triplehead2go hardware issue?? Please Help...

[Joseph]

Hi, I am brand new to this forum and the world of Flight Simulation, (about 2 weeks) and I am absolutely hooked! I have already decided to use the kids food money to build an awesome home cockpit! (Well, maybe just their snack money http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/images/smilies/smile.png)
I am using a bit of an older computer, 2 Quad CPU Q8200 2.33 (4 CPUs) 4gig Ram, Windows 7 64bit, GForce 550 ti. I know it is not going to give me awesome results but it works for now. I will rebuild the computer eventually. My
My problem now is my second hand Matrox Triplehead2go (Digital Edition). I installed it and the graphics were really distorted and hard to do anything. Before I installed the hardware, I downloaded the latest firmware and software to my desktop. After installing the hardware, I was barely able to locate the firmware on my desktop with the amount of distortion, however i did manage to run the firmware and that is where things go worse! Now I am getting a slight signal on just one monitor and I can barely explain it. It is just some signal that I see changing but it is mostly a black screen with a couple inches of something... I almost think it is a hardware issue but have no way of knowing. I tried unplugging it, restarting, and I can't get anything to show up on the screen other then the little mess i see.
Can it be the firmware? Can I uninstall it? (can't even get a readable signal on the monitor to do anything).
I bought the hardware used yesterday and I think I might be in trouble.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Joseph

[blueskydriver]

Do you have the USB cable hooked up to the TH2Go and your computer? Does the light turn green once you start your computer? Check to make sure that is done. However, disconnect it entirely to make sure your monitor(s) work normally with the PC first, and then hook up the TH2GO and making sure the USB is plugged in and the green light comes on...

Once the light is on, the monitors should work in a default mode, and then you have to adjust the resolutions via the TH2GO software. Do you have the instructions for the TH2GO? If not download them from the Matrox website...

BSD

[Joseph]

Thanks for the reply BSD. Everything is connected including the USB and a I have a green light. I checked the Monitors separately and they all work fine. When I first plugged in the TH2Go the first time, it was distorted and had major resolution issues. I was able to locate the firmware update I downloaded onto my desktop and when I ran the file, it almost seemed like the card just couldn't handle it and quit on me. I can't do anything with it now. Any suggestions?
Thanks again for your help.
Joseph

[notgotaclue]

Hi,
Can you try the hardware on another computer, just to rule out a faulty piece of hardware as the problem?
Allan.

[Joseph]

Same results on another machine.
Back on my main computer, I just plugged in the USB cord, and left a monitor on my Graphics card. I then reinstalled the firmware. I plugged the monitor back into the TH2g and it is no longer mostly a black screen, but it still is unusable. You can not make out anything on the monitor. Maybe I should try a later version of firmware, but I don't know why that would help.
I am pretty stumped at this point.

[blueskydriver]

I had this problem many moons ago, and I believe your firmware is not right as you say, did you install firmware that works with Win7? Make sure you have the right one, but first do this: disconnect th2go and power up your pc, and then goto displays and set a low resolution to something like 1024x768. Make sure it looks right on the monitor.

Next reconnect the th2go and see what happens. I think your input resolution from your graphics card is set wrong to match the th2go resolution settings. Also, did you install the powerdesktop and the matrox programs on the pc already? If not, do that before anything else...

BSD

[Kennair]

Hi Joseph, glad to see someone else also spending their kids inheritance on this hobby. I'm spending my sons University fees :p Welcome to the forum too.

I had this very same issue only a few months ago after purchasing a second hand TH2GO digital off an ebay shop site. They were reputable (according to their rating) but mine did exactly what you are describing. Tried it on several computers and no go. I ended up sending it back through their RMA policy but they got back to me saying their technicians had it working fine so only refunded the cost of the unit, not the shipping. A $50 lesson for me! I since purchased another unit from a fellow cockpit builder in the US and it works absolutely great first time out of the box. I can only conclude the hardware was indeed faulty or at least incompatible with something in my system.

May not relate to your issue but sure sounds familiar.

Good luck,

Ken.

