DVI, HDTV, and Graphics boards issues

[mterzich]

I have two high definition TVs, a Sharp 45" LCD and a Sony 34" CRT that I tried to connect the computer to using the DVI connection on the Graphics board.

I was only using the Sony to check if any problems that I saw with the Sharp TV was reproducable on the Sony. I used a DVI to HDMI cable since the Sony only has HDMI and my DVI on the Sharp is currently in the shop being repaired. I installed a VGA montor on the VGA port and the TV on the DVI port. I'm not a gamer so board speed was not an issue.

I tried the following boards.

Chaintech Volari V3. Boot up screen (screens prior to graphics driver loading) were mostly correct except one screen indicated an incompatible signal. Once the graphics driver was loaded, the only selectable screen was 640x480. When I disconnected the VGA port and rebooted, the Sony came up in 640x480 but the Sharp came up in 320x200.

Visiontech Xtasy ATI Radeon 9250. No screens were displayed during the boot process and once the graphics driver was loaded, the only selectable screens were 720x480 or less.

ATI Radeon 9800 XT. Got 3 incompatible signal messages during boot process with no screens displaying. After the driver loaded, neither the TV or the VGA monitor displayed any screens (VGA monitor went into standby). I then removed the DVI cable and rebotted the system on the VGA monitor which worked perfectly OK. I then set the screen resolution to 640x480, connected the DVI cable, and told the driver to search for monitors. The VGA monitor then went into standby mode and nothing was displayed on either monitor.

Diamond Stealth S90 GeForce FX 5200. During the boot process, no message appeared on the TV connected to the DVI port. However once the graphics driver loaded, each of the TVs were able to display resolutions up to 1920x1080 either working alone or with the VGA monitor attached. Naturally the Sony display edthe screens badly.

I've used the DVI port on the Diamond board to attach to my computer LCD display without problems including the boot up process.

The Diamond board works perfectly with High Definition TVs except for the boot up screens.

What is the incompatability between High Defintion TVs and Graphics boards during boot up?

Why do all of those different Graphics boards act differently with High Definition TVs (the Sony and Sharp acted exactly the same for all boards except the Chaintech board)?

Mike

[Google]

[[KoG]^weaZel]

hhmmm that is very odd and maybe related to the way the TV interacts with the video cards.
I have been running a 5950 with a Samsung DLP TV using the DVI cable with no problems during boot or any other time.

In the TV manuals does it say what resolutions are used when using the DVI or HDMI input?
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[fussnfeathers]

Well, to get one thing straight from the beginning. To a computer vid card, there's no difference between a regular TV and an HDTV. TV sets, no matter the type, don't send info to the vid card like a computer monitor does, so you have to set everything manually.

Now that that's out of the way.......

Starting with the Chaintech card. I assume you're running XP with SP2. If that's the case, you need to go here http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/Download/dl_desc.asp?DCSNo=5&PISNo=308
and download the latest driver. Wouldn't hurt to give them a call, to make sure it's SP2 compatible.

Do the same with your 9250. Personally, I would go directly to ATI for drivers for that card, they tend to work better than VisionTek's own drivers.

For the 9800, again, go to ATI's site, but the driver should be the same as the 9250. The fact that it stops displaying on either monitor with the DVI connected tells me it's either a bad/outdated driver, or possibly a bad card.

In any case, BE SURE TO REMOVE all old drivers. Incompatibility between nVidia and ATI drivers loaded at the same time can cause a bunch of problems. Half of your problem is most likely caused by having both nVidia and ATI drivers installed.
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[mterzich]

First of all, I was using a dual bot system. One OS is Windows 2000 professional and the other is Windows 2000 Server. Both systems have all the updates from Microsoft Update installed (Sp4). Secondly all graphics drivers were removed before installing andother card. When using each card, I went to each of the sites and and downloaded the latest driver.

I used Moninfo to check the resolutions and tried to use Powerstrip without success. I've returned two of the boards and only currently have the Chaintech card (not worth returning since I purchased it over the internet for $19) and the Diamond card which works fine except the boot up screens.

Since the Diamond card does not fail once the driver is loaded, whose responsibility is it to make sure that the screens that are being selected (resolution and frequency) are compatile with the display during boot up (the motherboard ROM, the graphics board, or the preloaded OS)?

What is interesting is that the Sharp sometimes displays in the right hand corner which screen is selected and one of the the boards changed the screens from 640x400 60 Hz to 640x480 60 Hz to 640x480 70 Hz during the boot up process.

[racing87stang]

I have the same sorta setup. But I have a 7800GT thats HD capable so Its no worries, Maybe thats the issue as well. I thought the only real difference between the HDTV and normal tv was resolution.
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[fussnfeathers]

Ahh.....ok, that might be your problem there. Win 2K is not a really good multimedia OS, the drivers for it do not support HDTV, and only has limited support for DVI. SP4 should support it, but it's touch and go, since 2K was primarily designed as a server/workstation, and not as an all-inclusive OS. Contact the vid card makers to find out which drivers they have offer W2K DVI support.
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