Pearl users with nvidia HTPCs, help!

[tfboy]

I posted this on avsforum and haven't had many replies, so hoping someone here has a similar setup

Having recently changed my PJ from an HS50 to a Pearl, I'm having some problems running the Pearl at 1920x1080.

My PC is based on an Asus A8N-E (S939), has an XFX nvidia 6600 passively cooled PCI-e card. The VGA output goes to a 1280x1024 PC LCD monitor. The DVI output feeds the Pearl with a DVI - HDMI cable.

I've installed a fresh copy of WinXP Pro.

When I install the latest drivers downloaded from nvidia's website, I can install them fine. When the PC reboots, I can set the resolution of the lcd monitor without any problems. As soon as I tick the extend desktop button and scale the resolution for the pearl up to 1920x1080 (it detects resolutions OK) and click apply, the PC reboots. No blue screen, nothing. It's as if I hit the hard reset button at the same time as clicking apply

If I uninstall the drivers, reboot, reinstall some slightly older 90.xx drivers, same thing.

If I uninstall the 90.xx drivers and revert to the 84.21 forceware drivers, I can enable extended desktop and run the pearl at 1920x1080.

However, the final straw is that I can only run it at 60Hz and 24Hz interlaced (!?! I think they mean progressive, surely?!?). If I select 50Hz which is picked up as a possible resolution, as soon as I apply that, the PJ loses the signal and I get the (x)HDMI logo indicating no signal.

So I have a couple of questions:

1) Is anyone successfully driving a Pearl over DVI/HDMI with an nvidia card running on the 9x.xx generation drivers?

2) What refresh rates does Windows show as available and which of those actually work and give an output?

I'm probably going to ditch this setup and move over to a C2D system after Christmas, but this rather annoying feature is getting me worried.

[gandley]

I have a nvidia based PC, and i was able to drive the pearl with 1920X1080p and 1080p24 with no problems what so ever. this was with the latest 90. drivers.

i was connected via dvi>HDMI and windows auto configured everything, when i went into the display settings i was then able to choose 1080i24 (interlaced).

If you play, and i cant remember how i did it but if you change some settings you can also list 1080p24 as well as 1080i24.

(it may of been list resolutions this display might not support and check the box)

Never had any issues what so ever, you can manually select between 60hz and 50hz.

I was running a leadtek 7950 with theater tec but now have a 8800 gtx

[KelvinS1965]

Originally Posted by tfboy

I

I've installed a fresh copy of WinXP Pro.

Just a thought...is it service pack 2? Have you got the latest drivers installed for your motherboard? I borrowed a 7600GT recently and installed the 'latest' Nvidia drivers (can't remember the exact version 91.xx). Whilst I don't have a pearl (yet!) I played around with 1920 x 1080 resolution into a spare monitor I have and it worked fine. I only put XP pro and followed it with Service Pack 2 and the latest drivers for my motherboard.

I ve reverted to my ATI9600 for now, but I liked the setup otions in Nvidia that allowed me to fine tune the screen calibration for PC use, so I'm thinking of getting a 7600GT or similar, so I hope you can get it to work with the pearl.

[tfboy]

Thanks Dustin.

It is strange. I have three refresh rates listed in Windows with the Pearl: 50P, 60P and 24i. If I select 60 and apply, it's fine. If I select either 50 or 24 and apply, it "changes" but the pearl no longer locks and shows the [x] next to HDMI indicating no valid signal is detected. This is with the 84 drivers. If I install any 90.x onwards drivers, I can't enable the display - as soon as I do, the PC reboots.

Did you run yours in an extended desktop and have another LCD / CRT computer monitor attached at the same time?

Another thing to bear in mind is I think it's dodgy drivers. nvidia have different driver sets for the GeForce Go 7 series and yet another set for the 8800. Both of those differ to the generic "GeForce and TNT2" drivers I have to use. So in both of your cases, you've used different drivers to those required by my card.

I was planning on seeing with nvidia support, but thought that the combination of my esoteric set up and a billion other people more interested in pure frames per second in games meant that sorting out 1920x1080 resolution for projectors was pretty low on their priority list

Edit: Kelvin, yes, I do have the latest setup. It's an integrated SP2 and rollup till July 2006 that I'm using so no more than a few months old

[gandley]

All i did was reduce refresh to 50hz and then disconnected from my current monitor, take PC down stairs, hooked up to the pearl and all went fine from there.

Only pearl was connected.

selecting between 1080p50/60 1080p24, 1080i24 all worked with out a hitch.

if you tick the box, that says support refreshes this monitor does not support, then 1080p24 shows up but it works fine. (at least thats how i did it i think).

I cant see why your not getting 1080p50 thou. that is odd.

[Anim]

This may help (Googled)

Uncheck the "Automatically Restart" option in Recovery options. By doing so. system won't reboot on errors again. Instead it shows the STOP blue screen. There you can identify which driver is causing the error.

Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
Click the Advanced tab.
Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
Under System Failure, select the check boxes that correspond to the actions that you want Windows to perform if a sever error occurs.
Uncheck "Automatically restart"


Ta
Anim

[Anim]

Also check the Event Log (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer)

[tfboy]

Hmm.
I have to unbox my pearl after bringing it round to ballistix so will try setting it up as the only display to check if it's the extended desktop that has issues...

[Anim]

Originally Posted by tfboy

Hmm.
I have to unbox my pearl after bringing it round to ballistix so will try setting it up as the only display to check if it's the extended desktop that has issues...

You can bring it to my house too, and I will solve the reboot problem for ya

[tfboy]

Originally Posted by Anim

You can bring it to my house too, and I will solve the reboot problem for ya

But Bournemouth is a bit far to drive, certainly further than just the other side of Oxford

You're welcome to come round to my place if you want!