video card <--> onboard video clash

[thebeyonder]

Hi yall,

I have a Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H mobo with a Gigabyte GV-NX73G256D-RH video card.

as you may be aware, the mobo has onboard ATI video, but the card is NVidia-based.

I thought I could use both at the same time, and hook up two monitors. wrong...

when I tell the BIOS to make the onboard video primary, I can at least install the drivers for the card but windows won't let me use it: it's nonfunctnal, and when I open Display Properties, it gives me an error first.

"the currently selected graphics display driver cannot be used. it was written for a previous version of windows, and is no longer compatible with this version of windows. the system has been started using the default VGA driver. please contact your hardware manufcturer to get an upgraqded driver, or select one of the microshaft provided drivers."

then Display Properties opens up, onboard video is there, so is the card, but the card shows a resolution of (-1, -1) or something wierd like that.

OK! so, tell the BIOS to make the card the primary video. it does so, it works loads drivers and runs llike normal, BUT the onboard ATI is completely unseen by windows. it's gone.

can't you run BOTH at the same time?

Gigabyte tech support says when you install a vid card the onboard video is disabled, but I don't see any mention of that anywhere in any reviews or specifications. maybe they're snowballing me. or not. I don't know.

or would it work with an ATI-based video card?

or if indeed I can't run both at the same time, is there a different Gigabyte micro-ATX board I could use instead, like the GA-M68SM-S2 or GA-M61SME-S2 ?

I can't find any resources that will tell me what Gigabyte motherboards CAN use onboard and a card at the same time.

>>or another Gigabyte micro-ATX with 2 PCI-e x16 slots, or the same from ASUS....

 

[AmberClad]

I personally don't know of any microATX boards, period, that allow both onboard and a video card to be used simultaneously. (although I recall someone claiming to have heard of such a thing)

What are you trying to accomplish here? I took a glance at your video card - it has two video outputs. So what's the problem with just using the Gigabyte card to output to two monitors?

 

[thebeyonder]

never heard of any microATX boards that allow both onboard and a video card to be used simultaneously! bummer. that must be the problem.

yes, the video card has 2 outputs, but 1 is VGA and the other is DVI. I have 2 CRT's with VGA connectors. I haven't tried using an adapter yet on the DVI jack... it doesn't work with the onboard video, so I assumed cards were like that too.

...and even if I get the card to run 2 monitors, it irks me that the onboard video is there but I can't use it. later on I might want to connect a third monitor.

 

[AmberClad]

Both my monitor and my LCD TV have VGA ports, so I need the DVI<-->VGA adapters attached for both of the video card's outputs. It works just fine .

I agree about the onboard thing though - I wish there was something useful you could do with it. I could do without it about 99.9% of the time. The other 0.1% is when I'm cleaning the heatsink fan on the video card.

As far as a third monitor - maybe add a PCI video card? I haven't tried it myself, but it might be worth looking into.

 

[shamans]

Look up "SurroundView"

You can use both onboard and your video card at the same time if the video card is also an ATI Card. Not sure what would happen if it wasn't an ATI Card.

To use both, you have to enable SurroundView in BIOS.

 

[thebeyonder]

went and got an ATI card... it works! onboard and video card.

SurroundView wasn't necessary -got it going trying 1 thing at a time- in fact I got it turned off right now. I can make either one the primary video, unless SurroundView is turned on, then it forces the card to be primary video.

ha.ha.ha. thanks a lot! :thumbsup: