Dual PCI-E Adapters and Three Monitors? - Second system trashed by second Video card!

[RebateMonger]

Edit: A second, brand-new, installation of Windows 7 has now been trashed by this two-PCI-E video card system. Details in posts below. This is beginning to get on my nerves.

4/3/10: Got a new ATI Radeon 4550 with HDMI and am trying that. Report is in Post #14.
4/15/10:
Update in Post #17. The second video card is still working.

4/22/10: Well, that was a surprise. The monitor that was taking forever to come out of standby mode just died. Odd coincidence that the problem showed up the day I installed the secondary ATI video card, but at least my immediate problem is solved with a spare monitor.

Sorry, but I'm having a problem finding a clear answer to this.

I'd like to enable three monitors: One TV (Component Video) and two conventional monitors (DVI or VGA). I'm using a FoxConn P9657AB-8EKRS2H motherboard with Intel P965 chipset and two PCI-E x16 slots. The OS is Vista Business.

All my video cards are PCI-Express x16 NVidia-based and all have Component Video outputs and dual DVI/VGA outputs. Ideally, I'd use a cheap PCI-E Nvidia 7200 GS card as the second video adapter (for the TV).

Right now, I'm using a single PCI-E NVidia 9600 GSO card to dual 19-inch DVI/VGA monitors. I'd like to extend my desktop to a third monitor, a 32-inch digital TV, using a Component Video connection.

Games would be played on the default 19-inch monitor. The 32-inch TV is only for playing Hulu movies, DVDs, and such.

Can this be done with the equipment I already have?

Thanks for any help.
RebateMonger

Updated 3/22/10 see below:

Updated 3/29/10 after my SECOND SYSTEM was trashed, once again apparently by the second video card. More details in my post below on 3/29/10.

 

[blanketyblank]

I don't see why not if the cards play nice. One of my friends runs 3 monitors and a video projector using 2 x 8800 GTX Ultras in SLI. I guess the question is whether or not your different cards can work together.

 

[CurseTheSky]

IIRC this should work without any problems, so long as the cards can run off of the same driver. A 7200 GS and 9600 GSO should use the same driver, but check Nvidia's site to make sure. An older card, like a Ti, MX, or FX series might not work, though (not that they'd be PCI-E anyway).

I read somewhere that Windows 7 even supports multiple graphics drivers, essentially allowing you to run Nvidia and ATI cards concurrently. I have no idea if that's true, though.

 

[thatbox]

I have no idea about the current landscape but several years ago I ran a GF4 Ti4200 and a Radeon 7000 together with no problems. I later upgraded the Ti4200 to a Radeon 9800 XT and that worked with the 7000 just fine as well. You should definitely be able to toss a second Nvidia card in there and use it for a third display.

 

[RebateMonger]

Thanks, folks, for your comments. I'm surprised I can't find more articles on this topic.

I've run dual monitors since 1987's DESQView (one EGA and one monochrome adapter). And I've done dual monitors with one AGP and one PCI adapter with Win98, and with dual-port AGP and and dual port PCI-Express adapters in XP/Vista. But I've never played with two PCI-Express adapters in the same computer.

Guess I'll plug in a second NVidia PCI-E card and see what happens. Poof!

 

[RebateMonger]

OK, it DOES work.

I put the NVidia 7200 GS PCI-E card into the second PCI-E x16 card slot. Vista Business (what I'm using for the test) took its time (screen went to black about ten times), but Windows finally finished installing the second video card without errors.

I don't know if it's going to have any ill effects on gaming (using the 9600 GSO card), but I'm now able to watch TV using either SVideo or VGA on my digital TV on the NVidia 7200 GS card while also using my dual 19-inch VGA/DVI monitors on my 9600 GSO.

 

[RebateMonger]

Well, a day later and my Vista Business computer has been trashed. I opened an Internet link on my desktop and got a continuously spinning circle icon on my desktop. Everything else was working, but I decided to restart the computer. On reboot, I got a black screen telling me that Vista failed to start.

