Need help on surroundView and multi monitor set up

[tuga2112]

hello everybody. first post here. =)

my motherboard gone caput and i had to get a replacement.

in my old set up i had a matroxG200 + radeon x1950 + integrated nvidia working together to run 5 monitors + TV.

every since i got my replacement motherboard i havent managed to get the same set up running.

my new motherboard is a biostar TA790GX A2+. this comes with an integrated radeon HD3300

i have had a few issues while setting up the whole system again.

first the master PCI-e slot is very close to the normal PCI slots. and i havent found a way to make the computer run by placing the X1950 on the slave slot.
the issue this causes is simple. i do not have enough room to place the matrox card in a PCI slot cus the Radeon 1950 is in the way.

so if anyone knows a trick to make the computer run the x1950 in the slave slot that would be awesome.

the second issue is SurroundView.
i have read that surroundView only works with ATI cards + integrated ATI. which i got.... but i cant get it to work. i have tried different configs in the motherboard but the best i got was windows booting up in safe mode while recognising both integrated and PCI-E card together. but the same bios settings windows failed to load in "normal" mode.

any help refering surroundView is also welcome. since as far as i know it *should* be working fine but it clearly isnt.

Side note: getting an upgrade is not a viable option for me currently so ill have to play around with what i got.

my specs:
biostar TA790GX A2+
4GB ram ( 2x2 )
athlon 64 X2 2.0 (not overcloked)
currently running only Radeon X1950 pro (in master PCI-e slot)
Windows XP professional 32 bit
550watt PSU. unbranded.

any help is welcome. let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks in advance.

PS to Ops. since the whole issue started because i changed the MoBo i posted in the MoBo section (chipset and bios cus i suspect the soluction will be in the bios) of the forum if this is the wrong section just move it.

 

[randomkid]

first the master PCI-e slot is very close to the normal PCI slots. and i havent found a way to make the computer run by placing the X1950 on the slave slot.
the issue this causes is simple. i do not have enough room to place the matrox card in a PCI slot cus the Radeon 1950 is in the way.

so if anyone knows a trick to make the computer run the x1950 in the slave slot that would be awesome.

Ween you say slave PCIe slot, do you mean the greenish pcie slot beside the heatsink with Biostar label?

the second issue is SurroundView.
i have read that surroundView only works with ATI cards + integrated ATI. which i got.... but i cant get it to work. i have tried different configs in the motherboard but the best i got was windows booting up in safe mode while recognising both integrated and PCI-E card together. but the same bios settings windows failed to load in "normal" mode.

any help refering surroundView is also welcome. since as far as i know it *should* be working fine but it clearly isnt.

Side note: getting an upgrade is not a viable option for me currently so ill have to play around with what i got.

Surround view in AMD is called Eyefinity & supported only AMD 5XXX and higher ( 6XXX & 7XXX) graphics cards. You may have multiple monitors across many cards as you did in your old setup but they will work as extended desktop instead of one big deskstop display.

 

[tuga2112]

Ween you say slave PCIe slot, do you mean the greenish pcie slot beside the heatsink with Biostar label?

yes thats the one i want to fit my x1950 on. but when i try i cant get output from it.

Surround view in AMD is called Eyefinity & supported only AMD 5XXX and higher ( 6XXX & 7XXX) graphics cards. You may have multiple monitors across many cards as you did in your old setup but they will work as extended desktop instead of one big deskstop display.

if you mean by extendended desktop as having 1 main monitor and the other monitors are on the side that i can strech the windows and move about to use them. that is what i had before and it want im looking for at the moment.

i have never seen a multi monitor set up where all the monitors worked as a single desktop without making clone view.
it would be impossible to use all monitors as a single desktop because i have 3 different resolutions in my set up.

how do i do to get windows to recognise both onboard card and my radeon x1950 so i can use my other monitors ?

 

[randomkid]

if you mean by extendended desktop as having 1 main monitor and the other monitors are on the side that i can strech the windows and move about to use them. that is what i had before and it want im looking for at the moment.

Yes. That is what I mean.

i have never seen a multi monitor set up where all the monitors worked as a single desktop without making clone view.
it would be impossible to use all monitors as a single desktop because i have 3 different resolutions in my set up.

That is AMD Eyefinity or nVidia Surround Vision.

how do i do to get windows to recognise both onboard card and my radeon x1950 so i can use my other monitors ?

Let us hope some other helpful folks can see this & give advise.

 

[tuga2112]

Yes. That is what I mean.


That is AMD Eyefinity or nVidia Surround Vision.


