Dual monitor wont' detect

[Metspitzer]

Watch this:
The boot comes up on the second display and the desktop comes up on
main display. Win7 doesn't detect the second monitor.

It has been working with these two monitors fine until today.
I unplugged the second monitor to use with a spare machine and now it
doesn't work with the main machine.

 

[BillW50]

Watch this:
The boot comes up on the second display and the desktop comes up on
main display. Win7 doesn't detect the second monitor.

It has been working with these two monitors fine until today.
I unplugged the second monitor to use with a spare machine and now it
doesn't work with the main machine.

The BIOS uses whatever it is told to use (what happens when you first
turn on your computer). Windows (once it is to the desktop) uses
whatever the last time it was told to use. The only exception I know
with Windows is that it will try to be smart and if the last thing isn't
there, it will try something else. I am not sure, but a BIOS if it is
smart enough might do the same. Your option is to change the settings.

 

[Metspitzer]

The BIOS uses whatever it is told to use (what happens when you first
turn on your computer). Windows (once it is to the desktop) uses
whatever the last time it was told to use. The only exception I know
with Windows is that it will try to be smart and if the last thing isn't
there, it will try something else. I am not sure, but a BIOS if it is
smart enough might do the same. Your option is to change the settings.

I went into the bios looking for some display settings. Although I
didn't change anything, it is working now.

Thanks

BTW when I went into the bios, both monitors were displaying the bios

 

[BillW50]

I went into the bios looking for some display settings. Although I
didn't change anything, it is working now.

Thanks

BTW when I went into the bios, both monitors were displaying the bios

Oh that sounds like the BIOS reset the display settings. Glad to hear it
worked.

 

[Rob]

Oh that sounds like the BIOS reset the display settings. Glad to hear it
worked.

BS no it does not.

 

[BillW50]

BS no it does not.

Sure it does. If nothing appears on the screen (in this case not the
right screen) and you know the key to enter the BIOS, some BIOS will
turn on (reset) all displays. Why, do you know differently? If so, why
did it work?

 

[Paul]

BS no it does not.

You can review the procedure for setting up multiple monitors here.

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20078955-285/how-to-set-up-dual-monitors-in-windows-7/#!

On a laptop, it might involve some function of the F5 key, to toggle from
one mode to another (internal, external, internal+external etc). Maybe Fn + F5.
I don't know if it's guaranteed to work that way on a desktop.

Paul

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I went into the bios looking for some display settings. Although I
didn't change anything, it is working now.

Thanks

BTW when I went into the bios, both monitors were displaying the bios

Rebooting can make the system recognize the new configuration. It might
be that when you unplugged the cable and plugged it back in later, you
didn't reboot (restart) the computer, but naturally, you had to reboot
to get into the BIOS.

This is speculation, of course.

 

[Metspitzer]

Rebooting can make the system recognize the new configuration. It might
be that when you unplugged the cable and plugged it back in later, you
didn't reboot (restart) the computer, but naturally, you had to reboot
to get into the BIOS.

This is speculation, of course.

I have no idea either, but I had rebooted more than once and I could
not get Win7 to detect the second monitor. That is why I filmed it.
Rebooting caused the bios splash screen to show up on the second
monitor, but then the desktop came up on the main monitor.

I tried booting with the second monitor connected and tried to connect
it after the boot. It did make a "new device" sound when I plugged it
in, but nothing else interesting happened.

I have no idea why entering the bios fixed it, but it did seem to.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I have no idea either, but I had rebooted more than once and I could
not get Win7 to detect the second monitor. That is why I filmed it.
Rebooting caused the bios splash screen to show up on the second
monitor, but then the desktop came up on the main monitor.

I tried booting with the second monitor connected and tried to connect
it after the boot. It did make a "new device" sound when I plugged it
in, but nothing else interesting happened.

I have no idea why entering the bios fixed it, but it did seem to.

Just another mystery, probably. I wish I knew more...

I recently got a cheap Dell computer to try to set up a (cheap) media
center, and I added a PCI video card for better video performance. I set
it up for the Windows screens to come up on the PCI video, but the POST
splash screen and the BIOS setup screen would only come up on the
motherboard video. That's a bit awkward.

A week ago I installed the latest BIOS update, and now the splash screen
comes up on the PCI video. Much more useable!