Multiple monitors in Vista

W2

So a friend of mine has just hooked up two LCD monitors to his Vista machine. Apparently Vista detects both displays, but the second monitor remains blank, in sleep mode.

Now, I did the same thing about three days ago and had the same issue but for the life of me I can't remember how I resolved it - I just tinkered around a bit and eventually got it to work. It escapes me how I did it so I can't walk him through it. :oops:


The monitors are not identical, one is a much newer widescreen and the secondary display is an older model, so could it be an issue of Vista trying to run both monitors at a resolution or a refresh rate that is higher than the native resolution of the older display?

He's running an 8800GT with what I think are the latest drivers.



Any ideas?

shadydentist

I think, but I could be wrong, that you need to mess with the video card drivers, not Vista directly, to deal with multiple monitors. I know that nVidia drivers have an option for multiple monitors.

Captain Vash

desktop
right click
personalize
display settings
choose a mode and resolution for each monitor

MushroomStick

With nvidia, you have to go into the nvidia control panel and "set up multiple displays."

W2

I went round there and had a look at it: Nvidia control panel worked perfectly when using a DVI adapter that I'd brought from home. The one he'd bought from eBay, not a thing.


Looking at it, his had 24 pins which makes it a DVI-D adapter, the one I brought from home had two groups of 9 pins (which I believe is a DVI-A) - he's just gonna grab a new adapter from somewhere.


Solved, thanks.