Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello all,

Im 3 months into the goodness that is triple monitor gaming/computing and so far Im in love.
But like all good things there are some negatives. The flickering of the monitor that is connected to DP is driving me INSANE!

I have an ATI 5870 with 3 24 inch samsung LCDs. One monitor is connected through DVI to DP Bizlink adapter while the other 2
are connected through DVI. I get the blinking problem at random times. Heres what Ive tried :

Flashed card Bios. (worked for 2 days)
RMA'd DVI to DP adapter (replacement worked less often than original adapter)
Upgraded/ downgraded to different catalyst drivers (works for one day)
Used wall powered USB adapter.
Switched DVI to DP adapter to 3 different monitors.
Disabled ATI Overdrive

The only thing that seemed to help was the 13a Catalyst drivers (which I cant find at all now) which almost eliminated the blinking.
Ive come to the conclusion that its ATI's responsibility. They dont advertise that the 3 monitor solution with DVI to DP port is not
100% working.
We pay way too much for these systems and these cards and these monitors to have this not functioning as it should. Random blinking
of my monitor is not what I call an optimal experience.

When can we expect a permanent fix for this?
Im fed up with this and I know there are a lot of people with this very same exact problem.

This seems to be the most common issue these days (or all time issue actually). I am stickying this for a week. It would be much appreciated if people would report in status of this issue.
@johnnyvd: You have investigated this a bit as well with different driver set. Could you update your final status in this thread? :)

Here's the latest official from AMD regarding this:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Display.aspx

Added poll to see how widespread this is. :)

Thanks Tamlin! :rockout

I really appreciate it! :cheers

No problem. :)

It seems to be many who have this issue (also at [H]), so its good to get a headcount. The thread I was linking to, shows some of the fixes that AMD recommends, but it looks like many have tried these already. AMD has been great at forwarding issues that we have encountered and addressed them, so hopefully this will lead to some solution for those struggling with this.

johnnyvd and several others found 10.3a to be the sweet spot driver with least of this issue, so perhaps the driver team can see what differs from that and 10.4?

No problem. :)

.... johnnyvd and several others found 10.3a to be the sweet spot driver with least of this issue, so perhaps the driver team can see what differs from that and 10.4?

Dell active DP adapter-to-DVI monitor rock solid with 10.2.

... but with 10.4.... the DP adapter-connected DVI monitor sleeps with the fishes!! :w00t :w00t :w00t

Ah, yes.. glad to hear DP monitors are having problems too :mrgreen:

Well sweet spot was not 10.3a but 10.3b, if i remember correctly this was a 5870 Eyefinity release??

I must admit that all the other drivers i tried (10.1, 10.2, 10.3 WHQL, 10.3a) didn't give me any blanking problems.. Sometimes a single blank every 2 days, (nothing serious) or a CCC message with losing DP signal blabla.. (which only happend after swithing resolutions)

It really started 10.4 and up.. Did not flash my 5970 for extra drive strength on DP port.
Tried USB power on pc, AC adapter, powered USB hub (1500 mA).. Nothing helped with the 10.4/10.4a. Sometimes re-plugging DP helped, sometimes not.

What was working ALL the time was reverting back to 10.3b. I reverted back like 3 times already, always uninstalling with CCC install manager and then (in safe mode) running Drivercleaner.net

By the way, 10.4 WHQL gave me distorted screen or green lines and then blanks.. 10.4a only gave me blanks..

At the moment i am even thinking of clean install on a different disk and then straight 10.4 WHQL install. i do not trust the 10.5 *leaked* drivers at the moment.

O yeah, i'm using the Accell B087B-003J adapter..

Anyone have the Catalyst 13a drivers that they can post?
Id really appreciate it
thanks

Anyone have the Catalyst 13a drivers that they can post?
Id really appreciate it
thanks

Here are the 10.3b: http://sites.amd.com/us/underground/tips/Pages/catalyst-10-3-preview.aspx

Thanks johnnyvd but Im looking specifically for 13a drivers, not 13b.
These seemed to make the flickering more bearable.

