Two video cards problem.

[Zino]

I really just have a question for anyone who might know about this. I am trying to have two video cards work on the same computer, so that i can then use two monitors (duhh).

However, every time i install an extra video card, the os says is not available nor it can load or start the device. It also gives me a code 10?

I am using XP pro and ive been looking all over to try to get the two vide cards to work.

My bios says the IRQ's can be shared etc so that the two devices can work....

So, anyone has a clue if xp pro can use two video cards? and if so, how to enable both?

Also, both video cards are diamondMM cards one stealth II, and a TNT one....

 

[Howling Wolf]

I don't think you can do what you want:
In bios settings, there is Init Display First AGP/PCI, right ?
What are your two boards, PCI or AGP ?

In fact the only way I know to use 2 monitors is to have a video card with 2 outputs and also able to display different things on each monitors. There are several able to to all this, such as mine, the RADEON 7500.

I think you will have to get rid of one of the 2 boards (don't know which is better...), keep us informed !

 

[Zino]

Actually, this is duable since windows 98 came out, unsure if 95 could handel it.

Well my problem was solved when i changed the start up order of the video devices/video cards. It was set up to agp/pci, so all i did was keep the irq sharing and change to pci/agp start up order.

For some odd reason when the agp card was starting first i couldnt start up the second device. This could be because the agp card(TNT diamondMM) cant handle starting up another device, or just how windows xp works with multiple devices. (unsure as to which like i said)

The two video cards support multiple devices setting, i found any diamondMM product suppors up to 3 devices, etc, etc, etc.

Products being used are a DiamondMM stealth II, and a Diamond TNT card.

Any how, i am now enjoying two video cards and two monitors on my pc and it rocks ! i use it mostly for work and not to play games on it...Any how, thanks for the responce back !

Julian.

 

[rodneyck]

It’s actually very doable, cause I currently have my system configured using two monitors or what Microsoft and others term Multi-Mon. It’s is quirky, depends on your setup, cards and motherboard. Here is what I did to get my setup to work.

I to received the code 10 on my second video card. My set-up is as follows;

Main card: AGP Nvidia Geforce3
Second card: PCI Nvidia Geforce2 MX-400

The first thing I would recommend is uninstalling all your video drivers, shut down and take out both cards from your motherboard. Re-install the PCI card, then boot up into your bios. It just depends on the motherboard, but there should be an option in your bios to boot into either AGP or PCI first. Try setting to PCI, then boot up, Windows XP will install the default driver which you can change afterwards. Then shut down and install the second card (AGP) and boot-up letting XP install drivers.

If this doesn’t work then try switching the bios to AGP first, then reboot. If this doesn’t work then start over taking out both cards and installing the AGP card first. It really is a matter of trial and error.

It also depends on the drivers. For some reason, both cards would only work with the WindowsXP default drivers, not the latest Nvidia drivers, until I set the PCI (second monitor) as the primary monitor in the Display>Properties>Settings>. Once I did that, I could install the latest drivers for my main card (AGP Geforce3) but never the PCI. It still uses the XP default drivers. If I try and install the latest, I get the Code 10 on the PCI. Strange, but I figure it’s either a Nvidia driver problem, maybe two cards from the same manufacturer or an XP quirk??? Who know.

When you do get it to work, I highly recommend an application called UltraMon. It adds some cool functionality with using two monitors, two different wallpapers, a task bar on the second monitor, etc. Here is the website, plus they also have helpful postings (forum) for people seeking help with dual monitors. Good luck..

http://www.realtimesoft.com/