60Hz hell

[youcangetbver]

I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. I am running a dual monitor setup. For
some reason I cannot get second monitor (Viewsonic g70m) to go above
60hz. I did however have it above 60hz once when I first pluged it in
(at least I think so).

Basically the software (windows display properties and the ati control
panel) give options to change the monitor to rates other than 60hz
(75hz, 80hz, 85hz etc). When I choose a higher refresh rate the
software says it has been changed, but the monitor itself does not
change refresh rate. I am one of those people that can see 60hz and it
bugs my eyes. In addition the monitor has an on screen display that
shows me what it's running at and it never reads move than 60hz no
matter what the software says it's set at.

I have tried re-installing drivers many times (using different versions
and even the "hacked" omega drivers). I have also tried uninstalling
and reinstalling the drivers for the monitor... nothing has helped. I
know it has to be software related because I swear I had the monitor at
more than 60hz right at the start before I installed the monitors
drivers... that's when this happened i think.

I have another secondary monitor before that one and it would not go
above 60hz either.

 

[Oenone]

I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. I am running a dual monitor setup.
For some reason I cannot get second monitor (Viewsonic g70m) to go
above 60hz. [...]
Basically the software (windows display properties and the ati control
panel) give options to change the monitor to rates other than 60hz
(75hz, 80hz, 85hz etc). When I choose a higher refresh rate the
software says it has been changed, but the monitor itself does not
change refresh rate.

I've had this problem with every ATI card I've owned too.

I've always solved it by going into the Advanced Display Properties and
selecting the ATI Displays tab. Here you should be able to set the Maximum
Refresh -- set this to whatever you want. Then go back to the Monitor tab
and set the refresh rate there too. That's always cured it for me.

HTH,

 

[youcangetbver]

Well holy crap as if that isn't the dumbest setting I've ever seen!
Worked great though, thank you so much! I was getting ready to pull my
hair out!

I owe you big time!

 

[Paul Goodhew]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in message

Well holy crap as if that isn't the dumbest setting I've ever seen!
Worked great though, thank you so much! I was getting ready to pull my
hair out!

I owe you big time!

a warm and fuzzy newsgroup moment. If only all problems could be solved like
that eh!

 

[youcangetbver]

Now that the first issues is fixed I have another question.

I have 3 devices connected to my 970. A 19inch monitor, a 17 inch, and
a tv (to the tv out port).

Well a few questions I guess.

1. Can you use all 3 devices at once? So far I have only been able to
enable either both monitors at once or 1 monitor and the tv at once.

2. Can I specifically tell the software which monitor to use when
having 1 monitor on at the same time as the tv? Example: When turing
on 1 monitor and the tv at the same time the software always forces me
to use the 17inch monitor. I would like to use the 19inch at the same
time as the tv, but it won't let me.

I go to the "Displays" tab in the ati display settings dialog and it
shows that the 19inch monitor is the primary monitor (which is
correct), but as soon as I hit the tv button to turn that on, it
automatically shuts off the 19inch and makes the 17inch the primary
with the tv being the secondary. Not matter how I click aroudn on that
screen I can never get the tv and the 19inch to be on at the same time.

I have tried switching the physical ports that the 2 monitors are
plugged into (currently the 19inch is in the dvi spot and the 17inch is
in the normal plug), but the 17inch does not seem to like the dvi-vga
adapter.. it just gives green lines etc when attached to it. SO
unfortunatley I am stuck with having the 19inch plugged into the dvi
spot (while using the dvi-vga adapter) and having the 17inch plugged
into the normal spot.

Any way around my issue?

 

[First of One]

1. Can you use all 3 devices at once? So far I have only been able to
enable either both monitors at once or 1 monitor and the tv at once.

Have you tried ATi's Hydravision utility? Grab it off ati.com, should be
next to the driver download links.

2. Can I specifically tell the software which monitor to use when
having 1 monitor on at the same time as the tv? Example: When turing
on 1 monitor and the tv at the same time the software always forces me
to use the 17inch monitor. I would like to use the 19inch at the same
time as the tv, but it won't let me.

