DVI cable + geforce 4 + framebuffer = trouble [slolved]

[ExZombie]

Well, the problem is apparent from the topic's subject. Detailed report follows.

I have a Geforce Ti 4200, which has both a VGA and a DVI port. I recently bought a Samsung Syncmaster 172x LCD monitor, which was not shipped with a DVI cable, so I connected it with a normal VGA cable. Everything worked fine. Yesterday I bought a DVI cable and tried connecting the monitor with it. Well, Windows works, and X works, but framebuffer decided it was time something went wrong .

Now, since my card has both ports, and I also have a CRT monitor at hand, I tried various combinations. I also have a DVI->VGA adaptor, so I could change the monitors' roles. Result: the monitor that is connected to the DVI port won't work with framebuffer.

When there is only one monitor connected to the card, via DVI, kernel reports this (dmesg output):

[Plastic]

Hmm...could you show us the paramaters you are passing to the kernel (vga=xxx, video=vesafb,etc)?

[ExZombie]

I tried passing over a whole lot of things. Right now, I'm not passing any particular mode, but the kernel is configured to try vesa in 1024x768@60 automatically. I tried all modes that came to mind, it just fails. I also tried recompiling and using rivafb driver, same result.

Ah, yes, kernel is 2.6.7-love8 . I'll try another one tomorrow, if I find the time to configure it, but I'm a bit pessimistic about it . Is reiser4 in mm-sources yet?

[Plastic]

I guess that is using Spock's vesafb-tng patch...maybe you should try the conventional vesafb driver...

[ExZombie]

Oh, I forgot about that one. Brings my hopes up . So, do mm-sources have reiser4 yet or will I have to try more love or nitro?

[Plastic]

Well, I think mm has reiser4 (if not, patching will be easy). Love and nitro both have the vesafb-tng patch, but you can download and reverse the patch from Spock's site.

[ExZombie]

Thanx, I'll try it in the morning .

[ExZombie]

Nay, doesn't work . Same thing happens, with or without tng patch.

I'm now convinced this is a hardware problem with the graphics card. The problem is the same if I connect a CRT to the DVI port using an adaptor. The funny thing is, when both monitors are connected framebuffer works fine. The CRT doesn't even have to be turned on, simply connecting it to the VGA port is enough.
And, when both monitors are connected, the LCD has no trouble displaying the BIOS. When only DVI is being used, the monitor won't display the BIOS. So I'm pretty sure now that it's all the graphics card's fault. Seems to me it can't decide through which port to send the image.

Only two ideas come to mind now. First, I could have both monitors connected for the time being. But when I do that, X only diplays on the CRT. I could probably find an option to put into xorg.conf to change display, but even then, I can't have a CRT around all the time.
Second, I could try upgrading the card's BIOS. Guess this is what I'm going to do, but everytime I have to flash some BIOS I'm nervous because I'm afraid it won't flash as it's supposed to. So I would be really grateful if someone could come up with another idea.

[ExZombie]

I can't believe this! There's a BIOS version out there just to adress this specific problem ! Luckily, flashing was successful *phew*.

Thanks Plastic

[Cosmic_Crusader]

I too had this problem just last night.

The way I fixed it was to connect my LCD with both normal analogue and the DVI.
Everythign works fine (including X).

Where is this BIOS patch, I tried to find one but the ASUS site had none for my card (and nVidia say to go to your card manafacturer).

[ExZombie]

AFAIK manufacturers rarely give out new BIOSes, too risky. Although I read about the problem somwhere else, I downloaded teh BIOS and the necessary tools HERE. These are nvidia's BIOSes. Good luck with flashing .