I cant get my desktop to extend to my second monitor. I have it all set up right in the display settings, according to all the sites I have been to, but it still doesnt work. Both monitors work during startup, until windows fully loads. It shows the POST and then the screen that shows the windows bar loading, but as soon as the computer begins to log into windows, the second monitor goes into power save mode. I have tried using both the windows display adjustments and the ATI control center to make these changes, but neither have worked.

I only have 2 monitors connected, but three are showing up in my device manager. When I unplug my second monitor, it goes down to one, so this probably has something to do with it.

I had it working with the vista beta for about 3 weeks before it just stopped working, back in october.

Here are my system specs:
Windows Vista Home Premium
ATI x1900xtx - newest drivers
Main monitor - Sony SDM-HS95P - LCD
Secondary Monitor - Sony HMD-A240 - CRT
AMD 4800+ X2
2 gb ram

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? I think it has to be a conflict somewhere, but cant seem to work it out. Thanks.

3/18/2007 12:13:45 PM

Are you using ultramon?

3/18/2007 12:19:39 PM

no, should I be?

[Edited on March 18, 2007 at 12:26 PM. Reason : ?]

3/18/2007 12:26:35 PM

just downloaded ultramon and havent had any new success with it. I also plugged the working monitor into the secondary dvi port and it worked, so its not that.

3/18/2007 12:49:06 PM

format and reinstall

3/18/2007 12:52:30 PM

I actually formatted last night and it didnt change anything.

3/18/2007 12:55:26 PM

It's bound to be a driver configuration issue. I'm not familar enough with the ATI driver software to walk you through it. There's bound to be an ATI centered dual monitor setup tutorial out there that google can find.

3/18/2007 1:21:23 PM

ok, I'll check for that. Thanks.

I just got the correct monitor drivers installed and my crt is showing up twice in device manager. The crt is connected to the video card using an analog to dvi connector.

3/18/2007 1:24:58 PM

Windows isn't identifying your monitors, apparently. Does anything show up when you go to the device list under control panel --> system --> devices (I think that's the sequence)?

3/18/2007 1:25:18 PM

yeah, it was just showing up as "generic PnP monitor" for both of them until I went to Sony's website and got the drivers and manually installed them. Now it shows up correctly for both monitors, but the problems is that the device manager is showing 3 monitors instead of two. It shows like this:

HMD-A240
HMD-A240
SDM-HS95P DVI-D

Every time I try to uninstall on of the A240's and restart, it just comes back up again.

3/18/2007 1:55:04 PM

Disconnect one of the monitors and let vista boot up. Then while it's running, connect the second one and turn it on and see if it recognizes it. I'm running duals in Vista with an ATI card without any problems. If that doesn't work, see if you can use older drivers to rectify.

3/18/2007 2:13:35 PM

^ok, so I just tried that, and it looked like it was going to work. When I hooked up the second monitor, it loaded into device manager and there were only 2 monitors showing. As soon as I went to extend the desktop to that monitor, device manager registered the 3rd monitor again, and nothing showed up on it.

3/18/2007 2:22:08 PM

I had this same issue on a friends computer.

Look in the device manager and see which video card is being used (i.e. your card or the integrated shit on your mobo). I think you have to disable the integrated stuff if i remember correctly, then reboot. you may have to disable that extra monitor youre not using. After that, you should be able to set it up correctly in the Display properties

[Edited on March 18, 2007 at 2:33 PM. Reason : .]

3/18/2007 2:31:44 PM

my mobo doesnt have integrated video on it. I have the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe. Could it be something with the ATI crossfire chip?

3/18/2007 2:59:09 PM

Ah are you connecting one monitor to each video card? If so that's your problem. I've heard a few people have troubles doing that. Use the dual output on your primary card for your multiple window setup.

3/18/2007 4:06:07 PM

I only have one video card. I just didnt know if the crossfire chip might be causing some problem. Figured it was not likely, but worth mentioning. I have submitted a question to ATI so hopefully I can get an official answer this week. I appreciate the help from you guys though, so if you can think of anything else, please let me know.

3/18/2007 4:22:28 PM

Is Vista registering a default monitor as well as the the "real" two that you have physically connected? You keep bringing up the issue of three monitors when you only have two connected. Bet Vista is sending info to the phantom monitor.

Try to isolate the third monitor and disable it.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how to do this in Vista and from the limited introduction to Vista (by way of my roommate's new laptop) that I have, I refuse to install it/use/learn anything about it until the majority starts using it.

[Edited on March 18, 2007 at 5:29 PM. Reason : ']

3/18/2007 5:27:55 PM

^awesome, thanks. After more tinkering with the ati control center, it looks like my computer was trying to output the secondary output to my primary screen. I figured out how to switch it, and the screen fired right up.

Thanks to everyone for responding and helping me to work my way through the possible problems!

3/18/2007 6:30:15 PM