GA-EP45T-USB3P - Trying to setup a quad display machine and am having problems

[cgr1971]

I am trying to put together a quad display machine for trading and am having problems getting the quad displays working. I currently have four displays but am running them on two different machines and want to get them all on my primary machine. The machines current specs are Gigabyte EP45T-UD3LR, Core 2 Duo e6750, 4g of OCZ DDR3 platinum ram and a MSI R4550-MD1GH ATI 1GB video card. The board only has one PCIe 2.0 slot so I bought a Gigabyte EP45T-USB3P board with two PCIe slots and another MSI R4550-MD1GH ATI 1GB video card.

I swapped out the board and loaded XP and windows recognizes the second video card and both monitors and will let me configure the 3rd and 4th monitor and set the "extend desktop option" but the monitors are showing no signal on them. I loaded the Catalyst control center and it also sees them and lets me configure them but still showing no signal on the screens. I loaded up Windows 7 on a second partition and it is the same on W7 as well, recognizes and lets me configure resolution and everything, just no signal on the screen. I tried both cards individually and they both work fine as a stand alone card, I also tried another ATI 4350 card and still the same scenario with no signal on the screens.

I went in to the BIOS and made sure the 1st PCIe slot was set to be the primary slot. Then I tried setting the 2nd PCIe slot to be used as the primary but get no signal on the screen when trying to run a single card or both cards with the secondary slot set to be used as the primary. Any idea why I am getting no signal showing on the screen?

I swapped the original board back in so I can work. I am thinking of just breaking down and buying a ATI FirePro 2450 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 quad display card since I don't do any gaming but the two cards I have are passively cooled which is what I want and the Firepro has a fan as well as costing $250.

Do you think the new board is bad or has a bad secondary PCIe slot or is there something I am missing?

[F5BJR]

*
Have you installed the option CROSSFIRE between the 2 * cards ?

If yes , look if you have not CROSSFIRE enable by default with Catalyst Control CENTER

*

I have an HD4850X2 2GO ( with 4 * DVI  ) with 4 screens no problems !!

if i program the CROSSFIRE optin i can use only 2 * DVI


i have also in the same computer another graphics card but with PCI bus HD4350 Club 3D

with this card i can use one VGA or DVI monotor + HDMI TV

Finnaly i can use 5 * DVI monitors + TV HDMI no problems

Pierre

[Peteruk]

Well...its nothing to do with the new board the problem I think is that your using the VGA and DVI ports not HDMI and DVI ports as I believe the DVI and VGA are shared.

If two of your monitors are DVI you can get two HDMI to DVI cables and that should do it...or buy two new cards with two DVI ports on them.   

[F5BJR]

yes

good info Peteruk

I have read MSI R4550-MD1GH  documentation VGA and DVI use the same port

For 2 monitors with this card the solution is DVI or VGA + DVI with HDMI port with adapter

No problem with the 2 cards you can use 4 monitors !!!

Pierre

[cgr1971]

All four monitors have both VGA and DVI inputs and you are correct, I am using two VGA cables and two DVI cables.  When running a single card, I am able to use two monitors with one DVI cable and one VGA cable and it works fine. I will have to get some DVI to HDMI cables and give it a try.  Thank you.

[Peteruk]

I am able to use two monitors with one DVI cable and one VGA cable and it works fine.

If that works for one card really that should then work for both cards in the board.

Your running the cards without the bridge linking them yes?

[cgr1971]

That was my thinking, I can't see why two monitors will run fine when only one card is installed and one is connected to the VGA port and the other to the DVI, but when I add the second card it doesn't work. 

Yes, I am running them without the bridge and crossfire is not enabled. 

[Peteruk]

That was my thinking, I can't see why two monitors will run fine when only one card is installed and one is connected to the VGA port and the other to the DVI, but when I add the second card it doesn't work. 

Ok with only one monitor connected to one card by DVI and the other monitor by DVI to the other card does that out two displays? If it does then try two monitors one on each card by VGA.

[F5BJR]

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Have you tested your config in another computer with 2 PCI-e slot ?
*

I have found possible compatible BIOS for your cards but with only 512 Mo

www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=&manufacturer=&model=HD+4550&interface=&memSize=0

flash program is ATIWINFLASH or ATIFlash ( DOS )

If you flash , before save your original BIOS

I have sometimes flashed my HD4850X2 with bad flash , finnaly i have recover without problem with old's BIOS saved before !!

Pierre

* You can also send a message to MSI for request if exist a new BIOS

or run MSI LIVE VGA BIOS ( program exist in your MSI DRIVER CD )   for request VGA BIOS ( if exist )

[cgr1971]

That was my thinking, I can't see why two monitors will run fine when only one card is installed and one is connected to the VGA port and the other to the DVI, but when I add the second card it doesn't work.  

Ok with only one monitor connected to one card by DVI and the other monitor by DVI to the other card does that out two displays? If it does then try two monitors one on each card by VGA.

That is a good question.  I will have to try it.  This is my work machine and I have to wait until the weekend to put the other motherboard back in it to try it.  I ordered two HDMI to DVI cables so I will try that also.  

I am seriously thinking that this is a good time for a processor upgrade as well.  I am thinking since I have to go through all the trouble of reloading windows and all my programs, it is a good time to upgrade to a core i5 750.  If I do that I would prefer to stick with a Gigabyte motherboard, the one I would probably get is GA-P55A-UD4P, just not sure if I will run in to the same problem with the new board or should I consider another brand board.  

I will try setting it back up this weekend to test one monitor on each card.  Peteruk may be on to something, Windows showed that monitors 1 and 3 were the ones getting a signal, maybe they were each being fed by a different card.

My other machine only has one PCIe slot so I can't try the setup in that one.