2 Video Cards

[David P. Donahue]

I know XP has native support for dual video cards, but I'm having some
trouble when I install a second card in one of my machines. The current
video card is built-in to the mother board, and I can only assume it's
using the AGP bus. (I tried putting a card in the AGP slot, but that
completely took over the video and Windows didn't see the built-in
one... but no big deal there.)

When I put another video card into a PCI slot, Windows won't finish
booting. The PCI card is used as the default during the boot sequence.
Safe Mode shows both adapters in the Device Manager, but Safe Mode's
Device Manager has limited information on the functionality of hardware.
And when attempting to boot normally, the system hangs during the
Windows splash screen, shortly before (or immediately at) switching to
the desktop login.

Information of note: Windows XP Pro, built-in video card uses an LCD
monitor, PCI video card uses a CRT monitor, PCI card is a GForce2. I
can get more details if they're needed.

Anyone have any advice? Is there something I'm overlooking? Is there
another newsgroup that would be a better place to ask? I'd really
appreciate anything you can tell me, thanks.



Regards,
David P. Donahue

[Jerry]

Have you checked with the motherboard manufacturer's tech support?

"David P. Donahue" > wrote in message
...
>I know XP has native support for dual video cards, but I'm having some
>trouble when I install a second card in one of my machines. The current
>video card is built-in to the mother board, and I can only assume it's
>using the AGP bus. (I tried putting a card in the AGP slot, but that
>completely took over the video and Windows didn't see the built-in one...
>but no big deal there.)
>
> When I put another video card into a PCI slot, Windows won't finish
> booting. The PCI card is used as the default during the boot sequence.
> Safe Mode shows both adapters in the Device Manager, but Safe Mode's
> Device Manager has limited information on the functionality of hardware.
> And when attempting to boot normally, the system hangs during the Windows
> splash screen, shortly before (or immediately at) switching to the desktop
> login.
>
> Information of note: Windows XP Pro, built-in video card uses an LCD
> monitor, PCI video card uses a CRT monitor, PCI card is a GForce2. I can
> get more details if they're needed.
>
> Anyone have any advice? Is there something I'm overlooking? Is there
> another newsgroup that would be a better place to ask? I'd really
> appreciate anything you can tell me, thanks.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> David P. Donahue
>

[Graham Hughes]

Go in to the bios, in there you should have the option for setting the agp
card as the default card on boot up, if the mobo supports dual cards. You
may have to get a bios update.

Graham

--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.dvds2treasure.com
www.simplydv.com


"David P. Donahue" > wrote in message
...
> I know XP has native support for dual video cards, but I'm having some
> trouble when I install a second card in one of my machines. The current
> video card is built-in to the mother board, and I can only assume it's
> using the AGP bus. (I tried putting a card in the AGP slot, but that
> completely took over the video and Windows didn't see the built-in
> one... but no big deal there.)
>
> When I put another video card into a PCI slot, Windows won't finish
> booting. The PCI card is used as the default during the boot sequence.
> Safe Mode shows both adapters in the Device Manager, but Safe Mode's
> Device Manager has limited information on the functionality of hardware.
> And when attempting to boot normally, the system hangs during the
> Windows splash screen, shortly before (or immediately at) switching to
> the desktop login.
>
> Information of note: Windows XP Pro, built-in video card uses an LCD
> monitor, PCI video card uses a CRT monitor, PCI card is a GForce2. I
> can get more details if they're needed.
>
> Anyone have any advice? Is there something I'm overlooking? Is there
> another newsgroup that would be a better place to ask? I'd really
> appreciate anything you can tell me, thanks.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> David P. Donahue
>

[David P. Donahue]

The BIOS did, indeed, have a setting to change the default video adapter
and that fixed the system hanging issue, thanks!

Now, a subsequent question arises... When I have a game which takes over
the video adapter on one monitor, the mouse doesn't seem to want to
leave that monitor when I drag it towards the other. Is this a known
issue? The dual-monitors work fine in regular Windows environment, but
once a full-screen game takes control of one adapter, the mouse becomes
exclusively attached to that adapter. Any ideas?


Regards,
David P. Donahue



Graham Hughes wrote:
> Go in to the bios, in there you should have the option for setting the agp
> card as the default card on boot up, if the mobo supports dual cards. You
> may have to get a bios update.
>
> Graham
>

[Graham Hughes]

I think it's the game which is running, not allowing the edge of the screen
to get any larger, thus stopping the mouse from leaving it's environment.
Not entirely sure :)

Graham

--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.dvds2treasure.com
www.simplydv.com


"David P. Donahue" > wrote in message
...
> The BIOS did, indeed, have a setting to change the default video adapter
> and that fixed the system hanging issue, thanks!
>
> Now, a subsequent question arises... When I have a game which takes over
> the video adapter on one monitor, the mouse doesn't seem to want to
> leave that monitor when I drag it towards the other. Is this a known
> issue? The dual-monitors work fine in regular Windows environment, but
> once a full-screen game takes control of one adapter, the mouse becomes
> exclusively attached to that adapter. Any ideas?
>
>
> Regards,
> David P. Donahue
>
>
>
> Graham Hughes wrote:
> > Go in to the bios, in there you should have the option for setting the
agp
> > card as the default card on boot up, if the mobo supports dual cards.
You
> > may have to get a bios update.
> >
> > Graham
> >