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Benq 8700+ not detecting DVI, again. - Page 2

post #31 of 74
4/3/06 at 11:11pm
For those who are still interested, check out this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...19#post7427319

(I still think it is a primarily a display driver problem - they seem very finicky when it comes to EDID - I've seen many threads posing the same questions for different displays)
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post #32 of 74
4/4/06 at 7:20am
There's definitely some mis-communications going on. The trouble with using different drivers is that eventually you have to upgrade, not to mention you lose out on the new features/fixes in the current drivers.

The DVDO HD+ works great even if it is an expensive workaround. The PC sees it as a 1920x1080 capable display device, so there's no worries hooking it up.

BENQ have gone quiet on me and are not responding. I guess they're trying to figure out how to respond after telling me the projector isn't capable of a 1280x720 resolution. I don't think I'd buy BENQ again after this episode and dealing with their support. Then being lied to, it's all rather poor quality.
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post #33 of 74
4/4/06 at 8:21am
I suspect they couldn't duplicate the problem and have gone silent. Their engineers have gone onto better and brighter things it seems. Grrrr.

Their support is rather poor when it comes to firmware upgrade fixes (ie. for not properly supporting 59.94 hz at 720p and 1080i).

I'm really surprised that the home theater magazines didn't catch the latter.
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post #34 of 74
4/4/06 at 9:10am
I don't think they even tried to be honest, it's an out of date model now.
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post #35 of 74
4/5/06 at 12:01pm
Hi Guys,

I was just able to sort this problem out. My friend gave me old Nvidia card and DVI Recover util worked perfectly on it. Simple run of this util restored screen during boot up but didn't help Windows to recognize projector. So I took correct Benq EDID file posted by maxleung here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...maxleung8700FF
Made txt file like described here http://hardware.mcse.ms/archive53-2004-7-48432.html
and uploaded it to projector. The only problem was that in fact in my case DVI output was not 1 like mentioned in the util help but 0. I was trying to upload it to output 1 but it was permanent failure. Then I tried output 0 and this was it. Works perfect like beforeand without investment of $1500.

Special thanks to maxleung!
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post #36 of 74
4/5/06 at 1:51pm
Wow, nice work Chuk! I'm glad my EDID info helped you out!

Your solution has me thinking - maybe my 59.94 hz problem could be resolved by following your procedure (and hacking the EDID file) - the projector might have taken the 60.000 hz settings from my PC and ignoring the 59.94 settings!
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post #37 of 74
4/5/06 at 3:11pm
Obviously I have not seen any sign of necessarity of 60.000 hz. Seems that mine 8700 tooks any 59,9 just fine. By the way, it also takes 1080i 60hz trough component output of the video card.

Are you sure that now your projector handles correct EDID?
By the way - is there any chance to get to the DLP calibration menu without special cable? And is there possible to find anywhere detailed description of what PC&HDTV section does?
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post #38 of 74
4/15/06 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys, thanks for all your inputs. I ended up re-sending my projector to them (the first time they said they fixed it, but it wasnt) and got a replacement "refurb" unit.

So far so good, only I wish I could find a way to truely find the actual lamp hours on the projector. In the menu, I can see the hours as 2 min, but anyone could have just reset the hours.

Any way I can find the true hours on the lamp?

Tx
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post #39 of 74
4/15/06 at 10:44pm
As far as I know, everything you need for DLP calibration is in the service menu.

What do you mean by DLP calibration? I know that if I enter the 8700 menu, and press the Power button on the remote, then hit menu again, I get into the service menu...there is a DLP menu item that lets me change the DLP brightness, DLP contrast, and DLP Color Wheel Delay.

Tx, if someone reset the lamp hours then you have no idea how many hours have been used by the lamp.
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post #40 of 74
5/23/06 at 9:16am
Another solution for broken BENQ EDID is here http://forums.entechtaiwan.net/viewt...r=asc&start=30

Worth $30 plus VGA cable
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post #41 of 74
5/23/06 at 5:11pm
Wow, that solution is hard to comprehend - but at least Rik Wang provided a download link for his version of the Benq EDID file!
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post #42 of 74
5/24/06 at 12:11am
For me it looks quite simple since it has detailed instruction and work under any video card and Windows operating system.
The question with EDID file is quite interesting - indeed BENQ original EDID contains 25 as checksum and Viewsonic EDID editor confirms it as valid. Opposite Rik Wang insists correct check sum for this file is C1. Simple change of 25 to C1 does not help PowerStrip to understand it, but it can get file from Rik, while I still see no diference betweeb his abd original files rather then final checksum. Looks like complete mystery for me...
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post #43 of 74
5/24/06 at 2:45pm
Strange, I don't have an "Update EDID" entry in my options dropdown list in the monitor options dialog box.

