[mythtv-users] Zotac ION / no video using DVI/HDMI and nvidia driver

[Brad Fuller]

On Sun, Jun 7, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Nick F<nikos.f at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've got a strange problem which I've been beating my head against all
> weekend.  I received my new Zotac ion (A) board this weekend - the one with
> the Atom 330 and the external DC power supply.  I set it up no problem
> connected to my computer monitor (over HDMI) - everything worked - audio of
> HDMI included.  I was happy.
>
> I then moved it from my office to the family room where it will serve duties
> driving a 42" LCD 1080p (a Dynex DX-LCD42HD-09). I have had a mac mini
> (using Ubuntu 9.04 and 8.10 before that) driving the TV using a DVI to HDMI
> cable.  Everything was fine with the mac - except I wanted to use HDMI
> audio, and the mac couldn't play back high def h.264 and VC-1 from blu rays.
>
> When I connected the ION to the TV - everything went fine through the BIOS
> posting, and ubuntu splash - but when the picture was meant to come up at
> the login screen - nothing.  Just a black screen.
>
> I reinstalled Ubuntu 9.04 from scratch.  WHen it was using the vesa driver
> before installing the nvidia drivers- it was fine and could drive the LCD
> over HDMI.  The minute I switched to nvidia - same thing blank screen.
> (remember this worked driving 1080p with my computer monitor over HDMI).  I
> tried 8.10, I tried different versions of the nvidia driver -- even
> installing the nvidia .sh from the nvidia website - no dice.
>
> I extracted the modeline and put that into my xorg.conf.  Xorg.0.log showed
> the modeline being validated, but same thing - blank screen.  I reinserted
> the mac mini, and double checked the modeline the intel card in that was
> using.  Same thing - blank screen.  I tried other (lower) resolutions - same
> thing.
>
> I tried using the same DVI - HDMI cable I was using with the mac - same
> thing, blank screen.
>
> I tried using the VGA connection and the modeline I was using for my DVI
> connection - and get a wonderful 1920x1080 60p signal!
>
> So - now I'm very confused.
>
> The LCD TV appears to work - the mac mini drove it fine using its HDMI input
> The board seems fine and working with the nvidia drivers - when using my
> computer monitor rather than the LCD TV
> The modeline seems fine - the VGA input is happy with it
>
> I've been playing with every combination I can think to throw at xorg.conf
> and am deeply confused.  Do these two products when combined with the nvidia
> driver just not want to speak to each other?

like the other poster, I would check to see if your other video
outputs work. I know that the MX440 (and maybe another board, can't
remember) would not boot with S-Vdieo unless the device connected to
the S-Video was on. Even though xorg.conf was setup right, if nvidia
didn't see the S-Video device, it wouldn't output to it. I don't know
if it was the drivers or the hardware. This is a bit different than
your situation, still it might be that at boot the device is not
confirmed and so no video is sent out that port.



-- 
Brad Fuller