No HDMI video out

[max232]

I had a working system using VDR between 2004 and 2006 using digital cable but due to work commitments I stopped playing with it and the family went back to standard STB's.

I now have a little spare time and LinuxMCE has caught my eye (I have had Pluto installed before).

I dug out some spare bits and put together a box to test run a hybrid/core to initially just stream our movies and music to 4 rooms in the house. If this is popular with the family i will add some tuners and build it into a more energy saving and quieter rig.

Test Spec is:

Gigabyte GA G31M-ES2L Motherboard

North Bridge: Intel® G31 Express Chipset
South Bridge: Intel® ICH7
Audio-Realtek ALC883 codec
Video-Integrated in the North Bridge-NOT IN USE
Lan-AR8131 chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Video Card

Nvidia GeForce 9500GT HDCP 512mb DDR2 HDMI DVI COMP

Second Network Card

Broadcom 10/100/1000

System Memory

3Gig DDR2 1333

Hard Drive

Seagate Barracuda 500Gig sata

DVD

Sata DVD Combo Drive

Usb Keyboard and Mouse

Video output test combinations are to.

LG 19" widescreen TV/Monitor connected from it's RGB to the video card's DVI via an adapter.
with
Toshiba Regza 32" LCD TV connected from one of it's HDMI ports (i have tried both) to the HDMI of the Nvidia Card.

Also

19" Sony Monitor via it's RGB to the DVI of the Nvidia card via an adapter.
with
Samsung Series 5 32" LCD TV connected from one of it's HDMI ports (i have tried them all) to the HDMI of the Nvidia Card.

I downloaded both the 8.10 and the 10.04 .iso images and burnt the both to dvd.

I firstly tried the 8.10 install by picking LMCE install and manually configuring the hard drive.

The only issues i had was after the first part of the install i had the black screen to which i simply picked a new resolution with the number keys.
The audio also only wanted to work out of the PC front audio connector (this was the same on the 10.04 install).
Also after getting to the Kubuntu desktop and double clicking on the LinuxMCE icon, Kubuntu had swapped the order of my internal and external network adapters putting the install on the internal with no internet on the external.

Hey-ho, it was interesting installing it 3 times without noticing why it would not complete ;-)

Anyway i finally got it to complete (8.10) but there was no output on my HDMI (TV) during the install or after. Only on the DVI/Monitor connector.

So i then popped in a second 500gig hd and disconnected the first and started an install of 10.04.

This time both the DVI and HDMI were displaying correctly from the DVD boot menu. They both displayed correctly right the way through the install on both my monitor an tv until Sara made here first appearance then the TV just went blue but the monitor stayed on.

I can navigate the linux file system and edit/download and install files but just need a pointer as to which files i should be looking at to enable the HDMI out to the TV.

I have read about the xorg.conf and the pluto.conf but what to change?

Thanks for reading and I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Regards
Max232

[max232]

Update.

Sorry i made two mistakes in the above spec. Most importantly the video card is a GS not the GT and the second network card is a realtek not broadcom.

max232@dcerouter:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM Controller (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 10)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G96 [GeForce 9500 GS] (rev a1)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8169 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)

Thanks

This is my xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 260.19.29  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-08.nvidia.com)  Wed Dec  8 12:28:55$

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

[Crumble]

Hrmm.  That is alot to take in.  If I am understanding correctly you are plugging in both a monitor and a tv at the same time during install.  First some nvidia hdmi stuff needs some tweaking.  My approach would be to use a dvi to hdmi adapter and plug it to the tv hdmi.  Use just one tv and no monitor.  Try that and see if that works.  Also I noticed your nvidia is 260 which leads me to believe that you have no internet connection during install.  Which will update those drivers and other things.  Once you get it installed it will be much easier to get the rest working.  If you dont feel like doing that read the gt430 thread on this board.  Centralmedia just went through the same thing. 

[Crumble]

Just read another thread about this.  You really need to make sure you have an internet connection while installing.  I think that will solve your headache.

[max232]

Hi Crumble, tnx for the reply and pointers.

That's strange as during the setup their does seem to be internet as lots of packages download and install. I also followed one of the WiKi's advising that you do an apt-get update then an apt-get upgrade which I did.

