Hit Enable edid emulation by accident, need help

[Milsancho]

Hi guys,
I had a Windows 7 system working fine with the latest drivers for an R7 240 card. I wanted to run Video mode maker to make some changes and accidentally hit Enable edid emulation button in the Video card tab and now the 15khz display shows a black screen (with some illegible words on the lower right corner, I think). Rebooted the system, nothing was reverted, I'm afraid.

I also have a VGA CRT monitor plugged with a DAC. Custom modes (and edid emulation) were installed for the 15khz TV only, the VGA monitor just used the standard ones. I'm quite sure the output selected in the menu before hitting the Enable... button was not the one for 15khz.

Any help on how to solve this situation would be really appreciated, as reinstalling Windows 7 would be a real PITA after all the changes and updates I manually made.



I'll add it's definitely out of sync, so, as a first move, I'm not sure if it's better to try Windows' safe mode or swap cables to get signal on the VGA monitor or anything else. I prefer to ask for advice here before any attempt even for that anyway. Thks!

[Calamity]

Swap cables, disable edid emulation, swap again.

[Milsancho]

I connected the VGA output to the VGA monitor and this tells me that the signal is of 16khz, so black screen. Tried again with the 15khz monitor in case but it's still the same. Windows desktop is there, and I'm not sure it is out of sync or just a resolutiion you can't work with. The mouse cursor is visible and you can right click but menus arent displayed.

With disabling edid emulation you mean via Video mode maker and hitting the same button again?

[haynor666]

You could try connect PC via hdmi if available. TV through hdmi should accept 15 khz modes. Also many monitors will accept 15 khz if monitor has HDMI.

[Milsancho]

Well, my monitors don't support HDMI, but as I mentioned, I used a DAC (HDMI to VGA) for the PC monitor. But it's no use because the output Windows has enabled is the VGA one, which somehow seems to be out of sync for both, the PC monitor (which detects it as a "16khz signal") and for the TV (which shows the desktop in a completely unusable and broken way).

I guess my only option now is booting Windows in safe mode? Does this mode disregard the custom video mode or the latest output in use and which output should I pick for that? Will I'll be able to disable edid emulation from there? Always better to ask before breaking anything else......

[Milsancho]

I get to safe mode without issues with the PC monitor and the HDMI output. Video mode maker isn't letting me disable edid emulation, though. Any advice on how should I proceed? Should I try entering safe mode with the VGA output?

[haynor666]

Try uninstall driver in safe mode.

[Calamity]

I get to safe mode without issues with the PC monitor and the HDMI output. Video mode maker isn't letting me disable edid emulation, though. Any advice on how should I proceed? Should I try entering safe mode with the VGA output?

If you're in safe mode, the video driver (crt emudriver) isn't loaded, so vmmaker can't do its job.

16 kHz shouldn't be out of sync for a TV, it depends on the model but most will take it happily.

You can as well uninstall the driver from safe mode as haynor666 said, just enter device manager, select the video card and uninstall its driver.

[Milsancho]

Thanks for the replies. I tried with another TV in case but had the same result, a semi-out of sync situation, if that makes sense. Fortunately, I managed to solve it this way (Windows 7):

* I connected the system to a PC monitor (I used the VGA output)
* I rebooted the system and hit F8 till the OS boot mode menu appeared
* instead of selecting safe boot mode, I selected Boot in low resolution mode (640x480)
* I found that the monitor's diagnosis message now said 15khz instead of 16khz
* once Windows is booted (I could say thanks to the startup sound) I hotswapped the video cable to connect the system to the 15khz monitor (VGA to SCART)
* that's it, I got the desktop at 640x200 (I think) which is usable enough to open Arcade OSD and change the resolution mode


Now I wonder if I should disable edid emulation and enable it again or just leave it as it is.

[Milsancho]

I'll answer myself: you must go to Video mode maker and disable edid emulation for the HDMI output otherwise there'll be similar issues when rebooting the system (desktop there but only partially so you cant really operate).

So what I wonder now is if I should never enable edid emulation for the HDMI output/PC monitor via DAC even if I'd like to add custom 31khz modes and beyond for it?

[haynor666]

You need EDID emulation only for outputs that You are using like analog VGA. No need to set digital outputs like HDMI unless you are using digital to analog converter I think.

[Milsancho]

Indeed I'm using a DAC as I mentioned. What I do is switching between a 15khz CRT and a PC CRT by right-clicking on the desktop and entering the display resolution app. I think there's no need to emulate the edid for the PC monitor despite using a DAC because the app acknowledges it with its brand and model, though certainly the behavior is not exactly as if the VGA output was used. For example, I'm forced to keep the monitor turned on even if I'm using only the 15khz TV otherwise the system crashes.

Available resolutions for this display are very limited as well, as I'm not sure how to proceed to add custom modes with a setup like this. Should I generate modes with Video mode maker with a multi-sync preset which contemplates both monitors or should I just leave the modes generated with the current 15khz preset and add +31khz modes with an external tool? Will then the modes be available with Arcade OSD?

[Calamity]

VMMaker will target a specific output when it installs modes. You select the output in the device list. Then, you can apply a different monitor preset for each output, like 15 kHz on one and 31 kHz on the other, generate and install modes independently.

[Milsancho]

Fantastic, It's alll so welll thought out. I missed the Device list somehow. Gotta try it soon.