After gfx change, only backlight of external monitor goes on

Hello everybody,

I already posted about this issue in the Compal sub-forum, but nobody could help me with this, google is out of answers as well, so I turn to a broader audience.

Short version: NVidia 8600M GT went dead (common problem!) and I replaced it with a ATI 3650 DDR3 256MB card. The laptop display works just fine, but I never got an external monitor to get a proper signal (the ext monitor works!).

The only thing I see is that the backlight of external monitor comes on and I got a white stripe from top to bottom of the screen, maybe at around 2/3 or 3/4 of the width of the screen - that's it.

This is the same for a fresh install of WinXP, Win7, Ubuntu 10.10, with the latest drivers.

I know from another guy who had the very same problem with a ATI 3650 DDR2 512MB. I now also have this very same card, and with this card, the external monitor works.

I sent him my vBIOS, but he couldn't get it working with that either.

Can anyone image a solution to this? I would be delighted to get the DDR3 version to run properly, as it is quite a bit more powerful than the DDR2 card i currently use ...

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Cheers

 

Nobody an idea?

Anything? vBios, broken, incompatible ..?

Any idea?

And no, stfu is not an idea, hehe.

Thanks all!

 

Does your laptop have HDMI port? What cable did you connect your laptop to the external monitor? VGA? HDMI? If one cable ain't working, try another to see if it works. Also make sure you update the driver to the latest.

 

Hi, and thanks for your reply!

I do not have HDMI-out, also, the S-Video out does not work.

Drivers are up-to-date.

And as I said, with the DDR2 version everything works for me. A other user also had to replace his 8600M GT for a DDR2 version and faces the same problem as I did with the DDR3 version. Even him flashing my DDR2 vBIOS onto his DDR2 card did not help him.

I am out of ideas - well, maybe, it just does not work ... but if anybody has idea, let me hear it.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers

 

Did your laptop display out before you swapped cards? You also might have a bad video out port.

 

Yeah, sure, it did work with the 8600M GT and also works with the ATI 3650 DDR2, but refuses to work with the DDR3.

There must a problem either with the DDR3 version of the card or with the "interfacing" between the card and the "rest" (e.g. mainboard, MXM interface).

 

Have you tried re-seating the card?

 

I have the DDR2 version. Same problem. My old 8600GT had external video working OK. :S

 

I don't think it's a problem with the type of memory on the GPU. Sounds like a setting/software issue with the GPU is having with your motherboard. You tried all the Windows settings for external display? Or ATi CCC?

 

@kosti: I do not know how often I took my laptop apart, double checked everything, and reassembled it. No, I am very sure everything is sitting just perfect, esp. as all other cards worked that tried, just the DDR3 version does not work.

@Tsunade_Hime: Yes, I tried to get the external monitor working both thru Windows 7 and ATI CCC - without luck.

Yeah, the strange thing is, the external monitor is detected by both the Win7 display settings and ATI CCC, but when I activate it, I see the backlight come on, and that's it.

I am also sure it is not related to the fact that one is equipped with DDR3 (not working), the other with DDR2 (working), but this is the only thing that is the apparent difference between the two cards.

Any more ideas?

Cheers

 

Have you tried with another exact same card to rule out that card is defective? Just as a precaution, always test the simple stuff.

 

Hi,

unfortunatelly, I do not stock ATI cards at my place, hehe.

I changed the DDR3 versus the DDR2 card, and it worked. I won't buy a new DDR3 card just to see if the problem still is present, or to verify that my DDR3 card has a malfunction - 100€ for that piece of information is too much.

Nevermind, I thought someone would have an idea about what to do - e.g. vBIOS flash or whatever.

Thanks all for their help - if someone comes up with a new idea, I'd be happy to hear it.

Cheers

 

One last bump for good luck.

Cheers