Radeon VE Dual Monitors in Win2k

BigAl

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Hi there everyone!

I am trying to use the Radeon VE card with two Sony Trinitron E100P 15" screens under Win2k in multi-monitor mode and have the following problems:
1. I get a horizontal grey interference band of approx 5mm on each monitor. The position of the band is not the same on each monitor. This is NOT the aperture grill wire! The position of the bands changes with the display resolution settings. If I place the monitors over 1.5 metres apart, the problem clears up. Is this a monitor shielding issue or a graphics card/driver problem?

2. I cannot set the vertical refresh rate of the monitors to anything other than 60HZ. The flicker is still noticable. I have used the latest ATI drivers and no luck. Is there anyone using hyrdavision under Win2k with a refresh rate greated than 60Hz?

Any comments/suggestions welcomed. A friend has suggested using the Matrox Millenium G450 instead.

Thanks

Allan
 

noko

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Jan 22, 2001
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If you move the monitors farther apart and the problem with the banding goes away or diminishes then it is a monitor shielding problem, not much can be done on the computer side.

In the ATI drivers Properties go to:

. . <b>Displays</b> tab
. . Then to the <b>Attributes</b> tab
. . . . In <b>Monitor Attributes</b> do the following:
. . . . . Uncheck the <b>Use DDC information</b>
. . . . . In the <b>Maximum Resolution</b> set the maximum resolution your monitor can support.
. . . . . In the <b>Maximum Refresh</b> set the maximum refresh rate your monitor can support
. . . . . . . note the refresh rate is not the maximum for the highest resolution but the maximum
. . . . . . . like at 640x480 resolution.

What happens is that some monitors when using DDC have low settings or default settings that are with low refresh rates. This should correct your problem. If not let me know, there are other solutions as well.
 

BigAl

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Thanks for the advice. I will try it out as soon as I receive my replacement motherboard (that whole problem is on another thread!) in the next few days.

I agreed with you that it could be a monitor shielding issue, however at work loads of people have cheaper dual monitors placed right next to each other without any problems or additional shielding. Mind you they all use Matrox cards! Apparently the same problem can manifest itself with the G400 when using identical monitors and one solution is to use two slightly different refresh rates on each monitor.

I will give it a try. One thing I will also do is to place the two monitors side by side, but hook each one up to a different PC. If it is a shielding issue then the banding problem should still be present. One thing I did note (before sending the motherboard back) is that the banding was not present on any of the Win2k splash or loading screens, it only appeared after logging in. This lead me to believe that it could be the way the card/driver generates synchronous signals to the monitors. It appears that most people on the newsgroups use different models/makes for dual monitor setups.

I will post an update in the next 3-4 days.

Thanks again.
 

BigAl

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Noko,

I have finally got my replacement motherboard and have been trying to solve the problem.

As far as I can determine one cannot set different resolutions for each monitor in Win2K using Hydravision.

What I have managed to do is set different refresh rates for each monitor which causes the grey interference bands to disappear. I managed this by double clicking on the monitor icons in the "multi-monitor" tab of the display properties. I tried 75 & 72 Hz and 90 & 85 Hz. However, this introduces a new interference problem - I then get grey shimmering patterns (most noticeable on white backgrounds) and the two closet vertical edges wobble up and down! When only one monitor is turned on, then everything is fine.

I borrowed a Matrox Millenium G450 from a friend and it had exactly the same problems. Therefore it cannot be the cards and is most likely a monitor shielding problem. I spoke to both ATI and Matrox tech support and they both said it has to be inadequate shielding in the monitors.

The monitors are 15" Sony Trinitrons CPD-E100Ps. After much argument with the suppliers they have agreed to test them themselves and refund/replace if they are proved to be defective.

Does anyone know of any 15" monitors that work together well for dual displays and have minimal interference?

Does anyone use the Sony E100Ps for dual display?

Thanks

Allan
 

noko

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How about getting one TFT LCD monitor with the Sony? 15.1" viewable Samsung TFT LCD was going for $399 at Best Buys and it looked great. Would also save on deskspace. Doesn't your VE have a DVI output? Digital video is the way to go for the least amount of noise. Obviously the Sony monitors are at fault and it doesn't speak to highly of them. I have two monitors (21" HP and a 17" Gateway) right next to each other without any of those problems. Though they are hooked up to two separate computers.