Just upgraded to Vista 64. Second monitor doesn't work any more

Lum · 30 Nov 2008 at 19:12

Ok this is annoying, just upgraded to Vista 64 (formerly XP32) in anticipation of another 2gb of DDR3 that's coming my way and already I'm having problems.

When I reboot the system it comes back up with my secondary monitor disabled, and I can't even re-enable it in the normal way as doing so just immediately disables it again. I have to drop my main monitor down to 1024x768 (the resolution of the second monitor), apply it, then put the resolution back up and position it how I want.

If I log out and back in again it remembers the configuration but it will not survive a shutdown and restart.

This was a format+reinstall from SP1 media, so it's not any lingering bits of XP causing it.

So far I've tried disabling TMM and setting the iViewHelper registry key to 0, neither has had any effect

System specs:
Mobo: Asus P5E64-WS Evolution (X48, bios: 0701, intel inf driver: 9.0.0.1011)
RAM: 2x 1gb KingstonValueRAM (memtest86 says it's fine)
CPU: C2D E6750 (not overclocked)
Graphics: Powercolor 4870 (not overclocked other than the factory OC, driver: catalyst 8.11)
Hard drive: 2x WD 80gb thing in RAID0 (intel raid driver: 8.6.0.1007)
Primary monitor: Hazro HZ26Wi @ 1920x1200 (no driver available)
Secondary monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 152v @ 1024x768 (only 32bit inf available)

Lum · 1 Dec 2008 at 19:23

Yes, Catalyst 8.11 are the latest drivers from ATI.
I've found a workaround though, if I use hibernate rather than shutdown, my config is remembered. Only problem is it keeps moving the monitor to the right rather than the left, and this can be fixed by disabling TMM, a service that's supposed to make multiple monitors easier to use by remembering your configuration.

If it's working with your nVidia card, then the conclusion is obviously that the ATI drivers suck, and also that TMM doesn't work properly either!

Lum · 1 Dec 2008 at 19:33

Tried that, have the same problem and need the same workaround to enable it, and it still forgets it when I shut down.

The hibernate trick will get me by for now (although Avira has just informed me it wants a reboot - grr) I dunno what they've done to hibernate on Vista but it's much faster, is it flushing the cache and only storing the bits of memory that have useful stuff in, or something? It'd be nice to see a solution for this. Do ATI take any notice of bug reports or should I just wait for 8.12 and hope it's fixed?

Lum · 2 Dec 2008 at 11:02

Well given that when I resize my screen (first step in getting it to allow me to enable the second monitor) I've now noticed a little balloon pops up for a second saying the display driver ati2mdav or something like that stopped responding and was restarted.

Guess I have to wait until the 10th for Catalyst 8.12

In the meantime I sent a support ticket to ATI, got a reply 2 hours later telling me that display corruption is probably caused by overheating (yeah right, even Crysis doesn't put the card above 55 degrees). I seriously hope that was an automated reply because otherwise their support techies have even worse comprehension skills than Dell's!

Oh for bonus points, even with TMM disabled, when Vista comes out of screensaver, my Samsung monitor gets moved to the right of the Hazro, not the left where it belongs

Lum · 4 Dec 2008 at 14:48

The key point there is identical monitors. I have to drop my primary monitor to an equal or lower resolution than the second (which also causes atikmdag to stop responding and need a restart) before I can enable the second one.

If it's not an ATI problem then what is it? Currently they're trying to blame my motherboard because the P5E64 WS Evo isn't on the Microsoft certified list and they want me to replace the motherboard before they're prepared to investigate further.

Edit: it is on the certified list, they didn't just read past page1 of the Asus search results, it's listed as "P5E64...." not "Asus P5E64..." so is nearer the end. This is fantastic, I wonder what their next excuse will be?

I have a crappy old PCI Radeon here, maybe I should install that and run my second monitor off it? You can't do dual monitors with a combination of ATI and nVidia on Vista can you?

Edit2: hahaha, they pointed me at this knowledgebase article which once again blames everything but their hardware, but then states "If you have this issue and can reproduce it on command, it is not random or intermittent, please collect the following information to submit to us." (msinfo, dxdiag etc.) so they're still not off the hook.

Lum · 5 Dec 2008 at 15:46

Well since the Catalyst 8.12rc3 release came out today I thought I would give it a whirl.
Uninstalled the old drivers, rebooted, installed the new drivers, it comes up and both monitors are active, and it's even remembered that my second monitor is rotated... awesome!

Then I realise that my main monitor has been set to 1680x1050. I set it back to 1920x1200 and reboot just as a curiosity and we're back to one monitor and the ATIKMDAG stopped responding error part way through the process of enabling the second one.

Still at least it doesn't lose the position of the second monitor when coming off the screensaver any more.

Lum · 10 Dec 2008 at 22:58

Update.

Upgraded to 8.12 didn't fix the problem, did fix the ATIKMDAG crash though.

What has fixed the problem is disabling the "Reduce DVI frequency on high resolution displays" option. With that unticked the monitor configuration seems to work fine, unfortunately I need that option ticked as my primary monitor is a Hazro and thus suffers from artifacts if you don't tick it.

My assumption is that this option switches the signal to use the CVT Reduced Blanking timing standard which only really works with digital displays. My secondary monitor is a 1024x768 "analogue" LCD ie. VGA only and detected as a CRT by ATI and thus ATI will want to run it with standard timings. Perhaps the driver is unhappy about starting up with one monitor running reduced blanking and the other running standard.

Lum · 13 Dec 2008 at 19:26

Ok, I think I have found the cause of the problem, but no idea how to fix it.

I have sent my Hazro back for a firmware update, and decided to test using a different monitor. I nicked a 3 metre DVI lead from the living room and hooked up one of my GFs Dell 2707WFPs, with that monitor attached as the primary and no other changes to the system, my multi-monitor configuration is preserved between reboots.

Guess it's time to go back to the Hazro thread and have a moan.