dual monitor problem

[Kaotic]

Ok here is the deal. I have a PCI Voodoo 3 2000 16mb card as my main card. The card I want to use for the second monitor is an intergrated Sis 530 8mb chip. The problem is that the dang Sis does not show up in the settings tab in the display properties tool. I have the latest drivers for both cards. I was able to get this Sis to work by removing the Voodoo card and using the Sis as my primary card. As soon as I put the Voodoo card back in I get nothing but a blank screen on the monitor that is connected to the Sis card. When I look in the device manager and view the properties of the Sis card I see the following error. "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" . Now why the heck would I be getting this error if this device works fine when it is the only card installed. I want to use the Voodoo as my primary card and the sis as the secondary. Is there anything you could help me with here. My specs are as follows.

Compaq Pressario model 5461
Windows XP Pro
Amd K-6 500
Sis 530 intergrates mobo
Voodoo PCI 16 mb

 

[patrick]

I'm not an expert but I managed to set up my comp on a dual-display using a Geforce 2 and an S3 Virge so hear me out.

You have to look in your bios and set your "Primary display card" or "Bootup display card" or something that sounds like "primary card" to the S3 Virge.
This is an important step in getting the two to work. I read that the reason has something to do with the fact that the Virge needs access to registers on the motherboard or something. You can correct this later through windows but you must ensure that the motherboard believes the Virge is the primary card.
The only drawback in this situation will be that the bios and windows startup screens will be shown on the S3 Virge.

When you get into windows, you should see both cards in the display properties. I can't tell you exactly the instruction from here as I don't have the dual-display set up at the moment but it's quite simple. In the Display>Settings you should see both monitors. You can drag them around if the diagram does not reflect your monitor setup. Click on the monitor labeled as the Voodoo and tell windows to use it as the primary card. (THIS IS IN NO WAY RELATED TO THE BIOS SETTING) Windows will now put the desktop on the voodoo card and windows will use the S3 Virge as the secondary display (even though the bios classifies it as primary).

You should now be able to use the dual-display setup. Enjoy!


Just in-case you don't know- UltraMon is an excellent utility for Dual-Display setups (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/). Download it imidiately!



Hope this helps,
Patrick

 

[Kaotic]

patrick, Thank you for your suggestions but unfortunately the problem still exists. I tried your Bios suggestion but I don't have any options like the ones you mentioned. My bios is pretty old I believe it was made in 1999. As for the program you suggested it didn't help me out either. When you were running multiple monitors did you have to set any special settings besides those in the display tool ? Also thank you for your response.




P.S. How do I change my XP version under my user name. It says home but I am on XP Pro.

 

[patrick]

No, the only thing I did was change the bios setting and windows recognised it and with a little configuring in the display properties I got it to work the way I wanted it.
Ultramon will only help you once you do get dual-display working. It's great because without going into a list of all the features, it adds two buttons next to the close, min and maximise buttons that will tell the window to "move" to the other monitor or be displayed across both monitors.

I have no other suggestions to get it to work. Perhaps someone with a bit more experience can offer some suggestions here but I'll ask you to have another look through your bios for any option which lets you choose "agp" or "pci" as the primary display. BTW... the Voodoo card is an AGP card right?

Patrick

 

[Kaotic]

Thanks again for your responce. No the Voodoo card is PCI and the SIS is onboard. There is an option to set the onboard card to AGP but when I set it to AGP my PC won't get past the OEM screen. My Bios options SUCK! Do you happen to know of any applications that unlock some Bios features ? I checked the SIS site and they have nothing to help tweak the Bios.

 

[patrick]

Ah well there's your problem. And a fairly big one at that.

Just try something first though.
Most onboard video cards are classified as AGP since the transfer rate is so fast.
Try pulling out the voodoo, setting the option to AGP and booting.

If it loads windows normally then I'm going to assume that it is recognising your Virge as stated. If that works, try plugging the voodoo back in and boot with the settings still set to AGP. State the results.

If however it does not boot even without the voodoo (with the setting to AGP), then you're going to have a fairly large amount of difficulty getting your current setup to work.

If your motherboard is incapable of controlling the Virge as the primary video card, then there isn't much chance of using it as a secondary card. There may be a such thing as a bios tweak... but I've never heard of them and can't advise you as such.

Finally, have you got a real AGP slot?
If you do, then you could purchase a Geforce 2mx from $100-$200 Australian ($50-$100 US) which would also be an improvement over your current voodoo card. You could then use the voodoo as the secondary display adaptor and you be able to avoid the troubles you are having now. I've also seen a Geforce2 mx200 for PCI if you don't have a real AGP slot.

But you don't neccissarily have to jump into buying a new card right away.
Try doing what I said, and perhaps wait and see if anyone else has any ideas.

Hope this helps,
Patrick