# Second monitor always gets boot screen first



## P4-630 (Jul 4, 2017)

It's not that huge issue but always my second (1080p) monitor connected by HDMI gets display first before my main 1440p G-Sync monitor connected by DisplayPort.
If I need to go into the BIOS I would need to use my 1080p monitor.

Is there an option to change this so my main monitor gets the boot screen?


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## MustSeeMelons (Jul 4, 2017)

Have you tried swapping the cables?


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## jboydgolfer (Jul 4, 2017)

I'm not saying this is the cause of your issue but a similar issue that I've experienced is that certain resolutions are not supported with some bios' Normally there's a setting in your bios, it's normally called something like HD bios or something to that effect,try playing with that

My experience was with asrocks uefi. And on the main bios page at the bottom theres a settings for it....  if it's just a matter of latency they could be because the difference between the high definition multimedia interface cable ,and display port


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## P4-630 (Jul 4, 2017)

MustSeeMelons said:


> Have you tried swapping the cables?



Uhm how do you mean, I think I can't use the HDMI cable on my main monitor since it needs DisplayPort for G-Sync to work? No?
Also my 1080p monitor doesn't have DP connection so then I would have to connect it to DVI-D and still have the same "problem"..



jboydgolfer said:


> I'm not saying this is the cause of your issue but a similar issue that I've experienced is that certain resolutions are not supported with some bios' Normally there's a setting in your bios, it's normally called something like HD bios or something to that effect,try playing with that
> 
> My experience was with asrocks uefi. And on the main bios page at the bottom theres a settings for it....  if it's just a matter of latency they could be because the difference between the high definition multimedia interface cable ,and display port



Sorry, not sure what BIOS settings you talk about, I have an Asus Z170 motherboard by the way.


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## MustSeeMelons (Jul 4, 2017)

P4-630 said:


> Uhm how do you mean, I think I can't use the HDMI cable on my main monitor since it needs DisplayPort for G-Sync to work? No?
> Also my 1080p monitor doesn't have DP connection so then I would have to connect it to DVI-D and still have the same "problem"..



Just checked, G-Sync needs DisplayPort so swapping cables won't work, especially if you physically can't do it. The BIOS may be a good place to look though, like previously mentioned.


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## Jetster (Jul 4, 2017)

Its probably because of the native resolution


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## P4-630 (Jul 4, 2017)

jboydgolfer said:


> I'm not saying this is the cause of your issue but a similar issue that I've experienced is that certain resolutions are not supported with some bios' Normally there's a setting in your bios, it's normally called something like HD bios or something to that effect,try playing with that
> 
> My experience was with asrocks uefi. And on the main bios page at the bottom theres a settings for it....  if it's just a matter of latency they could be because the difference between the high definition multimedia interface cable ,and display port





MustSeeMelons said:


> Just checked, G-Sync needs DisplayPort so swapping cables won't work, especially if you physically can't do it. The BIOS may be a good place to look though, like previously mentioned.



Ok I will look in the motherboard manual if I can find such settings, not sure what to look for but I will look for display related things...

Edit: Ok done reading the manual, did not find any setting for this...
Guess I have to leave it as is.


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 5, 2017)

This is out on a limb but I presume it could be a Port Boot Priority encoded in the GPU bios itself, there could be a detection process in the edid tables too.

Bear in mind hdmi is still a popular port standard or defacto since it is designed to replace vga and dvi (I prefer Display Port for numerous reasons)

Unless if there is a gpu driver setting...

Have you tried removing the hdmi monitor cable and forcing boot on DP?


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## OneCool (Jul 5, 2017)

If you disconnect the secondary 1080p monitor will the bios post on the 1440p G- sync


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## FireFox (Jul 5, 2017)

P4-630 said:


> It's not that huge issue but always my second (1080p) monitor connected by HDMI gets display first before my main 1440p G-Sync monitor connected by DisplayPort.



Nothing new, it's the same thing here my second monitor (1080p ) always gets first display over my 1440p, it doesn't bother me at all.


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## cdawall (Jul 5, 2017)

GPU decides which display gets main. Pretty common to default to the hdmi. There is not a way to change it that I know of.


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## FireFox (Jul 5, 2017)

cdawall said:


> GPU decides which display gets main. Pretty common to default to the hdmi. There is not a way to change it that I know of.



Exactly, and if you leave the HDMI one plugged and turned off you won't get any signal.


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## Frick (Jul 5, 2017)

cdawall said:


> GPU decides which display gets main. Pretty common to default to the hdmi. There is not a way to change it that I know of.



Or VGA, if avalible.


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## metalslaw (Jul 5, 2017)

Would it be worth running your 1080p screen thru the inbuilt intergrated gpu of your intel chip? Maybe that could fix it, and you would still be defaulting in bios thru your pci card.


