a 7600gt and the driver ui reported that it was configured for sli. Could not figure how to disable it and ended up removing/reinstalling the driver and all was good - this was over a year ago so don't remember if the reinstalled driver was a newer version.

Has the 7900gt been used with two monitors in the past? if so what's changed? different driver or monitors? This setup 'should' work in any configuration that you choose. Will the 2x2001fp's work on the 7900gt with the 8800gt removed? And just for completeness, do the 2x2001fp's work on the 8800gt by itself?

6 months ago, I installed a 8800gtx and a 8600gt in a vista32 pc unsuccessfully - haven't attempted it again with updated drivers.

Well this is beyond frustrating...

Once I rebooted, my little display gremlin came back. It was in Aero before I rebooted and it worked. Once I rebooted, the diagonal lines came back upon reboot.

Now, here's the weird thing. It's not the physical DVI port #1 on the 7900GT. It appears that if port #1 is not used and #2 is, upon rebooting, it, software wise, becomes port #1 and the gremlin surfaces.

But if I manually swap the cables around and have whichever the computer thinks is port 1 on the 7900GT empty, I can get Aero to work using both 8800GT ports and whichever port on the 7900GT that is was NOT used upon the last reboot.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

 

[SirFelixCat]

And I have already tried uninstalling/reinstalling the driver....

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: SirFelixCat
But if I manually swap the cables around and have whichever the computer thinks is port 1 on the 7900GT empty, I can get Aero to work using both 8800GT ports and whichever port on the 7900GT that is was NOT used upon the last reboot.

That's convenient ... I don't remember that procedure described in the driver manual.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: SirFelixCat
But if I manually swap the cables around and have whichever the computer thinks is port 1 on the 7900GT empty, I can get Aero to work using both 8800GT ports and whichever port on the 7900GT that is was NOT used upon the last reboot.

That's convenient ... I don't remember that procedure described in the driver manual.

Tell me about it.

This is the ONLY issue I have/had with Vista 64.

Well this and a weird thing where if I have my headphones plugged into the from case port and the Gateway's speaker bar into my X-Fi Xtrememusic sound card in back at boot up, Itunes plays in the headphones, as does all "computer" sounds, but WMP plays thru the speaker bar?!?


Any other ideas?

This is a video driver issue I'm thinking, no?

 

[seemingly random]

I assume that the 8800gt is in the first slot. What happens if the two cards are swapped?

And what about testing with just one card in the pc?

 

[seemingly random]

If the testing with just one card + 2x2001fp is successful then I would lean towards a driver problem. Did you download the beta?

 

[seemingly random]

I usually keep a hammer and a large magnet nearby to whip uncooperative h/w into shape - j/k.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
I usually keep a hammer and a large magnet nearby to whip uncooperative h/w into shape - j/k.

Don't tempt me. And I HAVE to run the beta driver...

It's the only one that supports the 8800GT & 7900GT (have to use the same driver).

 

[seemingly random]

In the first post, 169.04 is mentioned. 169.09 is the version on the website.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
In the first post, 169.04 is mentioned. 169.09 is the version on the website.

D'oh...type in first post...i'll correct it now.

 

[seemingly random]

Well, I don't know what to do at this point. If all the tests we've mentioned have been tried, then it does indeed look like a driver problem. It would be semi-interesting to see if the problem exists with identical cards. While waiting for a new driver to be released, I'd start checking forums (nvidia?) for similar experiences.

 

[SirFelixCat]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Well, I don't know what to do at this point. If all the tests we've mentioned have been tried, then it does indeed look like a driver problem. It would be semi-interesting to see if the problem exists with identical cards. While waiting for a new driver to be released, I'd start checking forums (nvidia?) for similar experiences.

I tried already. Nothing pops up as close. I can't be the only one having this problem, right?

C'est la vie. Basically no Aero for me and I'll have to deal w/ the diagonal distortion when the screen saver pops up too. *sigh*

Thanks again for all the help. I'll update this post if/when this gets fixed.

 

[SirFelixCat]

As promised to update this...it looks like I have found something here.

Per This thread, the 7900GT itself and its clock is the culprit.

Not, I have ZERO clue how to OC the slave video card, since nTune only displays the 8800GT as available to overclock.

So it's either buy a 8600GT for the secondary video card, or figure out how to OC this one.

Help?

 

[SirFelixCat]

Well, it's official...


I replaced the 7900GT w/ an 8600 last night and boom, all problems are now fixed!!!

Thanks again, seemingly random, for all the help.

God I'm glad this damn thing is fixed!

 

[seemingly random]

Great. So I guess this rules out a vista problem. It would still be interesting to see if future nvidia drivers fix the 7900gt problem. Assuming that the 7900gt is faster than the 8600[gt?], it would also be interesting to see if there is a difference in non-gaming usage. The 8600 will use less power and therefore generate less heat.

Now you can get on with fine-tuning this beast.