Help! VERY wierd problem. My LCD (DVI) won't work without something connected to the VGA. What's Going On???

[SuperWrat]

(this is also posted in Technical Support and General Hardware... dunno if Video is the right forum but...)

I took a friend's old Compaq FP700 15" LCD monitor and also bought a Pine Excalibur GeForce2 Ti video card with both VGA and DVI inputs... for what I 'thought' was a DVI connector on the LCD monitor. THEN I discovered the LCD monitor used an old digital connection/interface called "DFP," not DVI. So I bought a DFP to DVI adapter that made the monitor compatible with the DVI input on the video card.

Now, when I start the system, the boot screens appear on the LCD, but AFTER the first WinXP spalsh screen (with the moving/scrolling dots below the logo) and just BEFORE the blue "welcome" screen for WinXP, the LCD screen goes blank!! At that point, If I plug in another monitor with a VGA connection, WinXP shows up on the VGA monitor and I can navigate display properties to switch back to the LCD monitor!! At that point, I can also unplug the VGA monitor and the LCD monitor will continue working properly.

It gets wierder... If I keep both monitors plugged in when I start the system, the boot screens show up on the VGA monitor... but then after the first WinXP splash screen it switches and displays properly on the LCD monitor! Although this makes the LCD monitor work, I would hate to always keep a VGA monitor plugged in just so I can use the LCD. **** The VGA monitor doesn't even need to be on and doesn't even need to be plugged in to a power outlet for the LCD monitor to work in XP!! (The LCD monitor still won't show the boot screens though, but I don't mind that too much.)

btw, there is no dual monitor support on the video card. Also, I tried plugging in only a VGA cord into the video card... doesn't work... the LCD shows boot screens and blanks before entering XP.

So I'm confused... is this a problem with:
1. the monitor (maybe since it's native connection is DFP
2. the video card
3. WinXP

I would really appreciate if anyone can give me feedback, I've spent considerable time figuring this stuff out and it would suck to end like this. Or does anyone know who I can ask? Or... does anyone know why an unpowered monitor plugged into the VGA port will act as a hack solution, and how do I replicate that VGA connection without a huge monitor? (like I said, I already tried plugging in just a VGA cable) My friend said that maybe the VGA monitor has a closed circuit or even a battery inside that makes the video card aware of a connection.

Help? Suggestions? Thanks!

-Derrick
dvan@uclink.berkeley.edu

 

[Bong]

maybe your LCD is declared as secondary monitor. You may adjust this setting in the nview options of the detonator drivers.

 

[SuperWrat]

I'll try d/ling the detonator drivers, but since the boot screens can show up on the LCD... (if the VGA monitor is unplugged), I'm not sure if it's still considered secondary. But I'll give it a try, thx!

 

[bassoprofundo]

Bong is right. The behavior you're seeing is indicitive of your VGA output being selected as the primary monitor.

 

[SuperWrat]

I d/led the detonator drivers, but I couldn't find any primary/secondary monitor settings. My video card doesn't support dual monitors, so maybe primary/seconday monitors doesn't exist for me. Any other suggestions? Or should I try another video card?

 

[SuperWrat]

I believe I figured out a hack soultion today... basically, I determined that when the LCD monitor goes blank, it's because for some reason the video card doesn't detect it. In fact, when I use the VGA monitor to switch to the LCD, I hafto turn the LCD off and on again in order for the LCD option in display properties to appear. So I reboot the system, and tried turning the monitor off and on repeatedly around the time it goes blank... and somehow WinXP will load on the monitor now!!!

I don't know why the vidcard won't detect the LCD properly, but at least now with my solution I don't need a chunky CRT sittin' around to use the LCD ;-)

I'll test the vidcard on a friend's system to see if his LCD (with a native DVI connection) has the same problem. If it does, I guess it's time to make a return!