dual monitors, windows xp

Factual Questions
1

So I have a second monitor I attached to my laptop for working with Protools which requires a lot of desktop space. Anyhow, my problem…

I somehow managed to get my second monitor as my primary monitor. I would very much like my laptop monitor to be the primary but it won’t let me change it back.

When I open up the system tab in display properties, I click on number 2 box (which means it’s not primary no?) and the box labled “make this device the primary montor” is all greyed out so I can’t change them. Any ideas?

2

WAG - uninstall the driver for the external monitor, shut down, unplug it, restart, and recreate the setup the way you want it.

3

thanks, I’ll give it a shot. Do I need the disk for this sort of thing? It’s in storage.

4

Shouldn’t do. XP has a huge hardware database - once you’ve done what I’ve suggested, shutting down again, replugging the monitor, reboot and it should identify things correctly. If it doesn’t work out right, you probably need to get updated drivers for the external video. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it :slight_smile:

5

You shouldn’t need to uninstall the driver. Depending on the video card/driver, you should be able to switch the primary monitor back and forth.

I have an ATI card on my laptop, so I will describe how it works for me. If you have a different video card, it will probably be different:

  1. Open Display Properties, pick the Settings tab
  2. Click on the first monitor. This is important since you don’t get all the options on the second monitor.
  3. Click the Advanced button in the lower-right of the dialog box.
  4. On the new dialog box, pick the Displays tab.
  5. There are three pictures on the bottom of the dialog box: a monitor, a panel, and a TV. Under each picture are a set of buttons labeled 1 and 2. The 1 indicates primary and the 2 indicates secondary. Switch the buttons.
  6. Press OK.
  7. Press OK again.

Also, with my laptop, I can unplug the monitor and reboot in order to get it back to “normal” with the panel display as the primary.

6

Thanks for all the help everybody! I managed to forget about system restore. I just ran that and reconfigured everything.

Again, thanks. I’ll keep your suggestions in mind when system restore isn’t an option for whatever reason. :slight_smile:

7

Bahhhh…I’ve been fiddling with my own two-video-card setup, and I can’t get it to behave either how it should, nor how you describe.

I do find it funny that the only programs that regularly have a major problem behaving properly on two monitors under windows are Microsoft ones…but I digress…

8

Eh in the words of Norm Peterson, “Cant live with em…pass the beer nuts”

9

I have severe problems running Cygwin’s X Server with multi-monitor, but I haven’t done any research. Maybe there is a configurable for it.

10

To clarify, are you trying to split your desktop onto tw monitors imultaneously, or just swith to a larger desktop monitor for some applications?

If the latter, you shouldn’t even need to touch your desplay settings. Look at your function keys for a small monitor icon, or the words LCD/CRT. On IBM Thinkpads, it is the F7 key. On some other brands I have seen it on the F4 or F8 keys. Hold down the blune “fn” key as you push whatever numbered function key has the monitor symbol/words wo switch monitor states.

If the former… what brand laptop? Dells laptops are notoriously bad at switching display options… for your sake I jope it’s not a Dell.