I was able to start after selecting "Use last known good configuration", but the PC soon rebooted itself. I was able to boot in SAFE mode, but NORMAL mode either didn't boot or immediately rebooted.

I removed the second video card and I'm now able to boot the computer in NORMAL mode.

I'm not sure what happened.

The good news is I have multiple backups of this computer, including my nightly WHS backup. Plus, the two installed disks themselves seem fine.

The other good news is this gives me an excuse to swap desktops computers. I've been meaning to change to an Intel Quad-Core processor with Win7 Ultimate, so I've gone ahead and put that second machine together.

I figured this was all too easy.....

 

[RebateMonger]

3/22/10 Update:

I created a new PC with Windows 7 Ultimate and an older NVidia 8600 GT. After using it for a week or so, I switched the video card to my NVidia 9600 GSO. After making sure this was working, I installed the second video card, the NVidia 7200 GS.

Win7 installed year-old drivers for the 7200 GS, so I manually updated all my video drivers to the most recent NVidia ones. Everything went smoothly.

Everything is looking good under Win7. My VGA connection to my Emprex 32-inch LCD TV is giving "perfect" size and position with my analog (VGA) connection to the 7200 GS video card. I'm running at the TV's native 1360x768 resolution.

Now if my Windows install doesn't trash itself in the next day or so, I'll be happy!

 

[betasub]

Thanks for the update, RM. Hopefully that fresh build/fresh install wil play nicely - no reason it shouldn't (but then there shouldn't have been a problem with the Vista Business build either!). Best of luck!

 

[RebateMonger]

After a week of perfect operation, my new Win7 Ultimate installation (on a different motherboard) has also been trashed. The STOP error was 0x00000124, which is often related to video card issues. Win7 attempted repairs two or three times, but gave up, saying there were probably hardware or driver issues.

Suspicious, I pulled the second video card out and THE COMPUTER BOOTED RIGHT UP!

This one was weird. I needed to transfer a file from the Virtual XP mode to a USB stick. I inserted the USB stick and allowed the XP Mode to take control of it. I copied the needed file to the USB stick and then told XP Mode to release the USB stick. Finally, I told Win7 to "Safely Eject" the USB stick. After that succeeded, I pulled the USB stick.

Then the computer rebooted itself and never came back up again.

Interestingly, the first (Vista) installation that got trashed seemed to be having issues with another USB device, an old Bluetooth mouse receiver. It almost seems that something in the USB system is interacting with the video system and, once this happens, Windows (both Vista and Win7) won't come back up again until the second video card is removed.

Windows says the latest problem is related to a new device or driver. But that second video card and driver are hardly new. They've been installed for several days now, with several reboots in between.

The new motherboard is also a Foxconn, a P45A-S, with P45 chipset and an Intel Q9550 CPU. It's been working perfectly the past week, with zero errors in the Windows Event Logs.

ARRGH!

 

[zagood]

Off the top of my head I'd say it has something to do with either foxconn's bios or the P45 chipset in general. Since the error occurred both times when inserting a USB device...back in the old days I would have suggested you check your IRQ settings, but now...who knows?

 

[RebateMonger]

Off the top of my head I'd say it has something to do with either foxconn's bios or the P45 chipset in general. Since the error occurred both times when inserting a USB device...back in the old days I would have suggested you check your IRQ settings, but now...who knows?

Thanks for the response. Actually, I've tried to update my posts to explain that the older motherboard was a Foxconn with an Intel P965 chipset and the newer one was a Foxconn with an Intel P45 chipset. Originally I wasn't going to try the dual-video cards until I'd switched to the newer motherboard and newer OS, but I'd changed my mind and first tried the P965/Vista system.

So the first system was a two-year-old Vista Business installation on the P965 chipset and the second system was the two-week-old Win7 Ultimate intallation on the P45 chipset. The P45 has the very latest available BIOS that I updated a week ago because Win7 Sleep mode wasn't working with the original BIOS.

