Lost dual monitor capability in XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Wilson
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Bob Wilson

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I had XP Pro running with dual monitors for a couple of years,

switched out monitors from time to time and no problem. I've got an

Intel 2.8 MB with onboard video connected to one monitor, and an ATI

Rage Pro to the other monitor. Worked great till I had to replace the

hard drive and reinstall XP Pro. I'm running SP3 with all updates.



Now what happens is, whichever video adapter I make primary in the

BIOS, XP comes up on it, with the drivers okay, and the non-primary

one XP detects but Device Manager says the driver isn't installed.

And nothing I can do will make it accept the driver for the non-

primary one. But if I reboot and change the primary video adapter,

then it comes up with the other adapter & monitor just great and the

FIRST one is now failing to start.



When I go to Settings on Display Properties, I only see one monitor in

either case.



I've tried taking out the ATI and starting without it, then and

putting it back and restarting, no change. I don't know why this

install of XP will only accept the primary video adapter and not a

second one.
 
Did you install makers drivers or did you rely on MSUpdate after your winxp

reinstall?



"Bob Wilson" wrote in message

news:d50288de-975d-4b20-82d6-d862c2c40e38@y17g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...

>I had XP Pro running with dual monitors for a couple of years,

> switched out monitors from time to time and no problem. I've got an

> Intel 2.8 MB with onboard video connected to one monitor, and an ATI

> Rage Pro to the other monitor. Worked great till I had to replace the

> hard drive and reinstall XP Pro. I'm running SP3 with all updates.

>

> Now what happens is, whichever video adapter I make primary in the

> BIOS, XP comes up on it, with the drivers okay, and the non-primary

> one XP detects but Device Manager says the driver isn't installed.

> And nothing I can do will make it accept the driver for the non-

> primary one. But if I reboot and change the primary video adapter,

> then it comes up with the other adapter & monitor just great and the

> FIRST one is now failing to start.

>

> When I go to Settings on Display Properties, I only see one monitor in

> either case.

>

> I've tried taking out the ATI and starting without it, then and

> putting it back and restarting, no change. I don't know why this

> install of XP will only accept the primary video adapter and not a

> second one.
 
> I've tried taking out the ATI and starting without it, then and

> putting it back and restarting, no change. I don't know why this

> install of XP will only accept the primary video adapter and not a

> second one.



I've used dual-monitors regularly for the past few years with both ATI

and nVidia cards and ATI's latest Catalyst software is probably the best

I've seen them release. Make sure you have the most up to date version

- I think they have one download for more or less all cards now.



If you can disable the dual-monitor support in the BIOS I would, leave

it up to Winodws/ATI to handle the monitors. What's the make/version of

the BIOS?



Mac.
 
So what PC are you using which features a dual monitor entry in the Bios, a

laptop? I've never seen such a bios entry in a desktop.



"mac" wrote in message

news:OVQ84jUsKHA.6004@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>> I've tried taking out the ATI and starting without it, then and

>> putting it back and restarting, no change. I don't know why this

>> install of XP will only accept the primary video adapter and not a

>> second one.

>

> I've used dual-monitors regularly for the past few years with both ATI and

> nVidia cards and ATI's latest Catalyst software is probably the best I've

> seen them release. Make sure you have the most up to date version - I

> think they have one download for more or less all cards now.

>

> If you can disable the dual-monitor support in the BIOS I would, leave it

> up to Winodws/ATI to handle the monitors. What's the make/version of the

> BIOS?

>

> Mac.
 
Perhaps manually disabling the on-board video?



DL wrote:



> So what PC are you using which features a dual monitor entry in the Bios, a

> laptop? I've never seen such a bios entry in a desktop.

>

> "mac" wrote in message

> news:OVQ84jUsKHA.6004@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>

>>>I've tried taking out the ATI and starting without it, then and

>>>putting it back and restarting, no change. I don't know why this

>>>install of XP will only accept the primary video adapter and not a

>>>second one.

>>

>>I've used dual-monitors regularly for the past few years with both ATI and

>>nVidia cards and ATI's latest Catalyst software is probably the best I've

>>seen them release. Make sure you have the most up to date version - I

>>think they have one download for more or less all cards now.

>>

>>If you can disable the dual-monitor support in the BIOS I would, leave it

>>up to Winodws/ATI to handle the monitors. What's the make/version of the

>>BIOS?

>>

>>Mac.

>

>

>
 
Thanks to all who wrote on this. No, there's not a BIOS option for

two monitors, just AUTO or PCI or the onboard. AUTO makes Windows

boot up on the PCI (ATI Rage) adapter. There's also no option to

disable the onboard adapter, only to select the primary monitor.

There are some DVMT settings and I don't know what that means, but I

tried all of them. I have uninstalled both adapters in Device Manager

and let it detect them, but if it's not the primary one, it won't let

me install a driver.



I did get it to do something different though -- now when I set the

BIOS with the onboard adapter as primary, it starts to boot off the

onboard adapter and when XP starts to load, the PCI monitor says "1:

DSUB Cannot display this mode" and the onboard monitor goes black..



I did download the newer ATI drivers, and they installed just fine --

when I was running on the ATI adapter. I wanted to boot to the

onboard adapter and re-install the ATI drivers when Device Manager

said they were not installed (whichever adapter is not set as primary

in the BIOS, XP says the drivers aren't installed and they won't

install). But now I can't boot off the onboard adapter at all. I

reset the BIOS to defaults, and got off the KVM and put mouse,

keyboard and both monitors directly to the PC, and it's still not

letting me boot off the onboard.



