Hello,

I am running a Phenom 9950 with a ATI 4870.

My main monitor is a 32" Sony Bravia LCD and works great - I do video production. I am adding a second monitor so my clients can see the screen without looking over my shoulder.

So here is the problem. I just connected the second monitor to the second dvi output on the graphics card (dvi to hdmi adapter) and the signal is arriving at the second monitor but:

I can see the same thing on both screens during startup, but once it gets to the Windows XP login screen the second monitor goes black. Then when the main monitor goes to the desktop view the second monitor shows only my desktop background picture - no desktop icons or bottom toolbar.

Any suggestions?

If I am not in the right forum for this can you please point me in the right direction.

Thanks.

-------------------------
Lawrence
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-core
ATI 4870 Graphics

Welcome to the forum!

You may have to go into the ATI control panel and manually set up multi-display monitors.

Nvidia's default setting is multi-display monitors, not sure about ATI.

-------------------------
Phenom II X6 1100T B.E.@ 4.26GHz
Corsair H70 Core Hydro
ASUS Crosshair V Formula
2x4GB G.Skill RipjawsX@ 1894MHz, 9-10-9-28
SLI: 2x EVGA GTX 570's@ 902/1804/2032
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Corsair HX850W Modular
Cooler Master HAF 922
2x Win 7 Home Premium (x64)

I have checked in Catalyst....both monitors are detected...and both have pictures...but the second montor, as mentioned, is only showing the desktop background picture. I can't find any settings in Catalyst that affect this.

-------------------------
Lawrence
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-core
ATI 4870 Graphics

So...what I just discovered is that Windows XP has extended the desktop to the second screen. This isn't really what I want to do. Is there a way to get an exact duplicate of my main screen on the second screen?

I guess I could just use a Y adapter on the first output......will this affect the picture quality?

Is there another way?

-------------------------
Lawrence
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-core
ATI 4870 Graphics

using the catalyst control center-basic setup give the option of clone or extended.clone sounds what you are trying to do

-------------------------
Biostar TA-990FXE-Extreme
amd-fx8120 @3.7 1.2750 V
corsair ddr3-1866 16GB
ocz-vertex3-240
windows 8 rtm

the ATI card is putting out the same signal on both outputs, which is what I want. The problem starts when widows takes over. I can't seem to find a place in Windows XP that will clone monitor one instead of extending the desktop.

-------------------------
Lawrence
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-core
ATI 4870 Graphics

Well,

My bad....I found the setting in the graphics card setup....so it now works.

-------------------------
Lawrence
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-core
ATI 4870 Graphics