My computer loses primary monitor

Hi,

Don't know if this is the right place for this problem, but here goes. For a couple of days now my computer has been losing it's primary monitor and only displays image on my TV. It started this saturday after I watched a movie on the TV with EVE Online running in the background. When the movie was over and I shut down VLC Player the computer locked up and I to reset it and reboot. And when it rebooted I no longer had a monitor installed, only the TV. I tried lots of differen things, I even uninstalled and reinstalled my graphics drivers and monitor drivers but my computer still believed there was no monitor connected. I ended up doing a system restore which fixed the problem. I watched another movie yesterday, again with EVE running in the background and the same thing happened again. Only this time doing a system restore didn't fix it although I did have a monitor again but it was set as secondary and the TV as primary. Switching them worked. The really weird part is this morning when I started the computer it was working fine, then I rebooted it after fiddling around with network settings trying to get my second computer online and when it booted up I again didn't have a primary monitor. This time I had not watched a movie but I had been running EVE earlier. Went to straight to doing a system restore and it didn't help. I rebooted in safe mode and tried lots of stuff I don't even remember anymore and nothing seemed to help. Rebooted again and all of a sudden I have my monitor back but the TV is gone. I haven't touched my display settings for fear of what might happen if I do and I don't know if I dare reboot either. I usually don't have any problem fixing my computer when it decides to do weird stuff but this has me stumped. Any ideas?

My computer:

--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 3, v.5657
Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13 (IE 7.0)
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Date / Time 2009-04-27 / 15:01

Motherboard:
CPU Type DualCore Intel Core 2 E8400, 3000 MHz (9 x 333)
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (3 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, 2 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Bearlake P35
System Memory 2048 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: Corsair XMS2 CM2X1024-6400C4 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-13 @ 270 MHz)
DIMM3: Corsair XMS2 CM2X1024-6400C4 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-13 @ 270 MHz)
BIOS Type Award Modular (10/29/07)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter GeForce 7950 GT (512 MB)
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT (512 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT
Monitor BenQ E2200HD DVI [NoDB] (K1901513026)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Realtek ALC885/889A @ Intel 82801IB ICH9 - High Definition Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) ICH9 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 - 2926
IDE Controller Intel(R) ICH9 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 2920
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Storage Controller SCSI/RAID Host Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive SAMSUNG HD103UJ (1000 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Disk Drive SAMSUNG HD300LJ (300 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical Drive TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:18x/8x, DVD-RW:18x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
Optical Drive ZW0277L SPO179G SCSI CdRom Device
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 30718 MB (13233 MB free)
D: (NTFS) 70001 MB (20073 MB free)
E: (NTFS) 853147 MB (183563 MB free)
F: (NTFS) 276140 MB (84654 MB free)
G: (NTFS) 10024 MB (7923 MB free)
Total Size 1211.0 GB (302.2 GB free)

Input:
Keyboard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC ()
Network Adapter Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC ()

Peripherals:
Printer HP LaserJet 1020
Printer Microsoft XPS Document Writer
USB1 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB2 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB2 Controller Intel 82801IB ICH9 - USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Device Logitech Cordless USB Mouse

DMI:
DMI BIOS Vendor Award Software International, Inc.
DMI BIOS Version F6
DMI System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
DMI System Product P35C-DS3R
DMI System Version
DMI System Serial Number
DMI System UUID 00000000-00000000-0000001A-4D58E473
DMI Motherboard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
DMI Motherboard Product P35C-DS3R
DMI Motherboard Version x.x
DMI Motherboard Serial Number
DMI Chassis Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
DMI Chassis Version
DMI Chassis Serial Number
DMI Chassis Asset Tag
DMI Chassis Type Desktop Case
DMI Total / Free Memory Sockets 4 / 2

 

man that is strange...???
does behave strange when you only have the monitor connected?
and for a reference point i would try alternative drivers for your nVIDIA card like omega or guru of 3d and see if its a multi driver problem or not ( i find 3 party video drivers better in most cases)

 

Yes, I tried disconnecting the TV and rebooting when it only found the TV to see if it would default to the monitor but it didn't. Reconnecting the TV I had image on the TV.

 

how about different drivers distos/ versions old and newer
and try unistall driver don't restart turn off pc disconnect tv connect monitor turn back on ( in that order)

 

I don't know what I did, I was in safemode with networking searching this forum and the computer freezed up on me so I had to reboot. I booted to windows and suddenly I had a monitor and the tv was not activated. I haven't restarted since.

 

ya that most defo sounds like the driver is messed up
only thing i can think of is the things i all ready said maybe some one else has a better solution
good luck

 

Been a while and it worked ok, but it just broke down again today. I turned it off yesterday and when I turned it on today I only got picture on the TV and not on the monitor. I tried what you suggested above with swithcing drivers, I did several system restores from several points, switched drivers again and it only got worse. I still only got picture on the TV but it started to roll, twitch and blink. What's even weirder is I didn't even get picture on the monitor during post startup (that stuff that shows before windows starts to load) but I did on the TV. Kept fiddling and suddenly I don't have picture anywhere. Nothing, no post, nada but I hear windows starting up in the speakers. So in desperation I switch monitor cable from DVI to D-Sub and suddenly I have pipcture on my monitor. And it's the same connection on the video card, just a different cable with a DVI to D-Sub adapter. Switching back to DVI the monitor just says "No Signal". Anyone have any idea what is going on?