Resolved Dual Display Doesn't Work

I have Windows XP Home, Sp. 3 with all updates. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon HD 5800. The motherboard is an MSI 890FXA-GD65. The system is new and works fine in all respects except with dual display.

I am trying to get a dual display set up.

When I boot up, both displays show the MSI splash screen as well as the Windows startup screen. When the main display bootup is complete, the secondary display is dark. When I go to the Catalyst Control Center Display Properties screen and try to do anything in the way of detecting or setting up the type of display I want the entire system locks up and I have to do a hard reboot On one occasion the secondary screen showed a desktop with no taskbar, and on another occasion I could move the mouse back and forth across the two screens, but I am now unable to reproduce either of those.

Your suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Thanks for the response.

Progress!!

By using the Windows Display Properties, clicking on "attach" for the second screen, then "apply" and then "ok" the second monitor lights up and I can drag back and forth between screens. Neat! As a solution, this is ok. Except that when I go to the Catalyst menu and try to select any of the various between-screen modes the computer still locks up. Any ideas about why the Catalyst doesn't work?

 

Hmmm. I thought of the driver issue, but it just doesn't seem that such a common app as dual display would have to be updated. Historically I've had such bad luck with video driver updates that I'm reluctant to try that. The way it works now is probably the way I will always want to use it so I'll accept that as a solution.

Maybe it's just the engineer in me, but when something doesn't work as it's supposed to it bugs me.

 

If you have the original driver installation disk for the graphics adapter, you could uninstall the "original" drivers in Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs, then run the installation disk when you reboot. It will just put them back again, hopefully working correctly this time.

If you have any trouble, you can go to the Startup Options Menu (F8, where you select Safe Mode) and choose VGA mode. That will allow you to boot into normal Windows and install the drivers.

Bad experiences in the past, you should have seen mine , but I never let them defeat me if I can, and very few have.

Matt
PS Before you install fresh graphics drivers, find and install updated chipset drivers for your motherboard. The graphics drivers depend on a good set of chipset drivers.

 

I've been using a dual-monitor set up for many years and totally don't understand how anyone can live with just one monitor. If like me, once you get used to running with 2 monitors, you will wonder how you lived with just one. While Windows (XP and newer) supports (for the most part) multi-monitors, not all programs do. And even the latest operating systems sometimes have little issues, and seem to get confused occasionally as to which is primary and which is secondary. So a multi-monitor utility is almost a necessity. My favorite is UltraMon "“ not free, but worth it. Others have suggested the free DisplayFusion, but I have no experience with it.

 

lol I hear you there.

One thing I really like about Ultramon, and perhaps its greatest asset is what it calls the "Smart Taskbar" - a separate taskbar for each additional monitor, so when you minimize, you minimize to the monitor you are working on.

Also, on some graphics cards, it seems between the card and Windows there is often some confusion as to which is Primary and Secondary during the boot process, and again, once Windows fully loads. For example, the BIOS boot and POST screens may appear on the secondary monitor, indicating to the system, monitor #2 is the primary. But once Windows is fully booted, Windows sees monitor #1 as primary. With Ultramon, it is easy to swap monitors, without swapping cables, or confusing the card's control panel.

Finally, Ultramon allows you to easily use a different background on each monitor which leads me directly to Blatte's Backgrounds where you will note at the bottom many cool fractal backgrounds for dual monitors (when the desktop is extended across both monitors). My career background is an electronics technician for air traffic control radio equipment (receivers, transmitters, transceivers, and associated ATC tower console equipment) so I use Waveform (6th down) across my monitors for a pretty cool effect, if I do say so myself.

 

It is really nice having two monitors! I can't imagine getting along without them. I still have no solution to the Catalyst problem, but even if not, it works fine--just no options that I probably wouldn't use anyway.