[Joseph]

Thanks Ken. I believe i have the same problem. Bit more then a $50 lesson. Ugg.
Quick question, is that picture you in your home cockpit? WOW! That really is a semester or two of college!! I plan on building a cockpit out of wood. I would love to buy the MIP panel but then I will just want to have all the real gauges/controls etc. and that were it will start to really add up. So lets see what I can do by being creative. Thinking about a couple touchscreen monitors for the Overhead panel and such. Completely a different league from you but hopefully it will be a good start. Has anyone ever come across any step-by-step instructions for building a home cockpit? I have seen tons of measurements (and they will help a great deal) and some really great behind the scenes videos, but i haven't seen anything worthy in a step-by-step. Anyway, thought i would just ask.
Thanks again.
Joseph

[bussgarfield]

Hi Joseph. Welcome to the forum.

Two things. I have the Triplehead2go and had it work straight out of the box on three screens. It was new when purchased though so I can't really help you on your TH2Go issues.
Secondly, I have built (read still building) my cockpit from scratch out of MDF. The panels were purchased as making them is way beyond my know how. The MIP, CDU bay, pedestal and overhead were all hand made with the measurements you have probably looked at. The Opencockpit panels were attached. I have cheated in buying the plug and play MCP,EFIS, CDU, radios etc, but will be wiring the switches for the overhead through a couple of Leo Bodnars excellent cards. 75% of the overhead annunciators are up and working as they should be. Still along way to go.
I started in 2005. Money is always tight so things have had to be fabricated when needs be to the best of my ability.
I am pleased with my efforts so far and shall hopefully progress further over the coming few months having had a break over the summer period.
All the best with your efforts and good luck with the TH2Go issues.

Gary

[blueskydriver]

Joesph, just a quick question, is the USB cable directly to the PC or to a hub first? If it's hub first, switch to the PC, so you can rule it out... Otherwise, it is that your resolutions are mismatched or the firmware is not the right one. My past problem was the firmware not being the correct version; I just checked my old notes. By the way, like college, take notes on everything you learn or do with building a cockpit; especially, you should always write down every step of setting up and installing software on your FSX PC. If not, you will always be chasing problems like this one.

BSD

[Joseph]

Hi Gary, Sounds like you are well on your way. Do you have any pictures of the progress? Did you work from any plans building the frame out of MDF for the MIP?
I would be plenty happy with the plug and play for my setup. I'm sure it is a huge time saver. Which plug and play manufacturer did you use?
It is amazing how many options there are. Some of the cockpits look more valuable then a real plane!! Thanks for your time!
Joseph

Hi Joseph. Welcome to the forum.

Two things. I have the Triplehead2go and had it work straight out of the box on three screens. It was new when purchased though so I can't really help you on your TH2Go issues.
Secondly, I have built (read still building) my cockpit from scratch out of MDF. The panels were purchased as making them is way beyond my know how. The MIP, CDU bay, pedestal and overhead were all hand made with the measurements you have probably looked at. The Opencockpit panels were attached. I have cheated in buying the plug and play MCP,EFIS, CDU, radios etc, but will be wiring the switches for the overhead through a couple of Leo Bodnars excellent cards. 75% of the overhead annunciators are up and working as they should be. Still along way to go.
I started in 2005. Money is always tight so things have had to be fabricated when needs be to the best of my ability.
I am pleased with my efforts so far and shall hopefully progress further over the coming few months having had a break over the summer period.
All the best with your efforts and good luck with the TH2Go issues.

Gary

[Joseph]

I have come to the conclusion that the TH2go DVI input is the problem. When I plug it in in the VGA it works perfect. Unfortunately, I want digital. By the way, looks like Matrox just came out with a new TH2go Digital Edition SE. It is actually cheaper. Hate to be a Guinea pig, but I also hate to buy old technology. Hope someone has some advice on that soon. I would love to purchase it right away.
Thanks for your help!
Joe


Joesph, just a quick question, is the USB cable directly to the PC or to a hub first? If it's hub first, switch to the PC, so you can rule it out... Otherwise, it is that your resolutions are mismatched or the firmware is not the right one. My past problem was the firmware not being the correct version; I just checked my old notes. By the way, like college, take notes on everything you learn or do with building a cockpit; especially, you should always write down every step of setting up and installing software on your FSX PC. If not, you will always be chasing problems like this one.

BSD

[Joseph]

Hi Gary, Sounds like you are well on your way. Do you have any pictures of the progress? Did you work from any plans building the frame out of MDF for the MIP?
I would be plenty happy with the plug and play for my setup. I'm sure it is a huge time saver. Which plug and play manufacturer did you use?
It is amazing how many options there are. Some of the cockpits look more valuable then a real plane!! Thanks for your time!


