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AMD Radeon HD 6670 - No HDMI Output, and Resolution Limitation

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Hello, thanks in advance to anyone who's taking the time to read this, I'll try to make it brief and to the point. I've searched the bowels of the internet to find a solution to my problem, but could not find anything right for me.

I'll try to post pictures as I explain

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Specs:

Dell XPS 8300 (desktop)
Windows 7 (64-bit) Home Premium
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz
8.00 GB RAM
AMD Radeon HD 6670

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I've been using my computer since February, when I got it new. I've changed out no parts, although I did add a firewire card in some time ago.

I run display from my computer to a Sansui monitor via HDMI. I've had no problems running games or graphically demanding programs up until now. Some time ago, my screen would flicker black, but would recover very quickly, so I thought little of it. Then I was playing a video game a few days later, and the screen flickered, but this time it never recovered. I had no picture what so ever.

I tried seeing if a VGA cable would work, and it did. The thing is, if I left the HDMI cable plugged in while the VGA cable was connected, my computer would recognize the VGA video output to be a second monitor, so I just had a blank screen. This tells my that my computer recognizes the HDMI slot it occupied.

Anyway, I can get picture with just the VGA cable, but what happens now is that I'm limited to a low resolution. If I exceed 1024 x 768, my screen goes black. This is a problem when playing games, as some games automatically change your resolution for the game to run optimally. So most games I run result in a black screen



I have tried updating my drivers for my card, both manually and with catalyst control center. I have checked to see if my HDMI cable worked on another computer connected to my monitor, and it does. I have NOT done any checking or updating of my BIOS, since I have no idea what that is or how to work with it

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks again!

More about : amd radeon 6670 hdmi output resolution limitation

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Not 100% on this, but sounds like your card quit on you, at least partially. If you have another screen, a TV perhaps, that you can test the HDMI from the video card with that would be good, but from the tests you've done so far I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it won't work and the HDMI port/connections on your card are broken ... basically it recognizes that the cable is plugged in, but it for whatever reason cannot transmit the required information through it.

From your description of the problem it looks like your HDMI port on your card is dead. Is the PC still under warranty? If that's the case you could get the video card replaced by Dell.

I found the following picture of a 6670 sold with a XPS 8300. Can you confirm you have the same ports on your card?

http://en.community.dell.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/...

From what I see you also have 2 x DVI ports and 1 x displayport so you have other options. DVI will give you the same quality as HDMI (minus the sound). Most monitors have DVI inputs so I would suggest you use a DVI cable instead (as I said you shouldn't see any difference in quality between DVI and HDMI). But if for some reasons you absolutely need to use HDMI you could also get a displayport-to-HDMI adapter connected to your displayport and it will work the same.

You also asked about BIOS update and it is fairly easy to do on a Dell system. Here is the latest BIOS version for your system from the Dell website just follow the instructions:

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDeta...

Dell BIOS can be updated from a Windows environment so basically it's just an executable file that you put on your desktop. Just execute it and it will automatically do the BIOS flash and ask you to reboot when it's done. As a safety precaution just close all your applications during the flash and don't do it during a thunder storm because if you loose power during the update you could kill the motherboard.

Wow, thank you both very much. I'm going to try the BIOS update before I go digging for warranties. Also my card does not match the one in the photo, mine only has 1 DVI, 1 VGA, and 1 HDMI. My monitor does not support DVI unfortunately, however I'm sure I could find a spare monitor if I can't recover my card or find a warranty. I'll write back after the update!
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By the way I would be really surprised that updating your motherboard BIOS would fix your problem (I don't think it's linked to your problem at all). But you asked how to do it so I just showed you because it's often a good idea to keep your BIOS updated (I check mine maybe once per year in case there's an important update).

MC_K7 said:
By the way I would be really surprised that updating your motherboard BIOS would fix your problem (I don't think it's linked to your problem at all). But you asked how to do it so I just showed you because it's often a good idea to keep your BIOS updated (I check mine maybe once per year in case there's an important update).


Actually, it turns out that that Bios was released before I even got my computer, so I've been up to date all along. So I guess part of my card is just fried. That makes me wonder if it will happen again though, seeing I've only had the computer since February. I don't even play games often. I'm usually just browsing the internet or playing with music software. I'm going to contact Dell about warranties and part replacements now. Hopefully things can move smoothly. Thanks again by the way, you were an incredible help

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No problem. I believe all Dell computers come with at least 1-year warranty, you don't even have to look for a warranty proof or something, Dell will know just with the "Service Tag" of the system which you'll need to provide them (it's usually displayed on the front or top of the PC, it's also displayed on the back sometimes but it's usually easy to find). A Dell tech will guide you through a series of tests on the phone and if he can't fix your HDMI port they'll just send you a replacement card. Or if you can't replace the card yourself you might have to send your PC to a Dell repair depot and you'll be without a PC for a certain time. Depending on the type of support that came with the PC maybe you have Next Business Day On-site Technician type of support, so someone will show up at your place to do the repair (but usually that type of support doesn't come standard it's optional $).

By the way, you can enter your Service Tag on the Dell site and it will tell you if your system is still under warranty and the type of support you have:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/supp...

If for some reasons Dell refuses to replace the card (I'd be surprised because they usually have good support) or if you run into the same problem again with a new card, etc... Another option I forgot to mention since your monitor has no DVI input you could use a DVI-to-HDMI cable like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/DVI-HDMI-Cable-6ft-Male-Male/dp/B...

MC_K7 said:
No problem. If the computer is still under warranty a Dell tech will guide you through a series of tests on the phone and if he can't fix your HDMI port they'll just send you a replacement card. Or if you can't replace the card yourself you might have to send your PC to a Dell repair depot, or depending on your type of support that came with the PC maybe you have Next Business Day On-site Technician type of support, so someone will show up at your place to do the repair.

If for some reasons Dell refuses to replace the card (I'd be surprised because they usually have good support) or if you run into the same problem again with a new card, etc... Another option I forgot to mention since your monitor has no DVI input you could use a DVI-to-HDMI cable like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/DVI-HDMI-Cable-6ft-Male-Male/dp/B...



Dell was pretty good on the phone. My warranty has not yet expired, and they said they could schedule a tech to come out to work on it here at my home. Also, I ordered to DVI to HDMI adapter, which was a great idea by the way. Funny thing is, the adapter cable you showed me was only 3-4 dollars, but the cheapest HDMI to HDMI cable I could find at Radioshack was around 27 dollars. So I'm getting a lot from what you showed me.

This is my first time on this site, and you're help has been awesome. If I can mark this thread as resolved or something, I'm ready to do it.
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