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Weird Eyefinity Problem

S

spiceygas

n00b
Joined
Jul 27, 2014
Messages
9
Windows 8.1
Asus R9 290
Latest Drivers (v14.4)
3x 1080p Eyefinity in Portrait
1x DisplayPort​
1x HDMI​
1x DVI => HDMI​


My PC is about a month old. I've got three monitors in Eyefinity and it was working really well. Yesterday I installed some Windows updates. After rebooting I couldn't get all three monitors to run concurrently. DisplayPort + HDMI would work fine, and DisplayPort + DVI would work fine. But all three would put out bizarre horizontal white lines across the non-DP monitors. There was no picture, just lines.

After finagling, I finally got them all to work but the DP monitor wouldn't get above 640x480 pixels.

I switched to the other DVI port, and all three started running at full resolution.

I then proceeded to rebuild the Eyefinity configuration (3x1 in Portrait). It works until I try to bezel compensation. Even though all three monitors are Identical (Asus VN279), I cannot get the bezel compensation to match on both sides. I never had any problems prior to yesterday.

The other bizarre thing is that when I put the taskbar on the middle monitor or right monitor, it is much too wide. Even though it should only be 1080 pixels wide (portrait 1080p), it's 1920 pixels wide.

Games are spotty and crash a lot, the bezel compensation refuses to match on both sides.


I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the AMD drivers, but to no avail. Does anyone have any other suggestions? My next plan was to wipe the PC and reinstall Windows (and never install updates again), but I was hoping someone would have another suggestion before I embark on that journey.
 
I was getting a similar problem with my rig. I figured out the horizontal white lines was from trying to put the Eyefinity resolution onto *JUST* the center monitor, causing the weird display. I upgraded to the 14.7RC drivers, problem hasn't returned since.
 
Tried the 14.7 beta drivers. Still no good.

Wiped the HDD and reinstalled windows 8.1. Still has the same problems.

I'm an stumped and frankly out of options. I cannot get bezel compensation to work correctly, and it can't be a Windows problem because it's a fresh install. But other than the bezel, the video card works a-ok so I have trouble believing that anything is wrong there.

Anyone have suggestions?
 
Yesterday I installed some Windows updates. After rebooting I couldn't get all three monitors to run concurrently. DisplayPort + HDMI would work fine, and DisplayPort + DVI would work fine. But all three would put out bizarre horizontal white lines across the non-DP monitors. There was no picture, just lines.
Click to expand...

Did a new monitor driver get installed with this batch of updates, and again with a fresh install+updates?
 
There are no drivers on Asus' website for the monitor (VN279QL). They just have a "MultiFrame" utility to let you show multiple screens in a 4-corners pattern, which is not something I need.

The weirdness continues. With the fresh Windows install I got three monitors in portrait as an extended desktop. When I try to create an eyefinity group it says that it will disable the other two temporarily to form the group, the screen blinks, and then they come back up without the group being formed. I can't even get past the first screen in eyefinity setup.

So I thought that I'd manually disable two monitors and then build the eyefinity group. CCC won't let me do that. It'll disable one monitor, but when I try to disable the second it just blinks and then comes back on. So it's impossible (without pulling cables) to have only one monitor turned on.

I replaced the displayport cable this morning, but that didn't help any.


I noticed that Windows has an update for "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc - Graphics Adapter WDDM1.3 - AMD Radeon R9 200 Series 120.8 MB". But I don't understand how they could have a more up-to-date driver than what's on the AMD website.


Maybe I've got a bad video card...?
 
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I just had one more idea: The driver listed on the Asus website for the video card is not as new as the one on the AMD website. Tonight I'm going to try going to the driver from Asus and see if that resolves the issue.

It's a bit of a long-shot, but I'm running low on ideas.
 
So I figured it out!

My Asus R9 290 doesn't support the most recent drivers from AMD (v14.4), nor the beta drivers (v14.7) nor the drivers on Asus' website!

However, one driver generation back (v13.12) works perfectly. WTF, right?


The only thing I can think of is that there is a newer BIOS on Asus' website, and maybe if I updated the BIOS on the card then it'd work with the newer drivers. But after this fiasco I'm a little reticent to try. I feel like leaving well enough alone might be better.