Do you have the driver INF file installed for each monitor? Try unchecking
"use DDC information" for the 17" monitor in the Displays tab. Maybe
Hydravision will take care of this, too...

If all else fails, there's a handy utility called Ultramon designed just for
this, though I think it's shareware.

 

[youcangetbver]

I tried hydravision, but it's just for things like remembering
application position, dialog repositioning, transparency etc. it has
nothign to do with controlling which monitors are turned on etc.

I also looked at the description for that Ultramon software and it only
mentioned the same sort of features as hydravision, nothing about
controlling monitor ouput... I will give it a try though I guess

I dohave the proper monitor drivers (inf) installed for both monitors
and tried to ddc too, but no difference.

 

[youcangetbver]

Yup, tried ultramon, but no go... does not give options for controlling
which monitors are on/active.

 

[Stephen Howard]

I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. I am running a dual monitor setup.
For some reason I cannot get second monitor (Viewsonic g70m) to go
above 60hz. [...]
Basically the software (windows display properties and the ati control
panel) give options to change the monitor to rates other than 60hz
(75hz, 80hz, 85hz etc). When I choose a higher refresh rate the
software says it has been changed, but the monitor itself does not
change refresh rate.

I've had this problem with every ATI card I've owned too.

I've always solved it by going into the Advanced Display Properties and
selecting the ATI Displays tab. Here you should be able to set the Maximum
Refresh -- set this to whatever you want. Then go back to the Monitor tab
and set the refresh rate there too. That's always cured it for me.

That's the reason I ditched my ATI card in favour of a Matrox
G450....and then found that that too wouldn't run the secondary
monitor higher than 60Hz in clone mode!
Mind you, it has a handy Zoom function which does almost what I want.

Question is, now that I know there's a solution to the ATI 60Hz
problem, does it allow you to specify independent resolutions in clone
mode under W98? The Matrox has a 'scaling' feature - but as my primary
monitor is a 19" at 1280x960 and my secondary is a TFT at a fixed
1024x768, the mismatch is too great and the TFT output is dreadful.

If the ATI can do clone mode at separate resolutions and refresh rates
under W98, then I'm gonna ditch the Matrox...

Regards,

 

[PhxGrunge]

Now that the first issues is fixed I have another question.

I have 3 devices connected to my 970. A 19inch monitor, a 17 inch, and
a tv (to the tv out port).

Well a few questions I guess.

1. Can you use all 3 devices at once? So far I have only been able to
enable either both monitors at once or 1 monitor and the tv at once.

2. Can I specifically tell the software which monitor to use when
having 1 monitor on at the same time as the tv? Example: When turing
on 1 monitor and the tv at the same time the software always forces me
to use the 17inch monitor. I would like to use the 19inch at the same
time as the tv, but it won't let me.

I go to the "Displays" tab in the ati display settings dialog and it
shows that the 19inch monitor is the primary monitor (which is
correct), but as soon as I hit the tv button to turn that on, it
automatically shuts off the 19inch and makes the 17inch the primary
with the tv being the secondary. Not matter how I click aroudn on that
screen I can never get the tv and the 19inch to be on at the same time.

I have tried switching the physical ports that the 2 monitors are
plugged into (currently the 19inch is in the dvi spot and the 17inch is
in the normal plug), but the 17inch does not seem to like the dvi-vga
adapter.. it just gives green lines etc when attached to it. SO
unfortunatley I am stuck with having the 19inch plugged into the dvi
spot (while using the dvi-vga adapter) and having the 17inch plugged
into the normal spot.

Any way around my issue?

Answer to 1: no, the card can only output on the primary connector - VGA -
PLUS one of either the TV out or the secondary monitor output.

2: no software workaround for this - the card only has two ramdac's for
output, the primary VGA is always available plus one secondary

The drivers will let you change which output you would like as the primary
display, but only two at a time and one must be the VGA output.

