CrazyChihuahua

Hey folks. For a while it would be that whenever I started my computer, it would start at a resolution of about 800x600 until the ATI Catalyst Control Center started up and my graphics settings kicked in, setting it to the correct resolution and other 3D settings and such.

Today, I hooked up a second monitor (because my video card can and I had a monitor sitting around) and things have been good and bad. I like what I can do with it, but I am having a few problems. Namely, whenever I start up the PC now, the second monitor does not stay on with the first (but it has the same load screens and such, it just stays dark when I get to the desktop). A program I have on startup to enable a taskbar on the second monitor claims that the PC does not support dual monitors. When the ATI CCC starts up, it does not revert to my original settings, but rather has fresh settings. I can then go into it and change the settings to get what I need.

I have now made a profile in the CCC with the settings I like for the moment (I am hoping the profile will load up all of my settings when I activate it each time, not sure, haven't used it before), but I am hoping I can get this fixed. I can handle setting it back each time, but the problem is that I have occasional PC freezes (not in games, only on desktop) so this could get annoying. This is also a (somewhat) family computer, and it would be even more of a hassle for others.

If it's a hardware problem, I don't really have the money to update it at the moment, and I will either ditch the second monitor (before I get too attached ) and hope it goes back, or stick with it until I can get it fixed.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Oh, and I am using an ATI X1650 256mb card at the moment with the CCC version 7.3 driver. I had an older one (the one that came with the card) but I was having an minor issue with EQ2, so I finally decided to upgrade.

TheMatt

Hi,

What is happening is the card is outputting to both displays when being controlled by the BIOS, but when the driver is loaded and the card switches over to OS control, it turns off the monitor because the OS isn't configured to use it (basically the same is going on with with the resolution). You should be able to set up the secondary monitor, reboot, and have Windows load those settings when it boots back up and loads the ATI driver.

Does it not do this? If not, look for an option in the CCC. I haven't had too much experience with the CCC and ATI cards so I don't know if there is an option like that unfortunately.

CrazyChihuahua

Thanks for that response TheMatt.

I set the dual monitor settings in the CCC and saved my settings to a profile, and all seems to be well right now. Once the CCC starts up, my settings revert to what they should be. The only thing is that the taskbar starts on the right monitor on startup which is easy to change. Also, Firefox opens on the secondary window now (not IE though), but it is changed over with the click of a button. It's a bit of a nuisance, but nothing major.

TheMatt

Make sure that your left monitor is set to the primary monitor. Also, there might be a setting in the CCC that controls which applications open in which monitor.