~~ Turn off auto detection of TV? Dual Screens ~~

I have an ATI 9800 Pro Radeon (old school I know) with a DVI to HDMI cable. My issue is that if the TV is turned off or channels have been changed, the PC detects that its no longer connected and drops the settings.

Some times I can change it back and it will work fine. Other times I have to tell it to extand the display. And other times I have to restart... Consistency please...

I would like it to force display (just like an old CRT), or have it not detect a disconnect. I cant see a reason for this feature anyway...

This way Ill also be able to get rid of the LCD thats on my entertainment center shelf. See if I get rid of it then I cannot adjust the settings when the TV goes out... Lose lose...

I should mention that this is not necessarily a Win7 issue, this also happened with XP. Not the same but close.

Now for the driver issue: I cant use ATI catalyst because I cant use ATI drivers. The PC will only work with the Win7 drivers. I did at one point have it working with the older drivers. But I decided to get the most recent update from ATI and now I cant get it to work right even with the old drivers (yes I did driver cleaning, cant remember what it was called, its been awhile). Anyone else have this issue?

No one???