 

[youcangetbver]

I took some screenshots of my software setup.
http://digitaloxygen.ca/img/ati/

The default dual monitor setup can be seen here in
http://digitaloxygen.ca/img/ati/1.jpg

Even though my 19inch monitor is the primary monitor in both the
windows software and the ati software as soon as I try to turn on the
tv it disables the 19inch and only leaves the 17inch enabled and the
tv. http://digitaloxygen.ca/img/ati/2.jpg

I have tried disabling the 17 inch in the windows software too so only
the 19inch and left (http://digitaloxygen.ca/img/ati/3.jpg) and then
turning on the tv, but if only the 19inch is enabled to start with and
I press the tv button it just turns the tv on and turns off the 19inch.
(http://digitaloxygen.ca/img/ati/4.jpg). Of course if I enable the
17inch then it will let me run the 17 and the tv, which of course is
not what I want.

It will still only allow me to have the 17inch and the tv on at the
same time... not the 19inch and the tv at the same time.

 

[mangyrat]

just swap the monitor connecters for the 17 and the 19 then set them up
again. what's going on is the 19 inch and the TV are using the same dac or
what ever its called. so if you swap the plugs it will now share with the
17.

as for ultramon its a great program check out setting up different profiles
and making short cuts to them one click and you can change setups.

 

[Adam Parkin]

I've had this problem with every ATI card I've owned too.

I've always solved it by going into the Advanced Display Properties and
selecting the ATI Displays tab. Here you should be able to set the Maximum
Refresh -- set this to whatever you want. Then go back to the Monitor tab
and set the refresh rate there too. That's always cured it for me.

Actually it depends on your monitor I think as when I had my (older)
Viewsonic PF775 I had this problem, but once I switched to my (newer)
Viewsonic G810 the problem disappeared and the card (Radeon 8500) detected
and set a decent refresh rate automatically.

 

[youcangetbver]

mangyrat, thanks for the tip. I had tried that ealier, but
unfortunately for some reason my 17inch just sort of flips when I have
it connected to the DVI connecter (19inch is currently there). It's
weird because the 17inch is a newer model... only a few years old I
think.

Looks like I might be stuck with this right now until I can get the
17inch working on the dvi connector. bummer.

 

[youcangetbver]

Not that you guys haven't read enough from me, but I have resolved
nearly everything with this issue.

Check this out. When I have my 17 plugged into the vga port and the 19
plugged into the dvi port. every thing is fine and dandy except i can't
actually get the 19 and the tv running at once because they're using
the same "ramdac". So when I try to swap cables between the 17 and 19
(thus having the 19 in the regular vga port and the 17 in the dvi) it
works fine at the start... BUT as soon as I either reboot or switch the
17 off, then try to switch it on again... the ati software no longer
tells me i have a second monitor plugged in, but rather a ypbpr device
plugged in.... and no matter what I do I can't get the 17 to detect as
a monitor again until i switch the cables back and reboot etc... then
the cycle starts over again...

vga => 17 & dvi =>19 = fine
switch cables, therefore vga => 19 & dvi =>17 = fine... UNTIL i reboot
or shut off the 17 and turn it on again... then the software sees 17 as
ypbpr.... freak!

 

[Danny Greaves]

Not that you guys haven't read enough from me, but I have resolved
nearly everything with this issue.

Check this out. When I have my 17 plugged into the vga port and the 19
plugged into the dvi port. every thing is fine and dandy except i can't
actually get the 19 and the tv running at once because they're using
the same "ramdac". So when I try to swap cables between the 17 and 19
(thus having the 19 in the regular vga port and the 17 in the dvi) it
works fine at the start... BUT as soon as I either reboot or switch the
17 off, then try to switch it on again... the ati software no longer
tells me i have a second monitor plugged in, but rather a ypbpr device
plugged in.... and no matter what I do I can't get the 17 to detect as
a monitor again until i switch the cables back and reboot etc... then
the cycle starts over again...

vga => 17 & dvi =>19 = fine
switch cables, therefore vga => 19 & dvi =>17 = fine... UNTIL i reboot
or shut off the 17 and turn it on again... then the software sees 17 as
ypbpr.... freak!

Sorry in advance if my question is way off or whatever butt...


Is hot swapping displays a Safe and Sane thing to do these days?
Especially plugs that could be shorted to ground.