TVOUT Component - Ati Radeon HD 4890 - Bios Screen/Boot up.

[Soulchip]

Hello, I recently updated my arcade machine with a very nice and awesome Sony Triniton 29" TV. The TV has Component input and I'm using it, this is a very big update from my S-video connection and the low quality TV I was using.

Now that I have an amazing picture and quality I want to achieve perfect arcade and console resolutions.

So I bought an ATI Saphire Radeon HD 4890 (the last model with component output) and installed it on my arcade machine (I had an nvidia 9600 GSO before, this one has some troubles detecting my TV resolutions but after some twicking it works)

Everything works fine and awesome, the card works, I cleaned it, added new thermal paste, etc, it detects my TV very nicely adding just the 3 resolutions my TV accepts (640x480, 720x480 and 7xxx516 or something like that)

I tried crt emudriver and it works, but i discovered that it does not work on TVOUT, so i'm waiting for a VGA to component converter.


BUT....

I just have one problem...bios and boot up screens do not show up... and it is VERY VERY annoying...if the computer fails to boot up I cannot see what the hell is happening... I tried ATOM-15 and loaded in a new bios patched with only 15khz, but the TV still doesn't show anything... I do not know what to do anymore...

ATOM-15 seems to be doing its job, when I patch my 4890 bios my lcd screen that I use for testing does not work anymore...a sign that the bios has been successfully patched and now the card only works at 15khz... but nothing is shown on the TV...I patched the 4890 back to the original bios and the LCD works again...so ATOM-15 is working OK....

It seems that the problem is that when the card loads...and the system boots up, the card is forcing the display to be on the DVI 0 (first DVI)... and the TV is connected to Component OUT (or TVOUT) even when I have nothing attached to the DVI 0 or DVI 1, the card doesnt want to boot showing everything on the TVOUT...

This problem did not happen with my nvidia 9600GSO... everything was shown on the TVOUT..

Is there a way to force the card to always show everything on the TVOUT?

I'm really out of ideas.

By the way, the video card has only 3 outputs, 2 DVI and 1 TVOUT that can be used as S-video directly or Component with the ATI cables.
The TV model is Sony Trinitron kv-29fs150

[Soulchip]

Nobody? it seems that a lot of people had this problem, no one fixed it? 

[buttersoft]

TV-out ports on graphics cards are notorious for being hard-coded and impossible to modify. And some cards only want to show an image over the first port (DVI) on boot, especially when no monitors are detected. You could try plugging in your LCD to either port while booting, I suppose. Have you googled for other ATI bioses? After those options, if it's possible to change the behaviour of that card, and it's a big if, you might have to figure out how from the ground up. As in, alter the bios. And I have no idea how to do that. Sorry

EDIT: I see you've posted the same sort of enquiry in the GroovyMAME section, and Calamity has replied about the TV out path being different. I reckon you're stuck, either way.

[lilshawn]

the TV out is basically tuckeyf***ed off the analog signal. there is nothing you can do about it.

something like this pluged into the VGA and reconverted to tv out will work much better than the TV out on the card:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PC-Laptop-VGA-to-AV-RCA-TV-Monitor-S-video-Signal-Adapter-Converter-Switch-Box/291422994269?_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150817211623%26meid%3Dce9d42a6db5a43a79c681cc08d1ad393%26pid%3D100505%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26

I bought one to connect a netbook to an in car entertainment system to play  movies. worked great.

[Soulchip]

Yes, there are a lot of those on argentina, but they offer really bad image quality, and since the maximum quality conection on that thing is s-video, you get a lot of color bleeding and stuff, so I ordered an Audio Authority 9a60a, it will arrive soon next week, this one will be able to connect from vga to component and will give me a very high quality picture.

[lilshawn]

oh, you are right. for some reason I read you post as compoSITE instead of compoNENT. which are 2 different signals....

 but yes, using a converter like that will not only trick the computer into thinking you have a monitor connected and properly initialize the display.... but may also auto scale the low res boot screens to a proper resolution for the component out. (your results may vary with that scaler. but it goes all the way down to 640x480 so it should be good.)