Let us hope some other helpful folks can see this & give advise.

doesnt that contradict your previous statement about surroundView ? i though surroundView was just a new name for the option i had in my old motherboard called something of the style "dual chipset - enable/disable"

 

[randomkid]

doesnt that contradict your previous statement about surroundView ? i though surroundView was just a new name for the option i had in my old motherboard called something of the style "dual chipset - enable/disable"

No. It does not contradict. Your old setup is just extended desktop. It is just window function but can not make all monitors ( even if they are same resolution ) to become one big desktop.
Surround view applies to AMD Eyefinity or nVidia surround but it is most useful for gaming to allow you to have more views of the environment. Like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR7cNLUqPao

 

[tuga2112]

No. It does not contradict. Your old setup is just extended desktop. It is just window function but can not make all monitors ( even if they are same resolution ) to become one big desktop.
Surround view applies to AMD Eyefinity or nVidia surround but it is most useful for gaming to allow you to have more views of the environment. Like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR7cNLUqPao

i get it now. makes sence. so all i need now is to wait for someone that knows enough about this matter to lead me into a soluction to get my set up working again with extended desktop with more than one chipset like before.

thank for that explanation. that explains why surroundView is not exactly what i want to activate.

 

[tuga2112]

BUMP. still havent got anything solved =(

 

[randomkid]

Well one thing I know is that the XP will not support 2 discrete graphics card of different manufacturer so that jeopardizes that matrox working even if you get the radeon & the on-board work.

But on the other hand you said it was working before so perhaps the matrox being a PCI card is not a limitation for your specific case. What was you previous motherboard, anyway?

 

[tuga2112]

the motherboard itself doesnt specify but it came with an accer aspire t180, according to a seller in ebay its a
Foxconn MCP61SM-AM Socket 940 AM2

ebay link (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Foxconn-MCP61SM-AM-Socket-940-AM2-motherboard-DDR2-667-also-Acer-Aspire-T180-/290709624611?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopMotherboards_CPUs_CA&hash=item43afa4d723)

with this board to allow integrated chipset plus radeon i had to change a setting in the bios that was called something of the kind "dual monitor support" i have mentnioned this setting previous in the post, possibly gave it a different name as i cant remember the exact name.

 

[tuga2112]

bump?

 

[enzo matrix]

I'm sorry I can't help you and this thread is old but I must correct faulty information.

Ween you say slave PCIe slot, do you mean the greenish pcie slot beside the heatsink with Biostar label?


Surround view in AMD is called Eyefinity & supported only AMD 5XXX and higher ( 6XXX & 7XXX) graphics cards. You may have multiple monitors across many cards as you did in your old setup but they will work as extended desktop instead of one big deskstop display.

Surroundview is NOT related to eyefinity. It does not combine monitors for a single desktop. It is a business solution from AMD. With the older integrated graphics, such as the 4000 and 3000 integrated series (ATI, not intel), there was an option to keep them enabled to use for a secondary monitor (or two depending on motherboard inputs) while having an ATI graphics card. This was AMD's first inexpensive multimonitor solution for business. If you can get a standard video card, it's as simple as driving 2 monitors from the card and two from the integrated. I used to use this in tandem with my 3870 for 4 monitors before I got my 6950+6450.

So as tuga 2112 says, surroundview sounds like it should be working. It's as simple as enabling the surroundview option on the motherboard.

I've recently had to switch back to surroundview because my videocard died. I recently updated my AMD drivers in windows 8 and it suddenly broke. If I manage to fix it, I'll see if I can update this. Although, since this is so old, I assume you've already found an alternative?

Some additional references:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00372704/c00372704.pdf
http://www.amd.com/it/products/technologies/ati-hybrid-graphics/Pages/ati-hybrid-graphics.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_Hybrid_Graphics#SurroundView

 

[igbc]

I'm having a similar problem:
ATI Radeon HD 7770 on a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 motherboard. all information points to the surround view option should be working, however on activating it the computer blue screens on start up and the primary display (PCIe one) drivers are destroyed meaning the card has to be uninstalled from windows and reinstalled. That is after I've turned off the option again of course.

The manual says you need to initialize the PCIe GPU first done; and have an ati GPU also done.

So can anyone think of any reason this wouldn't work. Not having a display plugged into the Motherboard wouldn't affect it would it?

 

[TRS-80]

I'm having a similar problem:
ATI Radeon HD 7770 on a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 motherboard. all information points to the surround view option should be working, however on activating it the computer blue screens on start up and the primary display (PCIe one) drivers are destroyed meaning the card has to be uninstalled from windows and reinstalled. That is after I've turned off the option again of course.

The manual says you need to initialize the PCIe GPU first done; and have an ati GPU also done.

So can anyone think of any reason this wouldn't work. Not having a display plugged into the Motherboard wouldn't affect it would it?

Sorry for necro but this is the first Google result when searching for "gigabyte surround view."

And the problem I am having sounds just like the guy above me. Blue screens on Windows startup, and then again when trying to re-install Catalyst and/or drivers.

Been going round and round with this for hours, pulling my hair out over here. Any insight may be helpful.

