Widescreen Gaming Forum

I thought I'd try here before my 2 month old TH2Go goes in the bin. I think I've partially fried it, and will buy a dual PCI-E motherboard (for less than half the money) and try softTH rather than buying another.

I had the TH2Go working fine with a combination of 19"CRT, 17"LCD, and 17"CRT. It was a messy solution, but it showed the amazing potential.

This week I 'invested' in 3 x Samsung SM2032BW monitors (VGA/DVI/1680x1050) after being tempted by a very good price. My TH2Go had been previously flashed to the latest version, ready for 1680x1050 support. This hadn't affected the old setup.

Results with new monitors:

1) With the TH2Go connected to my GTX 260 via the Matrox DVI lead, the TH2Go fails to work, at all. Red light only, and no life on the monitors. I've tried connecting the original monitors back to it, the new monitors via DVI or VGA, and the result is the same... nothing. I tried booting without the TH2Go attached, removing all Matrox software, then starting the Matrox install from scratch, but nothing changed.

2) With the TH2Go connected via VGA lead to my GTX 260, the left hand screen shows the PC's BIOS boot messages, and Windows loading screen. But when Windows starts up properly the only screen which works is the right hand one, and it's totally corrupted.

(Just to be confusing, when I put the old monitors back in this configuartion, the *centre* screen -- the 17" LCD connected via DVI lead -- shows the BIOS boot messages, and *both* side screens -- CRTs connected via VGA -- show the completely garbled desktop.)

3) I am currently running with one screen connected to the GTX260's second DVI output, and the other two monitors plugged into the TH2Go via its VGA input connected to the vid card's primary output. I have normal output on the non-TH2Go screen, allowing me to experiment with the others. But the results are confusing.

Only one of the two TH2Go screens will work at any one time, and I can use the 'swap displays' button to swap them over.

Using Nvidia's 'set as one large horizontal desktop' option I can span onto the active TH2Go screen, but I can't alter the resolution on that screen from its nasty default of 640x480. Fiddling with the edit mode list doesn't work because the 'apply' button is never available.

The Powerdesk-SE window shows me...

GXM product: TripleHead2Go Digital Edition
Graphics Hardware: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
GXM software version: 2.3.2.8

Monitors:
Samsung SyncMaster (Digital) on GMX connector 1
Samsung SyncMaster (Digital) on GMX connector 2
No monitor cable detected on connector 3*

*Obviously, as the other monitor is connected to the vid card directly.

My conclusion:

OMG, they killed Kenny's TH2Go! ;-)

Andrew McP

PS Thanks for reading this even if you're as clueless as me about what's going on. :-)

I had problems initially setting up because I didn't plug the DVI cables in before plugging in the USB. Double-check this is the order you're plugging things in...I got my TH2Go second hand, so I'm not sure if there's meant to be a quick-start guide that tells you this.

I had problems initially setting up because I didn't plug the DVI cables in before plugging in the USB.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've double checked that, but it makes no difference. I had hoped that leaving everything unplugged overnight might magically cure the problem, but it hasn't. :-)

Andrew McP

PS I just tried again with the original Matrox VGA -> PC cable, instead of the ordinary VGA cable I'd tried before. It made no difference, but it did remind me that when using the VGA -> PC lead the TH2Go light is green up until I reach the XP desktop, when the distorted right hand screen is all I can see. The light on the TH2Go is then amber, rather than red or green.

I suspect all this is a debugging distraction though. The real question is why the DVI-PC lead gives no activity at all with the new monitors or old (which used to work fine).

I am not that good at this stuff. But it sounds like your equipment might be ok, other than maybe a bad cable?
I had problems with my DigTh2go at first. If I remember correctly I had to install my drivers for my monitors, (to get digital working) then go step by step to install the DTh2go equipment. Then everything worked.
I also had problems once I had to do a power supply fix. Had to restart a couple of times for the USB to reinitailize?
I may be way off base here or covering stuff you already tried.
Iam sure some one will chime in here soon.
Matrox has pretty good support too. Give them a hollar?
Let us know how it goes.

I may be way off base here or covering stuff you already tried.

