Dual monitor problems.. FIXED YES.

Iruka

Alright, I got a Dell XPSm1710 with an Nvidia geforce go 7900, and I just got a Envision en9410e and im trying to get a dual monitor set up going. I also have ultra mon, if that plays into this.

Everything is saying that the monitor is showing up, but the screen remains blank. I can drag stuff over there when it says its in dual screen mode, but the lcd screen is black. It doesn't display its "no input" message, so its as if its getting some signal. I've reset multiple times and updated my nvidia drivers. I know its not dead, it works with the damn mac.

Is there a trouble shooting step I'm missing here?

bigbh

You might just be outputting at an unsupported resolution, or even refresh rate. Try messing around with those first.

Iruka

oooooohhh hey. Nvidia might think its a CRT monitor. It is not.

I'm trying to figure out why it thinks it is.

Iruka

Alright, so I made sure the refresh rates and resolution line up, and went and installed drivers specific to the monitor, still nothing.

Doc

Is there an option where you have to select VGA or digital inputs?

Inquisitor77

Don't hate me for asking, but...is the second monitor plugged in and turned on?

Iruka

Yeah, its turned on, I can use the menus for the monitor. It also flickers whenever I change settings as if its going to magically start working. I'm looking through the nvida settings for options about inputs. I'll try again with another computer to make sure it didn't break in the last ten minutes or something.

Iruka

reconfirmed that it works with the damn mac and my old HP laptop. The HP recognized it at a different resolution, though so im going to try that on the dell.

Also confirmed that the different resolution doesn't help. This is driving me nuts.

Midshipman

What kind of connection does the second monitor use? Are both video card outputs DVI? If you are using a DVI to D-SUB adapter for the second monitor, it could be faulty. It's also conceivable that the second video out is bad itself. Try swapping monitors between the ouputs and see if anything changes.

Iruka

Both the monitor and my laptop are using D-sub connections. I do recall having issues hooking up a projector to my computer at school, maybe my computers output is indeed bad.

Inquisitor77

I'd get rid of Ultra Mon until you can actually see something on the other monitor, too.

I second the "swap inputs" test. Actually, you'll want to test the not-working monitor by itself first, without enabling dual-screen.

Midshipman

Inquisitor77 wrote: »

I second the "swap inputs" test. Actually, you'll want to test the not-working monitor by itself first, without enabling dual-screen.

I realized that I misread the OP. He isn't using 2 monitors, but rather a laptop with a second monitor plugged in. He's also tested the monitor on another computer and verified that it works.

There should be a key combo on the laptop that swaps the video output settings around (usually Fn plus an F key). Try fiddling with it to see if you can get video to show on your second monitor in any setting (monitor only or clone).

I also second not dealing with Ultra mon until you have things running properly and are looking for having more advanced options.

Tofystedeth

Yeah, getting multiple monitors on laptops usually involves fiddling with the Fn key as well as the settings in Windows.
I think it's frequently Fn + F6 that has the output switching function.

Iruka

I did use the Fn key (its Fn+F8 on my laptop) It resulted in alot of screen flickering but never managed to turn on the other monitor. Tonight i'll uninstall ultramon, and see if I cant get things to work with it completely gone.

Iruka

Okay, I'm back to trying to work on this. Ultramon is gone, the problem still persists. When I press Fn+F8 the presentation box says there is no external display despite my nvida card and desktop properties knowing what type of monitor it is.

Iruka

Alright, Ultramon has been gone, I updated dell quickset and my Nvida drivers through my models page on the dell site, just to make sure I got the right one. It seems that Nvidia listing it as a crt monitor isnt abnormal, so I think that can be taken off the suspicious list.

I've been researching why Presentation mode would be off and not detecting my monitor. I found alot of unanswered questions, and not alot of awnsers through google-fu. I'm running XP so resources for me are thinning out a bit, but I did drop the question over on the MS forum to see if I can get some other help.

since literally everything else sees the model of monitor, I think that must be the problem. I have no idea how else to mess with this particular mode. The dell quckset has an option that I made sure was on, but i don't see presentation mode anywhere else. Is there a command promt trick or something I can use?

Iruka

Quadruple post update, I spend the better part of 90 minutes talking with dell, the seem to think its my motherboard and a faulty VGA output, Since I have a few more days of warranty they are going to send me a tech to replace the motherboard.

So, hopefully early next week I will have a resolution.

Midshipman

Glad you still had some warranty left.

Iruka

So the dell guy came and left, replaced the mother board and nothing changed. The next step is my video card. If that doesn't work, It must be some random thing in windows and I might have to restore. this apparently isnt a problem that the tech who came out had ever seen.

I dont have an extra hard drive for convenient back up right now, so Just curious if there are any more thoughts on this issue and what it might be?

DrFrylock

Try booting off a Linux LiveCD and see if you can get an external display. If so, it's not a hardware problem. If not, you haven't really learned anything because it could be hardware or software (maybe Linux isn't properly supporting your video card). Even though it's only half a data point, it would be useful to see if it's not hardware, and running this test won't screw up your software or require a reinstall.

Iruka

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into that. I dont really know anything about linux, will this be kinda strait forward or should I research well before i do this?

DrFrylock

1. Download a Linux LiveCD .iso image containing your favorite Linux distribution. If you don't have a favorite, Ubuntu is your favorite now.

2. Burn this to a CD. How you do this depends on what burning software you have; use Google. Note that you are not burning the .iso file to a CD; you're imaging the CD. This will be a separate option in your burner like "burn CD from image."

3. Boot with this CD in your drive. It should boot into a graphical thing kinda like Windows but brown and with crappier fonts. If it doesn't, check your CMOS settings to make sure your computer is set to boot off a CD before the hard drive if one is available.

4. Hit Fn+f8 or whatever it is on your laptop. See what happens.

Iruka

Well funny story, I guess the dell tech installed my CD drive wonky, cause it seems to be out of commission. I dont feel like cracking him open till the dell tech comes back with my video card, because im pretty sure im not technically supposed to do that.

Looks like I can boot ubuntu from a usb? so I think I'll attempt that. If not I'll wait. If they have to give me a new CD drive, all of the guts of this computer will have been replaced at least once. Glad I got a good warranty.

Iruka

Alright so Ubuntu does the same thing, detects the monitor down to the model, but no video on the monitor. messed around with the settings for a bit, but couldn't get anything going. Hopefully that isolates the video card and I'll update this thread with good news after dell swings by again.

Iruka

Well, now that all the guts in this guy have been replaced, it works like a charm! YES. It was drving me crazy to think it could be something in windows I was missing. The guy was surprised thats what it was, since I don't have on board video and my laptop screen was working fine.

Anyways I just wanted to update for the people that tried to help, thank you!