Dual Monitor Setup

I am not at home so I don't have all the specs. I have an HP with GeForce 8500GT with windows vista home premium. When I open up the Nvidia control panel there is no option to select dual monitors where there should be. I'm guessing it might be a vista thing, but both the graphics card and monitor say they are compatible with vista. The monitor is an acer 20" lcd, don't have model number. Also, my monitor is listed in the control panel as generic pnp monitor, and not as acer.....

Am i screwed or can I get this to work?

I think you need to use a "Y" cable adapter. preferably from the dvi (white plug) style. I do not think you can hook both monitors directly upto the vid card. Y adaptors are cheap and can usually be bought in a local computer store like: circut city, best buy, comp usa.

BE warned now, Y adapters can be flaky. They can fail quickly with no warning signs. I personally would get 2 and keep the other on hand in case of failure.

The adapter is how we ran dual video on 1000 dual screen workstations with a nividia 8??? series card but it was a 8600 or lower, I do not work there anymore (moved), and my memory is not the greatest.

I am using a Y-cable. My vid card has one DVI output. I have two VGA monitors. So i hooked up the DVI-VGA adapter, then a VGA Y-splitter. I can get clone mode fine, but i want to get the extended desktop mode.

Did you install the nvidia control panel? you will need to if you did not. If you do not have it or can not find it *shudder* download n-tune. the options in this software should allow you to extend your desktop, if you can not do it in windows. most of the time there is a check box in display settings, where you set up the resolution, that says extend desk top. make sure that is checked.

Does the video card have only the one DVI output, or does it have 1 DVI and 1 VGA?
The nVidia control panel may have the option to run dual displays, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the video card can. The nVidia panel is a generic app for use on all cards, but that doesn't mean all cards have all the features.
Generally speaking, to run two monitors, you need two connectors on the video card, and while the 8500 chip may support 2 monitors, it's not necessarily true that the actual video card in the machine has the parts to do so.

At any rate, I'm not familiar with VGA Y-splitters in particular, but it doesn't seem to me that a standard VGA connector has any provision to send different information to each monitor, and the DVI to VGA adapter has no provision for it either. So, naturally, clone mode works - you are merely sending the same signal to both monitors. As far as the OS is concerned, you only have 1 monitor.

It would sort of be the same as connecting 2 sets of headphones to an iPod with a y-cable and expecting each person to hear different music.

I have to agree with Quaker on this one - the iPod analogy was almost exactly what was going through my mind. A Y-cable is splitting one signal into two identical signals, surely - not two independant signals? If it does, then how??

If that 8500GT only has one DVI output and nothing else, it must be a budget job - it's usual to have one DVI and one D-Sub, plus an S-Video if you're lucky.

I've got four bloody DVIs and I've never been sure which socket to use (and if it even makes a difference (which I doubt (but what do I know?)))

AND ANOTHER THING!

Why do graphics cards always use DVI-I and monitors always use DVI-D? That annoys me too.

Rant over - have your thread back

To the 2 above nonbeleivers. I personally have installed dual monitors, on a 8 series nividia graphics card, with a Y adapter, and had them running a "extended window", not a clone. These were definatly budget cards. We also had the nvidia control pannel installed. It adds a few nice features when running this set-up.

It broke 1 day. A different depart had deployed Mcaffee Host intrustion Prevention, as we called it "The HIPS". HIPS is the updated desktop firewall app. and the biggest pain in my rear short of my personnal NVLDKLM error run. HIPS broke almost everything, But esspecially the extended desktop feature and added features of the nvidia control pannel. Our help desk got raped for days over this.

The extended desktop DOES work on a Y adapter, we had OVER ONE THOUSAND USERS USING THIS CONFIGURATION. (Do not ask me how, I have no idea. It still does not make sence to me either. It has something to do with the nvidia software. In windows it was set up as "clone mode but the nvida software extended it.) It was on an nvidia budget card 8 series I do not recall the exact model # or manufacturer of the cards. The difference is we were using new monitors that had no dvi inputs, the card was a dvi out with a dvi Y splitter. so the end that plugged into the card was white, the ends that went to the monitors was blue.

Well i went home on my lunch break and spend an hour on the phone with HP support and they couldn't figure it out either. I do have the nVidia control panel installed. I think I may have gotten the shaft on this video card in this particular situation becuase insteas of having a DVI and VGA output like every single other 8500 I have been able to find it has DVI, HDMI and S-video. Probably specially configured for my "multimedia" PC.

Something else to try. So I know that when you install a video card it disables the internal/motherboard/default graphics. Is there any way to reenable this and run two monitors this way? Maybe in the BIOS settings?

This doesn't right. Normally you'll get Single, Clone, Horizontal span, Vertical span and Dualview in Nvidia Control Panel. Which comes with nvidia driver since...5950 era, maybe even earlier than that.

I'm running two widescreen monitor myself from a single 9600GT. One monitor is connected to the normal port, while the second connected using DVI adapter.

Shoot in the dark, which version of nvidia driver have you got? Hang on! only 1 Dvi output?

HDMI to DVI converter - job done? Er, HDMI to DVI to D-sub - don't recall seeing an HDMI to D-sub...

Not doubting you, zam - just don't understand it!

Put it this way; NVcpl is putting out a signal of, let's say 3360 x 1050 (that is, 1680 x 1050 over two monitors, right?). It's outputting one signal through one lead that is then being split between two monitors. How does one signal get split into left and right by a cable? It works, but I just can't get my head around why

I'm enough of a geek to lose sleep over this tonight ><

actually i would need HDMI to VGA converter, something like this.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-VGA-Video-R-L...QQcmdZViewItem

seems a bit excessive. There is this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-1-8-Meters...QQcmdZViewItem

but i need the female version, which does not seem to exist. I think I will try this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-DVI-to-Dual-...QQcmdZViewItem

instead of my current DVI to VGA to dual VGA. Maybe cutting out some of the crap inbetween will help.

the only option I see in my nVidia control panel is single. If I try to use the windows cotrol to enable the second monitor, I can check the box, but the setting disappear when I hit apply.

Yes, but you are using a DVI Y-spliitter. It is possible to split a Dual-link DVI connection into two and essentially 'multiplex' the outputs. However the OP was apparently using an ordinary DVI to VGA adapter with an ordinary VGA Y-cable. In order to work, the split would have to be within the DVI part of the connection (like yours), not in the VGA part.

For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

P.s. It's also possible that, even with the proper DVI-splitter, the video card wouldn't have the proper DVI connector to enable it to work.

P.p.s. You could try something like http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...4838&CatId=467

and then plug a DVI to VGA adapter into it.

Spent ages trying to google up one of them, Quaker :/

Quaker,

Thanks for the link, however this will not work in my situation. The HDMI port is digital only and my monitor is analog so I gather i would need an adapter to convert the VGA signal to digital which looks like it is really expensive (might as well jsut buy and HDMI monitor).

I have ordered the DVI-I to dual VGA cable ($8.00) and will try that as soon as it arrives.

Just as an update,

we were using workstation graphics cards not desktop.

The "dongle" you need is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowIm...ion+Video+Card

It comes with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133210


If you order a Y adaptor like that it should work, maybe, if the card you have will support it.

Note that that card does not have a standard DVI connector - it has a "DMS-59" connector which is a special type.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMS-59

As far as I know - the card the OP is using has a standard DVI connector, so that cable you linked to won't work.

We'll have to wait and see the results from the DVI to VGA connector the OP says he ordered (since he didn't provide a link we could browse.)