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## TheLostSwede (Jul 5, 2017)

I had the same problem when I had two displays, one was DVI and one DP, the DVI display would always be the first one to come on.
It's really annoying, but there doesn't seem to be a fix for this, as it seems to be a default behaviour of whatever BIOS settings the graphics card has.
Maybe we can petition the GPU makers to default DP as the first output in the future?


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## Vayra86 (Jul 5, 2017)

Look its really simple. DP is just slower to give you the image than any other interface. You will probably find that a VGA-connected panel will be the first of them all to activate. Also IPS and VA monitors tend to have longer start up times after pressing the on button (or coming out of standby).

Slow to fast
DP
DVI / HDMI
VGA

But honestly, go play some games, stop worrying about stupid shit


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## Folterknecht (Jul 5, 2017)

My secondary 17" 1024x768 display (VGA conncetor) shows the same behavior until I'm on the windows desktop, where it switches to secondary.


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

Knoxx29 said:


> Nothing new, it's the same thing here my second monitor (1080p ) always gets first display over my 1440p, it doesn't bother me at all.


Eh, in my case the secondary monitor is a crappy 1680x1050 resolution. Since that's the default monitor, it means UEFI won't display in FHD, but in low res instead. It still looks better that any BIOS though.


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## qubit (Jul 5, 2017)

Yeah, I've noticed things like that with multiple monitors. It just depends how the BIOS is programmed on that particular graphics card and can be annoying. Why it doesn't just show the BIOS display on all outputs I don't know. At least the main two or three would have done.


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

qubit said:


> Yeah, I've noticed things like that with multiple monitors. It just depends how the BIOS is programmed on that particular graphics card and can be annoying. *Why it doesn't just show the BIOS display on all outputs I don't know*. At least the main two or three would have done.



Because of different resolutions maybe? It's not a big thing to scale the UEFI UI to fit different resolutions, but where do you paint the mouse pointer for coordinates (100,100)?
KDE's SDDM does exactly that for the login screen, though. But I'm guessing it has access to more info than the UEFI UI does.


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## qubit (Jul 5, 2017)

bug said:


> Because of different resolutions maybe? It's not a big thing to scale the UEFI UI to fit different resolutions, but where do you paint the mouse pointer for coordinates (100,100)?
> KDE's SDDM does exactly that for the login screen, though. But I'm guessing it has access to more info than the UEFI UI does.


We're talking BIOS boot-up screens here, so graphics coordinates and cursors don't apply. Also, those screens are at a fixed resolution which I think is 640x480.


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## HD64G (Jul 5, 2017)

Most gpus boot from the HDMI-connected screen. Happens to mine also. I just de-activate the 2nd screen when not needed from the driver suite. No problem at all when doing that.


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

qubit said:


> We're talking BIOS boot-up screens here, so graphics coordinates and cursors don't apply. Also, those screens are at a fixed resolution which I think is 640x480.


You may be talking about BIOS, but the OP has an Asus Z170 board. I assure you that thing has UEFI on board. In full HD, with mouse support and everything


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## OneMoar (Jul 5, 2017)

the boot order on nvidia cards is
vga > dvi > hdmi > dp


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## qubit (Jul 5, 2017)

bug said:


> You may be talking about BIOS, but the OP has an Asus Z170 board. I assure you that thing has UEFI on board. In full HD, with mouse support and everything


Sure, but the first thing you see is that BIOS splash screen which is text mode only and which monitor it goes to is defined by the graphics card BIOS. I too have a UEFI system and this is how it works.


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

qubit said:


> Sure, but the first thing you see is that BIOS splash screen which is text mode only and which monitor it goes to is defined by the graphics card BIOS. I too have a UEFI system and this is how it works.


It isn't. UEFI shows you a graphical image. You have to go in and manually disable the splash scree (or whatever it's called) so see anything in text mode.
Either way, when I was talking about potential mouse cursor issues I obviously wasn't talking about the boot screen, but the actual UEFI menu.


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

OneMoar said:


> the boot order on nvidia cards is
> vga > dvi > hdmi > dp


In other words: boot using the oldest thing you can find attached. Morons.


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## OneMoar (Jul 5, 2017)

bug said:


> In other words: boot using the oldest thing you can find attached. Morons.


it has to be that way for legacy compatibility tho


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

OneMoar said:


> it has to be that way for legacy compatibility tho


Why? Is there a risk for me to have DP monitor plugged in that can't display images?


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 5, 2017)

It would be nice if the driver software could configure the bios for port boot priority or even a switch


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## bug (Jul 5, 2017)

eidairaman1 said:


> It would be nice if the driver software could configure the bios for port boot priority or even a switch


I doubt it's easy for drivers to reach into there, but it could an option in UEFI.


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 6, 2017)

bug said:


> I doubt it's easy for drivers to reach into there, but it could an option in UEFI.



I see why not, i mean afterburner exists.


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