A problem running dual displays in Windows XP Home

[drew081886]

I'm having a slight problem with my dual display set up in Windows XP. I will try to be as specific and provide as much information about the problem and my specs as I can.

I am using an PNY GeForce 210 graphics card with multi-display support. I am using a small (about 15 inch) Westinghouse LCD HDTV as my primary monitor, running on the HDMI port. I am using an old HP Pavilion M50 CRT monitor as my secondary display, running on the VGA port. I'm not sure this matters, but the LCD is running at 720p and the CRT is running at 800x600.

Now for the issue: whenever I turn my displays off, after I turn them back on, it switches to single display and makes the CRT my primary display so I have to go back and reconfigure my dual displays.

Am I doing something wrong? Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[DelJo63]

hmm; normally VGA and HDMI outputs are not the way to setup dual monitors.
More typically, the GPU has two VGA connections OR it uses a Y-cable where
the staff of the Y connects to the VGA and each leg of the Y attaches to a different monitor
[frequently the legs are stamped #1 and #2 to identify the primary and secondary]

 

[drew081886]

My card only has one VGA output, one HDMI output, and one DVI output. The CRT is connected to the DVI using a VGA-to-DVI adapter. Maybe I could try to connect the CRT directly to the VGA instead of using the DVI adapter? I can't imagine that would make a difference but I can't think of anything else to do.

 

[DelJo63]

the question is, "Which adaptor supports dual monitors?"

it's not a given that the dual monitor support will run on just any adaptor.

Let's clarify:

1. dual monitors: allows primary & secondary monitors so as they operate as one very wide display,
   typically you can drag a window from the primary onto the secondary and thus get full screen
   outputs from two widows
2. Seconday Outputs: allows a primary monitor and a screen protection device

I suspect you are actually using (2) and do not have a dual monitor GPU.

 

[drew081886]

The video card I have does support dual displays. In fact, I'm using the dual monitor set up right now. It's acting as one long display and I can move windows from one display to the other. The problem is that when I turn one or both of the displays off, it resets to a single display and I have to re-configure to a dual display. I need to figure out how to keep it from reverting back to single display mode when I turn the displays off.

 

[LookinAround]

It sounds like the problem might be with the PNY GeForce 210 app and driver. Did you install the PNY GeForce 210 from the CD? Have you checked the support site to see if newer versions have been released?

/* edit */
Did you just install this card and see the problems? Or did this problem just start and you've had this card for awhile?

 

[DelJo63]

It's acting as one long display and I can move windows from one display to the other.

good, that's how you can tell alright

 

[drew081886]

It sounds like the problem might be with the PNY GeForce 210 app and driver. Did you install the PNY GeForce 210 from the CD? Have you checked the support site to see if newer versions have been released?
/* edit */
Did you just install this card and see the problems? Or did this problem just start and you've had this card for awhile?

I just installed the card a few days ago. I checked for newer drivers and no dice. The drivers on the website made it so that I could only do multi-display set up in clone mode (both screens displaying the same images). So I had to take those off and just go with the drivers from the CD.

Once I got the drivers from the CD re-installed I set up my mult-display and turned the displays off to see if the problem still existed. It does.

I've noticed that when I turn on my displays, the HDTV connected to the HDMI port shows the word "Detecting" and then shows "No signal" as though it's not detecting anything plugged into the HDMI port. My thinking is that the problem could be that I'm using an HDTV instead of an actual computer monitor. Any thoughts?

 

[LookinAround]

I'm also using an HD LCD TV via HDMI for my desktop monitor (so more comment on that later).. but your card is NVIDIA based right? Might this also apply to your case?

 

[drew081886]

I'm also using an HD LCD TV via HDMI for my desktop monitor (so more comment on that later).. but your card is NVIDIA based right? Might this also apply to your case?

I looked at that and I tried turning off physx but I don't know how so I just uninstalled it. But I still get the same issue so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

 

[drew081886]

Still having this issue. Any ideas? Any new info?

 

[LookinAround]

Have you also tried posting in the nVidia forums?

 

[drew081886]

Have you also tried posting in the nVidia forums?

It's funny you should mention that because I just got that idea last night. Hopefully someone there can help me out. I appreciate everyone's input though.

 

[magaman598]

You should actually get the drivers from the Nvidia website here's a link.

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

As a user of Dual-displays, I can say that if your right-click on your desktop and go to Nvidia control panel and under the "Display" section in "Set up multiple displays" you're going to want to select Dualview and in the first box below it you're going to want to select the HDTV you're using as a monitor in the box, and select the CRT in the 3rd box, then go to the bottom and click apply, and agree to the little box that'll pop-up.

That's really the most I can help, you might wanna try running the wizard inn the Nvidia control panel also.

 

[drew081886]

You should actually get the drivers from the Nvidia website here's a link.

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

I've gone the route of downloading the drivers from the website and it only made things worse. When I dowloaded the drivers from the website and installed them, the dualview option completely disappeared, and I was left with single display or clone mode only. So then I decided to remove the drivers and re-install the drivers that came with the disc. Unfortunately I wasn't paying enough attention and I accidentally uninstalled my nForce drivers as well, which disabled my ethernet controller. This was at about 12:30 at night, so I had to wait until the next morning to use someone else's computer to download the nForce drivers to a flash drive and re-install them on my computer so I could access the internet again.

Needless to say, I'm a little hesitant about downloading drivers, whether they're from nVidia or not.

As a user of Dual-displays, I can say that if your right-click on your desktop and go to Nvidia control panel and under the "Display" section in "Set up multiple displays" you're going to want to select Dualview and in the first box below it you're going to want to select the HDTV you're using as a monitor in the box, and select the CRT in the 3rd box, then go to the bottom and click apply, and agree to the little box that'll pop-up.

Tried that. Didn't work. It still switches back to single display on the CRT when after I turn off the displays.

 

[magaman598]

I accidentally uninstalled my nForce drivers as well, which disabled my ethernet controller. This was at about 12:30 at night, so I had to wait until the next morning to use someone else's computer to download the nForce drivers to a flash drive and re-install them on my computer so I could access the internet again.
.

No offense bud, but you should be paying attention when installing/uninstalling things.

Contact the manufacterer of your video card and get it sorted through them. Now, as for PNY's customer service, I can't really say if it's good because I've never really used a PNY product, I usually stick with EVGA, GIGABYTE, Foxconn, Corsair, Biostar, Antec, and Western Digital as my personal preferances for products.

 

[drew081886]

No offense bud, but you should be paying attention when installing/uninstalling things.

Haha, yeah I know. It gave me a box that said something to the effect of "Check all drivers you wish to uninstall" and somehow I must have read it wrong because I left them all checked.

Contact the manufacterer of your video card and get it sorted through them.

That's something I hadn't thought of. I'll give that a try and see what I can turn up. I posted the problem on the nVidia message boards but no one has answered, Who knows, maybe I am the first person to have this problem.

 

[magaman598]

I'm sure more people have, but they figured it out themselves?

Good luck with PNY tech support.