Unusual video card problem - stumped Hardforums - can YOU figure it out?

Okay, something weird is going on right now. I don't know what triggered it,
but I've been doing a lot of troubleshooting lately, before giving up and
reformatting my HD.

2407WFP-HC gets no signal on boot-up until Windows is loaded. Only then does
it turn on. The screen is connected via DVI (looks noticeably better than
VGA).

---

Troubleshooting :

When I plug a second simultaneous monitor in the video card's VGA slot (a
BenQ CRT), BOTH the CRT and the LCD display the full boot-up routine (DOS
visuals). And of course, the Windows portion.

Leave the VGA slot unplugged (with only the DVI plugged-in), and the whole
DOS boot-up routine is bypassed by the monitor again. It gets no signal
until Windows is loaded.

What gives?

PS: Oh, and I'm using an Asus EN6600GT on WinXP.

I used to have that problem with a Radeon Card............the way I fixed it
if I remember correctly was to set the DVI connection as the main device.
With the analoq and digital connection the cards properties would show the
same monitor connected twice..one analog the other digital.It was a matter
of picking the digital as the primary monitor.
peter
"Mike J.S." wrote in message
reenews.net...
Okay, something weird is going on right now. I don't know what triggered
it, but I've been doing a lot of troubleshooting lately, before giving up
and reformatting my HD.

2407WFP-HC gets no signal on boot-up until Windows is loaded. Only then
does it turn on. The screen is connected via DVI (looks noticeably better
than VGA).

---

Troubleshooting :

When I plug a second simultaneous monitor in the video card's VGA slot (a
BenQ CRT), BOTH the CRT and the LCD display the full boot-up routine (DOS
visuals). And of course, the Windows portion.

Leave the VGA slot unplugged (with only the DVI plugged-in), and the whole
DOS boot-up routine is bypassed by the monitor again. It gets no signal
until Windows is loaded.

What gives?

Where exactly do I do all this? nVidia reports only 1 monitor on my machine
(and recognizes the model name).

However, in the Windows display settings, it doesn't seem to recognize the
model of the monitor, and nothing I do to update the driver seems to work.

Can you dumb this down for me?

"peter" wrote in message
news:CyyFi.151608$rX4.56650@pd7urf2no...
I used to have that problem with a Radeon Card............the way I fixed
it if I remember correctly was to set the DVI connection as the main
device.
With the analoq and digital connection the cards properties would show the
same monitor connected twice..one analog the other digital.It was a matter
of picking the digital as the primary monitor.
peter
"Mike J.S." wrote in message
reenews.net...
Okay, something weird is going on right now. I don't know what triggered
it, but I've been doing a lot of troubleshooting lately, before giving up
and reformatting my HD.

2407WFP-HC gets no signal on boot-up until Windows is loaded. Only then
does it turn on. The screen is connected via DVI (looks noticeably better
than VGA).

---

Troubleshooting :

When I plug a second simultaneous monitor in the video card's VGA slot (a
BenQ CRT), BOTH the CRT and the LCD display the full boot-up routine (DOS
visuals). And of course, the Windows portion.

Leave the VGA slot unplugged (with only the DVI plugged-in), and the
whole DOS boot-up routine is bypassed by the monitor again. It gets no
signal until Windows is loaded.

What gives?

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:11:59 -0400, "Mike J.S." wrote:

Where exactly do I do all this? nVidia reports only 1 monitor on my machine
(and recognizes the model name).

However, in the Windows display settings, it doesn't seem to recognize the
model of the monitor, and nothing I do to update the driver seems to work.

Can you dumb this down for me?

I think peter is talking about a bios setting. It usually reads
something along the line of "Init display first" or something. and
will generally give you a choice between a PCI card or an AGP/PCIe
card. Although TBH I've never seen that have much of an effect on
anything.

Anyway, since you're not seeing the bios/boot-up info then it's
unlikely it's a Windows or OS related problem. Does it work OK when
you plug your primary monitor into the VGA connector instead of the
DVI? Are you using a converter to get DVI or does your monitor have a
factory DVI cable?

"peter" wrote in message
news:CyyFi.151608$rX4.56650@pd7urf2no...
I used to have that problem with a Radeon Card............the way I fixed
it if I remember correctly was to set the DVI connection as the main
device.
With the analoq and digital connection the cards properties would show the
same monitor connected twice..one analog the other digital.It was a matter
of picking the digital as the primary monitor.
peter
"Mike J.S." wrote in message
reenews.net...
Okay, something weird is going on right now. I don't know what triggered
it, but I've been doing a lot of troubleshooting lately, before giving up
and reformatting my HD.

2407WFP-HC gets no signal on boot-up until Windows is loaded. Only then
does it turn on. The screen is connected via DVI (looks noticeably better
than VGA).

---

Troubleshooting :

When I plug a second simultaneous monitor in the video card's VGA slot (a
BenQ CRT), BOTH the CRT and the LCD display the full boot-up routine (DOS
visuals). And of course, the Windows portion.

Leave the VGA slot unplugged (with only the DVI plugged-in), and the
whole DOS boot-up routine is bypassed by the monitor again. It gets no
signal until Windows is loaded.