Thanks johnnyvd but Im looking specifically for 13a drivers, not 13b.
These seemed to make the flickering more bearable.

OK here's the 10.3a (from guru3d)
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-10.3-Windows-7-%7C-Vista-(64-bit)-download-2494.html

Whoops, sorry 64bit.. I have the 10.3a 32bit on my harddisk @ home, where could i host it?

Did you have more problems with 10.3b installed then?

Thanks so much johnny!
This is what I needed, I have 64 bit Win 7 at home :)

I need to save this version till ATI (hopefully) figures something out.


As far as what works for me, I installed 13a and the flickering was happening but with much less frequency than previous drivers.
A week later my new HD went dead and by the time I got a new one and installed the OS the next day 13b had already replaced the 13a drivers on the AMD website :(

Great! I was just iuploading the 32bit file to my website..... :lol:

Just keep us posted what gives! (sure 10.3b isn't working right?)

I just got home from picking up a Monster-brand DP -> VGA adapter and got Eyefinity setup in less than 5 minutes. Earlier today I got my third Viewsonic 24-inch LCD from Office Depot.

At the moment, I've only had Eyefinity setup on the Desktop and have not tried any games. But, I plan to do some gaming this evening and will give an update.

The adapter I got today was available at Fry's for $49.99. It is a bit more expensive than some of the others I've seen mentioned, but, it was actually the ONLY one I could get my hands on locally.

Wish me luck!

And, BTW, I'm not so sure it's entirely ATI's responsibility to fix the problems. I am eager to see just how it does pan out over the next few weeks or months, though.

The fear of flicker was one reason i ended up with a DP-connected center monitor - even after buying an adapter from Monoprice. Though I have tried it with the 10.1 drivers and I used it for about 2 hours, with no flicker. My DP monitor has never had flicker.

For the first month I was using a passive vga adapter. Was getting the flicker. Got a dell dp monitor and it has been perfect since! (as far as flicker is concerned). This is on my 5970! I am on 10.3

All I can do at the moment is keep my fingers crossed. :)

But, with three identical ViewSonice VX2433wm LCDs and using a Monster-brand DP -> VGA adapter, http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=5406 I've had several hours of absolutely NO flicker or lost screen. The only thing I do notice is that it's sometimes a big slow coming up whenever there's a resolution change. But, it's only a couple of seconds slow. I'm going on six hours straight with Eyefinity settings and have played several games and the Heaven Benchmark.

The only game that's given me trouble so far is Far Cry 2. It just didn't want to see any screen resolution above 1920x1080 and was putting the game separately on each monitor. Once it works, though, it's really a gorgeous game with the setup!

Other games I've played at since getting it setup this evening:

1. Star Trek Online
2. GTA IV
3. Mass Effect 2 [But can't get my XBOX 360 controller usable]
4. Dragon Age: Origins

And

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 2.0

Yes (using DP monitor) 7% [ 1 ]



is this right?
If this is right it throws the entire thing off.

Who voted for this? Please respond with monitor and video card please.
thanks

Yes (using DP monitor) 7% [ 1 ]



is this right?
If this is right it throws the entire thing off.

Who voted for this? Please respond with monitor and video card please.
thanks

First of all, it's not me who responded to that poll (i have yet to, my 5870 is in the mail). But yes I've seen this occurring before, by more than one individual. Especially in the earlier driver releases.

I thought this was all due to powerplay?
Up the volts and it fixes it for 90% of people that i've seen.

After over 24 hours of constant use, I can still attest to the fact that I'm not having any flickering/lost screen issues using the passive DP -> VGA adapter I picked up at Fry's.

In fact, I had my sister and her husband over this evening for a showing and I think he's interested in pursuing the same kind of setup.

Right now, I couldn't be happier with the way it's working.