all I want is dual monitors

R

rockironwebb

senior newbie caveman
Hello folks. Here it is. I bought a new 20in monitor. I would like to be able to hook up the new monitor as well as the 17inch older monitor. I only have a single onboard vga output on my pc now. I have a pci-e port available. So i'm thinking, no problem, I just need a dual output video card. My guitar player allegedly knows all about computers and actually makes a living doing computer repair work. He says "oh, no problem, I've got a bunch of dual output cards laying around." On Saturday he brought me five dual output video cards heaped together in a walmart bag. I was reluctant to put any one of these in my pc since they appeared not cared for. He tells me, it's cool. So I proceed to install each and every one of the five with no results. I am pretty sure that I did the install correctly, (only doubt I have is if I need to somehow disable the onboard output before trying to install the new card, my buddy said no, and I haven't seen this mentioned in my reading about the installation process.) After install of each card, my pc did not recognize any new hardware on start-up, nor could I locate it. OK, so the "I know a guy" technique didn't work out. I will now buy what I need to get dual monitors. I have two concerns now. Could there be a problem with my slot? I would like to hope not, it was a virgin slot. a video card looks like a pretty fuckin delicate piece of technology to just toss into a walmart bag and then have it work again. So I am about to spend money on something and wonder if I should go with an external card. The next issue I have learned about is if I do get an internal card, will my 300watt pc power supply be enough for it? All I want is two monitors with my DAW on one and whatever else on the other. All I do is stare at ableton, email, and watch the occasional youtube videos. I don't need a state of the art video card. What the hell should I do. I am leaning towards the external, but I don't know, maybe my buddy has a walmart bag full of those too.

Here are my specs.
HP Pavilion Media Center m8300f PC (GX611AA) specifications - HP Home & Home Office Products
 
Check your bios to see if your computers pci-e slots are enabled. Sometimes they are disabled by manufacture default. At least the three that I have were. :-)
 
Yup...if you were using the VGA off the MOBO...you need to go into the bios and see of there is an option to turn that on/off.

Also...once you get the "new" card working, you need to install the drivers for it and enable the second monitory in the display settings. Sometimes you can get the second monitor working off the generic drivers, but it's better to run the dedicated drivers for whatever card you are using.


You might as well get another 20"....you'll love the the one you got, so the 17" will feel rather puny next to it. :D
 
I went in. got to a point asking for primary display port, with options of onboard,pci and pci-e. I checked pci-e, installed one of the cards from my buddy, and nothing. Not recognized on start up nor found in device manager.Will the onboard vga output stop working altogether if I did this right? I have a feeling that I am doing something wrong. I may need to go buy a brand new card so I can at least rule out the fact that the ones my buddy gave me are the problem, otherwise, everytime I make an adjustment, I have to install/uninstall all five and hope one of them is functional.
 
rockironwebb said:
Here are my specs.
HP Pavilion Media Center m8300f PC (GX611AA) specifications - HP Home & Home Office Products
Click to expand...

Expansion slots
2 PCI (one available)
1 PCI Express x1 (occupied)
1 PCI Express x16 (available)

Are the cards you are testing PCI or PCI-E ? Videocards are not that delicate in my experience, i keep some in bags myself... I would be surprised if all 5 video cards were bad, sounds like an installation or config problem. A basic dual output video card is pretty cheap regardless.
 
Problem solved. I just said fuck it and went and bought a new card, poped it in and it worked fine. Easy job. I feel bad for bugging the fine folks here with such a dumb issue. Lesson learned......don't take junk computer parts from my buddy. Sorry yall.
 
Don't worry about it friend :-) Kinda shocking that all the video cards that he gave you were bad lol. Maybe we should all us anti-static bags!
 
Slim chance all five cards were bad due to mishandling. However, it could be that the reason they were pulled from whatever computer they came from is because they went bad.:p
You should be able to still use the OB video. May have to check out the options in the Bios. I use 3 monitors in my studio, and am actually considering adding a forth. Thinking about adding a 32" to hang on the wall. With my wireless mixer app it would be nice to be able to see it from anywhere in the room.
 
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