Installing mutiple monitors on a notebook

I have an aging 17" Compaq Presario System Modelx6000 (PK247AV#ABA) with a several dead pixel lines. I have attached an Acer AL1912 monitor flatscreen with resolution of 1280x1024

I have tried setting up through the Control Panel/Display Multiple Display Facility but cannot seem to get it right either. Either the display appears on the monitor the same size as my notebook screen (1440 x 900), or if I use Control Panel/Display Multiple Display all I can see is my wallpaper (at the wrong, larger than 1280x1024 resolution) and, occasionally an enlarged mouse pointer. After this the only way to use the Acer monitor is to do a system restore.

I think that the problem is that although I have downloaded the driver for the Acer AL1912 XP will not recognize it and instead uses the driver for my notebook monitor.

 

Installing dual monitors

Tony, I've tried this innumerable times! and it doesn't work!
I can't even adjust the color quality .. it is stuck at the low quality (8 bit).

Please re-read my original post

I have tried EVERYTHING! So many things have gone wrong including losing the image from the Acer, having the mouse disappear from the notebook and appear only on the Acer, being stuck with my wall paper at the wrong resolution.

I have had to had to do a system restore seven times just in order to get a 1280x760 image notebook to re-appear on my 1280x1024 resolution Acer monitor.

Could it be that the BIOS on my Compaq Presario needs updating? If I have to update can I do this SAFELY? One can't a back up the BIOS!!

The Compaq notebook already has a plug and play outlet for a secondary
monitor surely shouldn't be necessary to install another PCI or AGP video adapter? However this what the so called and %$@)!!! useless Compaq "Help and Support" Says

[FONT= "Comic Sans MS"][FONT= "Courier New"][FONT= "Comic Sans MS"][FONT= "Comic Sans MS"][FONT= "Comic Sans MS"]To install additional monitors
Turn off your computer.
Insert your additional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) video adapter into an available slot.
Plug your additional monitor into the card.
Turn on your computer. Windows will detect the new video adapter and install the appropriate drivers.
Open Display in Control Panel.
On the Settings tab, click the monitor icon that represents the monitor you want to use in addition to your primary monitor.
Select the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box, and then click Apply or OK.
If the check box is not displayed on your computer, it may be because your video adapter does not support multiple monitors. See Notes for information about compatible hardware.

Notes

To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
Selecting the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box allows you to drag items across your screen onto alternate monitors.
Or, you can resize a window to stretch it across more than one monitor.

To use the multiple monitor support feature, you need a PCI or AGP video adapter for each monitor. If you have an onboard video adapter (one that is not a plug-in card but is part of the motherboard) that you want to use as part of a multiple-monitor configuration, it must be set as VGA.
To find hardware that is supported by Windows operating systems, visit the Windows Catalog on the Microsoft Web site.
[/FONT][/FONT]
If your computer doesn't recognize your second monitor, click Display Troubleshooter for more information.
The operating system always needs a VGA device. The computer's BIOS or EFI detects the VGA device based on slot order, unless the BIOS or EFI offers an option for choosing which device is to be treated as the VGA device.
The VGA device cannot be stopped, which is an important consideration for docking units.
The monitor that is designated as the primary monitor will display the logon dialog box when you start your computer. In addition, most programs will display windows on the primary monitor when you initially open them.
If you are using Dualview, skip steps 2 and 3 above. Just plug your second monitor into the video out port on your portable computer, or into the second video out port on your desktop computer. When you turn on your computer, it should recognize the second monitor. Follow steps 5 through 7 to extend your display to the second monitor. If the second monitor is not shown on the Settings tab, you might need to update your display driver. [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

 

updating to the latest ATI drivers ??

Sorry Tony, I am a real DUMBO, where would I down load them from????