ASROCK H77 Pro4-M No video ports work

[djoseph]

System:

ASROCK H77 Pro4-M LGA 1155
Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350P
16gb Corsair RAM
NVidia GT9500 graphics card (1gb ram)
ASUS PB Series PB238Q 23-Inch Screen LED-lit Monitor
HP w2207h monitor
4 HDDs, 1 is Corsair SD
PSU KINGWIN AP-550 550W R
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1

Hello,

I chose the ASRock mb last year for building my system because I wanted to connect 2 monitors and 1 tv. Ever since, I have run the two monitors off the GT9500 card. Due to space issues, I didn’t attempt to hook up the tv until this week.

Now I am finding that none of the 3 video ports on the ASRock board are working. Each time I connect either monitor by itself to any of the 3 ports on the mb, the monitor says “No HDMI signal.” I removed the GT9500 card to test just the mb ports, and no video works from the mb at all. (Thus, I can’t remove the GT9500.)

In reading the ASRock manual, it shows a BIOS setting with an option of DVI or HDMI, in the Northbridge configuration. When I go to that setting, I only see the PCI Express. I flashed the BIOS from the menu, which resulted in no change. I didn’t notice what version it was before the flash, but afterwards it reads ‘UEFI Version H77 Pro4-M P1.60’

I don’t believe I ever installed the video drivers for the mb when I built the system a year ago, because I just started using the NVidia at the time. So today I tried to update the mb video drivers (from the ASRock CD) but could not – there are no directions on which file to run, and the one I chose said that my system didn’t meet requirements; obviously the wrong one.

Can anyone tell me how to get the video ports on this mb to work? If you say to download any drivers, please tell me which file I need for my system, and which folder and filename is the setup to run. If my BIOS is outdated, please tell me how to update it.

I am working heavily the next two days, and I hope to find some guidance from a few kind souls when I return Saturday eve. Thank you very much in advance.

djoseph

 

[Damn_Rookie]

Your CPU has no integrated graphics I'm afraid (the "p" part of i5-3350p signifies that it has been disabled by intel, hence the slightly lower TDP for that particular model of i5 (69W as opposed to 77W)). Sorry, but the video ports on the motherboard are going to be of no use without a different CPU.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_%28microarchitecture%29

 

[djoseph]

Your CPU has no integrated graphics I'm afraid (the "p" part of i5-3350p signifies that it has been disabled by intel, hence the slightly lower TDP for that particular model of i5 (69W as opposed to 77W)). Sorry, but the video ports on the motherboard are going to be of no use without a different CPU.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_%28microarchitecture%29

Darn! I didn't know that when I bought it. So I need to get a different CPU. What do you recommend? I use my pc for web development, Adobe Photoshop, PowerPoint, MS Office, etc. Lots of applications running at once but no games. I want to connect to the tv so I can watch Hulu Plus and Netflix.

 

[Damn_Rookie]

Well the tricky thing is that most motherboards automatically disable onboard graphics when a discrete graphics card (like your GT 9500) is detected. They don't let you use both together. So even if you changed your CPU you wouldn't be able to use the motherboard's own video ports.

Ivy bridge can be a bit tricky to get 3 monitors all working off of integrated graphics on their own. I don't believe it's possible with the video ports on offer on the back of your particular motherboard (plus there are other complications in doing it)

So, the good news is that I don't recommend you change your CPU; it's still pretty good actually, and to get better performance you'd have to spend quite a bit. The cheapest way I can see to get you the 3 monitors you need is to buy a new graphics card I'm afraid.

As you're not planning on doing any gaming, the cheapest I could find was this Radeon 6450. It has two DVI ports and one HDMI port, and is designed to support 3 screens at once using those connectors. There may be a cheaper alternative somewhere out there, so if anyone else wants to jump in, by all means do!