LCD Monitor problem in DVI mode

[Vic Baron]

Bought a Viewsonic 2230WM to go with my Viewsonix 19" LCD. Installed
same.Connected the 19" to analog and the 22" to DVI using dvi-dvi cable
Followed the procedure to clean out old drivers, install new drivers. System
booted at 1280x1024 - set monitor to native resolution 1680x1050x60hz and
click apply - black screen - message "No digital signal" - screen comes back
at 1280x1024. Tried several different versions of drivers including tweaked
from tweaksrus and WHQL from NVidia. Replaced monitor - same issue. Was able
to get to 1680x1050 using the 96.89 drivers but when I reboot the system -
MOST of the time it comes up with a black screen - sometimes I can hit a few
keys and it will trigger the display otherwise I reboot.

It looks great in analog mode but I'd sure like to get the DVI output
working.

Is the problem the video card or the driver or just a mismatch between the
two? I have an old Geforce 6800 that I could swap in but not sure what that
would tell me.

Appreciate any insights. Oh - videocard is not o'clocked and temps are well
below threshold.

 

[Noozer]

Bought a Viewsonic 2230WM to go with my Viewsonix 19" LCD. Installed
same.Connected the 19" to analog and the 22" to DVI using dvi-dvi cable
Followed the procedure to clean out old drivers, install new drivers.
System booted at 1280x1024 - set monitor to native resolution
1680x1050x60hz and click apply - black screen - message "No digital
signal"

Have you tried other refresh rates?

 

[Vic Baron]

Have you tried other refresh rates?

Only one "allowed". Also is the recommended one from Viewsonic.

 

[Ken Maltby]

Bought a Viewsonic 2230WM to go with my Viewsonix 19" LCD. Installed
same.Connected the 19" to analog and the 22" to DVI using dvi-dvi cable
Followed the procedure to clean out old drivers, install new drivers.
System booted at 1280x1024 - set monitor to native resolution
1680x1050x60hz and click apply - black screen - message "No digital
signal" - screen comes back at 1280x1024. Tried several different versions
of drivers including tweaked from tweaksrus and WHQL from NVidia. Replaced
monitor - same issue. Was able to get to 1680x1050 using the 96.89 drivers
but when I reboot the system - MOST of the time it comes up with a black
screen - sometimes I can hit a few keys and it will trigger the display
otherwise I reboot.

It looks great in analog mode but I'd sure like to get the DVI output
working.

Is the problem the video card or the driver or just a mismatch between the
two? I have an old Geforce 6800 that I could swap in but not sure what
that would tell me.

Appreciate any insights. Oh - videocard is not o'clocked and temps are
well below threshold.

Have you tried it with just the DVI monitor connection
and just that monitor? (ie. No 19" analog monitor
connected)

Cold boot between the changes.

Luck;
Ken

P.S. Be sure you have the right flavor of DVI
connectors on the cable. A DVI-I cable is
supposed to have all the DVI connectors/pins,
both digital and analog. There are DVI-D and
DVI-A connectors as well.

 

[Paul]

Bought a Viewsonic 2230WM to go with my Viewsonix 19" LCD. Installed
same.Connected the 19" to analog and the 22" to DVI using dvi-dvi cable
Followed the procedure to clean out old drivers, install new drivers. System
booted at 1280x1024 - set monitor to native resolution 1680x1050x60hz and
click apply - black screen - message "No digital signal" - screen comes back
at 1280x1024. Tried several different versions of drivers including tweaked
from tweaksrus and WHQL from NVidia. Replaced monitor - same issue. Was able
to get to 1680x1050 using the 96.89 drivers but when I reboot the system -
MOST of the time it comes up with a black screen - sometimes I can hit a few
keys and it will trigger the display otherwise I reboot.

It looks great in analog mode but I'd sure like to get the DVI output
working.

Is the problem the video card or the driver or just a mismatch between the
two? I have an old Geforce 6800 that I could swap in but not sure what that
would tell me.

Appreciate any insights. Oh - videocard is not o'clocked and temps are well
below threshold.

Nvidia has user manuals on their FTP site. For example:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/91.33/91.33_ForceWare_nView_User_Guide.pdf

Someone attempting to do something similar to you:

"FX5200 resolution issue with 2 widescreen monitors"
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=19854

They make reference in that thread, to an "external TMDS" chip.
It seems to be an enabler, for some of the cards, to be allowed
to set a custom resolution. In the following article, the main
benefit of an external TMDS, seems to be a better quality signal.
So it is still not clear to me, why the older cards deny custom
settings, if the external TMDS is missing. Or for that matter,
whether more recent cards (7 series) remove the dependence entirely.
If it was a signal quality issue, it should be up to the customer to
decide whether they want to use the digital option or not (i.e.
if they select a custom resolution, and they see "snow" in the
picture, they can switch back to analog).

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2004/11/29/the_tft_connection/index.html

Paul

 

[Vic Baron]

Have you tried it with just the DVI monitor connection
and just that monitor? (ie. No 19" analog monitor
connected)

Cold boot between the changes.

Luck;
Ken

P.S. Be sure you have the right flavor of DVI
connectors on the cable. A DVI-I cable is
supposed to have all the DVI connectors/pins,
both digital and analog. There are DVI-D and
DVI-A connectors as well.

I'm using the DVI connector that came with the monitor. I do have another
altho they both look the same. You might be on to something with the single
monitor connection though. Tried that last night and when I booted all was
well! Monitor came up in 1680x150 digital. Had both monitors running all
evening. Shut down and tried again an hour later - - black screen.

I can live with analog in this setup but my MAIN concern is that I plan on
buying an 8800 and I'll be really pissed if I spend $500 on a vid card and
the digital mode doesn't work.From all the reading I've been doing on this,
I get the impression that it's a hit or miss proposition and no one seems to
have a definitive fix. What works for one doesn't for the other etc.

Thanx,

Vic

 

[Vic Baron]

Nvidia has user manuals on their FTP site. For example:
ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/91.33/91.33_ForceWare_nView_User_Guide.pdf

Someone attempting to do something similar to you:

"FX5200 resolution issue with 2 widescreen monitors"
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=19854

They make reference in that thread, to an "external TMDS" chip.
It seems to be an enabler, for some of the cards, to be allowed
to set a custom resolution. In the following article, the main
benefit of an external TMDS, seems to be a better quality signal.
So it is still not clear to me, why the older cards deny custom
settings, if the external TMDS is missing. Or for that matter,
whether more recent cards (7 series) remove the dependence entirely.
If it was a signal quality issue, it should be up to the customer to
decide whether they want to use the digital option or not (i.e.
if they select a custom resolution, and they see "snow" in the
picture, they can switch back to analog).

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2004/11/29/the_tft_connection/index.html

Paul

Interesting thread - gave me some things to try.

thanx,

Vic

 

[Vic Baron]

Finally got it resolved - system has been stable for 3 days.

This link priveded by Paul
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=19854

suggested changing the timing in the driver through the properties section -
for whatever reason, it worked.

Thanx to all!

Vic