|
Post Reply
Nite 2002-05-09 20:02
Hi. As some of you may know, I have been trying to get a thrid monitor to work on WinXP. This far, the problem has been with not having a XP-compatible adapter. Now I have, but new problems arise.
My current list of adapters:
Primary, no problems what so ever:
-Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 Ultra, WinXP 28.32 Detonators
-No WinXP Drivers:
--Hercules Dynamite128/Video
--Hercules Stingray128/3D
-Works, but only as secondary:
--ATI Graphics Pro Mach64 GX 2Mb
--ATI Graphics Pro Mach64 GX 2Mb
--S3 ViRGE/DX 375 2Mb
-Works, both as secondary & third, but problems:
--Matrox Graphics Millennium PCI 4Mb (MGA-1064W)
--Matrox Graphics Millennium PCI 2Mb (MGA-2064W)
Most of the time I get "IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" Blue Screens when trying to get the ATIs or the S3 as secondary and either of the Matrox' as third. When using only the two Matrox cards as secondary & third, everything "works fine", but the third monitor displays only what one would call as "garbage" and the second soemthing is moved (mouse pointer is enough) onto the third monitor, the system hangs and/or crashes and reboots.
Every one of them (except the ones with no drivers) work flawlessy as secondary adapters.
Someone who has three monitors AND adapters on WinXP... please tell me how to get it to work!
I was in the belief that two Matrox's should work fine, but alas, the garbage thing is there. Is there something I have missed?
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
Nite 2002-05-09 20:06
Sorry, typo. The first Matrox is MGA-1164SG, Adapter string in Display Properties shows "Mystique 220".
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
Nite 2002-05-09 21:43
Okay, after disabling "Write combining" in the display properties -> troubleshooting, I've got a stable system once again, the third monitor is enabled and working... BUT, with an screen-update speed of a sick slug. I can really see the redrawing process. And moving the mousepointer around leaves garbage on the image until it is redrawn. Why is it this *SLOW*?
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
Nite 2002-05-10 03:31
The problems are getting freakier each moment. I downloaded and installed new drivers straight from www.matrox.com. Version 5.82, driver for both cards, Mystique 220 and Millennium. EVerything went fine. AFter a reboot, Device manager show all cards are working nicely, but there is no third monitor in display properties? WTF, where did it go? And how do I get windows to notice that since there is three adapters, there should be three monitors also.
sheeesh! Soon I'm gonna sell my computer and start making sand castles. ;)
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
Nite 2002-05-14 07:07
OK. Now it's getting weird. I removed the GeForce and tried to get two PCI adapters together - no luck. I tried a bit of combinations:
Millennium/Mystique (both primary/secondary)
S3 ViRGE/Mystique
S3 ViRGE/Millennium
Trio32/Mystique
Trio32/Millennium
ATI Mach64GX/Millennium
ATI Mach64GX/Mystique
None of these worked. So I plugged the GF2 back to the AGP slot. As the Matrox cards support operation without being initialized by the BIOS, I set the AGP card as primary in BIOS and booted.
*bang* it didn't work!? Rebooted, changed PCI to primary and then everything worked fine. Tested with a couple of configurations for *MANY* times and then I came to a conclusion, that it is the secondary PCI adapter that is giving all the errors. Everything works fine as long as the PCI adapter is the primary in BIOS. If another PCI adapter is installed the problems arise. I have seen the "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" literally hunders of times.
And I don't even know what that means ;)
I did get two PCI display adapter working together with Win98 awhile back, but somehow WinXP doesn't like them at all.
Anybody got any ideas *why*?
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
James 2002-05-19 07:58
Nite
I noticed the same problems under XP.
Solution:
purchase 1 x GF2MX Twinview AGP and 1 x GF2MX PCI and set the PCI to the primary in the BIOS ;)
Then you just need to solve that spanning problem in XP :(
Cheers
James
|
Nite 2002-05-19 16:28
Not gonna swap my GF2 ultra to GF2MX :)
I have been hunting for a GF2MX Twinview PCI card for awhile (at least ELSA and Inno3D had those) now, but they are deviously hard to find.
But I'll think I'll skip that part, and wait for the Matrox Parhelia-512 based cards to arrive at the market and get one of those.
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
James 2002-05-19 21:13
Yep, i agree
The Matrox Parhelia-512 looks like a good solution.
The only problem i can see with the Matrox based cards from the initial spec is that you can only have 3 monitors as a stretched desktop not 3 individual desktops.
But then again, that's what i was trying to achieve with my GeForce2MX cards.
Cheers
James
|
widefault 2002-05-20 13:23
I've got a 4 monitor setup, 3 adapters. Have a 14" Dell LCD and a 4" video LCD running off an ATI AIW Radeon 8500DV, a 17" Viewsonic on a Matrox G200, and a 12" LCD on another G200. Had the same kind of screen garbage when I tried to use Millenium I and Millenium II cards, all that went away with the G200's.
Now, the G200's are getting tough to find, but have you considered a Matrox G450 PCI? I ran one of those for a little while, worked just fine except for some issues with the AIW cards.
See my LCD setups
|
Nite 2002-05-20 17:30
a G450? yes, I would very much like to have one, too bad they cost way too much for my wallet :( the Millennium/Mystique cards go with under $10 and the G450 is somewhere between $120 and $160.
I'll save as much as I can and in the end sell my left arm and by a Parhelia-512 ;P
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
|
Post Reply
|