Hi Joseph. Welcome to the forum.

Two things. I have the Triplehead2go and had it work straight out of the box on three screens. It was new when purchased though so I can't really help you on your TH2Go issues.
Secondly, I have built (read still building) my cockpit from scratch out of MDF. The panels were purchased as making them is way beyond my know how. The MIP, CDU bay, pedestal and overhead were all hand made with the measurements you have probably looked at. The Opencockpit panels were attached. I have cheated in buying the plug and play MCP,EFIS, CDU, radios etc, but will be wiring the switches for the overhead through a couple of Leo Bodnars excellent cards. 75% of the overhead annunciators are up and working as they should be. Still along way to go.
I started in 2005. Money is always tight so things have had to be fabricated when needs be to the best of my ability.
I am pleased with my efforts so far and shall hopefully progress further over the coming few months having had a break over the summer period.
All the best with your efforts and good luck with the TH2Go issues.

Gary

[Joseph]

Gary, for some reason my reply to you did not post (I tried twice).
Anyway, Love to see some pics of your progress. Do you have any plans on how your built your cockpit that you would be willing to share?
Thanks.
Joseph

[blueskydriver]

So, your TH2GO works in VGA Mode, but not in DVI? Okay, are you restarting the computer each time after you switch to the different inputs? Also, when you hook up the DVI are you going into your BIOS and Windows video card's display settings and making sure the DVI is the primary? If not, you need to make sure the cards DVI output is primary in both areas, as well as use the single mode if you have a SLi mode card or dual cards in SLi mode (removing SLi mode for now is just to make sure it is not causimg a problem).

I will say that it working in VGA means the box is more than likely fine; it's just a signal issue from your computer. Do you have another machine that has a DVI and VGA output to work with to verify the DVI input is not working on the TH2GO box (just in case)?

BSD

[Joseph]

I have tried restarting after changing inputs with no luck. Both DVI outputs on my video graphics card are working fine without the TH2go connected. When I plug the graphics card DVI output into the DVI input of the TH2go, and of course the connect the monitors to the TH2go, I have such a lousy picture that I can't make any changes to anything. The second it starts to boot even before drivers or window are loaded, it is a mess. I agree that the th2go box is working, but is it possible that something in the DVI side of it is bad?
Thanks for your time!
Joseph

[blueskydriver]

Just to clarify a few things, your monitors are DVI input with DVI input cables, and that you're not using any DVI to VGA adapters when using the DVI ins and outs of the TH2GO? Next, you said that it worked on the VGA side can you explain which computer and card you used and how did you use VGA adapters to do this?

Also, if your Dual DVI card is a SLi card, you must use the primary output of the card for the TH2GO, look on back of the card and you will see a 1 and 2 stamped into the card plate by the DVI connectors, use the number 1.

Finally, there are different types of DVI connectors, so you might have an invalid DVI connector and this is mostly seen with adapters. Otherwise, if you have no adapters, the correct DVI type, the correct #1 output from the card being used, the USB cabled plugged in directly to the PC with green light, and the DVI selected primary in the Win7 & the Bios with no SLi mode, as well as the correct Matrox Powerdesktop and Firmware programs being used, then it must be a bad DVI side within the TH2GO.

BSD

[Joseph]

I started by using all DVI cords with no adapters: DVI from primary slot (#1) of the Dual DVI Graphics card to the DVI input of the th2go, and then DVI out to all 3 monitors which have DVI in. When that did not work I used a DVI to VGA adapter out of slot 1 of the Graphics card to the VGA input of the TH2go, and then DVI out to the monitors DVI input. So I just used the adapter on the dual graphics card.
I did try different DVI cords, in case there was something wrong with the one I had, but I did not try any different "types" of DVI cords as you mentioned. Could that be it? Is the DVI cord that goes into the TH2go a special DVI cord?
Everything else you listed is good except that I can't get into the bios with the Th2go DVI connected. And if I get into it with the VGA connected, will I be able to select the DVI as primary?
Thanks for all your efforts!
Joseph

[blueskydriver]

There is a speical cable that comes with the TH2GO, it is short (about 2 ft long) and is the DVI-DL cable which is different from the standard "DVI" cable. Your "Graphics card" has to be "Dual-link DVI or a single VGA output connector, on a compatible system". Is your "Graphics Card" Dual-link DVI? If not, that will be the main problem, but likely you have the wrong cable...did you not get any cables with the TH2GO that were specific to it?