Either way, the checksum thing is very strange indeed!
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post #44 of 74
5/24/06 at 11:04pm
They have it only in latest realeased and beta version.
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post #45 of 74
5/25/06 at 4:54am
1. The "Update EDID" option has been in PowerStrip for quite a while, but it is only available in registered versions - Max, you may have to scroll the list of Options
2. The checksum issue reflects different EDIDs, not correct or incorrect checksums - both 25 and C1 are correct given the different data
3. Chuk - the reason PowerStrip would not accept either 25 or C1 is that it requires very precise string formating; this is now relaxed in the current beta here, so your original text file will now be acceptable
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post #46 of 74
5/25/06 at 12:56pm
Thanks Ashley - I registered Powerstrip several years ago and don't see it even when I scroll it. I think my version of Powerstrip is 3.62. Perhaps I need to update it. Ill try that, and if that still doesn't work I'll post a screenshot.

I am assuming that I don't have to have my Benq 8700+ turned on - only in Standby Mode - to update the EDID.
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post #47 of 74
5/25/06 at 4:11pm
Max - You probably just need to Live update, but if you want to use an EDID in a text file you should grab the beta I linked to in my previous post. Earlier versions expect binary EDIDs, and though they can read text strings, they are picky about the formatting and case.
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post #48 of 74
5/26/06 at 12:15am
Actually you can update EDID regardless of Benq status - just reboot windows and projector afterwards.
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post #49 of 74
5/26/06 at 9:49am
Thanks guys - I was able to update my EDID just for the heck of it - I replaced the 1024x768 60.000 hz timings with a 1280x720 @ 59.94 hz timing - it didn't make any difference with the Benq not syncing to 59.94 hz bug - it still insists on locking to 60.000 hz regardless of the actual refresh rate I am sending it.

At least with the Runco firmware I'm able to work around it using an awful hack - turn on Overscan for 720p, then run a batch file that launches Powerstrip twice - once using timings that are close to the standard 720p mode to fool the Benq into overscan mode, which causes it to sync the wheel to 59.94 hz but with 5% overscan, then run Powerstrip again with a different 720p timing that has no overscan and is 59.94 hz too. Somehow this works!
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post #50 of 74
5/26/06 at 12:56pm
Wow! I see my problems are just at the beggining...
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post #51 of 74
9/19/06 at 8:17am
Last night I had a near-disaster - my Benq 8700+ suddenly stopped detecting anything over DVI when attached to either one of my PCs! It worked fine on the Panasonic S97 DVD player using an HDMI->DVI adapter.

I spent 2 hours diagnosing the problem. First I reset everything in the projector to factory defaults. Didn't work. Then I tried flashing the firmware on the Benq 8700+. That didn't work either!

Good thing I wrote down my DVI input color calibration parameters!

So now I took more drastic measures - my old HTPC wasn't completely rebuilt - no hard drive in it. But it can still POST with video output. Naturally, the Benq didn't detect any video from this PC either.

At this point I guessed that the EDID information in the projector was corrupted. It took me half an hour to find the software that would allow me to boot off of a USB flash drive. I had to format it and then used the MKBT tool to write bootsectors onto the flash drive. Then I downloaded and copied the Bartman Network Boot CD files onto it, and copied the EDID Writer (ddcw.exe) software which can be obtained here:

http://www.geocities.com/jgeneedid/EDID_Writer.zip

(From this page: )
http://www.geocities.com/jgeneedid/#...es_and_Readers

It only works with NVIDIA cards, and allows you to retrieve and write EDIDs from and to a display.

I then used the Viewsonic EDID utility to view a backup of an EDID file I custom made for my Benq 8700, and manually entered the hex values into a text file using Windows Notepad, and copied the file onto the flash drive.

