New Eyefinity set up not working

[goalcam]

Hello! I'm new to the forum. :)

I have three Acer X223w monitors with two HIS 5770s in CrossfireX mode, but I'm not able to get the DisplayPort to work. I've tried two separate active DisplayPort to DVI adapters (one PowerColor and one HIS) without any success. The adapters are recognized in Windows 7 as being plugged in, but are stuck as 'Generic Non-PnP Monitor' with the resolution drop down box grayed out at 640x480. The monitor plugged in always shows No Signal and turns itself off. It recognizes that it's plugged into something, but the powersaving mode kicks in. I've tried swapping the monitors and cables around, so I don't think those are the issue either. Additionally, I don't see any picture on the monitor in question at the POST screen.

I just finished RMAing my video cards with HIS, and I'm still experiencing the same issues with the new cards, whether in CrossfireX mode or not. Does anyone have any ideas? Could I be missing something simple here? :(

Edit: motherboard is an Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3

[Tamlin]

:welcome

Are you plugging in all the screens on the first card? Have you tried to first use a single card to narrow it down a bit? :)

[goalcam]

Yeah, they're all plugged into the 'primary' card at PCI-E slot 0. I've tried one card at a time with both cards and it didn't make a difference.

[potentafricanthunder]

Have you tried pulling one monitor that has is using the DP adapter?
Maybe its the adapters themselves.

You can try this setup as well (which worked for me after some fumbling about.

Monitor 1 - DVI
Monitor 2 - VGA Cable to DVI
Monitor 3 - VGA to DP

For some reason unknown to me, the 6850 Im using didnt like DVI-DVI-DP.

[goalcam]

I'm not quite sure that I understand, but I did verify that one of the adapters work by testing it at the store that I bought it at. I have also been trying with the DisplayPort adapter ONLY just to get it working, with no other monitors plugged in with no success.

[Tamlin]

So:

You can't get it to work with a single card.
It doesn't work by connecting a screen only to DP.
Cables check out ok (in OP you swapped cables, so I assume DVI cable from adapter to screen is ok).
DP adapter checks out ok (tested in store).

Problems seems isolated to the DP port on the card or the signal sent/received. I would have focused on getting a single screen working over DP for now.

I looked up the monitor you are using, and it seems you can turn on/of DDC/CI on it (under input selection menu). See if it is off and turn it on if it is.

[goalcam]

DDC/CI was already turned on. Had to plug the monitor I've been using to test with into one of the DVI ports to check since the OSD doesn't work if it isn't receiving a signal.

Just for fun, I put the second video card in and hooked it up to a DVI port with CrossfireX disabled to see what it looks like. It looks good, but there isn't really a whole lot of gaming that I'll be able to do with a single 5770!

[Tamlin]

Try turning it off to rule out bad edid from monitor.

You should just have to plug it in, start the machine and it should work without any user input. Could you test the display port with another brand of monitor or a TV?

[goalcam]

Good call on testing another brand of monitor or TV.. all the monitors in the house are Acers of various models. Just tried with a Westinghouse LCD TV (DP > DVI > DVI to HDMI cable > TV) and it didn't receive a signal either.

I shut the computer down, unplugged everything but the TV (through the adapter) with no success. Shows no signal just like the monitors do. :(

[Tamlin]

Chances are that HIS screwed up with either the bios of the card or some of the DP design. Everything else in the chain looks ok, so a lot points towards the card.

You could try to download an Ubuntu live or a Linux Mint distro (the live distro's doesn't install anything on harddrive or make any changes to the system, so they are safe to run) and run it with only a DP screen connected. If it works, you might have discovered a software issue in windows (I think its a card issue though). At least you might come closer to figuring this out then.

People on [H] and other places with S27A750D and S23A750D screens complains that Nvidia screwed up with DP connector on their 5XX cards (those screens doesn't have DVI connector), so they cannot get image on post, so its not unlikely that HIS did that with your AMD 5770 card.

[goalcam]

I'll start downloading a live disc, but given that it doesn't work at the BIOS/POST stage, I don't think that it'll make any difference at this point. :(

The other thing is that these are actually replacement 5770s as alluded to in my OP. I had regular HIS 5770s, but after talking with HIS, they had me update the video BIOS on both cards, and then subsequently RMA them for different 5770s which are slightly overclocked, non-reference coolers, etc. The PCBs are probably nearly identical, though, the more I think about it. Don't have any other modern AMD/ATI cards to test with, unfortunately. :(

[AussieTimmeh]

Have you tried this?

While in Windows with the computer running, try unplugging the DisplayPort monitor (leave in any USB connection if the adapter has it, just unplug the DisplayPort connector) and plug it back in again while it's all running.

My setup had exactly that problem of calling the monitor a generic pnp monitor with a terribly low resolution, and Eyefinity groups wouldn't work. Doing this above 'hot' while everything is running (I had the CCC and Screen Resolution pages open to see what was going on at the time) was the only way I could get it to work.

If that doesn't work, I would uninstall the drivers, run Driver Sweeper, then install the latest 11.12 again, then try unplugging and replugging if still required.

[Tamlin]

Its not unpresedented that a screen doesn't show post, but works after windows is loaded. As I mentioned, people with Nvidia 570/580 cards with DP had this issue with S27A750D and S23A750D screens, and some Apple ACD screens with AMD 9700 and 9800 pro (I think it was) had this issue too but with DVI at that time.

Worth checking out if you have the time. I think its a hardware issue, but these distro's work with DP, so they can reveal a software issue if present.

Edit: Try the hotplugging Aussie suggested first. Thats a good idea I forgot about. :)

[goalcam]

Tried hotplugging in Windows, ran driver sweeper, reinstalled 11.12s, hotplugging again, linux mint off of a usb stick. No dice. Linux Mint saw the adapter but didn't seem to be getting the monitor's EDID from it, just like Windows.

[goalcam]

Anyone have any suggestions? I haven't had any success or ideas aside from replacing the video cards again..