HD 5880 with DVD, DVI and DSP->DVI active DP2DVIS not working

[kurtyboy]

Can anyone shed some light please? I have read the online guides as to what works with what (including [Solved] Eyefinity Setup Guide ).

I have an HD 5880 and three identical HP DVI monitors. In order to connect the third monitor I bought one of the AMD approved gold validated active DSP->DVI adapters, the Startech DP2DVIS.

Unfortunately I can still only get two monitors working at the same time. All three are set to 1280x1024 (which is their max). OS is XP 64 bit with latest Catalyst.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[COLGeek]

How are you connected to the other 2 monitors (DVI, HDMI, VGA, etc)?

 

[kurtyboy]

Sorry for the spelling mistake in the thread title! Should read: DVI, DVI and DSP->DVI!

 

[COLGeek]

Open Catalyst. Select Add/Remove Displays. Click the detect. Should see all 3 monitors.

 

[kurtyboy]

Seeing them is not the issue. They are all visible but one is disabled. Like I said, only two will work at the same time which is exactly what I was getting previously with a cheap passive adapter. The new one is supposed to be AMD approved gold certified but it does the exact same thing.

 

[COLGeek]

Is the DisplayPort -> DVI monitor the problem child?

If only one DVI and the DisplayPort -> DVI monitors are connected, do both work?

 

[kurtyboy]

Yes, if one DVI and DSP are connected they both work. I can have any two working but not three at the same time.

There is nothing wrong with the DSP->DVI on it's own.

This is behaving exactly the same as a passive dongle!

 

[COLGeek]

Just for clarification, do you have a HD5850 or a HD5870? I am not familiar with a HD5880.

Regardless, is your DisplayPort connected monitor, the primary or one of the secondary monitors?

 

[kurtyboy]

Must be a 5870 then. Windows only reports it as 5800 series.

I've tried it as the primary (desktop 1). Doesn't matter which it is, I can still only have any two of the three working at the same time.

Catalyst shows two working and one disabled. The only available option to the disabled monitor is to swap it with one of the enabled ones.

I'm starting to doubt that this dongle is really active. I could plug my passive dongle back in and see the exact same thing happen.

 

[COLGeek]

I am baffled by the "disabled" issue. I am not a location where I can play with Catalyst right now.

BTW, what version of Windows are you using?

 

[COLGeek]

BTW, a useful eyefinity link follows:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/gpu50-ati-eyefinity-display-groups.aspx

 

[COLGeek]

Never mind the OS version question. I missed it earlier. You must run either Vista, 7, or 8 (likely) for Eyefinity. XP is not supported.

From the FAQ link below:

What Operating Systems does AMD Eyefinity technology work with?

At present Windows® Vista and Windows® 7 support AMD Eyefinity technology. There are plans for Linux support in an upcoming update to AMD Catalyst™ software. There is no support for Windows® XP.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/amd-eyefinity-technology/how-to/Pages/faqs.aspx

 

[kurtyboy]

Well that explains it LOL!

Thanks for pointing that out COLGeek.

 

[COLGeek]

Sorry it took so long. I completely missed the info in your very first post. Time to dump XP, my friend. Good luck!