desktop @ 3x1680x1050 not properly displayed

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 21 Aug 2008, 01:44

hi there

a friend of mine bought a DTH2Go yesterday and hooked it up to his computer and screens
he also updated the firmware for the 16:10 widescreen resolutions 1680x1050 and 1440x900 but when he uses one of these resolutions it looks like this :

@3x1680x1050 http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1116/p1010105lw3.jpg

as you can see there is a missing part on the left and the middle right screen dont show the taskbar and the top of the screen

@3x1024x768 http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9833/p1010104xb7.jpg

at this resolution anything works fine but is ugly big :/

maybe the adapters are responsible for this, because he uses -
as you can seen on these pictures:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1956/p1010110fi7.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2241/p1010106er4.jpg

2 DVI-duallink-to-VGA and 1 DVI-singlelink-to-VGA

well i guess this causes the problem but iam not very sure, since other people had issues with 1680 resolutions :/

please help

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 21 Aug 2008, 02:43

This is stretching it a bit, but is it possible your friend hasn't tried the auto-adjust function on the monitor that has the problem? Maybe the monitor is shifting the image to the left by accident.

magstheblue · Post by **magstheblue** » 21 Aug 2008, 02:45

Hi There,

which acer screens are those?

cause ive got 2 different models and they are not working in 5040 and its looking like its the monitors

you can see what ive tested here
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/9269

ive sent a support request to Matrox about this a couple of hours ago so i beleive i have to wait awhile to hear back from them.

ill keep ya posted as to how it goes.

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 21 Aug 2008, 06:51

autoadjust is not the problem, it was the first thing i came up with - but well ...

yes they're! but they're the same 3 models Acer AL2216W
hm maybe acer really dont like 57hz :/

thx !

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 21 Aug 2008, 09:08

What happens if you swap the adapters or cables around such that they go to different monitors ? ... does the issue than move that monitor ?

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 21 Aug 2008, 11:08

well i dont know didnt try that out, what does change is when you change resolution to 3x1440x900 the missing bit on the right monitor ... iam starting to believe that the Acer TFTs dont like 57hz

btw driver and gfx card are: Forceware 175.19, GF 8600GT
as i understand it, the Forceware 175 driver doesnt cause trouble in 5040x1050 so ... hm :/

Post by **Paddy the Wak** » 21 Aug 2008, 11:13

Swapping the cables/adapters will determine if it is those that are causing the problem.

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 21 Aug 2008, 23:05

I'm unsure if this is relevant to your problem but I'll say it just in case:

On this westinghouse I have 3 digital inputs, dvi1 (chipset1), dvi2 and hdmi(shared chipset2).

On dvi 1 the regular detected 1920x1080 works fine. On dvi2 and hdmi the res gets side stepped up by a single 1 pixel row. The 'missing' pixel area just shows random colors, probably shared to one of the adjacent pixels.

The way I found to fix it was to redefine 1920x1080 as a custom resolution. The autodetect puts Horizontal sync width at 44,
Horizontal sync polarity as + and Vertical sync polarity as -. After using powerstrip I found that if I put 43 + + instead, the problem line was fixed.

Maybe a similar slight adjustment might help you, though I'd recommend using powerstrip instead of trying numbers manually yourself.

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 22 Aug 2008, 00:07

Swapping the cables/adapters will determine if it is those that are causing the problem.

he has now 3 DVI-D-VGA adapter and the problem prevails
so it looks like its the monitors - unfortunately theres no way to check if other monitors are having the same problem

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 22 Aug 2008, 00:14

I'm unsure if this is relevant to your problem but I'll say it just in case:

On this westinghouse I have 3 digital inputs, dvi1 (chipset1), dvi2 and hdmi(shared chipset2).

On dvi 1 the regular detected 1920x1080 works fine. On dvi2 and hdmi the res gets side stepped up by a single 1 pixel row. The 'missing' pixel area just shows random colors, probably shared to one of the adjacent pixels.

The way I found to fix it was to redefine 1920x1080 as a custom resolution. The autodetect puts Horizontal sync width at 44,
Horizontal sync polarity as + and Vertical sync polarity as -. After using powerstrip I found that if I put 43 + + instead, the problem line was fixed.