The solution may be as simple as using a different second video card. The 7200 GS card was something I got for free-after-rebate a couple of years ago and I only use in an emergency. Who knows, maybe it's defective? Don't know why it works perfectly for a week at a time and then, with no warning, it trashes Window's ability to boot. But, with both systems, as soon as I removed that second video card, Windows was "fixed".

 

[RebateMonger]

I just bought one of those $20 (A.R.) Gigabyte Radeon 4550 cards, complete with HDMI, DVI, and VGA ports. I'll pop it into my second PCI-E x16 slot and see if it behaves any better than my NVidia 7200 GS card. That'll give me both a different video card and different drivers (ATI).

Maybe the ATI control panel will provide better sizing of the HDMI signal, too. I've had horrible luck so far with HDMI sizing in Win7. My digital TV has excessive overscan with computer HDMI signals and no adjustment.

Gosh. the last time I purchased an ATI card was 23 years ago. Every time I ever used one the drivers were a nightmare. I hope they are a bit better now.

 

[RebateMonger]

I received a Gigabyte Radeon 4550 PCI-E card, with HDMI, VGA, and DVI outputs. It's one of those $20 (after rebate) wonders with no fan.

I installed it in the second motherboard PCI-E slot and booted Win7. Windows recognized the card and installed some 2009 ATI 4550 drivers.

The VGA output to my HDTV seemed fine.

So I thought I'd try HDMI and see what happens. I knew I'd need resolution scaling with HDMI, so I updated the ATI drivers to the very latest and installed the ATI Catalyst Control Center. Surprisingly, neither required a reboot.

Hooking up the HDTV to the video card's HDMI output went fine. As expected, it the TV overscanned. A bit of searching and I figured out how to use the ATI Control Center to stop the overscan. After a reboot, that's still working.

So, I've got a TV on my desktop PC once again. Now I get to wait a week and see if Windows gets messed up again.

----------------------------------

Oh, almost forgot. A few days ago I thought I'd try an old PCI ATI Rage XL card as a second video card. This card came with Dell 400 SC servers and was designed in 2000. It has 8 MB of memory and, at least theoretically, it should be able to handle 32-bit VGA to my HDTV.

After installation in a PCI slot, Windows 7 saw it as a generic VGA display adapter. But Windows couldn't detect the HDTV monitor attached to its VGA port. I couldn't force the connection, either.

A search revealed that some folks had semi-successfully used the final ATI XP 32-bit driver under Vista. Supposedly, if installed in XP SP2 compatibility mode, it'd give a warning and then install. There was apparently enough of a control panel to set the 32-bit color and the desired resolution.

But I wasn't in the mode for potentially trashing my new Win7 install once again. Especially for a video card that would be replaced in a day with the new PCI-E Radeon. So I gave up on it.

 

[Pollock]

This is pretty bizarre - I haven't had any issues like that with my setup. I have a 4870 and a cheapo 4350 driving 4 monitors, and generally had it working pretty well in both Vista and Win7 x64. Nvidia may be different, but you really shouldn't be having so much trouble with this.

 

[RebateMonger]

This is pretty bizarre - I haven't had any issues like that with my setup. I have a 4870 and a cheapo 4350 driving 4 monitors, and generally had it working pretty well in both Vista and Win7 x64. Nvidia may be different, but you really shouldn't be having so much trouble with this.

Thanks for the comments. I don't know why this is happening. It's definitely uncommon for my Windows PCs to become unbootable out of the blue.

I suppose there could be a hardware problem with that inexpensive EVGA NVidia 7200 GS card. Or maybe some hardware problem with my motherboards. But two different models with two different chipsets and two different OSes? Like you said. Pretty bizarre.

Anyway, I'll report back in a few weeks unless disaster strikes again.

