DVI output not working

Question

I have bought a a new LCD monitor with two connectors (DVI and VGA). When I connect my D800 to the D/Dock, the VGA output of the D/Dock works well but the DVI output gives no signal. Do I need to activate something special in the BIOS, video driver, ... ?   Thanks in advance,   Rincevent.

Rollie_R · Answer

Rincevent,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.

There are no settings to enable the DVI port. Please try uninstalling the video drivers, and then install the latest video drivers from our website. Even if you have the latest version, please uninstall them, and reinstall them. After installing the drivers, check the Display Properties and check how many Default Monitors are listed. There should be four, one for the built-in LCD, one for VGA, one for s-video and one for DVI.

Rincevent · Answer

Dear Rollie, dear forum members,   Thanks for your quick response.   I have installed the video driver R65893 over the R58466 but nothing has changed.   I don't believe that the video driver is the problem because when I boot with only the DVI cable plugged, I got a black screen. Even the bios informations are not displayed. I have tested the monitor and the DVI cable on another PC and they work well.   If I boot with the two cables plugged (DVI and VGA), nothing is displayed. If I boot with only the VGA cable, it works. If I plug the dvi cable under windows and go to the display properties, there are two monitors listed (sames as without the dvi cable plugged): the first one is '(multiple monitors) on nvidia ...' which correspond to the external LCD monitor on VGA and the second one is 'plug and play monitor on ...' which correspond to the internal laptop screen. Note that if I go to the advanced properties->Geforce 4200 GO, there is no information about a numeric monitor when the dvi cable is unplugged. But if I plug the DVI cable under windows, I have more options under  advanced properties->Geforce 4200 GO for dual display on a analog + numeric monitor. So, the dvi output seems to be detected has a possible dual screen device.   So the problem is maybe that the video bios of my GeForce4200Go is not able to use dvi output? I have no dvi output on the laptop, so I cannot test it without the docking station.   Does somebody have successfully connected a dvi monitor on a D800 Geforce 4200 Go with D/Dock ?   Thanks,   Rincevent.

paour · Answer

I'm about to buy a D400, hoping to use it with a DVI monitor with a native resolution of 1600x1024 (Apple 22'). I'd like to confirm that this resolution is indeed supported by the port replicator.

tlpriest · Answer

I share your problems with DVI on an Inspiron 8500 with the NVIDIA GeForce4 4200 Go card and the latest drivers and bios available from Dell's web site.

I have dual VGA external LCD displays (Mass Multiples, purchased from Dell) and a Gefen DVI (digital) to VGA converter box (found that I needed such a box after receiving the displays - I had a Dell pre-sales technician confirm the configuration would work with my laptop docking station before I ordered, but they failed to realize I would need to drive one of the VGA displays with the DVI port on the docking station). I've worked with Gefen support for several weeks now, including having them send me a custom converter box with an updated EDID with no success.

My laptop recognizes there's an external digital display and Windows XP even includes that desktop when I use "print screen" to take a screen capture; however, I never get a picture on the display. The DVI port does work because I can drive other DVI monitors with it, but there's some signalling issue between the NVIDIA DVI output and the Gefen converter box (which looks like a DVI monitor to the system) that prevents a picture from being drawn.

I'm beginning to suspect one or the other companies, NVIDIA or Gefen, have violated the DVI standard in some subtle way that causes the two devices to not work together. I'm now considering changing the video card in my laptop from the NVIDIA to the ATI Radeon to see if that will clear up the problem.

Would love to hear from Dell on this one. I've looked about on the web for "NVIDIA GeForce DVI problems" and have noticed a number of complaints about NVIDIA's older chipsets not working fully with some DVI monitors, including an article published in a tech review magazine (don't have it in front of me at the moment.)

T

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DVI output not working

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