I rebooted my new HTPC with the USB flash drive (the old one cannot) in place. I then read the EDID using ddcw.exe and as I suspected the EDID on the Benq was corrupted! Instead of beginning with the usual "00 FF FF FF FF FF FF" sequence, it began with "00 FE FE FE FE FE FE", and it had a few FEs in the middle of the EDID data too. No wonder it didn't work!

I re-attached the projector into the monitor 0 port (ddcw can only write to monitor 0), and ran ddcw.exe with the "-c benq.txt" parameters to write the EDID information from the benq.txt file I made.

After the EDID was rewritten, I rebooted, and lo and behold, I got video on the Benq! And now it works...

I suspect that when I upgraded to the new beta NVIDIA 92.91 drivers, something bad happened and it corrupted the Benq.
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post #52 of 74
10/6/06 at 1:14am
Hi

I have also lost the DVI port on the pe8700.

When outputing a signal the information text on my output changes to searching för DVI-I for a breif moment but i get no image.

I have verified the EDID data with ddcw and it looks correct, even cheksum matches.

Tried with bot a ATI 9250 and a Nvidia TI4200, no deal.

Anyone got any suggestions what to try next?
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post #53 of 74
10/6/06 at 8:15am
Are you sure the EDID data is valid? Look at the link in my previous post and get the Viewsonic EDID editor and verify the EDID information is valid.

Also, read very carefully the whole page - it may be that Windows is freaking out!

Do you get an image when the PC is in the BIOS screen? If so, the EDID is probably working properly on the Benq's end.
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post #54 of 74
10/6/06 at 9:27am
This is my EDID information

128 BYTES OF EDID CODE:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
________________________________________
0 | 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 09 D1
10 | 01 27 25 00 00 00 1E 0E 01 03
20 | 80 00 00 78 EA 05 A0 A8 57 4E
30 | 93 24 70 50 54 FF F6 00 81 C0
40 | 61 59 45 59 31 59 D1 C0 01 01
50 | 01 01 01 01 64 19 00 40 41 00
60 | 26 30 18 88 36 00 00 00 00 00
70 | 00 1E 8C 0A D0 90 20 40 31 20
80 | 0C 40 55 00 00 00 00 00 00 18
90 | 00 00 00 FE 00 42 65 6E 51 0A
100 | 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00
110 | 00 FC 00 50 45 38 37 30 30 0A
120 | 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 21

Don't know exactly how to validate that the correct information is there but it seems correct when viewing in EDIDeditor.

I dont get any image under BIOS mode, so maybe it is corrupt somehow.

Can you post your EDID?

Windows is not an issue sine i am running under Linux
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post #55 of 74
10/6/06 at 9:57am
Code:
 0 | 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 09 D1
10 | 01 27 26 00 00 00 19 0E 01 03
20 | 80 00 00 78 EA 05 A0 A8 57 4E 
30 | 93 24 70 50 54 FF F6 00 81 C0 
40 | 61 59 45 59 31 59 D1 C0 01 01
50 | 01 01 01 01 64 19 00 40 41 00 
60 | 26 30 18 88 36 00 00 00 00 00
70 | 00 1E 8C 0A D0 90 20 40 31 20
80 | 0C 40 55 00 00 00 00 00 00 18
90 | 00 00 00 FE 00 42 65 6E 51 0A
100 | 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00
110 | 00 FC 00 50 45 38 37 30 30 0A
120 | 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 25
Mine is slightly different!

I also have a 2nd EDID from Rik Wang (Powerstrip author) and his is different from both of ours! But this makes sense, as the serial number is embedded in the EDID. So my guess is that yours is fine!

This is the one I am currently using. I hacked it so that the default resolution is 1280x720 - the original only had 1024x768:

