what the flipping heck has happened

[GoldenbanjoDJ]

Hey guys,

Here's a challenge for you!!

Last night I got in after a stressful 9 hour car journey from work through floods.

My eyefinity setup has been working like a charm since Christmas with a 6950, 3 1080p LG monitors (all the same model) and an XFX mini-displayport to DVI adapter.

When I switched on the system, I was greeted by a 900p eyefinity setup. All of the icons were massive and were all aligned on the 3rd monitor, which is weird because I always have them arranged across the displays.

I thought nothing of it at first and simply right clicked and went to screen resolution. However, the maximum I could select on the slider was 4800x900 for eyefinity.

Then I went in to try and reset the eyefinity group by disabling it and then creating a new group. didn't work.

I then wondered if it was anything to do with the hardware. I switched off the computer and unplugged the mini displayport adapter from the pc, disconnecting the third display. I switched the computer on and was met with the two remaining displays arranged in an extended desktop setup, but both were in 1080p as opposed to 900p.

I plugged the third monitor back in via the minidisplayport adapter and rebooted, the display went back to 900p. The old 'switch it off and switch it back on' didn't quite work.

So I checked the properties in Catalyst and realised that out of the 3 monitors, 2 were listed as 'W2361' (the model number) and they had max resolutions of 1920x1080 and 1 was listed as 'fake' and its properties were 'unknown'. The monitor which is listed as 'fake' is the one connected via the minidisplayport - dvi adapter.

What on earth is going on? My displays are all 1080p and have been running 1080p. Displays don't just drop in resolution! The only thing I can think of is the connection between the card and the 3rd ('fake') monitor. I have tried both minidisplayport ports and got the same result.

Or is there a software issue going on here? Literally stuck.

Kind regards! Daniel

 

[Josh Weston]

Have you tried switching the cables around so that the 'fake' monitor is plugged in via DVI and another monitor is using your adapter? Should help to see whether it's the monitor at fault or the adapter.

 

[hmmblah]

I've heard of those adapters going bad. Do you have another one you can test with?

If you plug in one of the working monitors into the adapter, is that monitor recognized? What if you plug the monitor detected as "fake" into a normal DVI port? Is that one now recognized properly?

Edit: Josh beat me to it.

 

[GoldenbanjoDJ]

Ok guys so I have done a bit of testing and mixing and matching monitors to adapters etc and I initially thought it was the adepter because it was the monitor that it was connected to that was going dodgy.

Then I put the dvi cable from one of the monitors that worked correctly into the adapter and it kept working correctly. Obviously not the adapter, then... So I thought 'it could be the DVI cable'.

So I used the dvi cable from one of the working monitors into the monitor that was not working (the one on the far left) and it gave me the 900p image on that screen. I also plugged the suspect dvi cable into the monitor that was working and it gave 1080p. Clearly, there is no discrimination in regards to the DVI cabling either. This made me think it was the monitor that was broken- the most costly!!

However, by pure chance, me messing around with the wiring as they go into the card has left all of my monitors arranged improperly. The one that the card thinks is on the far left is physically on the far right and the one it thinks is on the far right is on the far left. Literally as I have been typing, I realised that now it is my far right monitor that is in 1080p, whilst the one that I thought was broken is on the far left.

Does anyone agree with this as a potential conclusion: The monitors are all fine. The adapter is fine. The cable is fine. The screen showing 900p instead of 1080p is the screen which the card and the software THINKS is on the far left hand side of my desk.

Any possible solutions in the light of this?

 

[GoldenbanjoDJ]

So I have done some messing around in Catalyst Control Centre as the software powering this setup. After some clicking around, I selected 'enable GPU scaling' and for some reason, the whole thing has now gone back to being 5760x1080

Weird!! I don't know why it ever changed in the first place!!

Cheers fellas- hopefully this problem is solved lol!

 

[Josh Weston]

Just make sure you remember how to fix it if it happens again! The best problems are those that solve themselves

 

[yassarikhan786]

Glad you got it sorted dude

 

[cerbrus2]

glad you got it sorted m8. the "cheaper" mini display to dvi adaptors only have a cirtian life span normally they last for around a year. The only ones that dont just die after a year or so are the ones that are powerd by USB. And they cost over £100 each. So initially I feared that it was your adaptor. but its good to know you have it all sorted without any further expense.