Setting up Dual Monitors

# 1 07-12-2008 , 01:43 AM

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Join Date: May 2008

Posts: 97

Hey again everyone. Another tech problem here with me.... I just got a "new" (well not really) computer from someone. They got a new computer, and so they gave me their old one for free..

They also gave me their monitor. So, I already had a monitor, and now I have 2. So I was hoping I could hook up both monitors to the same computer. I did this before with a laptop, but this is a little bit different.

So, I'll start by telling you the specs and my problems. The two monitors are a Viewsonic and Dell. I don't know what size they are or anything, but that shouldn't really matter..

Viewsonic ports:
-The blue monitor port... (VGA, I think?)

Dell:
-The blue one, again (VGA?)
-S-Video
-DVI-D
-Composite Video (the yellow one usually used with TVs and stuff)

The cables I can use:
2 Blue monitor cables
S-video
Composite (yellow one)

So basically I can't use a DVI-D cable, because I'm using that one on the 22" monitor over at the other computer.

NOW onto the graphics card and stuff..
ATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB HyperMemory
ATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB HyperMemory Secondary

Now, thats just what I see in device manager. On the back of the computer itself, I see an area that looks like it's all on teh same card, sort of like a little cluster of ports. There's one Blue one (vga?) One S-Video, and One DVI-D.

Then theres one other blue port seperated from those 3 by enough that it doesn't seem to be on the same card or whatever.. I think thta might be the "card" (if that's what it is) that's showing up as secondary on the Device manager.

So my setup is that the Viewsonic is connected via blue port to the card that has the 3 ports. The other one I've tried connecting to both the S-Video on that same card, and to the Blue port that is seperate from the rest.

I updated the drivers via device manager for the X300 and the X300 secondary....

Nothing changed..

Oh, and yes, I have been right clicking, then going to properties, settings, and attempting to enable the second monitor, but the one screen that is already working just goes blank for like 3 seconds, then re-appears, and the computer disables the second monitor I tried to enable.

Help please? Anything you can spot that I'm doing wrong, tell me!

Thanks,
Bluethunder

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# 2 07-12-2008 , 02:50 PM

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I think you will have to check what features your graphics card has...

My Radeon has a DVI, VGA and S-video port but I can only use the DVI or VGA at any one time and the S-video. My secondary outputs at 640 by 480 anyways, not exactly useful (its for TVs). Your card may differ but since the X300 is a budget model replacing the earlier Radeon 9000 series, the features may be similar.

An easy way to tell if the ports are on the same card is to look at how they are orientated. On a tower case, ports on the video card should be horizontal and ports on the motherboard should be vertical. The other port that's further away is most likely the on board graphics. The reason why it doesn't work is that if you have a graphics card, the onboard video is usually disabled.

C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!

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# 3 08-12-2008 , 01:53 AM

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Ah okay, I see. The one that's seperate from the rest is vertical, so I assume that's the on board graphics one...

Any ideas on how I might enable that, if possible?

I didn't really understand this part very well... : "My Radeon has a DVI, VGA and S-video port but I can only use the DVI or VGA at any one time and the S-video."

Do you mean you can only use 1 at a time, or do you mean you can only use The DVI and the S-Video at once or the VGA and the S-Video at once?

Either way, thanks for the response!:attn:

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# 4 08-12-2008 , 10:07 AM

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Originally posted by Bluethunder
Ah okay, I see. The one that's seperate from the rest is vertical, so I assume that's the on board graphics one...

Any ideas on how I might enable that, if possible?

Originally Posted by

I don't think it is possible... the ATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB HyperMemory Secondary in the device manager should refer to the secondary output on the graphics card, not the on board graphics.

Originally posted by Bluethunder
The DVI and the S-Video at once or the VGA and the S-Video at once?

Originally Posted by

Yeah, that's what I mean...

C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!

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# 5 09-12-2008 , 05:08 AM

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Ok. So what I'm trying to do now, is connect the Viewsonic to the VGA on the Radeon x300, and the Dell Monitor to the S-Video on the x300.

This way they'll both be on the same card, and I can set one of them to secondary, and the other as regular.

However, for some reason this isn't working....They will work one at a time, but not both at the same time.

I'll get back to you with some details once I can use the computer.

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# 6 10-12-2008 , 01:24 AM

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Surprisingly, now it works. Maybe last time the cable wasn't connected firmly...

However, the larger monitor connected via S-Video is REALLY fuzzy! Are all S-Video connections that ... fuzzy? The resolution is the same as the monitor next to it (1280 by something?) and it's so fuzzy that you can't read anything on it. (you can see pictures though... and almost make out letters , but not quite)

Could the s-video cable be bad, or are the like that normally?

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# 7 10-12-2008 , 08:21 AM

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Its blurry because S-video was designed for TVs, and so is the secondary output on your card (hence the resolution of 640 by 480 pixels). There isn't much that can be done about it.

If you really want a dual monitor setup, you'll have to get a card that has two DVI ports.

C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!

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