My mobo is GA-MA790GPT-UD3H
GPU is SAPPHIRE 100355OCL Radeon HD 7850 2GB PCIe
all 3 monitors are Dell 1908FP 19" 5:4
GPU DVI-I _--> monitor 1
GPU DVI-D --> monitor 2
onboard GPU VGA --> monitor 3 (although I have tried with DVI cable also, no adapter)

I have tried I think all variations of enabling surround, disabling it, having the onboard GPU recognized first, having the add in card recognized first, played with UMA and sideport settings (various fixed and auto), also fixed DVI and Auto setting on onboard GPU, basically have tried every possible combination in BIOS along with many many reinstalls of drivers, cards, etc. and still no joy.

 

[TRS-80]

I wanted to report back my findings, to possibly help others in turn as I have been helped. This does not apply so much to the OP, but rather to the direction the discussion has gone over the years since, particularly wrt newer cards (Radeon HD 7000 series, etc.) in Surround View / combination with onboard graphics.

After reading and doing a ton of Googling on this, I finally broke down and contacted Gigabyte. Well, I should have done that first (more on that below)...

Surroundview is NOT related to eyefinity. It does not combine monitors for a single desktop. It is a business solution from AMD. With the older integrated graphics, such as the 4000 and 3000 integrated series (ATI, not intel), there was an option to keep them enabled to use for a secondary monitor (or two depending on motherboard inputs) while having an ATI graphics card. This was AMD's first inexpensive multimonitor solution for business. If you can get a standard video card, it's as simple as driving 2 monitors from the card and two from the integrated. I used to use this in tandem with my 3870 for 4 monitors before I got my 6950+6450.

enzo matrix is onto the right idea here. Turns out that Surround View was sort of a stop-gap solution back with the 3000 and 4000 series cards, before Eyefinity came into such prevalence as it is today.

I'm having a similar problem:
ATI Radeon HD 7770 on a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 motherboard. all information points to the surround view option should be working, however on activating it the computer blue screens on start up and the primary display (PCIe one) drivers are destroyed meaning the card has to be uninstalled from windows and reinstalled. That is after I've turned off the option again of course.

And this is why igbc, as well as myself, were having issues trying to do this with our newer (7000 series) discreet GPUs. As he reports, it just seemed to me that the integrated GPU drivers would just keep fighting with the discreet ones. I could get either "side" (and attached displays) working by uninstalling / reinstalling and various BIOS settings, but never both "sides" (onboard and PCIe card) working, at the same time.

Ultimately, the solution is just to use an Eyefinity setup on the newer cards that support it. The gotcha there is you can only support up to two displays without having to purchase an additional "active" display port --> "whatever" adapter (i.e., DVI, VGA, or HDMI) for each additional display beyond the second. And the "active" part is important, some adapters are "passive" and if it doesn't specifically state "active" chances are it's not. Luckily, however, these are pretty cheap nowadays, maybe $18 at Monoprice.

So, for reference, here is the relevant info, straight from the horse's mouth (Gigabyte customer support):

TRS-80: I cannot get 3 monitors working in "Surround View", with 2 connected to discreet GPU and one connected to onboard/integrated GPU, at the same time. I have tried many different combinations of BIOS settings. I can get one side or the other (discreet or integrated) working, but never both together. I have been working on this for many many hours, tried multiple driver updates, reinstalls, etc. in Win7 also. Been searching the internet a lot too, still can't figure it out!
2/26/2014 5:20 PM

Gigabyte: Dear customer,

Unfortunately the surround view may not work properly with the latest video card model, but the ATI Radeon HD 3400-series.

Thank you.
2/27/2014 3:30 AM

TRS-80: Wow, super fast response, I am impressed! I figured that was just an automatically generated email, stating you received my ticket submission, but no it was a reply already! Aah, OK! That explains a lot. So, that was sort of a stop-gap, back at that time, before Eyefinity became as prevalent as it is today? Am I just supposed to use Eyefinity then instead? Is that about right? Still though, it would be nice to get this working, while I am waiting on my active display port adapter to arrive to do full Eyefinity. Should I just give up then, and stop banging my head against the wall, and wait patiently for my adapter to arrive? lol
2/26/2014 5:40 PM

Gigabyte: Dear customer,

Exactly, Eyefinity is the latest multiview technology from AMD to eliminate the hassle.

It's hardware limitation, nothing you can do about it, please wait for the actived adapter then.

Thank you.
2/27/2014 3:50 AM

Incidentally, as I said in my correspondence to them, I was extremely pleasantly surprised at the speed at which Gigabyte replied. I have always liked their products, but never needed to contact them before for any support. I am very happy to report that it went much better than expected, a rarity nowadays with big companies, unfortunately.

So, I'm off to order an adapter, and then I should be off to the races with Eyefinity in full triple monitor nerd glory. If I can help even one other person accomplish this, it wil have been worth all the time spent.

Also, next time, I think I will just contact Gigabyte directly, and save myself a lot of head banging. lol