Maybe a similar slight adjustment might help you, though I'd recommend using powerstrip instead of trying numbers manually yourself.

well thats kind of a complex resolution for this matter ... the problem here is we're just talking about Teamspeak .. so remote diagnostic and help is a tricky thing - even more when the guy who needs help doesnt know that much about computers :/

btw does this customizing may damage the monitor? if not i will try it out perhaps

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 22 Aug 2008, 00:41

Well nvidia does show a 'you're on your own if something goes south' disclaimer by just trying to use the custom res. part. I've never had any damage come from trying resolutions though. And that's including getting the 'chewed up mosaic' view quite a few times.

Just press esc if it happens and it should come back to previous res. Just make sure whatever res. you're doing ain't the one currently applied, else it'll replace the current res. with your failed results which might prevent you seeing anything even after an esc. A boot to safe vga mode would fix that though.

As I said, I originally got those numbers from powerstrip, which detected/made em up on it's own.

I mentionned this because the view on that image I see is the real image has been zoomed in, which is why the taskbar is down offscreen. And my fix works but only with + +. - - has the effect you have on those screens, the image is fine but zoomed in a bit.

It's an option, and certainly swapping cables could be tried first.

magstheblue · Post by **magstheblue** » 22 Aug 2008, 00:55

well the verdict from Matrox is.

It is very likely that the Acer screens are unable to resolve the 57Hz refresh rate and then scale the image to the wrong resolution.

There is nothing we can do for this since the 57Hz is the limitation of the hardware of the unit and we cannot exceed this specification.

has anyone else got any Acer 24" panels working with 5040?

so far it looks like i just bought 3 panels that cant do what i want them to do :(

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 22 Aug 2008, 02:56

Actually showing the 1920x1200 seems to be a feature this westinghouse shares. It always shows 1920x1080, likely because to it, that's what it is.

It takes whatever input you send it, scales it to native and displays it. The info takes it's source after the scale hence, always the native panels res.

That you can display 1680x1050@57Hz on 1 display proper shows the acer's chipset can handle it.

It could be however that the matrox split and display part makes the clocks just out of whack (say 56.50 or 57.80hz) that the monitors can't cope.

Have you tried plugging just 2 of em instead of 3 and see if the result is the same?

magstheblue · Post by **magstheblue** » 22 Aug 2008, 04:45

Hi Mesh,

those were my thought as well and i have replied to Matrox with pretty much the same question. i will see what they say.

i got this weekend to have more playing around with it i guess

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 22 Aug 2008, 11:23

Here's a thought, do you have the parts to test the monitors as 1680x1050@57Hz together but without the TH2G? like with 2 gpus on 3 outputs? heck even 1 card with 2 outputs might be something to try.

As far as I can tell you have a picky chipset just like the 2nd one in this westinghouse.

VentZero · Post by **VentZero** » 23 Aug 2008, 01:05

thanks for the plentiful replies =)

well we didnt tried out what happens with only 2 monitors connected
but i know that 2 monitors worked fine without the DTH2Go in 2x1680x1050 he used to play EVE Online with this setup ... then i told him about the DTH2Go and he got a third monitor along with the dth... now hes a bit frustrated :oops:

maybe the acer TFTs just suck for DTH2Go in any res above 1440x900 :/
i would try everything but he lifes in another city 5-6 hours away from me ... so stepping by and trying everything is not possible and for this matter being there is the key to success - if theres any way to succeed

well at least i know which monitor not to buy when i get mine :/
(how about HannsG 22inch monitors are they capable of 3x1680x1050 ? 8) )

garcol · Post by **garcol** » 24 Aug 2008, 21:07

I was so close to buying these monitors, (Acer AL2216Wbd). But now it seems maybe I shall stay away from them.....
Ugghh, keep us informed. I will hold off and be searching for other monitors.
Dang it, was really looking forward to getting my TH2G back up and running with newer Digital and awsome resolutions. Price, size, weight, looks, and reviews are all factors for me.

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