Comments

1. Warren G

   
   Posted on: September 06, 2007 at 8:49PM  

   Sometimes I will want the monitor and TV to show the same thing, other times I'll want them to be different. I'd like to know how to switch back and forth. Now my TV and monitor show different things.
2. Brandon LeBlanc

   

   
   Posted on: September 06, 2007 at 9:22PM  

   Warren G, go to your Display Settings. With two monitors connected, you should see a Monitor 1 and a Monitor 2. To make Monitor 2 monitor show the *same thing* as Monitor 1, uncheck "Extend the desktop onto this monitor". If you want them not to show the same thing, check that check box. This should work.
3. Camden

   
   Posted on: September 20, 2007 at 1:30PM  

     Is there a way to swap monitors while playing a game? I typically have a full screen game on the primary and charts on the secondary. I can't just slide the mouse over to the other display in this case, but I don't want to minimize the game either. Thanks for any help!
4. JohnHind

   
   Posted on: September 27, 2007 at 6:47AM  

   There is a bit of a snafoo with Media Centre on dual monitors - if you maximise its window on the secondary monitor, it constrains the mouse pointer to this monitor making it impossible to do anything else on the primary monitor. To work round this I have to use it in windowed mode with the window carefully sized to hide the title bar.

   I use a primary monitor on DVI and a secondary monitor on VGA with a splitter echoing this to my home cinema projector. For this reason, I have to run the secondary monitor at 1024x768 while the primary is at 1280x1024, which actually works fine. One problem I had was that I often switch the monitors off when using the projector. On turning them back on again, the drive to the DVI monitor would not resume requiring some ingenuity to recover! However on upgrading from Radeon X800 to HD2600XT, this problem has gone away.

   It would be good if you could right-click on a monitor and have an option to bring everything to that monitor. A general problem with apps is that if you close them on the secondary monitor they save this position and then there is no way to get them back again if you no longer have access to that monitor.
5. jdsssr

   
   Posted on: October 05, 2007 at 12:14AM  

   Can someone help me I need to run the same programes on both monitors. I am running a HP dv9000 lap top with vista home prem. with a nivdia 256mb card . The 2nd screen is a LG 42"lcd tv with 720p .
6. Techolistic

   
   Posted on: October 16, 2007 at 11:13AM  

   I've been running two monitors on windows for as long as I can remember. I didn't see it as a big deal. Running vista has not changed that, but it did emphasize a batch of problems with nvidia drivers (They seem to be improving incrementally as time goes by). I'm looking to ditch the second monitor soon and go for the biggest single flat screen with decent performance that I can afford. Funny how things seem to go in cycles...
7. LizMarr

   
   Posted on: November 09, 2007 at 9:04AM  

   I'm having a problem with when I switch back to single monitor.  

   I use dual monitor on my laptop when at home, and of course on the road I only have one.  There are certain applications that, if I do not move them back to the primary monitor (laptop screen) before exiting, will remain on the now absent second monitor.  There must be some key combination or Windows solution to get my programs where I can use them.  If when I quit they were not maximized, sometimes making them full screen I can at least use them. But a couple are not this way.
8. Mick Emmett

   
   Posted on: November 09, 2007 at 9:52PM  

   I ran 4 monitors (well 3 and an over head projector)on XP using 2 cards; both were Nvidia packaged under different names (Sparkle and PNY) It took a bit of mucking around but I could eventually get all 4 monitors working OK, as mentioned above it was down to the Nvidia drivers not getting along with each other I guess(2 different boards, a 6200 AGP and a 8400 GS PCI Express). I've upgraded (I use the term loosely) to Vista Ultimate and again the boards have given me trouble, I down loaded the new Vista drivers but I still have a problem that when the screen fades; as like when a dialog box pops up, I get small black lines come up on both the monitors that are connected to 6200; it looks just like the memory has corrupted. You also don't see much of the dialog box either until you run the mouse over it and then you can just make out the accept and cancel buttons, if I remove the drivers for the 8400 the 6200 performs correctly.  I wish Nvidia would test their drivers under all fitment scenarios before they release them and make sure they're not going to fight each other.
9. Merri

   
   Posted on: December 14, 2007 at 4:55AM  

   Hi,

   found the solution for backflipping screen in dual monitor mode: I have a lenovo laptop and there's a Intel Graphics media accelerator running (icon in systray). If I change the graphics output options there from "Notebook + Digital Display" to "Digital Display + Notebook" it doesn't change my settings after relogon anymore. I read in another thread that there's a similar tool for NVidia as well. These settings "win" over the windows settings.

   @LizMarr: after going back to single monitor mode, right click the app in your taskbar, select "move" and then simply use right or left arrow key (depending on where you place you second monitor...) to move the window back to your laptop monitor.

   Hope that helps
10. tuttimg

    
    Posted on: December 19, 2007 at 11:35AM  

    Hi,

    I'm running Dell desktop Inspiron with Radeon(dvi and vga)video card.  I had the same problem with similar Nvidia card.  I have a dual monitor setup        using Vista.  Everything works well for a while and then screens flicker and applications get distorted. My task bars disappear and the start menu can't be viewed. I need to log off via control alt delete and then reboot all my applications.  It seems to happen more when the system is idle for a short while.  It probably happens 3-4 times daily.  I ran the same applications on a dual screen setup on older computer with Xp and did not have any problems.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks.