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Joe Studer 2003-10-03 02:13
I am running a triple LCD monitor setup currently using an nVidia GeForce FX5200 (AGP) (1 LCD from VGA port and 1 LCD from DVI port) and an ATI Radeon 7500 (PCI) (1 LCD from DVI port). I am running WinXP Pro on a Dell Dimension 8300.
These cards generally work together pretty well, but occasionally, when booting the computer for the first time for the day, the monitor I have designated my primary monitor (the DVI feed from the FX5200), is excluded.
It's odd, because the monitor works during the startup process, is active when I log on (this is my work system), but the monitor is inactive after Win XP fully loads. I can access the desktop properties and make everything fine again, but it is annoying (it takes probably a good minute out of my day!!).
This does not happen all the time, and does not seem to happen when I restart the system during the day -- just when I come in in the morning believing that I have gotten everything right the day before?
Does anyone have any thoughts?
Joe Studer
jcstuder@ameritech.net
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Joe Studer 2003-10-08 03:55
Although there are messages indicating that the nVidia and ATI cards can co-exist, I was beginning to attribute my occasional problems to some problem between the nVidia FX 5200 chip and the ATI Radeon 7500 chip. Perhaps some little problem (my thinking was prompted by several messages detailing issues with the PCI version of the Radeon 7500 card).
That, plus the fact that I wanted DVI output to all three of my LCD monitors, prompted me to buy 2 new video cards -- the ASUS V9520VS (the FX5200 chipset with two DVI outputs) and the Gainward GFFX5200 (for PCI bus). I figured that this would eliminate the problem.
I've not yet received the cards, but because of an issue I was having with Pivot Pro -- text in Word Documents was fuzzy when the monitor was rotated to the 1024 x 1280 mode -- I uninstalled PivotPro and activated the nVidea Media Center software.
Perhaps it is just karma (or the fact that I just paid $200 for new video cards), but my problem appears to be fixed. I have not had my middle monitor deactivate for 3 days now.
Plus, the fuzziness problem I was having with Pivot Pro is not a problem now. The rotation feature of the nVidia Media Center software works really well. Plus, it works on both of the monitors that are driven by the nVidia card.
I'll probably keep the new cards -- so that all my monitors utilize the DVI output and have, hopefully, NO conflict issues, but I am also thinking that it will be cool to be able to rotate all 3 monitors.
Joe Studer
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ecarlson 2003-10-08 12:54
Good to hear you solved the problem. Maybe you should have just pretended to buy the new video cards, to trick the problem into getting solved. :-)
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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