Dual monitors--how?!?

On Windows XP

[photon]

At work I briefly had the use of a 22" "wide screen" monitor that lasted about a week before it broke. Now I'm stuck with a 17", which doesn't even come close. So what I'd like to do is add another 17" to my desktop, running it off the same PC.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a bigger deal than I thought it would be. I've run through various combinations of seven different video cards, but never could get the second monitor up and running. I kept getting an error code 10 on the second card.

I found Knowledge Base article #307397 at Microsoft (http*//support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307397). It gives a list of video cards that are "supported natively in Windows XP as secondary display adapters or Dualview adapters". Now, does that mean that any one of those cards can be used with whatever my primary card is (a Radeon 7200 series)? Or do both cards in my machine have to be on that list?

And, are there any dualhead cards that offer two VGA outputs? Why do most dualhead cards offer one VGA and one TV-oriented (S-video, etc) output? Do that many people run a TV off of their computer?!? But I digress... See Brett, it doesn't just happen in threads; sometimes it happens in a single message ;)

I'm investing my own money for a work machine, so I want to do this as cheaply as possible, which hopefully means buying just one card to add on.

Thanks for your help. This is making me nuts.

[Macro]

I'd drop the two card idea. This is very simply achieved with one dual head card (and it'll work out a lot cheaper too).

Ditch the cards you've got, get a new dual head card and you'll soon be laughing. Most dual head cards can clone the first screen to the 2nd ... or just give you an extended desktop. Most dual head card don't give you a d-sub and a TV out (those are "TV Out" cards and typically have "TV Out" or VIVO in their specs and will give you one S-Video output to plug into a TV).

A typical dual head card will have two d-sub (analogue/SVGA) or one d-sub and one DVI. You could always get a DVI to d-sub adapter if you need two d-sub outputs, and in fact some cards come with a free adaptor. Dual head Geforce 5200s sell for about £35 - 40 (circa $70). There are cheaper ones about.

[photon]

Macro--

Thanks for the information. I looked up the GeForce 5200 at PNY and the specs says it has VGA and S-video outputs. I'm having trouble finding your "typical" dual head card; it seems all of them I can find have S-video as the second output.

[Macro]

UK, US or elsewhere?

[Macro]

Ah your profile says US.

OK try this: [pcworld.pricegrabber.com...]

Full specs of that product here:
[web6.scan.co.uk...]

[Drastic]

Everything you need to know about multiple monitors, and then some.

[realtimesoft.com...]

Look in the database for which different cards play well together.

[Chndru]

Let's see how froogle matches up the price grabber.

[froogle.google.com...]

[google.com...]

i have no idea what these dual cards are. so over to you

[Macro]

Chandru, good idea. We could drop the PCI and DDR and TV and Out in the search but Froggle is a good idea :-)

[photon]

Thanks for the quick response. The output specs seem to depend on which web site I look at, assuming they're listed at all (you'd think dual displays would be a selling point, but apparently, not so much). I'll check the usual brick & mortar stores around here.

Thanks again.

Still courious about the Knowledge Base article and whether only the secondary card has to be on that list.

[Macguru]

>>Let's see how froogle matches up the price grabber.

<!-- getting a padlock handy -->

Any following post with a word ending by "oogle" in it, will get a 100 $ fine. :)

This thing has been oozing out of a lot of peoples ears lately...

The WebmasterWorld.com water cooler for internet topics that do not belong in another forum.

Lets keep foo a "oogle" free zone untill (at least) next year, OK?

[Macro]

you'd think dual displays would be a selling point

But it's known by several names including dual display, dual head, hydra-vision and so on. Customers may be familiar with one or the other .... so retailers leave them all out sometimes to avoid confusion! :-)

[photon]

True enough, but even a description of the ports is lacking in a surprisingly large number merchant blurbs. And it's not so easy even to find it on the manufacturers's sites.

[Mardi_Gras]

Could you do this with XP, on board video, and a vido card?

[Chndru]

LOL..
Ok, Macguru. *-oogle free*

[photon]

Got the GeForce FX 5200, got in my box, and both monitors are up and running!

Macro, thanks for your help. Drastic, thanks for the link.

[photon]

Rats! Now I'm going to want a second monitor at home.