Does anyone else have the same model of video card? If so, have you had the same problem?

ASUS DirectCU II OC R9290-DC2OC-4GD5 Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5
 
I'm having a hard time believing your GPU doesn't "support" an AMD driver.

In my entire experience with computers......which is over 15 years, I've not seen a GPU not accept a driver from it's parent company.:eek:
True, some are better than others (drivers).....and this problem may be driver specific.
What is the native resolution of your monitor?
Have you tested each monitor separately?
In the windows control panel is EyeFinity resolution demonstrated?
You are using only one GPU, correct?
I have to assume that your monitors only have HDMI and Display port connections and no DVI?
 
I agree that it's somewhat unbelievable.

The monitors have a native resolution of 1920x1080. Yes, they were each tested individually with D-SUB, HDMI, and DP connections. They do not have a native DVI connector.

Single core GPU. ASUS DirectCU II OC R9290-DC2OC-4GD5 Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5.

With the newest AMD drivers, it requires an amazing amount of finagling to get all three to turn on simultaneously. I was sometimes able to get an eyefinity group formed (portrait), though more often than not it just refused to form the group. When it did form, sometimes the resolution would be wrong, and if the resolution was right (3240x1920) then when I did bezel compensation it was impossible to get the left and right bezel correct (changing one messed up the other).

Additionally, setting the Windows taskbar to show on only one screen in eyefinity would make it 1920 pixels wide instead of 1080, which means that Windows still thought that they're in landscape orientation, not portrait.


I've been building PCs off-and-on since the mid-1990s, and I've never seen something go this wonky by updating the driver. If someone has a better explanation, I'm all ears.


Scenario 1: Clean Win 8.1 install. Installed old driver (v13.12). Worked fine for 1 month. Updated to new driver (v14.4) and it went bonkers.
Scenario 2: Clean Win 8.1 install. Installed new driver (v14.4). Went bonkers.
Scenario 3: Clean Win 8.1 install. Installed beta driver (v14.7). Went bonkers.
Scenario 4: Clean Win 8.1 install. Install driver from Asus instead of AMD. Driver refused to install.
Scenario 5: Clean Win 8.1 install. Install old driver from AMD (v13.12). Works flawlessly.


The only idea I have left is that there's a BIOS update for the card on the ASUS website, and maybe that's needed for the v14.x drivers to work? But after all this pain I am a little reticent to try it.
 
My only guess is there is a problem within the latest AMD driver as it applies to portrait eyefinity.

I use Crossfire and landscape 1920 x 1200 times three and have had no issues.
 
magoo said:
My only guess is there is a problem within the latest AMD driver as it applies to portrait eyefinity.

I use Crossfire and landscape 1920 x 1200 times three and have had no issues.
Click to expand...

+1, no portrait here, but landscape eyefinity + crossfire is fine.
 
But it also failed often before eyefinity. With v14.4 and v14.7 I struggled to even get the three monitors enabled in Windows at the same time. And disabling monitors down to just one active was impossible -- I never succeeded at that. After finagling Windows for 20-30 min to enable three monitors, eyefinity was about 20% success rate.

With the older version of the drivers, Windows enables all three monitors flawlessly without a hiccup. And portrait eyefinity is also smooth.

So I think that there's something failing upstream before portrait eyefinity. But damned if I know what that could be. Turning on three monitors in Windows is such a basic operation...
 
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Portrait is not as basic as you'd like to think it is, unfortunately.
 
Also, IIRC, the Mantle-enabled driver branch is a fork from 13.12, so it is somewhat reasonable for 14.X drivers to exhibit similar issues.
 
So I see my options as:
1. Do nothing. Stay on v13.12 indefinitely.
2. Install the BIOS update for the card, uninstall v13.12 and install v14.4.

It's really just a risk tolerance question, right? I've read online that people have had problems with Asus's R9 290X bios update, but I haven't seen anything about the R9 290.
 
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In case anyone else has had similar problems, it appears to be an issue with portrait eyefinity in the v14.x drivers. Reverting to v13.12 works like a champ.

There is a thread about the issue on the AMD Forums, so it's not just me. So no upgrading drivers for a while until AMD gets it sorted out.
 
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