Why doesn't my DVI cable fit into my motherboard DVI port? (A guide, with pics)

[VirtualLarry]

I'm posting this thread so that future inquiries of this type might be able to figure out what's up.

I also took some pictures.

Someone had an FM1 ITX board with a DVI port, and a DVI monitor, and a DVI cable. And they wouldn't work together.

Well, as it turns out, there are different types of DVI ports and cables.

Here's a good reference site:
http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html

The most common, are DVI-I ports on video cards, and on motherboards that have both VGA, DVI, and HDMI, the DVI port is usually DVI-D.

Well, if you are using a DVI-I cable, it WILL NOT plug into a DVI-D port without an adaptor.

This is because the DVI-I cable has four pins around the "blade" for the analog video signals, and the DVI-D connector on the motherboard lacks those sockets and signals, so you can't plug it in.

You must use a DVI-D cable (more common) to plug into a DVI-D connector on a mobo.
You can also plug a DVI-D cable into a DVI-I port.

Here's some pictures:
1) Mobo with DVI-D port. Note no sockets around the "blade" part of the connector.

2) Video card with DVI-I port. Note the sockets around the "blade" part of the connector.

3) DVI-D single-link cable. Note the lack of pins around the "blade".

Sorry, I don't own a DVI-I cable to show you a picture of.

 

[Rackmountsales]

Your port will probably be female thus you'll need to get a male DVI-D cable. If your port is male then get the female DVI-D. A female port will have just the holes, ready to be plugged into. A male port will have just the pins, ready to plug into something - Lol! Getting a little explicit here, if your monitor looks blank after you've connected the cables, you probably need to click something in your display/screen resolution properties window. For example in windows 7, I had to click "Detect" in the screen resolution properties windows, before my extended monitor showed up. I hope this helps.

 

[SonicIce]

u can prolly break the pins off the cable

 

[Modelworks]

u can prolly break the pins off the cable

Yep, done it several times.

 

[videogames101]

is it the housing thats interfering?