dual monitor problems.. any suggestions?

[pamf]

ok, I had a bunch of monitors and video cards lying around, so i decided to try running dual monitors with xp .. ive got a few problems though, and im hoping someone can offer some suggestions on how to fix these..

first of all, id like to use the second monitor to watch movies and such full screen.. but when i run wmp full screen, it shows up on this monitor.. even if i have wmp itself on the other one .. other players do this too .. any ideas how to get it to go full screen on the other?

second, gaming is basically non existant.. the second card is an ati 4mb, and i have to set the bios to init pci first or it doesnt work.. but windows now shows that monitor as '1' and this one as '2'. . even though it uses this one as the primary for the taskbar and such .. so when i run quake 3, it tries to run on the other monitor and of course cant .. anyone know how to switch them around?

thanks

 

[Demon-Xanth]

As far as the first point goes, that function is a special task that Matrox can do w/ it's dualhead cards. The way it works is that the drivers detect and overlay and have the second monitor display that overlay. Basically the work is done in hardware. There is resolution limits that vary by software app.

The taskbar can be dragged where ever.

It sounds like you have a primary card that doesn't play well with others or the secondary card doesn't have drivers installed that allow it to be a slave (most likely), set the AGP as the primary and update the secondary (PCI) card's drivers.

 

[pamf]

if i use the gf2 as the primary card the ati doesnt work at all. i also cant drag the taskbar onto the second monitor.. in fact, i cant drag it anywhere in xp .. and ive already got the newest drivers for both. the ati is an ANCIENT card. i would use a tnt 16mb, but the kt7a i have it in refuses to boot with the ati .. i dont suppose you know how to fix that..

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Basically the situation is this:

The GF2 has both the capabilities to play with other cards and the drivers to work as a slave

The ATI has the capabilities to play with other cards however lacks the drivers to work as a slave

The TNT card lacks both


Look into a Matrox Millenium or Millenium 2 card, they can be had for around $20 and make excellent slave cards.