Dual Monitor Cable

OneADay

I want to try to use dual monitors with Windows Vista installed and do not know which cable to try. Here is the setup.

PC has integrated graphics but I put a separate Sapphire Radeon X1550 graphic card in. This card has DVI output and VGA output but after switching off the onboard graphics output in the bios, the only way to get output is via the DVI port.

So I have a DVI to VGA adapter with VGA cable to monitor. All working but I have two monitors and I want to give this one final go and try to use dual monitors.

The monitors I have both have VGA ports and one has a DVI port too. So my question what cable do I need given the above issue with no VGA outpur?

spadoosh

http://www.fadbus.com/wholesale/high-quality-dell-molex-dvi-dms-59-to-2-vga-y-splitter-dual-vga.html
this should work.

Not sure on a uk supplier though

Bet maplins do em!

spadoosh

However not sure if it will recognise as two monitors or just one a duplicate the screen. dont know how that bit works!

OneADay

This is a headache :mad: - I am thinking of getting a new monitor but won't really know if I could have dual output. And I have two perfectly reasonabe monitors already (17inch and a 19inch with tv built in).

spadoosh

Playing with wires always is. I set up my man room with the tv, sky, xbox, surround sound, computer and modem all wired in beautifully to get a txt 2 days later off the missus saying she couldnt get sky planner to work in the living room so had taken my box to see if it would work (it didnt, the phone line wasnt plugged in, she didnt check this!). When i go to my pride and joy it was a tangle of wires with them either in the wrong place/ been bent twisted the pins / or just didnt bother to put them back in. Fuming to say the least. It was a long quiet evening for her.

Good luck with it. If you have a HDMI output on your graphics cards you should be able to go down the split screen route pretty easily?!?

Leo2020

OneADay wrote: »

PC has integrated graphics but I put a separate Sapphire Radeon X1550 graphic card in. This card has DVI output and VGA output but after switching off the onboard graphics output in the bios, the only way to get output is via the DVI port.

Just to clarify so I understand the problem, could you get an output from the VGA and DVI ports on your graphics card before you switched off your onboard graphics?

You shouldn't need to switch off the onboard graphics card anyway. Your PC should just pick up the AGP graphics card (quick google only brings up an AGP version of the X1550, so I assuming that's what it is) without needing to switch off the onboard one in the BIOS.

fwor

Have you installed specific drivers for the Radeon card, or is it just running on standard Windows default drivers?

I've found in the past that you can only enable the second output on some cards by using the manufacturer's own drivers.

OneADay

Leo2020 wrote: »

Just to clarify so I understand the problem, could you get an output from the VGA and DVI ports on your graphics card before you switched off your onboard graphics?

You shouldn't need to switch off the onboard graphics card anyway. Your PC should just pick up the AGP graphics card (quick google only brings up an AGP version of the X1550, so I assuming that's what it is) without needing to switch off the onboard one in the BIOS.

I only get output via the DVI output - I have tried setting bios to Auto and also to Onboard PCI Graphics (so tried both settings). The VGA output has never worked after I stuck the graphic card in.

fwor wrote: »

Have you installed specific drivers for the Radeon card, or is it just running on standard Windows default drivers?

I've found in the past that you can only enable the second output on some cards by using the manufacturer's own drivers.

Its running the Windows supplied drivers but I recall when I first got this graphic card, I installed everything from the CD. The windows drivers seem to be the latest versions available for this card.

Spank

The drivers you get on the CD are usually older (& the 1's you get via windows update), it's better to go to ATI's site & get the latest driver for your card/OS

robmar0se

I recently set up dual monitors for a client with an HP PC, didn't need to change any BIOS settings, just plugged one into the mobo vga port, and the other into the graphics port (using vga to dvi adapter), then just used the display settings advanced to set up two monitors. Cables shouldn't be an issue.

Hope I haven't missed something here...........

Leo2020

OneADay wrote: »

I only get output via the DVI output - I have tried setting bios to Auto and also to Onboard PCI Graphics (so tried both settings). The VGA output has never worked after I stuck the graphic card in.

If the VGA has never worked on the X1550 why did you not send it back for a replacement? Might be a bit late now depending on how old it is but it's something to think about.

Both the DVI and VGA on your X1550 should output at the same time. It should be just a case of plugging both your monitors in to the X1550 and going to (if I remember right from Vista):

Control Panel>Appearance and Personalisation>Display>Adjust Screen Resolution. In here are settings which allow you to extend your display onto two screens.

I have heard that you can also use the onboard VGA and your graphics card at the same time, but sometimes you need to change settings. This is something I have never done so I can't advise. I have always just connected up two monitors to the my graphics card.