No, you made some useful suggestions, thanks. Sadly none of them seem to have helped me move on. Never mind. I confess that after two days of frustration with this I'm now enjoying the blissful simplicity of a single monitor again! Anyone want to buy some cheap monitors? ;-)

I have a few days off work this week. I may try setting the TH2Go up on another PC, just to try and shed more light on what's wrong.

Thanks again,
Andrew McP

Have you tried getting the unit replaced by Matrox?

I wouldnt give up. If you think 1 widescreen is bliss, wellllll, then you aint seen nothing yet.
Matrox has some good support and be sure to get them involved. They will get you up and running.

I hate making changes to my system it seems everytime I do it takes a few to get things working right. I have always returned here and found my solution. Most times not knowing what I had done wrong in the first place. But following the steps of others I seem to always get it running again.
Those samsungs are nice monitors, you will be amazed and in awe when you get it working.

Edit: Have you read this?
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/9215

Post #7 by CyberChrist seemed to help alot of people

Edit (again)lol: This instruction also helped me get it running, I went step by step.
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/gxm/windows/th2go/digital/howto1/

Did I mention im not that good at this stuff...... :doh


And are you sure your using the dual link DVI cable from your card to the Matrox box?
Drivers up to date?

I hate to see anyone get frustrated with TH2go, but I have been there too.!!!!!

I hate to see anyone get frustrated with TH2go, but I have been there too.!!!!!

There does seem to be a price to pay for pushing the video envelope, doesn't there. :-)

Thanks for the further suggestions, I really appreciate it. But apart from buying another dual link DVI cable I've pretty much exhausted all the options (and I've checked the pin-pin connections, so I'm sure there's nothing wrong with it).

I did read this forum and Matrox support thoroughly before posting. I just hoped something I'm experiencing would remind someone of their experience.

I've just tried flashing the TH2Go again in case I could reset it in some way. But nothing's changed when I tyr either VGA or DVI link. The VGA nearly works, the DVI is completely useless. The only way I can see a desktop in either case is to connect one of the monitors directly to the second DVI connector on the video card.

Never mind, I think Ibrin's suggestion is probably all that's left, though as I did have the TH2Go working fine in the past, I suspect I've zapped something inside somehow, and it's not fair to ask Matrox to sort that out. The warranty covers their mistakes, not mine. :-)

Thanks again,
Andrew McP

Just thought I'd report some progress. I've just set up the TH2Go on my laptop, which has a VGA output. Apart from nasty scaling problems with the new widescreen monitors, I got it running effortlessly at 3x1280x1024.

It therefore seems unlikely (but not impossible) that the TH2Go is damaged.

I've already tried uninstalling the TH2Go software on the troublesome PC, to remove that from the list of possible problems. But I may need to try harder to remove all trace before starting again.

However that still wouldn't explain why the TH2Go is completely lifeless (apart from that annoyingly stubborn red light!) using the DVI connection... even during BIOS boot where no software is involved.

The mystery continues! :-) I'll keep the forum posted with any updates because this might be useful to someone else in the future.

Andrew McP

Ok, methodical troubleshooting shows my testing of the Matrox DVI cable was flawed. Pins 23 & 24 aren't connected. That must explain the lack of TH2Go life using that cable. I can find a replacement dual-link cable easily enough.

It doesn't explain why using the VGA cable instead (with a DVI adapter at the vid card end) causes weird problems, but having seen a pure VGA-VGA connection work today I can only guess that the standard VGA-DVI adapter I'm using when testing on the problematic box isn't quite connected the way Matrox needs it.

Andrew McP... slowly getting somewhere!

Good to see your getting it figured out. Hope the rest of your diagnoses goes easier than what you have been going thru so far.
Thanks for the updates and Iam sure others will benefit from your efforts as well as yourself.

Just to confirm that my problems were indeed down to a dodgy cable! Of all the luck, mine had to lose an important connection (pin 23, 24 doesn't seem to be connected on any DVI cable I've looked at) just as I was buying new monitors. I wouldn't mind if I'd treated the cable roughly, but...

Yes, well, c'est la vie!

Now I can finally see if those new monitors were worth the money. :-)

Andrew McP

PS Thanks again for the suggestions, and to everyone who makes this such a useful resource.

Glad to see you got it worked out. Woohooo!!!!