Multiple Monitor Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doc Wally
  • Start date Start date
D

Doc Wally

Okay,

To put this rather bluntly, how the *&%! do I set up multiple monitors. I
know, I know, it should be fairly simple. The computer I am working on has
a built in video card on the motherboard - no place to disable it. Okay, so
I slap in a Rage 128Pro AGP card in the slot and its all happy, only sees
the AGP128 card. Okay, so I think I should install a second simple PCI
video card and badda bing. . . errr, sorry, flagged out in device manager.

In short, I know that there are certain ways of doing this and the Windows
XP Professional resource kit gives you a scant 2 pages, talks about
disabling VGA and blah blah. What is the simplest way to do this, those of
you who have done this?

Regards,

Walt
 
Doc,
I've got it to work with a dual output card - but two separate cards?
That's brave - in fact I'm not sure how that would work even.
Plus I'd go for a Radeon card with a lot of onboard memory
The Rage is a little ancient by modern standards.
You should disable the onboard graphics in the BIOS.
Chek
 
Hey:

Yeah, I figured that would be my best bet. Know of any cards outside the
Radeon, I mean, what do you call them. "Cards for nuts like us" or "dual
VGA cards". Any recommendations and/or price ranges?

Walt
 
Doc,
Another post, with not a lot of additional information, but I was reminded
by a friend that 2 Voodoo 2 PCI graphic cards could be linked with
interlaced outputs to a single display, before they were combined into the
single Voodoo 3.
So separate displays would be possible there.
His feeling was that AGP and PCI together would be incompatible though.
Good luck with your quest
( but I think I'd stick with the single card /dual output solution before
tackling the IRQ nightmare!)
Chek
 
From XP help:
To install additional monitors
1.. Turn off your computer.
2.. Insert your additional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) video adapter into an available slot.
3.. Plug your additional monitor into the card.
4.. Turn on your computer. Windows will detect the new video adapter and
install the appropriate drivers.
5.. Open Display in Control Panel.
6.. On the Settings tab, click the monitor icon that represents the
monitor you want to use in addition to your primary monitor.
7.. Select the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box, and
then click Apply or OK.
If the check box is not displayed on your computer, it may be because your
video adapter does not support multiple monitors. See Notes for information
about compatible hardware.

Notes

a.. To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, and then
double-click Display.
b.. Selecting the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box
allows you to drag items across your screen onto alternate monitors.
Or, you can resize a window to stretch it across more than one monitor.

c.. To use the multiple monitor support feature, you need a PCI or AGP
video adapter for each monitor. If you have an onboard video adapter (one
that is not a plug-in card but is part of the motherboard) that you want to
use as part of a multiple-monitor configuration, it must be set as VGA.
For a comprehensive list of hardware supported by Windows operating
systems, see Compatible Hardware and Software in Help and Support Center.

d.. If your computer doesn't recognize your second monitor, click Display
Troubleshooter for more information.
e.. The operating system always needs a VGA device. The computer's BIOS or
EFI detects the VGA device based on slot order, unless the BIOS or EFI
offers an option for choosing which device is to be treated as the VGA
device.
f.. The VGA device cannot be stopped, which is an important consideration
for docking units.
g.. The monitor that is designated as the primary monitor will display the
logon dialog box when you start your computer. In addition, most programs
will display windows on the primary monitor when you initially open them.
h.. If you are using Dualview, skip steps 2 and 3 above. Just plug your
second monitor into the video out port on your portable computer, or into
the second video out port on your desktop computer. When you turn on your
computer, it should recognize the second monitor. Follow steps 5 through 7
to extend your display to the second monitor. If the second monitor is not
shown on the Settings tab, you might need to update your display driver.
 
Before you start fiddling with settings, make sure that one of those cards
is capable of being a secondary card, and then make sure that it is set as
secondary. Some cards wanna be king, and they won't work unless they're set
as primary.
 
Yeah, I figured that would be my best bet. Know of any cards outside the
Radeon, I mean, what do you call them. "Cards for nuts like us" or "dual
VGA cards". Any recommendations and/or price ranges?
Click to expand...

FWIW, I run three monitors under XP-Home. One is from a built in Intel
graphics adapter which ships in my Dell. The other two are driven from two
separate PCI adapter cards. I bought them on eBay as scrap removed from old
computers for about $10 each, plugged them in and they worked. No putzing
around required.

The magic is that some cards play nice with XP and some don't. Mine are
nVidia RIVA TNT2 Model 64 cards, but others work. There are a couple of
relevant Microsoft Knowledge Base articles at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;296538&Product=winxp

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307960&Product=winxp

Good luck...

Bill -- (Remove KILLSPAM from my address to use it)
 
...His feeling was that AGP and PCI together would be incompatible though...

My prior machine, with Win98SE, had two monitors. One was AGP and one PCI
with no problems.
 
In
Chek said:
Doc,
Another post, with not a lot of additional information, but I was
reminded by a friend that 2 Voodoo 2 PCI graphic cards could be
linked with interlaced outputs to a single display, before they were
combined into the single Voodoo 3.
So separate displays would be possible there.
Click to expand...
His feeling was that AGP and PCI together would be incompatible
though.
Click to expand...


Not true. Many people, myself included, run both a PCI and AGP
card.
 
Ken and all,
Thanks for the info, its a subject I've thought about, but been putting off
till I could afford a dual card.
Now that I've heard so many success stories, it kinda throws a different
light on it.
Not my topic, but thanks for the positive feedback everybody !
Chek
 
Thanks for the reminder - last system I had dual monitors on (without it
being buit into the card, like my GeForce FX) I set the primary display to
VGA instead of the (built in) AGP... worked fine, second monitor (IIRC) came
up when I got to the desktop.
 
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