Windows 7: Having Issues Setting Up Dual Monitors

I run a NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 graphics card. I know it supports the use of two monitors, however my computer (Windows 7) won't recognize that I have two separate monitors.

One of my monitors is an HP S2031 Series Wide LCD Monitor, the other is just a POS Dell Monitor, unsure of what it's called. When I look under my monitors it recognizes that two are set up, but both are named the HP S series monitor. It doesn't recognize the Dell.



My Video drivers are up to date, I've tried to update the drivers on both monitors many times, my compy is telling me both are running correctly and both are HP S series. I've unistalled, reinstalled, rebooted, shut down, switched cables around...nothing seems to be working. Any thoughts?

On the "Screen Resolution" control panel you can click on each monitor and the "Display" entry has a drop list that should show each monitor and allow you to select which one it really is. (Click on the monitor image, then check or change the drop list entry)

Is there only one entry under that Display drop list? or are there two but both say HP S2031?

And I guess the other question is, are oth monitors working ok? If the Dell is hooked up using an analog VGA cable then it can't actually identify itself and the the HP "driver" for the monitor entry may have just been used to apply to both now. As long as you set the proper resolution for each screen it'll probably be ok.

How are they connected? Also which make of GT 430? Lots to choose from and different manufacturers,

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Video Cards & Video Devices, Desktop Graphics / Video Cards, GeForce G/GT series, GeForce GT 430 (Fermi)

On that screen it shows two monitors both named HP S2031 Series Wide LCD Monitor.

Both monitors function. Whichever I plug into the primary outlet will display. But neither will display as a secondary monitor.

Does the secondary monitor show up all greyed out on the Screen Resolution control panel? Or is it shown as active there? (If it was disabled it should show a checkbox I believe that says something like "Extend my desktop to this display" when you click on it)

Another place to look for strangeness would be the nvidia control panel itself. Click "Advanced Settings" on the Screen Resolution control panel, then the tab with the nvidia card label and logo on it then "Start the nvidia control panel". Look at the "Set up multiple displays" section, see what you have there (Are the monitors still labelled the same? Are they both "checked"? etc.

Also look at the "Change Resolution" screen. It should show both monitors and what connectors they are attached too (VGA/DVI/HDMI) and their resolutions and such, you can try changing them from there. It's possible that the driver for the HP one is setting bad settings on the non HP one (Too high refresh rate or something) and maybe you can fix it here.

DVI and DVI, DVI and VGA, VGA and VGA, etc?

I'm having the same issue with the same GPU. When I connect my HDTV by HDMI the GPU recognizes the HDTV, switches to it, and Windows no longer recognizes the monitor connected by DVI.

The DVI monitor works alone but not with the HDMI connected.

I checked for the monitor in display settings and nVidia Control Panel but it can't be found there either.


Thoughts? I've updated and rolled back drivers to 270.51.