Really really weird monitor problems after installing new motherboard

[thedonquixotic]

I have 3 displays. I have 2 TVs being used as monitors, and a tablet monitor that i use for art stuff.

I one TV hooked up using a HDMI to Display port (ViewSonic), one TV hooked up using a HDMI to DVI port(iSymphony), and the tablet monitor using a DVI to DVI port(Ugee).

I'm seeing some very odd behavior. The only monitor that works fully is the ViewSonic. It works like normal all the time. When I unplug everything, and plug in just the Ugee, then I can see the POST screen on the Ugee, and see it starting to load up windows, but then it will lose signal just as the sign in comes up. The same thing happens with the iSymphony.

To see if this was caused by the cords or something else, I've just switched the HDMI to DisplayPort cord over to the iSymphony, and now the iSymphony is displaying properly. This is very odd.

I thought maybe the fact that I changed over to a new motherboard had made something go wonky. I use Display Fusion to handle my set up, so I thought maybe I should try uninstalling it. When I search uninstall programs on windows and click the control panel settings though, nothing happens.

I can also not take my arrow off the right side of the screen (like normal) but I can take it off the left side (as if it were part of a dual monitor setup and that was the side that crossed over) No other display is detected though.

When I got to windows display settings and tell it to search for new displays, it does nothing.

Any clues?

 

[SinxarKnights]

Did you reinstall windows after changing the motherboard? If not, im surprised it works at all. If you didn't reinstall windows yet, do that and let us know if it is working normally.

I'm guessing you are using windows 10, not sure how the license transfer works exactly. May have to buy a new copy of windows but im not sure it works like that any more.

 

[thedonquixotic]

Hmmm, according what I've read online, you don't have to do anything when you change out a motherboard with Windows 10 since you just tag the license to your account and reactivate it when you boot up. I'm going to double check some of that though: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-re-activate-windows-10-after-hardware-change

 

[SinxarKnights]

Good so go ahead and reinstall windows then. Make sure you have your important stuff backed up.

 

[thedonquixotic]

Oh I was understanding that was no longer necessary but upon doing more reading it seems that it is.

 

[smorizio]

i dont know if those are the new parts in your sig. if there newer intel or amd mb. make sure the mb has the newest bios file. then look for priamny display and muilt monitor setting in the bios. turn on muilt monitor to have both the onboard and gpu ports on. on primany display set it to peg.pci for the mian gpu and ip[gpu for onboard video first.

 

[thedonquixotic]

The one in my sig is the old board. I just installed a z77 mPower. That's probably why I was able to boot, it's basically just a fancier version of my old one. I got it as a hand me down from a friend and figured having a mobo with a few nice things like error code LCD would be nice. Ugh, wish I hadn't messed with it now.

Just finished reinstalling. updated nVidia drivers. No love. Still is only getting one screen at a time. frick.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Ok check in your BIOS to make sure onboard video is disabled (you may have to reset to defaults if you didn't do that when you got it then reset it to the settings you want such as enabling XMP and any other settings you have enabled/disabled on your old board). Unplug all but your main monitor. Open up display settings and confirm it is only one being shown. Now plug in one at a time and see what happens in the display settings window.

 

[thedonquixotic]

I don't see anything in my bios about display settings? I'm pretty sure I reset it though since I reset the CMOS battery earlier today

Also here's a picture of the control panel showing more detailed information about my board etc. It's BIOS is pretty out of date, though the last BIOS version for this one is 2013

 

[thedonquixotic]

Is this what your'e talking about?

Oh yeah, also I don't seem to be able to update the BIOS. When I try to download the latest BIOS version (from 2013) it tells me "this app can't run on your PC".

 

[SinxarKnights]

Yeah see you have IGD Multi-Monitor enabled that is why it thinks there is another monitor there when it isn't (being able to move off the wrong side of the screen.

Here is the manual for your board if you dont have it: https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z77_MPOWER.html#down-manual

 

[thedonquixotic]

So I'm supposed to disable that? I've disabled it and enabled it and it's not making a difference.

Also I've unplugged my main monitor and plugged in the second one and nothing happens. I click "detect monitors" and nothing happens.

 

[SinxarKnights]

You are plugging them into the graphics card correct? Is the power switch on the rear of the monitors turned on? Are they plugged into the wall?

 

[thedonquixotic]

Yes, I'm plugging them into the graphics card, the monitors are on and plugged into the wall. I've tried both hdmi to dvi and hdmi to hdmi, but I can only get hdmi to displayport to work, and it's only one monitor at a time.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Yes, I'm plugging them into the graphics card, the monitors are on and plugged into the wall. I've tried both hdmi to dvi and hdmi to hdmi, but I can only get hdmi to displayport to work, and it's only one monitor at a time.

Sounds like a graphics card issue. I mean if you reinstalled windows and it still happens, can you test the card in a different PC? did you install display fusion after the reinstall or do anything other than allow windows to update and install the graphics card driver?

 

[thedonquixotic]

I just installed Display Fusion to see if the absence of it might be the problem. No change 🙁 I don't think it's a graphics card problem, this thing is pretty new and I haven't had any problems with it before. The only thing that changed was the motherboard.

 

[thedonquixotic]

Okay I'm going to try a couple of things today. 1) I'm going to try swapping out the graphics card. 2) I'm going to see if maybe this is due to the power plug on the board (maybe that's activating the integrated graphics card or something) and 3) if that doesn't work I'm going to try my old mobo again.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[thedonquixotic]

Don't want to spam this thread but I thought I would update with some of my findings.

I'm pretty sure that this has something to do with the Virtu MVP and IGD multimonitor setup. Apparently on the mPower they had this fancy thing that allowed you to use your integrated graphics card and discrete graphics card at the same time. I think something about that is interfering with my use of multi monitors. I've enabled it, and now I'm trying to download and install all the necessary drivers etc, to see if I can get it to work.

I've tried installing the Virtu MVP installer I found on CNET but it won't install because it says there is no integrated graphics card detected. I'm going to try another restart and see if that fixes things.

one thing I feel I've learned from this is that "premium" motherboards don't seem to be worth it really. They have all this proprietary bloatware that they don't seem to even support a couple of years after the fact. Next mobo I get, I want something a little nicer than what I usually get. Something with better build quality, and easier to install wires and cable management. But all this extra BIOS stuff can go jump in a lake!

 

[thedonquixotic]

Okay after going back and forth, back and forth with the IGP BIOS settings I changed out the graphics card. Having basicaly the same exact problem with it. I think I'm going to have to install my old mobo and hope that it didnt' get zapped or fried in the process.

 

[thedonquixotic]

Hey! It's working now! and.... I'm not exactly sure why... I went to the MSI forum, seeing if there was maybe something more specific. Someone linked me a utility to install my BIOS since it wasn't letting me update it... and it failed. But when I booted up my computer it was running dual screens no problem.... I have no clue why. My BIOS still says it's version 17.6 (instead of 17.12 as it should). But it works now. The only think I could think was maybe when I unseated my backup card and reseated my current card, in reseating my current card I got a better contact or seating or something. That doesn't really make much sense to me personally as it seems that graphics cards are pretty boolean, they either work or don't, and I feel like a poor seating of the graphics card would just keep it from working at all. Anyway I'm not going to complain.

Here's a link to the thread on the MSI forum, in case someone else in the future runs into similar problems and needs something as reference:

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=288603.new;topicseen#new