What gives?

"Folk" wrote in message
...

I think peter is talking about a bios setting. It usually reads
something along the line of "Init display first" or something. and
will generally give you a choice between a PCI card or an AGP/PCIe
card. Although TBH I've never seen that have much of an effect on
anything.

Wait, I think I remember seeing those settings recently, though I don't
remember changing them (could have been accidental).

What SHOULD the setting be?

here is the monitor driver
http://support.us.dell.com/support/d...&fileid=211361
after you install XP should recognize the proper monitor.

Under the Nvidea Control Panel for your 6600GT with both analog and Digital
connected it normally shows 2 displays but the same monitor.
Even right clicking an empty spot on the desktop and then
properties/settings should display 2 displays...analog and digital.
If this is not the case then its a resolution problem with the digital
connection....the boot display is too low a frequency that the digital
connection does not register it.
peter
"Mike J.S." wrote in message
reenews.net...
Where exactly do I do all this? nVidia reports only 1 monitor on my
machine (and recognizes the model name).

However, in the Windows display settings, it doesn't seem to recognize the
model of the monitor, and nothing I do to update the driver seems to work.

Can you dumb this down for me?

"peter" wrote in message
news:CyyFi.151608$rX4.56650@pd7urf2no...
I used to have that problem with a Radeon Card............the way I fixed
it if I remember correctly was to set the DVI connection as the main
device.
With the analoq and digital connection the cards properties would show
the same monitor connected twice..one analog the other digital.It was a
matter of picking the digital as the primary monitor.
peter
"Mike J.S." wrote in message
reenews.net...
Okay, something weird is going on right now. I don't know what triggered
it, but I've been doing a lot of troubleshooting lately, before giving
up and reformatting my HD.

2407WFP-HC gets no signal on boot-up until Windows is loaded. Only then
does it turn on. The screen is connected via DVI (looks noticeably
better than VGA).

---

Troubleshooting :

When I plug a second simultaneous monitor in the video card's VGA slot
(a BenQ CRT), BOTH the CRT and the LCD display the full boot-up routine
(DOS visuals). And of course, the Windows portion.

Leave the VGA slot unplugged (with only the DVI plugged-in), and the
whole DOS boot-up routine is bypassed by the monitor again. It gets no
signal until Windows is loaded.

What gives?

"peter" wrote in message
news:FdCFi.151820$rX4.49425@pd7urf2no...
here is the monitor driver
http://support.us.dell.com/support/d...&fileid=211361
after you install XP should recognize the proper monitor.

Under the Nvidea Control Panel for your 6600GT with both analog and
Digital connected it normally shows 2 displays but the same monitor.
Even right clicking an empty spot on the desktop and then
properties/settings should display 2 displays...analog and digital.
If this is not the case then its a resolution problem with the digital
connection....the boot display is too low a frequency that the digital
connection does not register it.
peter

I already had the drivers - WinXP refuses to acknowledge them as better than
the current "Plug n Play Monitor", so it won't install them.

Also, desktop properties / settings shows only 1 monitor listed (when only 1
is plugged). Two monitors will show if I plug both. I'm not sure how
plugging in a second monitor will help, so I'd go with Plan C : the boot
display is not registering with the monitor.

But why? It was until a couple of weeks ago.

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:54:15 -0400, "Mike J.S." wrote:

"Folk" wrote in message
.. .

I think peter is talking about a bios setting. It usually reads
something along the line of "Init display first" or something. and
will generally give you a choice between a PCI card or an AGP/PCIe
card. Although TBH I've never seen that have much of an effect on
anything.

Wait, I think I remember seeing those settings recently, though I don't
remember changing them (could have been accidental).

What SHOULD the setting be?

Like I said, it's doubtful that's your problem. But... the correct
setting would be whichever choice is not "PCI card". You haven't said
whether your card is AGP or PCIe. So if the choices are PCI card/AGP
then you should choose AGP.

It's more likely that it's a cable or connector problem, but you
didn't provide answers to those questions...

The general consensus is that the problem seems to just happen with certain
combinations of video cards and monitors, with no solution. It may have
something to do with the monitor's EDID info.

Most cards default to clone mode at bootup, so it explains why you see the
boot screens over DVI when the VGA port has another monitor connected. Plug
in a TV through S-video, chances are you will see the boot screen on the TV,
too.

Not a big deal, though. Just connect both VGA and DVI cables to the 2407WFP.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

"Mike J.S." wrote in message
reenews.net...
Okay, something weird is going on right now. I don't know what triggered
it, but I've been doing a lot of troubleshooting lately, before giving up
and reformatting my HD.

2407WFP-HC gets no signal on boot-up until Windows is loaded. Only then
does it turn on. The screen is connected via DVI (looks noticeably better
than VGA).

---

Troubleshooting :

When I plug a second simultaneous monitor in the video card's VGA slot (a
BenQ CRT), BOTH the CRT and the LCD display the full boot-up routine (DOS
visuals). And of course, the Windows portion.

Leave the VGA slot unplugged (with only the DVI plugged-in), and the whole
DOS boot-up routine is bypassed by the monitor again. It gets no signal
until Windows is loaded.

What gives?