I'm running 4 monitors off 2 Radeon x1300 256mb cards (PCIex16 and PCI), 1 analog and one digital on each. I get no signal from the analog port on the PCIex16, which I believe I diagnosed correctly because the same monitor works when hooked up to the other card, same cable. What are the chances simply replacing the PCIe card WON'T fix the problem? Is there anything else I should look into before biting the bullet and ordering a new card? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Is Windows OS recogizing the apparently bad VGA port in "Display"? That is, does Display show 4 monitor icons?
Assuming you are confident from swapping that the monitor is not the culprit (were you able to check the digital port as well?), and since you said the cards were identical, did you try swapping ports and seeing if the originally failed port worked or not? If it does work, it suggests the problem is the card. If it doesn't, the problem might be what's driving the card (software, etc). In the second case, I'd worry about just buying a new card. However, if it works fine, then a new card should also work fine. You might also stumble on a loose fit somewhere by doing this reseating of cards. edit. looking back at your post, looks like you are using two different types of slots (PCIE16 and PCI)? Not sure if you can swap cards over ports then. If the cards are identical, I would think you should be able to. You could go further and run signal tests if you had the equipment, or on the software end, maybe see if bios/windows recognize cards, etc...
PCI and PCIe x16 are impossible to swap. Pinouts are all different. Many vendors use the same model number for their PCI card and PCIe x16 card (or AGP card for that matter), because their model numbers usually follow the graphic chip designation (driven by NVidia or ATI). So the consumer may think the cards are "the same". They are the "same" only from a functional and features perspective but the bus types are not the same.
Hey guys, thanks for your replies. Scataphagos, yes "Display" shows 1 monitor grayed out. Monitor definitely works because I tried it from the other card. The weird thing is one port works and one doesn't. I think I have it correct that the narrower connector is the analog (blue), and that is the one that has no signal.
Boli, thanks for your reply. I'm 99.999% sure the cards are different ... PCIe16 won't fit in a regular PCI slot. They are in slots 2 and 5, from the top down. Slot 2 is the one that is suspect. Bear in mind this is a brand new problem on a system I've been using for years. I thought it WAS the monitor, because I've had many of these Samsung p.o.s. monitors go bad. But usually there was a period of intermittent functioning first. This was : all of a sudden no display, but power still on. Again, I tested by attaching this monitor to the other card and it worked ... I also attached one of the other monitors to the suspect card, trying 2 different cables, and it did not work. Edit: I guess my real question is, does it make sense that one port of the card works and one doesn't? Do these things go bad in that way?
dtrader thanks for your ideas. I see the cards in the software (called "Catalyst") .. wish I knew how to run a test of the individual ports.
Am I understanding this correctly? Each card has two monitor outputs: 1 digital and 1 analog. You were able to verify one output on each worked? I.e. analog works on 1 but not the other. And digital works on 1, both, none? Could you clarify?
Yes dtrader, each card has 2 outputs, one ana and one digi. They are Radeon X1300 PCI and X1300 PCIe16 PCI card: both analog and digital work PCIe x16 card: digital works, analog doesn't. This I deduced from the combination of trials I mentioned. I'm reasonably sure I'm correct in saying it's the analog that's faulty ... narrower connection, blue as opposed to white. (No matter, I think ... one works and one doesn't)