Code:
                            Time:  20:05:45
                        Date:  Thu May 25, 2006
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
                        VIEWSONIC CORPORATION
                    EDID Version # 1,  Revision # 3
                        DDCTest For: BNQ PE8700
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
128 BYTES OF EDID CODE:
         0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
      ________________________________________
  0  |  00  FF  FF  FF  FF  FF  FF  00  09  D1
 10  |  01  27  26  00  00  00  19  0E  01  03
 20  |  80  00  00  78  EA  05  A0  A8  57  4E
 30  |  93  24  70  50  54  FF  F6  00  81  C0
 40  |  61  59  45  59  31  59  D1  C0  01  01
 50  |  01  01  01  01  11  1D  00  80  51  D0
 60  |  1A  20  38  88  13  00  00  00  00  00
 70  |  00  1E  8C  0A  D0  90  20  40  31  20
 80  |  0C  40  55  00  00  00  00  00  00  18
 90  |  00  00  00  FE  00  42  65  6E  51  0A
100  |  20  20  20  20  20  20  20  20  00  00
110  |  00  FC  00  50  45  38  37  30  30  0A
120  |  20  20  20  20  20  20  00  73
______________________________________________________________________
(08-09)  ID Manufacturer Name ________________  = BNQ
(11-10)  Product ID Code _____________________  = 2701
(12-15)  Last 5 Digits of Serial Number ______  = xxxxxx
(16)     Week of Manufacture _________________  = 25
(17)     Year of Manufacture _________________  = 2004
(10-17)  Complete Serial Number ______________  = xxxxxxxxxxx
(18)     EDID Version Number _________________  = 1
(19)     EDID Revision Number ________________  = 3
(20)     VIDEO INPUT DEFINITION:
         Digital Signal
         Non - VESA DFP 1.x Compatible                        
                        
(21)     Maximum Horizontal Image Size ________________    =   mm
(22)     Maximum Vertical Image Size __________________    =   mm
(23)     Display Gamma ________________________________    =  2.20
(24)     Power Management and Supported Feature(s):
         Stand-By, Suspend, Active Off/Very Low Power, 
         Preferred Timing Mode
         Display Type = R/G/B Color
(25-34)  CHROMA INFO:
         Red X - 0.656 Green X - 0.306 Blue X - 0.143 White X - 0.313
         Red Y - 0.340 Green Y - 0.575 Blue Y - 0.439 White Y - 0.328
(35)     ESTABLISHED TIMING I:
         720 X 400 @ 70Hz (IBM,VGA)
         720 X 400 @ 88Hz (IBM,XGA2)
         640 X 480 @ 60Hz (IBM,VGA)
         640 X 480 @ 67Hz (Apple,Mac II)
         640 X 480 @ 72Hz (VESA)
         640 X 480 @ 75Hz (VESA)
         800 X 600 @ 56Hz (VESA)
         800 X 600 @ 60Hz (VESA)
(36)     ESTABLISHED TIMING II:
         800 X 600 @ 72Hz (VESA)
         800 X 600 @ 75Hz (VESA)
         832 X 624 @ 75Hz (Apple,Mac II)
         1024 X 768 @ 87Hz(Interlaced 8514a, IBM)
         1024 X 768 @ 70Hz (VESA)
         1024 X 768 @ 75Hz (VESA)
(37)     Manufacturer's Reserved Timing:
           None Specified
(38-53)  Standard Timing Identification:
         1280 X 720 @60Hz
         1024 X 768 @85Hz
         800 X 600 @85Hz
         640 X 480 @85Hz
         1920 X 1080 @60Hz
         Not Used
         Not Used
         Not Used
______________________________________________________________________
(54-71) Detailed Timing / Descriptor Block 1:
                   1280x720  Pixel Clock: 74.41 MHz
______________________________________________________________________
         Horizontal Image Size: 0 mm       Vertical Image Size: 0 mm
         Refreshed Mode: Non-Interlaced    Normal Display - No Stereo

Horizontal:
         Active Time: 1280 pixels          Blanking Time: 384 pixels
         Sync Offset: 56 pixels            Sync Pulse Width: 136 pixels
         Border: 0 pixels                  Frequency: 44.72 KHz

Vertical:
         Active Time: 720 lines            Blanking Time: 26 lines
         Sync Offset: 1 lines              Sync Pulse Width: 3 lines
         Border: 0 lines                   Frequency: 59.94 Hz

Digital Separate, Horizontal Polarity (+) Vertical Polarity (+)


______________________________________________________________________
(72-89) Detailed Timing / Descriptor Block 2:
                    720x576  Pixel Clock: 27.00 MHz
______________________________________________________________________
         Horizontal Image Size: 0 mm       Vertical Image Size: 0 mm
         Refreshed Mode: Non-Interlaced    Normal Display - No Stereo

