ATI Radeon 9200SE - multiple monitor problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Garry Rush-Nelson
  • Start date Start date
G

Garry Rush-Nelson

Problem: can't enable extended desktop with two display devices
connected to card

I purchased & installed a new ATI Radeon 9200SE 128M card yesterday in
my wife's Compaq Presario S3300NX computer (Athlon
2600+/512M/WinXPhome). We'd like to simultaneously use her 19" monitor
and an XGA LCD projector with the extended desktop. We had hoped that
the new ATI card would/should make this possible with its VGA & DVI
ports (with the projector connected to the DVI port via a DVI-to-VGA
adaptor).

Unfortunately, although we can get a simultaneously display on both
display devices, it's very dim and the extended desktop can't be
enabled. Device Manager reveals that only one display device is found
by XP ("default monitor" with a 75 hz refresh rate). If I disconnect
the projector, the monitor instantly regains "normal" brightness, and
vice versa if the monitor is disconnected. Device Manager indicates
that both the primary and secondary Radeon "cards" are loaded, with no
conflicts. If I reboot with the ports reversed (monitor connected to
DVI via DVI-to-VGA adaptor, and projector to VGA), the only change is
that Device Manager shows the single display device as "plug and play
monitor" with an 85 hz refresh rate.

I loaded the latest driver & Hydravision files from the ATI website,
but this didn't change a thing. I also ensured that the Compaq's BIOS
was set to recognize AGP video first instead of PCI.

btw, playing DVD's with the ATI card & our new Boxlight XP-55m
projector is absolutely amazing at the projector's native XGA setting
-- as long as the monitor is disconnected. Still, it would be nice to
if the card could fulfill it's intended purpose & allow use of the
extended desktop.

Help?
 
It is tricky to extend monitor. Right click Desktop>Properties>Settings and
highlight the blue "2" box. Then you can enable "Extend my Windows Desktop
onto this monitor".
 
Thanks for the advice, but that was what I was trying to do (and it
wasn't working). Finally gave up today, took the ATI card back &
exchanged it for an Asylum GeForce FX5200 PCI card - which worked
flawlessly from the gitgo.

It's nice to have everything up & running, but I still wish that the
ATI card would have worked out of the box instead of causing 3 days'
worth of frustration.
 
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