Using 2 monitors.

[CaseyV9]

I'm not sure if this is that good an idea but I'm hooking up 2 monitors of 2 different resoulutions on my PC.

The main one, a Samsung SM932MW with the res at 1440 x 900 and my old Philips monitor set at 1280 x 1024.

With a bit of tinkering with the ATI control center I can get them looking great. This is great for multitasking.

Problem is, I always shut down my PC when I go out.
When I boot up both screens look fine as it POSTs in BIOS. By the time I'm at Vista's password screen, only the Samsung is on and a good third of the screen is of screen.

So I log in and eventually ATI control center starts. But everything like the colour and contrast settings on both screens are off and I have to set things up all over again.

All this despite saving profiles and loading them again.

Is there a solution to this? I hope so. As I plan on replacing my old philips TFT for a recomended gaming monitor with the res set at 1,680 x 1,050.

[Fraz]

Surely you don't need to use the ATI control centre to do this? I don't have Vista, but you can do all the dual monitor setup in the standard display settings GUI in XP. Same goes with OS X and any one of the various Linux distros I've used - the OS should be able to sort this for you, without some third-party GUI being used.

[FifthFreedom]

I ran different sized monitors for years and never had those issues.

I think your problem is elsewhere... Try contacting the ATi support maybe...

EDIT: If you want accurate control over your monitors, you'll need some 3rd party app installed.

CCC is as good as any...

[staffsMike]

Fraz has got the right idea. You need to go into display settings in windows and set the dual display up that way.

Then just use ATi centre to fiddle with colours etc.. if you need to. That's how I have always done it

[kmac]

Yep using two monitors (with XP) and both are controlled/set-up in the OS (Display properties/settings)

[Betty_Swallocks]

I initially found when using dual screens that running games on the primary would screw up the display on the secondary. The way round that is to make the right hand monitor the primary.

[DavidM]

On a related issue - I often have problems with the ATI software - as one of my windows doesn't automatically resize to max width - I have to do this manually....

Twin monitors is useful - specially if one is set for 90 landscape and one to portrait view.

[TAKTAK]

I'm not sure if THIS is any good to you.....

[DavidM]

Certainly worth a try

[s_kinton]

DisplayFusion is supposed to be pretty good for this type of thing and its free!

DisplayFusion : Binary Fortress Software

[Noxvayl]

I just use Vista display options for my dual monitor setup and it works perfectly. I have 1680x1050 and 1280x1024 sized screens in dual configuration.

[s_kinton]

I just use Vista display options for my dual monitor setup and it works perfectly. I have 1680x1050 and 1280x1024 sized screens in dual configuration.

Are they cloned or set up as an extended desktop?

[CaseyV9]

Thanks all.

The very first time I plugged in the second monitor they were both on and looking okay. They were just showing the exact same picture as I moved my mouse around.

Last night I got back from work and fired up my PC. Again, the second screen was blank. I went to Vista's display settings. It just would turn on my monitor correctly. Just a black screen.

And my main monitor wasn't postioned correctly.

I went to ATI Control center and eventually got the monitor to display again by using a profile I had set the last time. Although, it does seem that the colour options I saved seemed to be saved.

This weekend, when I have time I'll try and set the up the pictures again and save it to the profile.
But it still looks like I'll have to keep going into ATI's control panel every time I boot up.

It also says that the Stretch mode across 2 screens doesn't work with Vista.

If I still get trouble with it this weekend I'll try those apps.

Thanks.

[Noxvayl]

Are they cloned or set up as an extended desktop?

Extended desktop.

EDIT: Settings are as simple as 3 checked boxes>

[FifthFreedom]

Are there any GFX cards with 3 Monitor ports?

I want three monitors on my PC but I'd have to use another GFX card...

[TheReaFireblade]

Are there any GFX cards with 3 Monitor ports?

Nope.
Well, there is the Matrox DualHead2Go or TripleHead2Go. But a second graphics card would be a lot cheaper