Lost my expanded desktop on second monitor.

Running an aging Dell XPS Gen 4 with a NVIDIA GeoForce 6800 Graphics card. I had been running 2 monitors, a 22" Samsung and a 17" Dell LCD Monitor as an expanded Desktop. Turned on the system today and the second monitor is now no longer a expanded desktop, it is a mirror of the primary monitor. All of my display settings were tweaked and my shortcuts all jumbled.

What might be my problem? :confused

 

Oh and I unplugged the monitors, shut down, restarted a few times, yet the second monitor does not show up as an option.

 

"does not show up as an option" What program are you using to do this? control panel display settings? or a 3rd party app (ie a Nvidia utility) I'm not sure if you asking how to re setup your dual display, or trying to figure out if there is a problem with your monitors or video card.


If you think its a hardware issue:
To trouble shoot: unplug both monitors. Plug one in to the video card, start the computer. Shut off the computer and plug and switch the cable to the other port on the video card. Start the computer. Did you get a picture on both ports? if so, your video card is just fine. Repeat the above steps with your secondary monitor. You should get a picture on either port.

 

I was using just the built in control panel setting in XP. Will try your suggestions now. Thanx very much.

 

not a problem- let us know how it goes.

 

Well I restarted the system 4 times, each time isolating the monitors, 2 together, 17" by itself, 22" by itself and then added the 17" again and the expanded desktop and shortcut placement/arraignment was restored. I had thought I had done this before I posted, but I must not have gotten the monitors isolated properly. Dunno what caused it but I think it is now fixed.

Thanx for the post, it helped me get my head straight.

 

not a problem.

 

Arrggh, spoke too soon. Expanded desktop again failed on a restart. I ran CCleaner and upon my restart the 2 monitors again were mirrored. I noticed this time under the display properties that the NVidia controls were absent. What are the chances my video card is going bad?

 

if both monitors show a picture- all your hardware/setup is okay. I just realized you said that in the first post- sorry to make you unplug everything. Are you using windows controls or the Nvidia controls? I personal use windows controls. Control Panel ---> Personalize ----> Display settings.

 

I usually use the Nvidia controls that appear embedded with the standard Display controls. But when the monitors drop into mirrored mode the Nvidia controls go AWOL. I cannot pin down anything that seemed to cause this issue, just restarted the system and BAM, second monitor suddenly clones the primary. I am thinking that my video card must be going bad. What do you think?

 

I really doubt its the video card. The cloned/extended desktop is not a feature of the card itself, but of the software (Windows and/or your Nvidia control Panel.) I suspect a bug of some sort in the Nvidia control panel. I would stop using it and use the display manager built into windows Control Panel ---> Personalize ----> Display settings. Once you get in there, its pretty self explanatory. Alternatively, you could check for updates to the Nvidia control panel. I personally use windows for my dual monitor settings- adding third party applications increases the liklihood of problems and uses more system resources.

 

OK so driver might be unstable and a new program just knocked it's socks off. I d/l the newest driver and reset the monitors again. It seems the expanded desktop controls are in the XP panel and not in the Nvidia controls which have other things to tweak. I'm hoping the new driver solves the issue, it sure it a pain to have to reset. Thanx for the advice. You sir are a gentleman and a scholar.

 

I aim to please, best of luck.

-gimpster123

 

So this might be a cause of this issue. My last AVG scan last night turned up some trojans installed. Perhaps this is what is causing this issue. So far it has not, but I do believe I have some cleaning to do.

 

Majorgeek's com Read and Run me First Malware Removal Procedure