Problem with 2 video boards in 1 windows

[JR]

Hello folks

I a motherboard (Asus) with a built-in video board. I need to have 2
monitors, so I bought another video board and plugged it in.

Problem is, when the new video board is on, the built-in disappears
from windows! It's still active on the BIOS but I can't find it
anywhere on windows, it's as if it's not instaled...

How can I have both boards active at the same time?

 

[Paul]

Hello folks

I a motherboard (Asus) with a built-in video board. I need to have 2
monitors, so I bought another video board and plugged it in.

Problem is, when the new video board is on, the built-in disappears
from windows! It's still active on the BIOS but I can't find it
anywhere on windows, it's as if it's not instaled...

How can I have both boards active at the same time?

Use the two connectors on the new plug-in video board.

Most motherboards disable the built-in video, when a plug-in
video board is present. A few support the operation of both.
The available documentation may not make it clear.

In the following, select your motherboard model name, where it
says "All" in the upper right corner. There is a forum for each
Asus board, and you may find more details there.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&SLanguage=en-us

Paul

 

[JR]

Use the two connectors on the new plug-in video board.

problem... when I got to the video settings, there is only 1 video
board, so I assume I have to do something to make windows "split" the
board into the 2 connectors. Can you point me to that please?

 

[Paul]

problem... when I got to the video settings, there is only 1 video
board, so I assume I have to do something to make windows "split" the
board into the 2 connectors. Can you point me to that please?

If you had mentioned the video card make and model, I could have
crafted an answer a bit more specific to you.

Here are pictures of video cards, with dual head connectors showing.
The second one has a VGA and a DVI connector on it.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-130-035-08.jpg
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-141-034-07.jpg

Now, if we look at this one, this one is more of a problem. It has
a VGA connector (and that small round black DIN connector). The VGA can
be used with an LCD monitor or a CRT, as long as the LCD has a VGA
on it. There are some cheap LCD monitors now, that only have DVI
on the interface. Be careful what you buy. So if your card is this old,
there would be some limits.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-141-052-07.jpg

On that last card, you could connect a TV set to the DIN connector,
via composite or S-video. And a monitor would go to the VGA. Still
a total of two display devices, but a TV isn't very good for text.

The control panel for the video card, will show options for more
than one display device. In the picture here, you can see
various two monitor display options.

http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/8/0,1425,sz=1&i=81841,00.jpg

As long as the video card has two connectors suitable for monitors,
then you can use two monitors powered by one video card.

The DVI connector on the video card, is full of surprises. On a midrange
priced card, the DVI connector will be a DVI-I. What that means, is
the connector carries both digital signals and analog ones. By
means of a DVI to VGA dongle, you can convert the connector type to
the more familiar VGA 15 pin, and the analog signals will be routed to
the VGA pins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvi

A DVI-I, carries signals for DVI-D (the digital part that a DVI
monitor would use), but also has signals for use with VGA. To get the
VGA, you use the dongle to convert the connector format. There
is no active component inside the dongle - all it does is route
available signals, to a new connector format. If the analog signals
are missing in the video card design, the dongle won't fix that.

On the very cheapest video cards, the DVI connector is actually a
DVI-D and only carries digital signals. Usually, there is nothing
in the advertising, to warn of this. There are a few cards that
do it, but they're pretty cheap ones (sub $50 range). Otherwise,
many other card, even come with the necessary dongle adapter included.

This card comes with two DVI to VGA dongle adapters in the box.
So you could use two DVI monitors, a DVI and a VGA, or two VGA
equipped monitors, as well as connect a TV.

http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-130-035-06.jpg

The video card has two display channels inside. The faceplate of
the video card, may have a total of three connectors (two DVI and
the DIN for the TV set). That is a total of three displays. You
can have at most, two of the three display outputs operational. If
you use the TV set one, then you can only use one of the remaining
DVI connectors. So only 2 of 3 work at any one time.

HTH,
Paul

 

[JR]

If you had mentioned the video card make and model, I could have
crafted an answer a bit more specific to you.

The board is an Asus GF7300GS, has a VGA and a DVI ports.

I thought that there was an option, in Windows XP, to configure 2
monitors, but I can't find it...

 

[Paul]

The board is an Asus GF7300GS, has a VGA and a DVI ports.

I thought that there was an option, in Windows XP, to configure 2
monitors, but I can't find it...

You need the Nvidia control panel to do that. I believe this is the
"Classis" control panel, and the newer drivers have a different
control panel than this one.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nubie07/3DMonitor/photo#5057080082702102018

The Nvidia site also has manuals you can download. Not every release
has updated manuals, and the newer manuals may be a shadow of their
former glory. For previous versions of drivers, you could browse the
FTP site, and pick a manual from there, but newer releases only
offer manuals via HTTP, from the driver download pages.

PDF page 75 shows two screens.
ftp://download.nvidia.com/Windows/Quadro_Certified/91.36/91.36_Forceware_nView_Users_Guide.pdf

Do you have an Nvidia driver installed ? Maybe that is the missing
step.

Driver ingredient on a new computer:

1) Install chipset drivers. These are on the motherboard CD, but
are also available for download. If you state the motherboard,
I can suggest a chipset driver for it.

2) Some version of DirectX. When you buy a new video card, in retail
box, it comes with an installer CD. That will have the minimum
version of DirectX usable with the card. If you didn't have the
video card CD, you'd get a download from Microsoft, with the latest
DirectX for your OS.

3) Video card driver. An Nvidia Forceware driver would be suited
to an EN7300GS. You can use a driver from the Asus site (and
then, if there are any custom features on the card, the Asus
driver may support them). Or you can use a driver from Nvidia
directly. Example of a video card driver here. Once the video
card driver is installed, you'll be able to set the monitor
resolution to higher values, such as the monitor's native value.
My 17" monitor uses 1280x1024 for example. You'll also see
options via "Advanced", to play with two monitors in Nview.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_169.21_whql.html

Manual for new control panel.
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/169.21/169.21_NVIDIA_Control_Panel_Quick_Start_Guide.pdf

HTH,
Paul