Why does my monitor work fine dual and craps singular?

[easystreet]

I have a monitor that will not work as a primary monitor........black/dead/nothing. But, as a secondary monitor it doesn't miss a beat. Why will this monitor work fine as a secondary monitor in a dual monitor setup and NOT work as a primary monitor?

 

[Marsumane]

That makes no logical sense in respect to blaming the monitor. Try it on a different computer/ graphics card and report back what you find.

 

[easystreet]

I have tried this monitor on 6 different computers with single monitor video cards. I have had varied results. On my Easy Now the boot stuff shows and then it goes blank. On an old Gateway there is no boot stuff, but if you turn the monitor off and on after Windows 98 has booted you can see the desktop. On the other 4 computers......nada. It isn't a drivers issue because it won't show boot stuff.

On the other hand, as the secondary monitor on a Matrox card and an Nvidia card it works fine. But not as the primary monitor on these cards.

 

[easystreet]

ttt in hopes that a video/monitor guru is watching

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: easystreet
I have tried this monitor on 6 different computers with single monitor video cards. I have had varied results. On my Easy Now the boot stuff shows and then it goes blank. On an old Gateway there is no boot stuff, but if you turn the monitor off and on after Windows 98 has booted you can see the desktop. On the other 4 computers......nada. It isn't a drivers issue because it won't show boot stuff.

On the other hand, as the secondary monitor on a Matrox card and an Nvidia card it works fine. But not as the primary monitor on these cards.

I'm not doubting that you have some sort of problem, but the monitor being primary or secondary cannot be causing this; the display has *no idea* what it's hooked up to. It just reads video signals.

Is it possible the resolution or refresh rate on your 'primary' cards is unsupported by this monitor? What's the manufacturer and model number? Do you get *anything* when you hook it up to the primary output of the video card?

 

[easystreet]

The monitor can handle any resolution at which it was tested. But, that should make no difference on the booting/bios stuff which it does or does not show except on certain computers. As before, results vary according to what system it is on....but mostly nothing as primary and faultless as secondary. I know it makes no sense.

 

[easystreet]

ttt for the night geeks