Is the other card you're currently running an NVS 280? If your two cards are different, no guarantee they will work properly together.
Aha! No, they're not both NVS 280. The other is a GeForce FX5200. The NVS is AGP and the FX5200 is PCI. That might also be the problem. I just got finished trying the 280 again. Same issue. I can get into the properties but when I click the Advanced tab...screen goes blank. The good news is that the PC was completely silent so the Ti4200 is definitely cranking heat. After re-reading the thread again, I removed the floppy drive to create more space in the case. It also added a small opening on the front - more air flow. Left one of the PCI slot covers off. Removed the fan...again...and cleaned the crap out of it. Also air dusted everything I could inside the case. I might have screwed up by using WD-40 on the fan but I really dried up all the excess the best I could. Closed the case and can barely hear anything now and that's with the Ti4200 back in. So now my question is...what SHOULD I be using to "oil" the fan going forward? Or is that a bad idea? Thanks again...V.
I wouldn't worry about the WD-40 on the fan. If it fails one day, just replace the fan. As for your video cards, seems they really should work together without problems.... but they do have different drivers. You should try to get a 280 PCI card or get an AGP FX5200... that card came in many iterations. And of course, you shouldn't have 2 video card drivers installed...even if they are both Nvidia's.
Thanks man. WD-40's like the duct tape of lubricants. Didn't think about getting two of the same card in both AGP and PCI - great idea! I'm really going to show my ignorance here but you wrote that I shouldn't have two different drivers installed. When I added the second card, it ran the wizard and installed those drivers as well. I just figured that's how it's supposed to work. When I go into the Nvidia Media Center, it shows both cards separately by name and each can be adjusted independently, so I just assumed that two drivers are installed and functioning properly. Am I totally off here? Technically, right now on my system, there would be 3 sets of drivers that had been installed at one time...the Ti4200, NVS 280 and the FX 5200. I never had more than one card with two monitors so I'm venturing into uncharted waters here. Am I supposed to uninstall or something? Also, what would you recommend...(2) NVS 280s or (2) FX 5200s? Man, I thought I knew a lot about PCs...feel like a tard. Thanks again!
I've used ATI, Matrox and NVS in trading setups over the years... I'm currently using NVS... for performance and price, they're probably the best. You can sometimes get different models of cards or even different makers of cards to work together, but no way to tell in advance... trial and error... of have someone on ET mention which combos they've used. If you're tying different models/maker's cards, you still want to install only one video driver... let the OS's library of drivers handle the other, if it will. And sometimes you CAN install 2 different drivers for different cards.... even that works sometimes... but not usually... and it can cause SEVERE problems... so I don't think it's worth the risk... unless you're willing to reinstall the OS if it fails. If I recall correctly, the Ti4200 is the oldest model... and I don't know if it ever was available in a PCI config. FX5200 and NVS 280 are also old, but both came in AGP and PCI variants.... It's almost always better if both video cards run from the same driver. (Lots of makers had their version of FX5200... you want to run 2 of the same brand and model... different makers usually had slightly different driver.) Suggest you try NVS 280s. They work great and no fans... 1600x1200 is max res in DVI, if I recall.
We're surrounded by EMR all day long, everywhere we go. What source are you referring to inside the box?