Hi guys. Just wondering whether anyone has successfully configured dual monitor support in Windows 2000 where both monitors are connected to a SINGLE video card. I purchased the Asus V7100 video card a couple of months ago because it has the TwinView dual monitor support feature, but I've only been able to successfully activate TwinView in Windows 98, not Windows 2000. It won't let me configure my second monitor properly. I read somewhere recently that Windows 2000 currently doesn't support true dual monitor capability off of a single video card, unlike Windows 98. Is this true? Any feedback would be appreciated.
Rushman, I have the Gainward CardEXPERT GeForce 2 MX400 card running on my Windows 2000. It is very similar to the Asus that you have and the only reason I went with the Gainward card instead is that the memory it uses is slightly faster than the one that Asus has. I got it less than 2 month ago and in general it works fine on my Windows 2K system. I had some problems configuring TwinView, but once I got it configured it worked more or less steadily. I am using the "Horizontal Span" option, and the the only feature that I find extremely annoying is that any dialog box that that you computer generates appears in the center of your spanned desktop, which means that have of it is on your left monitor and the other half is on your right monitor. If anyone know how to fix that please let me know. One suggestion that I have for you, is try upgrading to the latest version (v12.41) of Nvidia reference drivers, here is the link to get the latest version for Win 2K - http://www.nvidia.com/docs/lo/534/SUPP/12.41-W2K.exe These drivers have an improved TwinView interface which helped me a bit. Best of luck, IRAF
Thanks for the help, guys. Earlier today I downloaded the latest Nvidia detonator drivers, and they successfully activated the TwinView feature in Windows 2000 for me. I see what you mean about that annoying feature of horizontal span. Do you notice that this does NOT happen when TwinView is activated in Windows 98? In Windows 98 the screen resolution stays at 1024 x 768 for each monitor seperately, meaning that when a window is maximized it only covers ONE of the two monitors. In Windows 2000, however, the resolution automatically sets at 2048 x 768, and there doesn't seem to be a way to manually overide that without disabling the second monitor. This means that when a window is maximized, it covers BOTH monitors, and this is very frustrating. The only partial workaround that I've found is to resize the windows by clicking and dragging, rather than by maximizing. This takes time. One final thing: when I downloaded and installed the latest Nvidia detonator drivers for Windows 98 (I have both OS installed and can switch at startup), they DISABLED TwinView in Windows 98! I was forced to reinstall the Asus drivers that came with the card. Thus, ironically, the situation for me is that in order to have TwinView in Windows 98,I must NOT have the detonator drivers installed, while to have TwinView in Windows 2000, I MUST have them installed. Wierd, eh? Oh well, guess I can't complain. I finally have TwinView activated at least to a certain extent in Windows 2000, which is what I was aiming for.
I have the Matrox G450 (AGP) on a W2K sys. i am happy with it for the price, and it will do 1152x864 which i like on my 19's. (actually i guess it is 2304x864) and with the 450 you can maximize either to one monitor or across both. but there are a couple little quirks: one is that there frequently is no icon in the task bar for a program which I know to be running and the settings are somewhat confusing and 'trial-and-error' is required to change setings. before the Matrox, I tried ATI's dual head AGP card - a real nightmare- could not even boot the PC, returned the card and tried another, same result
roger2 I have two Matrox G450 PCI cards. I do not know how to maximize only to one monitor as you describe. Can you tell me how. I usually size the window on the montior I want it to be on then if I hit mazimize it spreads across both monitors. It does this in Win2K. It did not do this in Win98SE for reasons already discussed. Thanks.
Wire, sounds like yours is operating differently than mine with my G450 (AGP), in order to maximize across both monitors i must hold the shift key while clicking the maximize button if i simply click the maximize button alone it maximizes to whichever monitor the window is in at the time sorry i couldn't be more help as I said before, i am happy with this card for the money, and the picture quality is pretty good, but its operation is a little quirky/buggy FWIW, if money wasn't an issue i would go with Appian
I guess the AGP card must be a little different than the PCI card. I know the PCI is about $40.00 cheaper. I think I paid $89.00 for the last one I bought. Thanks for the info.
i'm currently running 2 monitors off ME with two vga cards.... i have read that multi ,>2, monitor capability is possible. Essentially, plug in 2 matrox dualhead cards and then you can connect 4 monitors to one PC - any one tried this? Reason I ask is that I've tried using an extra PC with ethernet and shared Internet connection and the main 'danger' is the hitting the wrong keyboard issue! Could be embarrassing with hot keys etc... any experience with 3 or more monitors off one PC? thanks coops
coops Yes I am running Win2k right now with a Matrox Marvel G450 dualhead AGP card and 2 G450 dualhead PCI cards. I am planning on adding two more G450 dualhead PCI cards. The only limit that I know of is the number of PCI slots in your motherboard. I have an ASUS P3V4X. I know nothing about ME, but I think you can do it also. I believe even Win98SE supported up to 8 monitors. Good luck.