 

[RebateMonger]

Follow up after ten days with the ATI video card installed as a second PCI-E video:

The ATI 4350 is hanging in there. The only problem is that when the PCs monitors go black, the primary LCD monitor often takes several minutes to come back on. It turns on, then turns off, then turns on.... The secondary LCD monitor comes right up.

Once, it looked like the primary monitor was NEVER going to turn on permanently. I finally got it to come on by turning on the HDMI monitor, which is normally turned off.

It seems like Windows 7 gets confused when the PC tries to come out of Standby (or whatever mode it is when the monitor blacks out) and not being able to find the HDMI monitor. I don't want to run that 200 Watt monitor all the time, so it's normally "Off". If this is the worst thing that happens, I can live with it. I haven't tried "Sleep" mode on the PC yet with the ATI card installed. I'm afraid.

 

[lifeblood]

What is the one common thing in all your builds? The primary video card? As a test maybe you can borrow another and try it?

I've run dual video cards for years, both ATI and nVidia, without the issues your having so something in the hardware or software has got to be screwing up. I'm surprised you are using mixed cards ATI with nVidia). I know Win7 claims it can use it but it's just another source of potential problems.

 

[RebateMonger]

What is the one common thing in all your builds? The primary video card? As a test maybe you can borrow another and try it?

Thanks for your suggestions.

I've got a second NVidia 9600 GSO card (different maker, different memory). Maybe I'll swap them out. It's just weird that this latest problem (Primary monitor won't come out of standby mode without switching on/off twenty or so times) is only occurring on that one 19-inch Envision primary monitor, and not on the secondary Envision monitor. I had no problems with that primary monitor before I added the ATI card to the mix. But the ATI card is only controlling the HDMI TV.

But there ARE differences between the two Envision monitors. The primary monitor is running in in Analog Mode and the secondary monitor is running in Digital Mode. I've considered swapping the monitors out, making the other one the primary monitor. Or switching them both to Digital Mode since my 9600 GSO cards have dual DVI.

I went to an ATI card as my secondary video controller card because using a second NVidia card kept trashing my operating system, both Vista and Win7.

 

[RebateMonger]

I had no problems with that primary monitor before I added the ATI card to the mix. But the ATI card is only controlling the HDMI TV.

What are the odds? It appears that my primary monitor, which was taking forever to come online in Windows after going on standby, has decided to die on me.

When I came home tonight, it wouldn't come up no matter how long I waited. It kept flashing on and off. I'd see Windows for a second, and then the screen would go black. Over, and over, and over. Finally, I disconnected it from the PC, AND IT STILL KEPT FLASHING.

I replaced it with a Princeton DVI/VGA monitor and that one works fine. Seems like quite a coincidence, but, for whatever reason, my four-year-old Envision VGA LCD decided to start dying on, basically, the same day that I added the ATI secondary video card.

Hopefully that's the end of that problem. Lucky I have a spare 19-inch LCD, because using non-identically-sized monitors in dual-monitor mode is not my idea of fun.

 

[lifeblood]

Hopefully that does solve the problem. Never rains but pours...

 

[blanketyblank]

What are the odds? It appears that my primary monitor, which was taking forever to come online in Windows after going on standby, has decided to die on me.

When I came home tonight, it wouldn't come up no matter how long I waited. It kept flashing on and off. I'd see Windows for a second, and then the screen would go black. Over, and over, and over. Finally, I disconnected it from the PC, AND IT STILL KEPT FLASHING.

I replaced it with a Princeton DVI/VGA monitor and that one works fine. Seems like quite a coincidence, but, for whatever reason, my four-year-old Envision VGA LCD decided to start dying on, basically, the same day that I added the ATI secondary video card.

Hopefully that's the end of that problem. Lucky I have a spare 19-inch LCD, because using non-identically-sized monitors in dual-monitor mode is not my idea of fun.

if it was already showing symptoms it doesn't seem that strange. I just repaired a 20" monitor relatively easily. Why not pop yours open and see if it has the same problem, bad capacitor.
Then again a 19" VGA only LCD might not be worth the time.