Windows 7 Cant Set Up Dual Monitors

svpunk18

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Aug 17, 2009
HI am having a issue setting up 2 monitors. I think maybe I cant run one through my graphic card and my VGA port on my motherboard at the same time..... Can anyone guide me through the steps on how to? Right now I am running my monitor through a nvidia 8400 gs but I thought I could run another on my VGA port on the motherboard also.

Well if anyone can help me it'd be greatly apprieciated, thanks!
 
hey... um i having trouble setting up two monitors too. but i do know that u cant use your graphics card and ur built in adapter in your mother board so.. u kinda have to use one or the other. btw if ur graphics card has two vga.. there u go. and if it has vga and dvi.. u need a dvi-d to dvi-d cable
 
I too am not able to dual display with my GeForce 8400 GS except in Linux.

Dual display monitor 1 loses signal after startup; Linux displays both

Windows 7 64 turns off the monitor 1 signal after startup. At login, it powers off monitor 1 and powers on monitor 2. Windows 7 behaves as though dual display is working even though monitor 1 does not display. It's the same for single display, the monitor will not work on cable 1 except at startup.

Both 'Extend these displays' in Windows Screen Resolution and 'Extend' in the Nvidia Control Panel is selected. And changing which one is primary does not turn on monitor 1. Nor does switching the position of display 1 in either (ex. left/right/top/bottom).

GeForce 8400 GS; Dual Monitor Solution 59 pin (DMS-59) to 2 VGA adapter -tried two of these adapter cables.
Latest Driver: 306.23 - installed a clean reset install of the latest Nvidia driver released last week.
Same Resolution: 2 of the 4 monitors I have tried have the exact same 'recommended' resolution (1280X 1024), both 60Hz, and even chose 16 bit color for both instead of 32 to reduce resources.

Linux worked: Dual display worked immediately when I tried it in Ubuntu 10. So, it's not the hardware. It works in Ubuntu 12 too but not properly -it won't transfer windows across displays.
My Windows 7 64 is an upgrade from Vista 64. One person in another forum with the same problem resolved theirs by reinstalling Windows 7. But another got the same problem only after a fresh clean install of Windows 7 64 with the same GeForce 8400 GS and DMS-59 when it had previously worked in Vista. Dual Monitors - Only One Works at a Time

Pushing a menu button on monitor 1 does wake it up, but just says,
1: Analog Input in Power Save Mode
Press Any Key on Keyboard or Move Mouse
 
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It is possible to use both - I do it (attached image)

What are you doing that Windows is not accepting? What are setting in your "Screen Resolution" settings?
 

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Zvit, do you mean both the onboard graphics output and the added card output work at the same time? That does not work on my system.

Like I said, Windows behaves as though both monitors are working. All settings are accepted as expected. Monitor 1 just doesn't get a signal from the card except in Linux.

The screen resolution is everything from 1024X768 to 1280X1024.
 
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Zvit, do you mean both the onboard graphics output and the added card output work at the same time?

One is connected to the Nvidia card and one to the on-board graphics.

Try connecting only one screen to the Nvidia. Then connect only one screen to the on-board. Does each one work when only one screen is connected? (Also, try this with both screens - only one at a time and see if both screens work when only one of the is connected).
 
Zvit, that worked for me! I had to first change the BIOS display setting to 'onboard' instead of 'PCI Express'. Choosing 'Onboard' includes the addon graphics, but choosing 'PCI Express' excludes the onboard graphics. And fortunately, both use the same driver because the onboard is the GeForce 6 series and the add on is the 8 series.

I found though that using the onboard 6 series adds judder to the monitor using the 8 series. So, that doesn't solve my problem. Because, I'm not going to use the 6 series if it slows down the 8.

And I still have yet to solve how to get the 8400 GS to send a signal to both monitors at the same time with it's Dual Monitor Solution 59 pin (DMS-59).
 
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I have a very specific reason why I connect one to Nvidia and one on-board (has to do with video editing) but why aren't you just connecting both to Nvidia? This is the preferred way.
 
See Post #4. Windows 7 won't send a signal to monitor 1 except at startup. At login, it powers on monitor 2 and powers off monitor 1.
 
Sorry for the delay. My question about using only the Nvidia card was for svpunk18 who wrote that he was trying to use one on the graphic card and one on the on-board. svpunk18 if you're still following this post, what model is your graphic card and when did you last update it's drivers?

Nikpapag, what Hz are the monitors set to? Try setting both to 60Hz and see what happens.
 
Nvidia driver 285.62 from Oct 2011 is the latest driver to dual display. And all previous drivers back to 185.93 from May 2009 work as well. Also beta 290.53 works.

But 295.73 from Feb 2012 and later will not dual display.
 
It's perfectly ok to use an older driver version if that one works for you.
 
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