8500DV and tv out

[tbms]

Does anyone have any ideas on this problem? I am running an xp system with an 8500dv hooked up to a TV via RCA cables, in addition to having a TV co-ax hooked into the 8500dv. I have tried several different variations on the settings in display/settings/advanced/displays, but always run into one of the following:

1. monitor as primary + tv as a clone (and vice versa) = image on one but not the other. on whichever one is the clone, the window that should contain the image appears but is blank.

2. monitor as primary + tv as part of extended desktop = image on tv, but herky-jerky sound and image.

3. monitor as primary + tv as primary = good tv/dvd image and sound on both, but then must suffer 640x480 resolution on the monitor plus the monitor image is severely off-center.

I've updated all of my drivers, but to no avail. I'd love to also hear any suggestions on how to make the 8500dv run smoother on XP. Thanks!

 

[Crashman]

Sounds like a problem with the PCI bus, you don't have any cards mounted in PCI Slot 1 do you?

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[tbms]

Nope, nothing in the PCI 1 slot, although the 8500DV is in the AGP slot. I have a soundcard in PCI 3 and the modem in 5. Also, I have a 431 watt power supply -- that should be sufficient, right?

However, I did discover a bit more info from the ATI website:

"Display overlay may be unavailable because:

ATI graphics adapter is a "secondary" display adapter
Overlay, under DirectX, will only be available on the primary display adapter under Windows 98. If the graphics cards is configured as a secondary adapter then the overlay feature required by the ATI DVD Player will not be available.

To correct this the ATI graphics card must be configured as the primary display adapter when running the ATI DVD Player."

That came from www.ati.com/support/infobase/3398.html.

Might this mean that, even though I'm running XP, video can only be sent out to a primary display, not to a clone? Does this sound right to you?

 

[Crashman]

Actually you got it wrong, the adapter is the video card itself, since you have an AGP card and no other video card, that's not your problem. But I believe most boards do share IRQ's between slot 2 and slot 5, not sure on your board, and not sure whether or not it's part of the problem. What soundcard and motherboard do you have?

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>

 

[tbms]

I have a Soyo Dragon Ultra KT333, and a Soundblaster Audigy.

I've been wondering for awhile if I had an IRQ conflict going on. When I first assembled the computer, XP put my modem and the video card both on IRQ 11, as you can see below:

IRQ 11 ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV OK
IRQ 11 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller OK
IRQ 11 Generic 56K HCF Data Fax Modem OK

Actually, I should say my "third" modem; the first two began failing to respond after about one week of operation. The store said try a new brand, which I did, but I still wondered if the IRQ conflict was the actual problem.

Anyway, I wonder if sharing the IRQ is causing difficulties anew? Is there a way to force the modem and firewire controller off of IRQ 11? I tried under modem/properties/resources, but the option was grayed-out.

 

[Crashman]

Hmm, are your other devices on other IRQ's? Because ACPI can force everything to one IRQ but usually works. You could try setting BIOS to "PNP OS-NO" which allows BIOS to assign IRQ's instead of the OS.

<font color=blue>At least half of all problems are caused by an insufficient power supply!</font color=blue>