CiaranJ

Hi all. I really hope someone can help as this is giving me grey hair.

The other day I bought a Powercolor X1550 for my Dell Dimension 5000 (PCI-E and with XP Pro) that I have configured as a PVR, because the previous graphics card in that machine was damaged. The X1550, though not a heavy-duty graphics card, seems more than adequate for my needs as I don't intend playing games on that machine.

When I uninstalled the previous driver then installed the new card (the X1550), all looked well as I had a TV image via the s-video as the machine started up - in fact, though Windows XP recognised the new hardware and asked to load the driver, I had my TV image. So far, so good...

Then I loaded the ATI driver and Catalyst software and rebooted the machine.

The machine then showed the DELL logo on the TV again via the s-video connector (good), followed by the WindowsXP "loading screen" (good), then it went blank (bad). I was able to log using Remote Desktop and all looked fine. SO: the OS was loaded, but there was no display on the TV (after booting so promisingly).

This is my problem, and it hasn't changed even after finding the latest drivers from Powercolor and even the latest Catalyst software from ATI: I can't get the Windows XP login/welcome screen on my TV via s-video. Even when I set "Force TV recognition" in Catalyst (or a setting in that vein), the system boots as described above.

Can anyone help? Sorry for the long story, but I wanted to be clear about the situation. Is there a problem with the driver that has been identified? Is there a problem with the card? What's the downside in using the default drivers from Windows XP?

Thanks in advance....

[Dell dimension 5000 as a PVR, 305W PSU, PCI-E bus, above graphics card, Hauppauge PVR150, WindowsXP Pro (with latest updates)]

Dyre Straits

Greetings and welcome to DriverHeaven!

This sounds almost like a normal situation. The ATI drivers 'usually' default to a connected monitor...the primary one...and then you need to go into the Display settings to turn on the TV Out.

Let us know if you've tried this.

__________________

CiaranJ

Thanks for your response, Dyre Straits and I'm encouraged by your comment that this is a common problem.

I found a setting in Catalyst where I needed to force TV recognition, and while I had the TV and a monitor connected I was able to get an image on the TV. I needed also to extend my desktop, though, and even when I got my "main" desktop showing on the TV, when I rebooted it only appeared on the monitor. On restarting and disconnecting the monitor, the TV showed a black screen again (when the XP login and desktop should have been displayed). Have I found the setting you mentioned - the one to "turn on" TV out?

Dyre Straits

I'm going to run a few tests of my own. It's been awhile since I tried using my TV since I have some ample CRTs in front of me. But, I'll set things up again and see what I come up with.

However, I do need to know if you're actually wanting to EXTEND the Desktop, or if you're simply wanting to CLONE the Desktop. If you CLONE the Desktop, you should be seeing your icons on the TV as well as the monitor.

BUT, if you're EXTENDING the Desktop, your TV may actually be active but it won't show anything until you move a 'window' onto it. If you move your mouse cursor around, does it ever show up on the TV?

Again, I'm going to set things up and do a little research of my own. I used to use TV all the time but with a 21" and a 19" CRT, it became unnecessary.

__________________

CiaranJ

Hello again. Thanks for spending some time on this.

My objective is to remove the monitor and just have the TV connected to the s-video out. I'm using PVR software (GBPVR) and have a TV capture card (Hauppauge PVR150), so the TV out is all I need to watch recorded programs and dvds.

I noticed that with the TV AND a monitor connected, I needed to extend the desktop to get any image on the TV. It was just the background and I saw that I could move a window to TV, but it wasn't quite what I wanted. I would expect that with two display devices (TV and monitor) that I get the same image on both. If I then removed the monitor, the TV should show that image. Actually, that's what I had before, with the card that failed (Radeon X300 SE).....

CiaranJ

CiaranJ

Oh - and another thing: I saw that on the display settings for multiple monitors (the normal XP right-click on background, properties, settings), the I couldn't independently set the TV as the primary output and NOT set the extended background... for some reason, one of the displays seemed to need to have the extended background... strange.... Thanks again.

Dyre Straits

I've had a chance to do a little work on this since I last posted. I had no problem at all getting my S-Video active on my 27 inch TV. I did have to make sure I had the proper input selected on the TV's menu. I think you've got that part covered.

Now, when I went into the Catalyst Display Manager, it showed that my Desktop was being Cloned to the TV. That is, whatever is on my main Desktop is also showing on the TV. No problem there.

At this point, I did a Right Click on the TV icon in Display Manager and there is an option to Swap Display Mapping. Doing so essentially makes the TV become the Primary and the CRT becomes the Secondary. Have you checked that out?

There is also an option by Right Clicking to Disable the selected Display.

I don't know if this gets you any closer to a solution, but, it does seem to be working well on this end.

Good luck!

__________________

CiaranJ

Hi there and thanks again for the time you've spent on this.

It seems that you've had better luck than me with this card. Do you have the same X1550 card, or are you using another ATI one? I retried everything with the following results:

I uninstalled all drivers and reinstalled them to start afresh. As before, when I rebooted the machine with a PC monitor and a TV connected, I got the DELL logo on start-up, followed by the Windows XP start-up screen on both. The TV then flickered a few times and the monitor showed a mouse and the login screen for XP. The TV remained black.

I then went to the Catalyst software and under Display Options selected "Force TV detection". Then I went to Displays manager where there was only one monitor icon shown as "Main". There were two monitor icons to the right of that, numbered 1 and 2, but number 2 was greyed out. I right-clicked on 2 and enabled it, and a monitor icon appeared in the box next to "Main". When I right-clicked there, I had the option to make this a clone of the first monitor, and did so. (I didn't have this before I made my first post, so that's some improvement. Before, I clicked on "Detect Displays" before right-clicking on the second monitor... I wonder if that made any difference).

Anyway - things looked promising: I had a clone of my desktop on the TV. I applied the settings and restarted the machine expecting all to be well, but it was not to be.

As before, I got the DELL logo and XP start-up screen on the TV, then it went black while the monitor showed the XP login screen. After logging in, I ran Catalyst and saw that the second "monitor", the TV, was recognised, but was disabled again, I dragged the display from the box below the box titled "Main" to the secondary monitor position and when the popup asked about the second screen, again selected that the TV was to be cloned from the desktop.

Again, the TV was blank on restart.

I reckon that if something that should be simple is this hard, then there's something wrong with the card or driver. I have no more time to spend on this and I appreciate the time that you've put in too, but we're still no closer to getting this to work; unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to return the card this week.

Thanks again for all your help.

CiaranJ

Dyre Straits

No, I have the X1950 Pro card. However, I've had so many ATI cards over the years and this has not been a big problem with S-Video Out for me. I do have to state, though, that I have not depended solely on a TV for a monitor.

If I were you, I'd use the ATI Support Ticket in the sticky thread at the top of this forum to make ATI aware of your issue.

__________________

CiaranJ

Thanks again, Dyre Straits. I'll do that.

Regards
CiaranJ