3 monitors using 1 pci-e and 1 pci slot...

DPNetwork

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2009
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I have looked the internet over, and found various posts (here and elsewhere) that talk about doing this sort of thing. So, I bought a new 24 incher and pulled out an old pci card (BFG NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 512MB) and plugged it in, put a 19 and 20 inch on that card, and hooked the 24 incher up via hdmi to the pci-e card (NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS 512MB). The 9500 came with the computer from HP when I bought it - and Yes I am getting a new case : )

Here is my situation. With the above stated, the 19 and 20 inch monitors do not come on at all. The 24 incher shows upon booting just fine, but will only allow me to go to 1280x1024 (using 1280x800 as the other is too wide).

When I hook the 20 inch up to the 9500 GS via DVI and the 24 incher via hdmi, setting the 24 inch as the main monitor (1) and the 20 inch to number 2, I can get full resolution with the 24 incher and the 20 incher, but the 19 incher does not show through the 8400 GS (hooked up vga).

I go to the nVidia control panel, but it will not start and tells me I have no nvidia product installed and shuts down the control panel. Huh?

I looked for drivers for both cards, and it seems they both use the same driver (http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_64bit_195.62_whql.html)
as stared from nVidia.

I can hook all three monitors up via the 9500 GS, but the card only allows for two monitors. It shows 3 in the Display in Control Panel, but can't do anything with the third one.

The only thing that I can think of is when I downloaded the newer drivers, they went into a folder at C\nVidia\blah blah blah folder and not the driver folder (C\Windows\System32\DRIVERS...)

Should I put updated drivers there? And would this make the difference for this setup to work? Or, will this setup work at all lol??

I bought a Pavilion a6750t from HP. Here is the specs on it:


Motherboard: Asus IPIBL-LB (Benicia-GL8E)
Socket: 775 - Pentium Dual Core E-5300 2.60 GHz
6G RAM
640 GB 7200 rpm SATA 3G


Here is more info on the machine:

Motherboard Specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01324212&lc=en&cc=ca&dlc=en&product=3691066


About the only thing I did different, before I installed the 8400 GS, I installed a new PSU - the Black Widow 850W PSU (TR2 RX Series). I wanted to make sure I had enough power to run everything. And Yes, I know - the case will get hot. Getting a new Antec case for x-mas and she won't let me open it until then : ( but could not wait to get the three monitors hooked up and running : )

Oh, and I installed Windows 7 Home Premium over Vista Home Premium about a month ago - Fresh install. All updates accounted for as well...

Anyways. Is there anything that I am doing wrong? Any help or advice would be appreciated. Just can't seem to get this working and pulling my hair out. Thanks alot in advance for any insight. Please let me know if more info is needed as well...

- Robert
 

DPNetwork

Junior Member
Nov 30, 2009
2
0
0
Oh - I forgot to mention...in the Device Manager, it shows a yellow ! icon next to Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E and as well at Intel(R) G33/G31?P35/P31 Express Chipset PCI Express Root Port - 29C1.

When I check the properties on either of them, it shows this:

This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)

If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.

I also tried to update the drivers on both of them and it tells me I have the most up to date drivers for them both. Don't know about that but maybe, as they both show driver date of 6/21/06 and version 6.1.7600.16385.

I also tried to scan for hardware changes but no dice there either.

Thanks again to everybody.

- Robert

P.S. Just seen this from Tiger Direct - would this help any at all with the cards I am currently using? I am sure it would be a better mobo than mine eh? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4316659&sku=P450-9124
 
Last edited:

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,209
50
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"Oh - I forgot to mention...in the Device Manager, it shows a yellow ! icon next to Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E and as well at Intel(R) G33/G31?P35/P31 Express Chipset PCI Express Root Port - 29C1."

Update your motherboard drivers. Go to HP and download the latest mobo chipset driver for your system and corresponding OS. Then, remove and re-install the latest Nvidia drivers.
Also, right click on your desktop, and choose "Personalize" option. Look for multi monitor options there, not in the Nvidia control panel. Let us know what you find.