Horizontal:
         Active Time: 720 pixels           Blanking Time: 144 pixels
         Sync Offset: 12 pixels            Sync Pulse Width: 64 pixels
         Border: 0 pixels                  Frequency: 31.25 KHz

Vertical:
         Active Time: 576 lines            Blanking Time: 49 lines
         Sync Offset: 5 lines              Sync Pulse Width: 5 lines
         Border: 0 lines                   Frequency: 50.00 Hz

Digital Separate, Horizontal Polarity (-) Vertical Polarity (-)


______________________________________________________________________
(90-107) Detailed Timing / Descriptor Block 3:

         ASCII Data:
         BenQ


______________________________________________________________________
(108-125) Detailed Timing / Descriptor Block 4:

         Monitor Name:
         PE8700


(126)    No Extension EDID Block(s)
(127)    CheckSum OK
If you use the EDIDs posted here be aware that the serial number of the projectors that these EDIDs were taken from are different from yours.
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post #56 of 74
10/6/06 at 10:21am
Thanks for the speedy replies.

It doesn't seem to differ that much, going to compare them with edid editor later on.
Currently I am trying the infamous 'disconnect all power and wait a few hours' trouble shooting

The problem started out when trying to get a new radeon driver to work under linux, so I am leaning towards a EDID error, but since the information from the projector seems fine I right now at a dead end on that...
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post #57 of 74
10/6/06 at 12:11pm
It's odd that you don't get the BIOS screen working. Did it used to work?

I wonder if the ATI driver wrote something into the videocard that makes it ignore the EDID of the Benq? I don't know if this is possible but you never know. I vaguely recall other ATI users having trouble. If they plug in a different videocard (like an NVIDIA) it starts working again.

Try uninstalling the ATI drivers, remove any saved driver settings and see if that helps?
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post #58 of 74
10/7/06 at 7:15am
Problem semi-solved

With Nvidia I get no image at all.
Not in bios
Not with Nvidia driver (even tried to supply EDID binary files to override the EDID from the projector.)
Not with xorg Nvidia driver.

But after fiddling with ddcw it seems like the projector is now responding to edid requests from linux shell. ddcw seems to have done something, even though i didn´t change anything. But the first time i ran ddcw the boot floppy had an argument to ddcw in its autocexec.cfg file. The -p parameter rewrites the first couple of bytes of the EDID, that might just have been the cure.


Switched over to my ATI card, and it is working again...

The new xorg ATI driver detects the frequency range from EDID and can output 1280x720 without tearding and custom modelines

Still no image in BIOS, but I can live with that.

(make promise to oneself, DON´T TOUCH ANYTHING)


Now to the next issue, finding the runco firmware
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post #59 of 74
10/7/06 at 7:39pm
I'm glad you got it working again - very nice magic spell you cast there!

Do you really need the runco firmware? What are you looking to fix with it? There is no benefit PQ-wise that I have seen, unless you're having issues with syncing to 59.94 hz with DVI or VGA. Also, changing the firmware goes against your "DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING" mantra.

Be aware that you'll lose the ability to change the color calibration settings - it is locked out unless you randomly hit the arrow keys on the remote to get into it.

You'll need to boot into windows to do the firmware change, but I'm sure you have that going already.
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post #60 of 74
11/5/06 at 4:48pm
Thread Starter 
Well, after 5 months of working with the replacement 8700, I am back now to no signal.

I have two PCIe 6800 cards.

When I want to use the projector, I disable SLI.

I have my old 19 CRT monitor connected to the first (upper DVI) port on the first 6800 card using DVI-VGA connector, and my projector connected via DVI to the second (lower)DVI port on also the first 6800 card.

About a month ago, I noticed that the projecter was not being picked up, so I used my trusty ddcw boot disk and that did the trick.

Now, that doesnt' even work. I basicaly get no screen on the boot/bios or windows on the projector. It seems that the EDID is corrupted.

I just bought the PS registered version and am waiting for the confirmation email. In the meanwhile, I'm just tryijng to see if there is anything else I can do.

I guess I'm trying to avoid spending +1k on the DVDO solution but this whole thing with BENQ is really getting old. I'll never shop from them again.

Anyways, I've also downloaded the EDID file for benq, any other way I can upload/change my EDID file without using powerstrip?

Thanks.
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