4850 multiple monitor issue

[robg]

Hi all,

I've got an issue that is quite a puzzler, need some opinions on whether card is faulty or not.

My setup is Vista SP1, NForce4, Catalyst 8.9, all updates installed, LCD via DVI, HDTV via HDMI, HD4850 BIOS Version 011.004.000.000 BIOS Part Number 113-B50102-105//

Upgraded from HD3870 to HD4850, card works fine, stable when gaming, but when HDTV in display position 2, arranged to the left of display 1 is turned off/on, the LCD in position 1 goes black for several seconds & then both monitors turn on but the the display arrangement is reset and display 2 moves to the right of display 1//

Reinstalling driver does not resolve, reinstalling OS does not resolve, this issue does not reoccur when HD3870 and drivers are reinstalled//

If HDTV is put into display position 1 on card, LCD in display position 2, LCD is set to primary display & HDTV is powered off/on, primary display reverts to HDTV//

Any ideas?

Thanks, Rob

[Sasqui]

If you have a DVI to HDMI adaptor, try swapping it to the other DVI output. In theory, it shouldn't matter but worth a try.

Also, usually HDTV's have connection settings that affect how a PC will recognize it.

[robg]

Hi Sasqui,

Thanks for the reply; what you suggested was described here:
If HDTV is put into display position 1 on card, LCD in display position 2, LCD is set to primary display & HDTV is powered off/on, primary display reverts to HDTV//

When the HDTV is powered off and I check Catalyst display manager the monitor positions show correctly, as well restarting computer with both monitors running does not cause issue to occur. TV does not have any advanced HDMI configuration, and has been setup as above with various Nvidia cards & a HD3870. When I swapped the 4850 out for the 3870 issue didn’t occur, swapped 4850 back in, issue occurs again (drivers uninstalled/reinstalled during card swaps).

On the 3870 when the HDTV is turned off/on the LCD display stays active & desktop arrangement is unaffected

This doesn’t appear to be a driver problem as the Cat 8.9 do not exhibit this issue with the 3870.

It seems like when the Video card senses the connection from the HDTV on power on that it doesn’t remember it as a previously connected device & resets the desktop arrangement which causes the LCD to temporarily black out, it does however read the info from the TV & sets up the resolution properly. After the desktop comes up on the TV it works normally, no problems gaming, watching movies, displaying Explorer windows...

Thanks, Rob

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by robg

It seems like when the Video card senses the connection from the HDTV on power on that it doesn’t remember it as a previously connected device & resets the desktop arrangement

Thanks, Rob

It may indeed be something with the hardware & software... the two cards probably have different display interface hardware - it's possible you are seenign a bug that simply isn't fixed in CAT (yet).

You looked at any of the ATI forums? Check this out... http://forums.amd.com/game/messagevi...&enterthread=y

Luck.

Edit: the link above is for non-hd tv (s-video). You can see other topics here: http://forums.amd.com/game/categories.cfm?catid=260

[robg]

Thanks Sasqui,

It appears that a few folks are experiencing this issue

http://forums.amd.com/game/messagevi...&enterthread=y

Cheers,
Rob

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by robg

Thanks Sasqui,

It appears that a few folks are experiencing this issue

http://forums.amd.com/game/messagevi...&enterthread=y

Cheers,
Rob

Y/W - nice find... I just skimmed it, did you find any fixes there?

[lemonadesoda]

Consider using a 3rd party display manager. It might help save and restore desktop setups.

e.g. www.ultramon.com

[robg]

Thanks for the replies, didn't really find anything on the ATI site except that multiple people are having similar issues to mine, on the bright side though I don't have to suspend my computer to get the display up on the HDTV which is what it seems like many folks with on-board 3x series video are having to do.

One more thing I discovered the other day is that if I turn off my HDTV, and then my main monitor goes to sleep, if I turn on the HDTV before I wake up the monitors the HDTV resumes properly.

I've opened a ticket with ATI & will see the process through, the process is a bit slow as I can only reply once, upload files...until a support rep responds.

I've also found that some event logs are generated during the HDTV off/on scenario described in my original post which I will upload to ATI.

Overall I can work around the bug until a fix is found, just glad I don't appear to have a faulty card.

Cheers,
Rob