NTSC Wii image turning on and off with vdigi vga cable

[FreelancePolice]

Hi all,

currently I have an NTSC Wii going through my monitor with the vdigi vga cable. I've had this set up for a couple of months.

Today I got a vga splitter to try out so I didn't have to keep unplugging my 360 etc. However the picture kept switching off and on. The wii was functioning fine, I could load games etc. navigate menus but the picture would switch off then on. The time between it switching varies from less than a second to 3 or 4 seconds.

Now I've narrowed it down somewhat:

1) It's not the cable (despite me thinking otherwise, I went to my friends with the cable and we tried his wii on his monitor and it was fine)
2) It's not my monitor - The 360 works fine through the monitor
3) So it must be the wii right? - Well yes but I did try it through the stock cable on a normal tv and it was fine... very peculiar.

Anyone come across a problem like this? I'm going to try leaving it unplugged all night just incase... well I'm not sure but I'm being naive and hoping this sorts it.

It's quite similar to a problem I had with my panasonic Q when the video cut out... I hope it's easily repaired as I don't want to deal with Nintendo USA through poor old VG+

[Link83]

You dont seem to mention the VGA Splitter as a possibilty - or are you testing it with just a direct VGA connection to the monitor?
Also, is the Wii set to 480p?
Lastly, although I dont own a V-Digi VGA cable I have read that it has dip switches on it to change between certain settings - maybe they would help?
Hope that helps

[FreelancePolice]

Yeah sorry I've tried going directly into the monitor. Wii is set to 480p (which i think is the problem)

My last test is going to be wii with component at 480p but I'll need to take it round to my mates again.

Keep the suggestions coming! Also if anyone speaks to Saur regularly please point him in this direction, I know he repaired my Q a few years ago and was generally very helpful!

[FreelancePolice]

Well it looks like it's my wii

Get ready for my new thread!

[FreelancePolice]

Ok a twist in the tale here, my wii works fine through a component on the hd tv at work....

so one last test, to try my wii with the vdigi cable on another monitor. Don't know why I didn't try that to start with :/

[EvilBoris]

Could it be the Vdigi that is kaput?

Is there some kind of factory reset you can do to your monitor too?

[Link83]

Does component work on your Wii?

If so I cant see how it could be Wii as the V-Digi just takes the Wii's component output and converts it to VGA

I wouldnt want to send it back to the US until you can be positive its not the cable or monitor...

Do you know anyone else with an Wii you can borrow to test with your monitor and cable?

[FreelancePolice]

Hey guys,

Done my extra couple of tests now;

Right, so component it turns out works fine at 480p. So I figured my wii is perfectly fine, however I then tried my wii through the vdigi cable on my friends monitor and it was fine...

Now it still doesn't work on my monitor but I've managed to check the input the monitor gets through a little setting on the menus which reads:

31.5khz and 60hz
where as my 360 comes out at : 66.8khz and 60hz.

My monitor is a SM-2232BW Pebble 22" inch samsung model, where as my friend's monitor (where it worked) was a cheap 17inch one. It's worth noting that his did not support an interlaced signal either so it's not a tv/monitor. It's a pure monitor.

I'm going to try my wii on a similar monitor to mine (in all but model number and shape) and see if it works. To me it would initially look like the cable is causing the problems but then I've seen it working on both mine and my friend's wii

[FreelancePolice]

hmmmm, just tried it on an identical samsung monitor and it did the same thing, I guess it must be the cable.

Weird and a bit annoying, oh well. I'll order another one as they seem incapable of replying to my emails anyway! It did serve me well up until then!

[tom-nook]

Probably won't make a difference but have you tried adjusting some of the switches on the Vdigi lead to see if that helps at all?

[FreelancePolice]

I tried it once but it didn't do anything. I'll try the other settings tonight.

Anyone know anything about refresh rates?

It seems my horizontal refresh rate is far too low (the 33khz one) So I was wondering what would cause that?

There's still the possibility it's my wii. I need to try another wii on my monitor with my vdigi cable....

[Link83]

To me it sounds like your monitor doesnt support VGA at 31.5khz, (which is very odd, as I think thats standard frequency for 480p) whereas your friends does.

Does your monitor say what frequencies it supports over VGA in the instruction manual?

The other (more likely) alternative is the dip switches on the Vdigi need changing for your monitor - there are a number of different settings:-

MODE/DIP / RGBS (Comp) / RGBHV (Default) / RGBHV (1) / RGBHV (2)
1______________ON__________OFF__________OFF______O FF
2______________OFF__________ON__________ON_______O N
3______________OFF__________OFF_________ON_______O FF
4______________OFF__________OFF_________OFF______O N

Taken from this review at DCemu:-

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=77946

Id make sure you turn everything off before changing the switches to see if that makes any difference - eg turn the Wii and monitor off at the mains (not standby) and then change the dip switch settings and try again.

Also, just to note - interlaced images wont work over VGA. It only supports 480p, so any games that only support 480i wont work

Hope you get it to work!

[FreelancePolice]

I'll try the dip switches then, weirdly this setup all worked fine for at least a month or two before it suddenly stopped working .....

[FreelancePolice]

Tried all dip combinations, also seems like I'm not the only one....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zRtPnuOpoIg

[Link83]

Sorry, dont know what else to suggest now!

However, I do think its strange that the other person you linked to on youtube that has exactly the same problem as you also has a Samsung monitor....perhaps Samsung monitors dont like the VGA output the VDigi gives?

I would definitely try getting a replacement VDigi cable though if you can - and if it still doesnt work I would begin to think it is the monitor - perhaps the VDigi's VGA signal is just slightly out of spec of what a Samsung monitor want/expects, making it only work for a while? Just throwing out guesses now!

EDIT - Just thought id add, I found this thread from the author of that youtube video:-

http://vnboards.ign.com/pc_generalhardwaresoftware_tech_support_board/b22497/107111475/p1/?2

He's tried it on two different Samsung monitors with the same problem - really does seem like its related to the monitor im afraid