Here is the main link for info on the TH2GO:

"Multi Monitor Adapter for Maximum Performance | TripleHead2Go (http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/digital/)"

Here is the link for the GXM System Compatibility tool, use it on the computer in question (without TH2GO connected) and it will tell you if the "Graphics card" is of the correct type and that it is Dual-link or not:

"Matrox Graphics - Support (http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/support/compatibility/gxm/home/)"

More than likely you will have to order the correct "DVI" cable from Matrox. With the VGA side working, it leans more on the side that your cable is wrong, but like I said, your "Graphics card" has to be "Dual-link" (it must state that it is Dual-link on the spec sheet of the "Graphics Card"). Still, I suggest you try the compatibility program without the TH2GO hooked up first, and then go to the Matrox website and see if your TH2GO cable (if you got the special one or not) matches what is shown on the pages concerning the TH2GO Digital that you have.

Finally, at this point, I believe it's nothing else but the special "DVI" cable or the Dual-link, if it doesn't work after fixing those issues, then you have a bad TH2GO on the digital input...as there is nothing left to check. Do not worry about the Bios at this point because your card is working in either DVI or VGA modes (it is only rare that a person has issues with the Bios and that is mainly to dual (2 seperate) cards in one box, where you have to indicate the primary and secondary cards).

BSD

[Kennair]

Thanks Ken. I believe i have the same problem. Bit more then a $50 lesson. Ugg.
Quick question, is that picture you in your home cockpit? WOW! That really is a semester or two of college!! I plan on building a cockpit out of wood. I would love to buy the MIP panel but then I will just want to have all the real gauges/controls etc. and that were it will start to really add up. So lets see what I can do by being creative. Thinking about a couple touchscreen monitors for the Overhead panel and such. Completely a different league from you but hopefully it will be a good start. Has anyone ever come across any step-by-step instructions for building a home cockpit? I have seen tons of measurements (and they will help a great deal) and some really great behind the scenes videos, but i haven't seen anything worthy in a step-by-step. Anyway, thought i would just ask.
Thanks again.
Joseph

Hi Joseph, what a dilemma hey? Funny but my issue with the TH2GO also resulted in the VGA output working fine but not the DVI. As BSD said however your card needs to be capable of Dual DVI output and your cable also needs to be Dual. If you look at the DVI connector you should see all pins populated, if not you need to buy one.

As for my pic, this isn't my personal sim but my business sim Flight City - Simulation Centre (http://www.flightcity.com.au) which is a full FDS setup with 210 degree projector visuals. I am the technical director of the company but didn't build the hardware, just the PC's, software and visuals (which is plenty enough thanks). I am however building a personal 777 sim at home but nowhere near as full-on as this one.

If you are starting out and unsure of how to design and build your own sim I can recommend Jeff over at Ultimate Home Built DIY Flight Simulator Cockpit Resource (http://www.simsamurai.net/). He has plans for a large range of simple and complex simulators suited to the home builder. No affiliation with me personally but have had some dealings with him and he's a nice guy with lots of good ideas for home enthusiasts. Check him out if you haven't already. Monitors for overhead functions is a great alternative. You'll find you don't do a lot with the overhead switches once the sim is up and running but it is a very large consumption of hardware. Having touchscreens to model it is a very good choice in my opinion. Also start really simple. Use monitors to display gauges and learn to manipulate the standard FSX aircraft panels using something like FSPanelStudio (http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=FSP-ESD-001)and you'll find you can create many realistic aircraft panels in a matter of hours. Get the aircraft up and running and test it out then you'll have a much better idea of what you want to create and how detailed.

Good luck with your TH2GO issue,

Ken.

[Joseph]

Just got off the phone with Matrox support attempting to see if it is the specific Matrox DVI cable.. believe it or not, they say that any DL-DVI cable should work. He said I should just use a short one and they don't' sell them. Not sure what to think,... I felt the point made by BSD was pretty good, and I wouldn't be surprised if the guy in support was wrong. OH well.. onward and upward... Thanks for all your time on this BSD.

Ken, I think I might do some overtime here and there if I had your Job!! Thanks for the link to simsamurai.com.
Joe