The whole problem with this deal is in XP Pro -- I installed it with a

hardware / BIOS config that was the same as the one that had been

working just fine with the earlier install of XP Pro.
 
The simplest solution would be to use a vid card that supports dual monitors



"Bob Wilson" wrote in message

news:c05edf6c-ec57-4b14-9c43-a79d784d9331@g28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...

> Thanks to all who wrote on this. No, there's not a BIOS option for

> two monitors, just AUTO or PCI or the onboard. AUTO makes Windows

> boot up on the PCI (ATI Rage) adapter. There's also no option to

> disable the onboard adapter, only to select the primary monitor.

> There are some DVMT settings and I don't know what that means, but I

> tried all of them. I have uninstalled both adapters in Device Manager

> and let it detect them, but if it's not the primary one, it won't let

> me install a driver.

>

> I did get it to do something different though -- now when I set the

> BIOS with the onboard adapter as primary, it starts to boot off the

> onboard adapter and when XP starts to load, the PCI monitor says "1:

> DSUB Cannot display this mode" and the onboard monitor goes black..

>

> I did download the newer ATI drivers, and they installed just fine --

> when I was running on the ATI adapter. I wanted to boot to the

> onboard adapter and re-install the ATI drivers when Device Manager

> said they were not installed (whichever adapter is not set as primary

> in the BIOS, XP says the drivers aren't installed and they won't

> install). But now I can't boot off the onboard adapter at all. I

> reset the BIOS to defaults, and got off the KVM and put mouse,

> keyboard and both monitors directly to the PC, and it's still not

> letting me boot off the onboard.

>

> The whole problem with this deal is in XP Pro -- I installed it with a

> hardware / BIOS config that was the same as the one that had been

> working just fine with the earlier install of XP Pro.

>

>
 
On Feb 20, 4:00 am, "DL" wrote:

> The simplest solution would be to use a vid card that supports dual monitors

>

Yes, I believe that's the next move. Do you recommend a certain one

over the others?



Thanks again
 
In order for the Rage Pro to function in dual monitors under XP, it

has to be the primary display, because its bios has to run during

power up to initialize the card. If it's not primary, the card won't

run.



On Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:22:09 -0800 (PST), Bob Wilson

wrote:



>I had XP Pro running with dual monitors for a couple of years,

>switched out monitors from time to time and no problem. I've got an

>Intel 2.8 MB with onboard video connected to one monitor, and an ATI

>Rage Pro to the other monitor. Worked great till I had to replace the

>hard drive and reinstall XP Pro. I'm running SP3 with all updates.

>

>Now what happens is, whichever video adapter I make primary in the

>BIOS, XP comes up on it, with the drivers okay, and the non-primary

>one XP detects but Device Manager says the driver isn't installed.

>And nothing I can do will make it accept the driver for the non-

>primary one. But if I reboot and change the primary video adapter,

>then it comes up with the other adapter & monitor just great and the

>FIRST one is now failing to start.

>

>When I go to Settings on Display Properties, I only see one monitor in

>either case.

>

>I've tried taking out the ATI and starting without it, then and

>putting it back and restarting, no change. I don't know why this

>install of XP will only accept the primary video adapter and not a

>second one.
 
I've used, Matrox, Ati and currently using Nvidea, they were all fine



"Bob Wilson" wrote in message

news:143dd5d1-5d4e-464a-9de1-de785e444e23@f15g2000yqe.googlegroups.com...

On Feb 20, 4:00 am, "DL" wrote:

> The simplest solution would be to use a vid card that supports dual

> monitors

>

Yes, I believe that's the next move. Do you recommend a certain one

over the others?



Thanks again
 
On Feb 20, 10:17 pm, Andy wrote:

> In order for the Rage Pro to function in dual monitors under XP, it

> has to be the primary display, because its bios has to run during

> power up to initialize the card. If it's not primary, the card won't

> run.

>

I've tried two different Rage Pro's, one AGP and one PCI, and also an

SiS. I've tried two cards at once, or one card plus the onboard, all

combinations. When I set the Rage Pro as primary, it works fine but

the second adapter will not start and won't allow me to reinstall a

driver. Device Manager sees the second adapter but has the yellow

exclamation point on it and nothing will change that. And Display

Properties only sees the primary one.



The ATI drivers put a whole range of options and controls in the

Display Properties | Settings | Advanced but dual monitors is not one

of the options. If Display Properties SAW the second one, it would be

an option.
 
On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:50:49 -0800 (PST), Bob Wilson

wrote:



>On Feb 20, 10:17 pm, Andy wrote:

>> In order for the Rage Pro to function in dual monitors under XP, it

>> has to be the primary display, because its bios has to run during

>> power up to initialize the card. If it's not primary, the card won't

>> run.

>>

>I've tried two different Rage Pro's, one AGP and one PCI, and also an

>SiS. I've tried two cards at once, or one card plus the onboard, all

>combinations. When I set the Rage Pro as primary, it works fine but

>the second adapter will not start and won't allow me to reinstall a

>driver. Device Manager sees the second adapter but has the yellow

>exclamation point on it and nothing will change that. And Display

>Properties only sees the primary one.

>

>The ATI drivers put a whole range of options and controls in the

>Display Properties | Settings | Advanced but dual monitors is not one

>of the options. If Display Properties SAW the second one, it would be

>an option.



You can't use two Rage Pros, since the one that is not primary won't

run. The only way this can work is with the onboard video as the

secondary, provided it can function as secondary under XP.
 
A friend gave me an ATI Radeon X1550 with dual heads, I downloaded the

latest drivers, and everything's working great now. Thanks you guys

for all the input.
 
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