2 video cards -> 2 screens

  • Thread starter Thread starter Simon
  • Start date Start date
S

Simon

Hi,

I have 2 video cards and 2 screens.
I know both cards work and both screens work on both cards, (I tested all
the combinations).

But when I put both cards in only one of them works, I can swap screens
around, they both still work.

When I look at the device manager, both cards are listed but one has been
disabled with 'code 43'

Both cards are NVIDIA, one uses the PCI bus1 and the other one uses a normal
slot.
When I have both cards in, the PCI card does not work.

So, my question is, why can I not run two video cards on my Vista machine?

Many thanks

Simon
 
Simon said:
Hi,

I have 2 video cards and 2 screens.
I know both cards work and both screens work on both cards, (I tested all
the combinations).

But when I put both cards in only one of them works, I can swap screens
around, they both still work.

When I look at the device manager, both cards are listed but one has been
disabled with 'code 43'

Both cards are NVIDIA, one uses the PCI bus1 and the other one uses a
normal slot.
When I have both cards in, the PCI card does not work.

So, my question is, why can I not run two video cards on my Vista machine?

Many thanks
Click to expand...



I have never used a PCI graphics card, but why would you want to?

You can get a decent dual-head PCIe card for around $60, which would be
faster on both monitors than the second PCI card. You only need two
graphics cards if you want four monitors, and they could still be fast PCIe
cards, although the second one may run at x8 instead of x16 on some
motherboards (if you even have two full size slots).

If your primary graphics card is an AGP one, I have no idea what you are
doing using Vista on a computer that old.

ss.
 
i love vista said:
you don't need 2 cards.. most nvidia cards have 2 connectors

please verify this...

look behind or just tell me the exact model and I will look it up

in case you have 1 DVI and one VGA you may need an adaptor
Click to expand...
So you can do that while working at BestBuy?
 
Some information from
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/multimonVista.mspx
is shown below.

Multimonitor Support in WDDM
On Windows Vista, older XPDM drivers still work and the multi-monitor
behavior with XPDM drivers hasn't changed, because the operating system uses
the legacy graphics stack.

However, the Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WDDM) brings fundamental
changes to the management of multiple graphics adapters and external
displays. This includes a new restriction, because WDDM drivers do not
support "heterogeneous multi-adapter" multi-monitor implementations.
Specifically:

.. All graphics adapters in a system must use the same display driver model.
That is, all of them should either be running XPDM or WDDM. The driver
models are mutually exclusive, and Windows Vista does not allow the
simultaneous loading of both an XPDM driver and a WDDM driver.

If a system has one graphics adapter with a XPDM driver and another with a
WDDM driver, then Windows Vista will choose the POST device, which is the
one with VGA resources. This is commonly referred to as the "VGA adapter."

.. If multiple graphics adapters are present in a system, all of them must
use the same WDDM driver. If there are two graphics adapters with WDDM
drivers from two different manufacturers, then Windows will disable one of
them. The VGA adapter will be enabled, and the second device will be
disabled.

Notice that XPDM drivers still support heterogeneous multi-adapter as they
did in Windows XP. A user who has such a configuration working fine in
Windows XP will encounter a problem when upgrading to Windows Vista. An
external monitor connected to one of the graphics adapters will have no
video signal, because it is disabled. An error message will appear on system
boot, as described later in this article.

The solution for this problem could be as follows:

.. A user could force the installation of a XPDM driver for each of these
devices, and therefore get heterogeneous multi-adapter multi-monitor to work
as in Windows XP.

-Or-

.. The user could change the graphics hardware configuration by choosing
multiple graphics adapters that use the same WDDM driver. Graphics adapters
from the same ASIC family generally have the same graphics driver. In late
2006, each of the major graphics vendors had a single WDDM driver for all
supported WDDM graphics adapters. Please consult the graphics vendor's Web
site for details on their driver support.
 
i love vista said:
how can you type with your computer up your arse?

some movement of the bowels? Are you so good that the bowels can actually
type?

**** you bastard and merry christmas!
Click to expand...
Should I be flattered? **** you and Merry Christmas in the same sentence?

OK - **** you too and have a Merry Christmas....... :-)
 
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