The update part completed  without issue but there were about 4 packages at the end of the upgrade that failed saying they didn't exist. This may not be relevant though.

I'll go through your pointers.

Regards
max232

[max232]

The DVI to HDMI is probably the only adapter I don't have but will get one to test.

I just did the nvidia upgrade as per Crumbles pointer above which all went without issue.

I then saw something during the reboot (in yellow) saying something like "etc/X11/xorg.conf not found using *nvidia"

I then updated them via the X desktop and picked the latest I was offered, 304. This all installed fine but after a reboot
something flashed red saying the video drivers had changed and it was going to use something else.

My xorg.conf does exist in etc/X11 so I am taking that error as information from within that file doesn't exist not the file itself.

I have looked in my xorg.0.log file and both my TV(connected via HDMI) and Monitor(connected via DVI) have been detected correctly and information regarding supported and unsupported resolutions and timings has been written to that file.

My concern now is why I cannot update the nvidia drivers, well not update as they do seem to download and install but why the system
keeps reverting to the 260 driver.

Regards
max232

[Crumble]

Are you using the regza as your tv?  Are you connecting two displays at the same time?  If you are using a regza I had issues with that tv as well.  If you are using two displays use just one.  See if there is firmware upgrade for your model tv.  Then rm -rf /etc/X11/xorg.*  reboot see if that helps.

[max232]

@Crumble, thanks for the direction.

I tried different combinations of the tv and monitor being plugged in and out a different times. It turns out that during boot mce does detect the TV via HDMI but it will revert to any other connector that is plugged in including the svid connector for composite out.

If i now have only the HDMI plugged in then the TV comes on as the main display.

The only issue now is the screen is offset to the right and need expanding vertically. The controls in advanced under mce will not move or expand the screen to the position i require.

I am guessing there is a setting in a .conf file somewhere that i can change the offset settings in.

Regards
max232

[max232]

@Crumble

We don't use the Regza that much. It's not in our main living room so I don't play with it too much. Your own issues with that model may also be responsible for the config issues i have been having.

In the past I used VDR on an SUSE distro with a couple of cable tuners as our main TV appliance/provider.

Working on configuring softcams for VDR was my hobby of choice but work took priority and i had to let it go.

Just playing for a few days has started to bring back the intricate and diverse structure of the Linux file system which i am beginning to enjoy again but that is and always was down to the community spirit/input.

I think i'll stick with LMCE for a while. I have today tested the disk-less media director using a couple of spare laptops so i am now looking for a nice small/quiet box(diskless) that i can pop under 4 tv's(looking at the Zotak boxes, any thoughts!!).

We have used PS3's for streaming media for the past few years but having to keep tweaking Twonky Media player on our freecom NAS and the Cinavia variable has made this a major pain for me as I don't watch that much tv i just do this for the family.

Also to be honest i like the concept of LinuxMCE for the same reason i liked Pluto the first time i saw it.

Thanks for the help so far.
Regards
max232

[Crumble]

Yeah the regza has got some edid issues.  Took me 8 months to get the display right on that tv with lmce 0704.
You will most likely have better luck with your samsung.  Check out www.lmcecompatible.com,  everything works ootb.  Have fun man, LMCE is my favorite toy. 

[l3mce]

@Crumble, thanks for the direction.

I tried different combinations of the tv and monitor being plugged in and out a different times. It turns out that during boot mce does detect the TV via HDMI but it will revert to any other connector that is plugged in including the svid connector for composite out.

If i now have only the HDMI plugged in then the TV comes on as the main display.

The only issue now is the screen is offset to the right and need expanding vertically. The controls in advanced under mce will not move or expand the screen to the position i require.

I am guessing there is a setting in a .conf file somewhere that i can change the offset settings in.

Regards
max232

Hi max... sorry I have been busy.

1. Correct... HDMI takes lowest priority, so you really just want it connected. I at one point made it push signal over everything... but there was some flaky side-effects.
2. You almost certainly have a chunky xorg.conf due to the confusion of monitor outs. Unless you are using a laptop with an unusual screen dimension, it should not be offset or ill sized. mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.back  and reboot (without other displays plugged in) and it should dump you at AVWiz, and should be able to size correctly.
3. A converter is likely to cause more harm than good. They almost ALWAYS screw up the EDID data.