Problem with dual monitors

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#1

Hi.

I am running xp on an HP laptop with a geforce go 7600. I have a secondary Dell 1703fp monitor that used to run just fine as my extended desktop but today it stopped working.

The problem came when I plugged in the monitor and right clicked the desktop -> properties -> settings -> right clicked on the second monitor -> properties.

The screen went blank and now I cant extend my desktop to it any more. I know the dell 1703 works fine, if I make it my primary monitor then it displays just fine, except all my icons are still on the secondary monitor (the laptop screen), which then goes black, this was a huge problem for me as trying to open any programs (or windows task manager) would open them on the laptop (black) screen which I could not see, after getting onto another computer and looking up how to move windows I finally got my laptop reset to the primary monitor.

So I know the monitor works fine, its just that my videocard wont display to both monitors at the same time. Another thing I just noticed, when I right click the desktop -> properties -> settings, the primary monitor (which has a 1 on it) is called:

1.(Multiple Montiors) on NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600

it should not be multiple monitors, it should only be the primary laptop monitor and its resolution is 1440x900, which leads me to believe it is displaying “multiple monitors” only on 1440x900 pixels. ie: it is displaying both the primary and secondary screens only on the laptop and not on the del 1703. Another reason for me to believe this is (on the same settings screen) when i click on the secondary monitor (where i would usually check the box "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor) and hover the mouse over it, it says:

“Secondary Display (1440, 0)”

So the dell monitor is set at resolution 1440x0. I believe this is why its simply a black screen (again unless i make it the primary monitor, then it works fine). the resolution is one dimensional. When i try to alter the resolution on the Dell 1703, nothing happens, it just stays 1440x0.

Again im sure this is a video card issue and not a hardware issue since if i make the dell 1703 my primary, it works fine but the laptop stops working (and i have to ninja move program windows over).

So, whats the dealio? How do I get it back to the way it was this morning? I tried reformatting my pc after a few hours of tinkering but that did nothing. Usually it would not be a huge problem but I need two screens for dwarf fortress and the dwarf therapist.

Thanks again.

#2

Hmm it seems as though I was wrong about the whole 1440x0 part meaning the second monitor is displaying at 1400x0 resolution. This is all completely wrong, that number refers to x-y coordinates of the screens location in relation to the primary monitor and so it would be 1440 since thats the primaries display resolution.

All I want to do is unbundle my primary and secondary monitors, nvidia is treating the two as 1 monitor.

#3

Also, every time I restart my pc (even without any monitor plugged in), there are 3 “Monitors” visible in my device manager in the control panel/system/hardware screen.

I have uninstalled all three “monitors”, my laptop screen is under the “Display adapters” so none of them are from my laptop but ****it these three just keep reappearing. two are called “Default Monitor” and the third is called “Plug and Play Monitor”. No matter what I do I cant get rid of them and I think its related to my extended desktop issues.

#4

It might help others to assist if you provided more specific info:

  1. Desktop Environment you’re using (Gnome, KDE,…)
  2. Are you using the default nouveau graphics driver, or did you install the proprietary nvidia driver? (If using the latter, there is a proprietary screen config tool called ‘nvidia-settings’ that should be used).
#5

Oops! I thought this was the nvidia forums hahahahah i dont use anything except plain vanilla xp. just simple windows. Il go make a topic in the nvidia forums sorry bout this!