I've been happily using Dell 2007FP displays for ages. The highest display mode they support is 1600 x 1200 at 60Hz. This was always enough for BIOS setup screen, until now. I just booted an ASRock NUC-125H R2 motherboard and the BIOS screen is in 1080p 60Hz video mode, not supported by Dell 2007FP.
I'm surprised they use high resolution for a simple text based BIOS setup screen. Until now, I could set up the BIOS with a VGA display. Why would Asus make life difficult for users? I don't see a BIOS setting to change the video mode on startup. Is there a way to do it?
Has anyone seen other motherboards, which require 1080p 60Hz video mode just for BIOS setup screen?
Is 1080p 60Hz considered a hardware minimum requirement these days?
Are there motherboards requiring more than 1080p 60Hz just to show you a BIOS setup screen?
It seems that the problem is caused by video mode negotiation over HDMI bus on power up. I tried a different display, Lilliput FA1000, and it displays BIOS setup screen at 640 x 480, 63.4Hz mode. Dell 2007FP doesn't have HDMI port, so I'm using DVI to HDMI adapter, which didn't caused any issues with many PC models I used over the years. The question is why it is unable to negotiate a lower resolution with NUC-125H R2?
Here is more information about my Dell 2007FP display:
paul@cube:~$ sudo get-edid | parse-edid
This is read-edid version 3.0.2. Prepare for some fun.
Attempting to use i2c interface
No EDID on bus 0
No EDID on bus 1
No EDID on bus 2
No EDID on bus 4
No EDID on bus 5
No EDID on bus 6
No EDID on bus 7
No EDID on bus 8
No EDID on bus 9
No EDID on bus 10
No EDID on bus 11
1 potential busses found: 3
128-byte EDID successfully retrieved from i2c bus 3
Looks like i2c was successful. Have a good day.
Checksum Correct
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DELL 2007FP"
ModelName "DELL 2007FP"
VendorName "DEL"
# Monitor Manufactured week 11 of 2009
# EDID version 1.3
# Digital Display
DisplaySize 410 310
Gamma 2.20
Option "DPMS" "true"
Horizsync 30-83
VertRefresh 56-76
# Maximum pixel clock is 170MHz
#Not giving standard mode: 1280x1024, 60Hz
#Not giving standard mode: 1600x1200, 60Hz
#Not giving standard mode: 1152x864, 75Hz
Modeline "Mode 0" +hsync +vsync
EndSection
More detailed EDID from edid-decode:
Established Timings I & II:
IBM : 720x400 70.081663 Hz 9:5 31.467 kHz 28.320000 MHz
DMT 0x04: 640x480 59.940476 Hz 4:3 31.469 kHz 25.175000 MHz
DMT 0x06: 640x480 75.000000 Hz 4:3 37.500 kHz 31.500000 MHz
DMT 0x09: 800x600 60.316541 Hz 4:3 37.879 kHz 40.000000 MHz
DMT 0x0b: 800x600 75.000000 Hz 4:3 46.875 kHz 49.500000 MHz
DMT 0x10: 1024x768 60.003840 Hz 4:3 48.363 kHz 65.000000 MHz
DMT 0x12: 1024x768 75.028582 Hz 4:3 60.023 kHz 78.750000 MHz
DMT 0x24: 1280x1024 75.024675 Hz 5:4 79.976 kHz 135.000000 MHz
Standard Timings:
DMT 0x23: 1280x1024 60.019740 Hz 5:4 63.981 kHz 108.000000 MHz
DMT 0x33: 1600x1200 60.000000 Hz 4:3 75.000 kHz 162.000000 MHz
DMT 0x15: 1152x864 75.000000 Hz 4:3 67.500 kHz 108.000000 MHz
Detailed Timing Descriptors:
DTD 1: 1600x1200 60.000000 Hz 4:3 75.000 kHz 162.000000 MHz (367 mm x 275 mm)
Hfront 64 Hsync 192 Hback 304 Hpol P
Vfront 1 Vsync 3 Vback 46 Vpol P
Display Product Serial Number: 'G324H93C27GL'
Display Product Name: 'DELL 2007FP'
Display Range Limits:
Monitor ranges (GTF): 56-76 Hz V, 30-83 kHz H, max dotclock 170 MHz
For comparision, EDID from Lilliput FA1000 display, which succesfully negotiates 640x480 resolution for BIOS screen of NUC-125H R2:
Established Timings I & II:
IBM : 720x400 70.081663 Hz 9:5 31.467 kHz 28.320000 MHz
DMT 0x04: 640x480 59.940476 Hz 4:3 31.469 kHz 25.175000 MHz
Apple : 640x480 66.666667 Hz 4:3 35.000 kHz 30.240000 MHz
DMT 0x05: 640x480 72.808802 Hz 4:3 37.861 kHz 31.500000 MHz
DMT 0x06: 640x480 75.000000 Hz 4:3 37.500 kHz 31.500000 MHz
DMT 0x08: 800x600 56.250000 Hz 4:3 35.156 kHz 36.000000 MHz
DMT 0x09: 800x600 60.316541 Hz 4:3 37.879 kHz 40.000000 MHz
DMT 0x0a: 800x600 72.187572 Hz 4:3 48.077 kHz 50.000000 MHz
DMT 0x0b: 800x600 75.000000 Hz 4:3 46.875 kHz 49.500000 MHz
Apple : 832x624 74.551266 Hz 4:3 49.726 kHz 57.284000 MHz
DMT 0x10: 1024x768 60.003840 Hz 4:3 48.363 kHz 65.000000 MHz
DMT 0x11: 1024x768 70.069359 Hz 4:3 56.476 kHz 75.000000 MHz
DMT 0x12: 1024x768 75.028582 Hz 4:3 60.023 kHz 78.750000 MHz
DMT 0x24: 1280x1024 75.024675 Hz 5:4 79.976 kHz 135.000000 MHz
Standard Timings:
DMT 0x23: 1280x1024 60.019740 Hz 5:4 63.981 kHz 108.000000 MHz
DMT 0x24: 1280x1024 75.024675 Hz 5:4 79.976 kHz 135.000000 MHz
DMT 0x10: 1024x768 60.003840 Hz 4:3 48.363 kHz 65.000000 MHz
DMT 0x13: 1024x768 84.996690 Hz 4:3 68.677 kHz 94.500000 MHz
DMT 0x09: 800x600 60.316541 Hz 4:3 37.879 kHz 40.000000 MHz
DMT 0x0c: 800x600 85.061274 Hz 4:3 53.674 kHz 56.250000 MHz
DMT 0x04: 640x480 59.940476 Hz 4:3 31.469 kHz 25.175000 MHz
DMT 0x07: 640x480 85.008312 Hz 4:3 43.269 kHz 36.000000 MHz
Detailed Timing Descriptors:
DTD 1: 1280x1024 75.024675 Hz 5:4 79.976 kHz 135.000000 MHz (360 mm x 290 mm)
Hfront 16 Hsync 144 Hback 248 Hpol P
Vfront 1 Vsync 3 Vback 38 Vpol P
Display Product Serial Number: '0'
Display Product Name: 'AS4637 '
Display Range Limits:
Monitor ranges (GTF): 56-85 Hz V, 24-80 kHz H, max dotclock 140 MHz
Both displays show 640x480 video modes, but only Lilliput can negotiate it successfully. Why is that?
