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DVI unusable in Vista. Halp?
RoundBoy
Registered User regular
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So, its apparently a common problem, but I can't find a fix.
I replaced my ATI 1950pro with a shiny new 4870 card. Its connected to my Samsung 20" monitor via DVI. It boots fine and shows me a post screen, but when I get to the "Choose a user screen", i bet nothing but black.
Black as in the monitor acts like there is nothing on the other end of the cable. The computer is fine, but no image. This only happens with the latest Catalyst drivers installed, as the 'stock' vga drivers work fine.
Its it ATI? I see reports of this with Nvidia cards too
Is it Vista? Some people with XP have this problem too.(although nothing recent). I am forced to use a DVI --> VGA adaptor. What are my options here? The card works fine, but its BS i need to use VGA. Should I push to return it (go go gadget awesome Newegg policy) ?
I replaced my ATI 1950pro with a shiny new 4870 card. Its connected to my Samsung 20" monitor via DVI. It boots fine and shows me a post screen, but when I get to the "Choose a user screen", i bet nothing but black.
Black as in the monitor acts like there is nothing on the other end of the cable. The computer is fine, but no image. This only happens with the latest Catalyst drivers installed, as the 'stock' vga drivers work fine.
Its it ATI? I see reports of this with Nvidia cards too
Is it Vista? Some people with XP have this problem too.(although nothing recent). I am forced to use a DVI --> VGA adaptor. What are my options here? The card works fine, but its BS i need to use VGA. Should I push to return it (go go gadget awesome Newegg policy) ?
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all the 'fixes' people report are shown to fail. The lack of aknowledgement from ATI / NVIDIA / Microsoft and the lack of the ability to open a ticket has me more frustrated.
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I haven't even tried to see if the same thing will happen with Win7. I'll have to check. I have a 4870 as well.
If they don't give you any help then I would say return it.
I have to personal experience with them , but I've heard positive things about Omega drivers. http://www.omegadrivers.net/. They might solve your problem.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Windows 7 also has the same issue (its using the vista drivers?)
The issue is apparently that vista likes to set a default resolution / refresh rate / voodoo? value that the monitor can't handle. It just neglects to detect the proper one. People have claimed fixes (the most promising ones) using the ASUS or the sapphire based ati drivers.
And if you can't use the drivers for the card... then what is the point of having the card? A higher end card using default vga drivers is pretty slow.. no ?
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Windows 7 does use the Vista drivers in most cases as of now.
Can you boot in safe mode and then load the catalyst control panel and make changes?
Using a higher end card with default drivers is pretty slow, but supposedly those Omega drivers are as good as the ATI drivers.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Luckily LogMeIn was installed, which unlike Remote Desktop, lets you change settings on the computer as if you were sitting in front of it. I used this to change the resolution.
This might seem like a lot of work and it really does sound like a dumb problem, but it should work if Windows/Catalyst has say the refresh rate set too high.
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The monitors (read only) EDID info might be corrupted .. so Vista / ati is using default info, which seems to want to put my monitor into a mode it can't handle. And with modern monitors, if the monitor can't handle the timing or resolution, it just shuts itself off.
i need to somehow write this new EDID info. Since any settings changes will only persist until reboot. logmein seems useful here.
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My solution? Use a VGA cable w/ a DVI adapter. Most monitors have a VGA and a DVI port so that's what I'm doing until they fix this stupid driver nonsense. I even tried downloading the monitor driver information from my monitor vendor's site to correct this, but they apparently don't have a signed vista64 bit driver yet.
Only the registered version. And I think even then there are some monitors that forbid it. I did find a way to get my Samsung into a service mode that allows EDID writing. I just need a good EDID to write, hopefully I can pull it from my registry.
This is what i am doing now, and its not a solution I am happy with. VGA looks like crap compared to pure digital input (on my monitor). I just don't know who to blame here. ATI / VISTA /Random power surge while adding the new card? it seems to have happend for YEARS across xp / vista and ati/Nvida.
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I have Vista Ultimate 64-bit, and a 22" DVI hooked up LCD w/ an ATI HD 4850 and I haven't had this problem once booting up. First I've heard of it, but then again I haven't had it happen so I never looked.
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Its not a vista/xp 32/64 bit thing, its not an ati/nvidia thing.
Every monitor has this read only memory internal to it which is like 7 lines of hex code that details the serial number, manufacture date, etc. The most important coded value is the supported resolution and refresh rate.
Through sunspots / static electricity / gnomes / SOMETHING, mine (and others like me) had theirs corrupted. Now, some were the lucky ones, and only had the locally cached registry version borked. So a switcheroo of the cables at various times during bootup would force a pull of the good info, fixing the problem.
Why is there even a problem? because its a combination of monitors getting smarter by not allowing crazy refresh rates, and in fact shutting off the signal, and modern video card drivers allowing only a strict interpitation of the EDID data.
If your data is funky, it tries to set a funky value, and the monitor sees this funky value, exclaims funk that, and shuts off the signal. MOST people have a working VGA profile, so that is why we can see anything via VGA ports, and not DVI.
The fix is either I pay $30 to powerstrip to be able to write some EDID string, or I find a way to remotely set resolution and refresh rates while only the dvi cable is plugged in.
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