Z230 SFF - 2nd monitor problems

[caveroute]

Hi, 

Z230 SFFworkstation , K600, i4770, 8mb ram, windows 7

I have two dell monitors, if i connect one via the DVI port it works fine.

I cannot get the 2nd monitor to work via the display ports.

By not work, the screen remains blank, the on/off light remains amber. 

I have tried a display port to dvi cable, a display port to dvi adapter but nothing seems to work.

I'm very familiar with how to set up two monitors, having used this approach for several years. 

This time i'm stumped. 

I saw somewhere that w7 does not support display ports 1.x, but then that can't be right, can it ?

Any advice greatly appreciated - it should be plug and play after all. 

[Esskay]

Hi,

What's the model of the monitor? You should be able to run 2 monitors without any problem from the K600 card.

Have you loaded the Nvidia graphcis driver? You may want to uninstall and do a "clean" re-install and see if it helps.

Does your display properties show the second monitor? Can you pls post a screenshot of this?

Thanks,

Sasi

[caveroute]

Hi 

Nvidia graphic driver loaded - no errors.

Shied away form doing an uninstall / install ......

The second monitor is not visible - anywhere, such as in display properties where normally you would be able to see the second screen in a drop down, and each would have a separate identity, 1 or 2.

I would have though the default nvidia options would support 2 displays, would they not. 

Thanks for you help so far. 

Rgds

Cave

[caveroute]

Hi, 

I've attached an nvidia view that may be useful. 

[caveroute]

ok, uninstalled and reinstalled the K600 driver, no change. 

[caveroute]

Ok, I include a file, the HP adviser graphic display presentation

With regards to this.

All entries respond to a right and left click.

Except for the three entries at the bottom right, below Sata 3.0, I presume these are the three display ports. The other two beoing the C and DVD drive. 

The three exceptions show nothing on a right or left click.

So I'm concluding that the display ports are somehow disabled.

Any ideas anyone ?

[caveroute]

The display ports are confirmed as not recognised - as shown in the attached. 

I'm beginning to suspect a h/w problem and I'm going to have to trigger the warranty to fix it. 

[caveroute]

hi, 

The SATA details attached suggest  a maximum of two supported devices, see the red annotation,  this would be the c drive and dvd reader. 

Am i reading this correctly ?

Would this be why the display ports are not being recognised ?

[Skylarking]

Normally, you should see the second monitor within Set up multiple displays and View system topology  within the Nvidia Control Panel. If you don't see the second monitor, it could be either a hardware/software fault (somewhere in the video path) or it could be that the hardware configuration you are using is not actually supported by your  hardware/software.

So best to keep it simple in the first instance and only look at single monitor configurations...

Considering you don't have a DP input on your E248WFP,  then you can not directly connect the K600 DP to your monitor. You may or may not be able to connect the DP output of the K600 to the DVI-D input of the E248WFP using an adapter but it all depends on the capabilities of the K600 DP port.

Specifically, the display port of the K600 needs to be a dual mode display port, also known as DP++.

With a DP++ capable port, you can connect a signal link DVI-D cable to a (cheap) passive DP-DVI adapter which you plug into the DP++ input of your K600. A DP++ capable port will change modes to output a DVI or HDMI compliant signal.

If you don't have DP++ capabilities within the K600, i believe you need an active adapter that has electronics contained within that converts the signals between DP/DVI as needed (but knote these are costly).

Unfortunately Dell does not indicate that the DP connector on their K600 is dual mode DP++ capable within their specs!

So best to test in a simple single monitor configuration. That is connect the adapter to the K600 and a dual link DVI cable between the adapter and monitor and see if it works. If it does work, then the port is DP++ and likely ther is some software issue at play when running dual monitors. If it doesn't work, then either it's not DP++ or you have a fault with the K600 DP port or your adapter or your DVI cable. Obviously you can test the cable by connecting it between the K600 DVI port and the monitor but to test the K600 you will need to borrow a DP capable monitor. To test a adapter is a little trickier as you need a computer with a known working DP++ port...

I'm also not sure if an adapter can be used interchangably, that is, it's able to convert DP to DVI as well as DVI to DP. Best to get clarification from the manufacturer that their adapter converts DP to DVI-D and DVI-DP.

While your at it, also best to get clarification from Dell as to whether the K600 DP port is actually DP++ capable...

Now if you have verified the K600 hardware is DP++ capable and works as does the adapter and DVI cable, but you still have issue with your rig when in dual monitor configuration, then there may be DDC/CI related problems so check your monitor options for any options to set DDC/CI or EDID to enabled/disabled and ensure they are set to enabled...

Lastly if everything seems as it should work, because you have tested all individual componenets and checked all settings, it's either a driver issue (so fully uninstall and reinstall) or there is some obscure protocol hangup causing the monitor to lock in standby (this sometimes happens with some DP capable Dell monitors).

Good luck in your fault finding...

[Esskay · Accepted solution]

Considering your monitor is a 24" monitor, you don't need Dual Link DVI adaptor. Since you are not getting ANY display on the DisplayPort, you might want to check the graphics card for a faulty port.

The other possibility is a faulty DP-DVI convertor.

On your questions on the PA diagram:

"All entries respond to a right and left click.

Except for the three entries at the bottom right, below Sata 3.0, I presume these are the three display ports. The other two beoing the C and DVD drive."

The ports ypu see sre SATA ports. They are not clickable since you don't have anything connected to them. The first two are clickable, as you have the DVD drive and the HDD connected to them.

The SATA details attached suggest  a maximum of two supported devices, see the red annotation,  this would be the c drive and dvd reader. 

Am i reading this correctly ?

Would this be why the display ports are not being recognised ?

PA is displaying the details of only connected devices, and hence the number 2. The remaining ports are not disabled. They don't show up in the report just because they don't have anything connected; that's all.

I am assuming that you have connected the second monitor to the DisplayPort of the K600 card, and not the DisplayPorts on the motherboard. The Z230SFF has 3 x DisplayPorts at the rear of the system on the motherboard (Item #4 in the picture below). These ports will be disabled when you install an add-on card like the K600. The second monitor should be connected to the DisplayPort on the K600 (Red circle in the pic below).

The DisplayPort on the K600 card is controlled only by the K600 graphics card, and the system has no play in it.

Hope this helps. Assuming your monitor is working, and is connected to the DP on K600 with a good DP-DVI convertor and a good DVI cable, your system should identify the second monitor, and allow you to configure it. If not, you may have a faulty K600 card or DP-DVI convertor.

Thanks and regards,

Sasi