Dual Monitors

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,
My vista ultimate was running fine with monitor a.

ive decided to add an additional monitor, installed a new geforce pci
display card & monitor b (which happens to be the same as monitor a)

now, monitor b has taken over & i cant get monitor a to work.

in device settings there is only 1 monitor showing

when i go to display properties, the 2nd monitor is there, when i select
extend the desktop on to this monitor & apply i get asked if i want to keep
the new settings but monitor doesnt come up & the extend the desktop on to
this monitor is now unticked.

any ideas?
 
Tango,

I'm no expert on dual monitors, but I can say that you likely have a driver
issue. To run dual monitors, you need drivers to enable that function.
There may be a way for you to accomplish that function by using two different
graphics cards, as you seem to be doing, but I just don't know for sure.

I do know that the best way to get dual monitor support is to use one
graphics card that supports dual monitors and includes the drivers for it.
Such cards show in Device Manager as having two video cards installed.

Someone else may post information on how to get your configuration to
function as you are trying to make it work.
 
Tango said:
Hi,
My vista ultimate was running fine with monitor a.

ive decided to add an additional monitor, installed a new geforce pci
display card & monitor b (which happens to be the same as monitor a)

now, monitor b has taken over & i cant get monitor a to work.

in device settings there is only 1 monitor showing

when i go to display properties, the 2nd monitor is there, when i select
extend the desktop on to this monitor & apply i get asked if i want to
keep
the new settings but monitor doesnt come up & the extend the desktop on to
this monitor is now unticked.

any ideas?
Click to expand...


I am not 100% sure but I think both video cards have to be the same brand,
etc. so that they can use the same driver. I just added a second card to my
system to run a third monitor and for that to work both cards had to be in
the same family. In my case ATI Radeon. It doesn't matter if one is PCI, AGP
or PCI Express and the other is a different form like one being PCI and one
being AGP, but they need to be in the same family and the same brand. I
don't think Windows supports two cards that require two different drivers.

Somebody!
 
Thankyou Freddy & Somebody

video cards & monitors are both exactly the same (although 1 is built in ie
no card in a slot)...
 
ive just checked the drivers & they are the same,

i noticed when checking monitor a that the only mode showing is 800x600 yet
new monitor b has a mile of resolutions listed
 
Tango,

You may have identified the problem. I doubt that those two graphics cards,
one built in and one in a slot, can use the same driver. You can prove this
out by checking the driver requirement for the card in the slot and for the
one built in. I'll wager that they each require a different driver. Which
driver belongs to which card? But like I said, I'm no expert, just a user
with some experience. Let us know how this turns out for you. We're a
curious bunch, and curious minds want to know.
 
Thanks again Freddy

works out that on my Acer (unlike my dell) desktop, when you install another
graphics card, this then overrides the onboard graphics card. solution is to
get a different graphics card that has 2 plugs on the back & bingo, your in
business.
 
tango,

Yeah, that's what I thought on my first post. Those type cards are made to
support dual monitors and come with the drivers to do it. Even so, I know of
situations where two separate cards can also do this, but I'm not familiar
with doing it that way. The one card solution is the easiest way to go.
Glad you've got a handle on it.
 
freddy said:
tango,

Yeah, that's what I thought on my first post. Those type cards are made
to
support dual monitors and come with the drivers to do it. Even so, I know
of
situations where two separate cards can also do this, but I'm not familiar
with doing it that way. The one card solution is the easiest way to go.
Glad you've got a handle on it.
Click to expand...



My first dual monitor setup was done with two cards. But, as soon as dual
head cards came out and were a good price I made the move to that because it
was just so much easier to get to work. Now that I want 3 monitors connected
I had to go back to two cards so I went with two ATI Radeon 1650 (512MB
each) PCI Express cards. I was surprised at how easy to was to go from two
monitors to three.

You will find a dual head card a great way to go. You can get the ATI 1650
for less than $150.

Somebody!
 
Back
Top