ANother dual monitor problem....

[ccie2b2004]

Happy Holidays to everyone and thank you for reading my post!

I have a Dell optiplex GX270 Windows Pro with an original motherboard chip Intel 82865G. I just install a Nvidia GE Force FX 5200 so I could get a second monitor going. I upgraded the BIOS to the latest version, and in the video card section, there was a choice to make the agp card (the Nvdia) as the primary card... that setting did not work, and the auto setting did not work either. Once the Nvdia is connected, it takes over and the driver for the Intel does not load. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated,

Steven

 

[cjelec]

I take it that you are referring to the VGA connector on the mobo? If so, the BIOS will automatically switch this graphics chip off as you will be using the AGP slot. So installing a graphics card will override the on-board graphics.

I take it that the version of the card doesn't have two VGA or DVI connectors on the back?

 

[ccie2b2004]

Thank you for replying!

The original video output on this machine is just a chip included on the motherboard, so I have no control over it. You are right, from that video output there is just one single output plug; that is why I purchased an AGP card with the idea that both cards would work at the same time and so allow me to have two monitors. The AGP card also only have one video outlet plug, but this plug is much longer that the other one, white, I guess for digital monitors. With the AGP it came with a cable converter, but it is a "Y" cable, so one that goes to the card, and then to "regular" video outlets; which game me the thought that I could use it with the two monitors. When I did that, both monitors worked while loading the BIOS and so on, but then one stop as soon as XP loaded completely.

DO I have any options? Your help is greatly appreciated,

Steven

 

[cjelec]

Ok, I understand now. Your not using the mobo graphics anymore, thats fine.

If you right click the desktop and select Properties, a Display Properties window should appear. Under the Settings tab you should see two gray boxes, each marked 1,2? If so the second one is slightly less visible, click on it and under the slider (screen res) there is a tick box called "Extend my Windows desktop...", click on it and click the Apply button. The screens should flicker and comeback to life, another window should appear asking if you want to keep the settings so agree to that.

If you don't see the two boxes, can you find out the nVidia driver version you have installed and post it here?

If you haven't already, download and install the latest nVidia driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_169.21_whql.html

(<- already selected the one you need using: XP and US lang as the options)

 

[ccie2b2004]

Well, this was an unexpected result. I replaced the driver with the one from your link, which has a more diverse set of tools. In there there is a Mvidia Control Panel which contains the choice two use two monitors with the same card, it is a one large horizontal desktop which Windows sees both monitors as one large display; and that is why I still only have one monitor choice in the display properties (not the expected two monitors, with one grayed out). The trade off is that both monitors will have the same resolution, but I guess that is better that not having the dual monitor option.

I am puzzled on how come I cannot have the dual mode with both video cards, but happy to have this PC all setup.

I thank you for your help

Steven