trying to install secondary monitor, get clones but can't extand

dwatcher said:

Hi, I recently upgraded to windows 7. I used to use xp and had dual monitors installed. I've been trying to use one of the old monitors as a secondary monitor on my new pc, and it comes up with an exact copy of my main screen, but there are no options to extend my desktop when I press windows button and p or go onto my display settings. It does not even seem to detect my second monitor - when I click on detect, nothing happens.

The old monitor must be communicating with my new system, right? Since its displaying the same thing that's on my main monitor. Is there a way I can get my old monitor installed correctly?

When you press the <WINDOWS_KEY>+<P> shortcut, do you get the following:

Also, if you right-click on your desktop and select "Screen resolution", do you get a graphical representation of two monitors in the dialog? If not, clicking "Detect" might help.

dwatcher said:

I tried both of those things. Nothing happens when I do windows+p and select extend.

And nothing happens when I press detect on the screen resoltion menu.

But does the screen resolution menu show two monitors available? You'll have to click on the number "2" monitor and then select the appropriate options (I can't tell you what they are right now, as my secondary is disconnected right now and is in use on another rig)

dwatcher said:

it does not show a secondary monitor at all. And when I click on identify, a big number 1 comes up on both my monitors. There is not option to extend to my second monitor, and it does not detect at all. Not in my device manager or anything.

Ok then, now at least I understand why you can't get dual monitor support running - the system is not detecting that a secondary monitor is attached.

Question: How is said secondary monitor connected? Via a second VGA header on the graphics card along with your primary monitor, or is your primary monitor connected to your graphics card and your secondary connected to your motherboard onboard graphics? Are you using a VGA Header splitter? After connecting the secondary monitor, did you reboot?

What graphics card are you using? nVidia or ATI? And do you have their driver utilities installed? Perhaps there is a setting in the nVidia Control Panel or ATI Catalyst that you have overlooked?

dwatcher said:

I'm using a Male To Dual Hd15 Female Sxga Monitor Y-cable to connect both monitors. I tried a reboot, and still no change.
My graphics card is intel GMA.

Thats why you can't extend your desktop across both monitors. As far as Windows is concerned, you only have one monitor connected.

In order to be able to have your desktop extended across monitors, each monitor must be either plugged into physically unique graphics cards, or each onto individual VGA headers provided by the graphics card. Using a VGA splitter will not work.

Most modern graphics cards today come with two VGA/DVI/HDMI headers for connecting monitors. If your graphics card has only one header to connect a monitor, then you'll have to upgrade your card to something better that can accomodate two monitors.

If your graphics card have two header, but one is VGA and the other is DVI, then you can always get an adapter, like what I'm using:

From there, you can right-click the desktop, select "Screen Resultion", and adjust the appropriate settings:

If your monitor does not show up in the "Screen Resolution" settings, then you can click the "Detect" button to force a detect, or you can reboot Windows.