[jerndl]

I have a homemade MCE computer with ATI Radeon 9600 adpater connected to a Samsung DLP(720p) via a DVI to HDMI cable. I have this computer in a closet and administer it with another PC using VNC. The problem is that the computer would "sometimes" hang while booting with nothing displayed on the TV. I would then take the PC to my workbench connect it to a monitor and it would then boot just fine. After some experimenting I discovered that the PC will not boot if a monitor is not connected. I tried changing the monitor driver to a standard VGA monitor (it was "plug-n-play") and then the computer would boot with no monitor attached. However with this monitor type I could not select the custom resolution (1152x648) I needed. I am using the ATI control panel to create my custom resolution.


Here's what I think I need. I need the PC to ignore what monitor (if any) is connected during bootup and still use the pre-set custom resolution that had been saved. The PC and video card are trying to be too smart with detecting monitors and adjusting resolutions. In old versions of Windows you used to be able to specify something like "ignore plug-n-play" for the monitor. Another wierd thing with this setup is that when I first connected the TV to the PC I was able to see the initial BIOS screen when booting, now (when it's working) I don't see anything on the screen(except something like unsupported resolution) until it boots into WinXP. How/why was I able to see the initial BIOS boot screen before?


Any help or guidance with this problem would be greatly appreciated. Many years ago I was very active with HTPCs, custom resolutions, Powerstrip, etc. Now I would just like to connect my DLP HDTV to a MCE computer. MCE does a decent job of playing ripped DVDs and HD stream files (when my system doesn't hang during bootup). Thanks.


Jay

 

[jerndl]

I've have a chance to look at this again and the problem seems to be with ATI Catalyst Control Center. When I am using VNC to control this computer the ATI Catalyst Control Center will not allow me to specify a custom resolution because it cannot detect a monitor. There is even a "force button" that appears to allow you to force a specific resolution. This does not work either. Does anyone have any ideas on how to force a specific resolution when a monitor is not detected. The resolution does work when a monitor id connected. Thanks.


Jay

 

[vpn2001]

I had the same problem with my Samsung HLN507. The problem is with the tv. Try booting the pc first, then connect it to the tv. Check out this post by GSB:


Originally Posted by GSB

In the 2003/2004 timeframe, Samsung's firmware v204 & v208 would not work with ATI or NVIDIA cards. v302 fixed the problem, v309 still worked fine, but v321 went bust again. I had many fights with Samsung CS, who tried to tell me that the HLN was not designed for PC use. BULL! (The manual mentions PC connection and PC resolutions). Eventually, they reluctantly agreed to have an engineer look into it. He was able to verify and solve the problem. He sent me a new digital board with a later version of firmware that worked fine.


Check your TV's firmware version, and try calling Samsung... But first make sure you have the latest version of the drivers for your video card, and try turning off options like DDC (Digital Data Channel). This is a display handshake that tells the PC what it is, and what resolutions and refresh rates it supports. DDC wasn't working properly with some of the Samsung firmware versions, and that caused the drivers to barf.


Gary

 

[jerndl]



Quote:
Originally Posted by vpn2001 /forum/post/0


I had the same problem with my Samsung HLN507. The problem is with the tv. Try booting the pc first, then connect it to the tv.

Thanks for the info. I am still having problems (sometimes) with the PC hanging during boot when there is no monitor connected. I need to try a few more things with the PC hooked up to the TV. Any idea what monior driver I should be using? Thanks.


Jay

 

[fergiej]

I had a similar problem with XP boot camped on my mac mini. If I had the HDMI switch and the tv already on, it would boot. If I switched HDMI ports on the switch and left the mini on and it went into standby, I could not bring it out without rebooting. Also, it would not boot without the monitor being on. I have not had this problem since I moved the mini back upstairs and the newer machine hooked back up to the plasma. It's running a ATI X1600pro AGP card for now and I can leave this machine running all the time and I never have it not boot or lose video. I think some cards just require that feedback from the monitor to tell it it's OK to work. I could not ever figure out how to make that mini stop doing it. But that mini would die as soon as I heard the disconnect bloop.