Solved 2nd monitor screen is blank

[Faris123]

Hello ,
I recently bought a 2nd monitor and i was intending to have my old one as the 2nd monitor however it's not working properly. The PC detects a 2nd monitor and when i drag my mouse far left side the cursor disappears meaning it went to the 2nd monitor but the monitor is blank so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Faris123]

I've read the following thread 'Dual monitor problem - 2nd monitor is blank'. Both of my Monitors are using VGA adapter and are connected to the video card not the motherboard

 

[PeaB4YouGo]

Hey Faris,

Welcome to the forums.

According to most pics I find of your vid card, you don't have 2 VGA ports on the card. You DO have two DVI plugs, and if that's what you're using, then we're good. New Egg Card Specs

One thing is to be sure that the power supply your system uses is good enough to drive the card. 600watts should be fine, but you never know. Check and be sure that the card is seated correctly, and that your system is setup to handle it. Use your NVIDIA control panel to check the card and be sure that it sees two monitors, and that both are active. I'm sure there's more to check, but this is a start, anyhow.

You may want to check to be sure the second monitor is powered up. I know it sounds stupid, but when you start your sys, it probably powers up your primary monitor by default. Check the power switch (and, I suppose, the power cable to the monitor) and be sure it's plugged in. I'm not saying that you're not smart enough to have done so earlier, but you never know what you may have missed when hooking things up.

Good luck

 

[Faris123]

Hey


thanks for your reply my GTX 660(non TI) has 2 DVI plugs however the monitors i'am using uses VGA connector so i use a VGA adapter to plug them.

I have checked my Nvidia control panel and it shows that the 2monitors are connected to the video card just fine.

I'am positive that the 2nd monitor is powered up because whenever i press the menu button on the monitor i receive a message 'Test good' Therefore it's powered up.

Anymore help would be appreciated

 

[stormy13]

The reason that it isn't working is that only one of the DVI ports supports VGA via adapter, the other is DVI/digital only.

 

[Faris123]

Aha isn't there a solution for it?

 

[Boozad]

A DVI cable.

 

[Faris123]

Ok i'll get one and will see how it goes i'll mark it as solved if it works thanks for your response all

Also if i get a DVI cable wouldn't it be impossible to connect it to the monitor since the monitor has VGA connector on it?

 

[stormy13]

Correct, a DVI cable won't work any better than the adapter you are using, as you would still need the adapter, only on the monitor end instead of the card end.

The only solution in this case is short of a new monitor that has a DVI connection, is to use a DVI to VGA converter (totally different animal than an adapter). Only problem with that is that you can buy a new monitor for less than the converters sell for,

DVI to VGA Converter - DVI VGA Video Format Converter | StarTech.com

 

[Faris123]

I see thanks for your reply looks like i wont be able to play on 2 monitors for a while

Isn't there a way to tweak my video card or anything to have my 2nd monitor to work i'am really dying to play multi monitors

 

[Faris123]

I've read about my video card's 'standard Display Connectors' which are: One Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort.

I've noticed what VGA adapters i'am actually using are one DVI-I(single link) and one DVI-I(Dual link) which explains the reason why the second VGA adapter(DVI-I Dual link) doesn't plug in completely into the DVI-D port so that's the real reason why my 2nd monitor isn't working properly?

However i'am surprised that my VGA adapter DVI-I(single link) inserted into the DVI-I Dual link is working properly

 

[stormy13]

There is nothing you can do to the card. Maybe a little reading up on how DVI works might help,

Digital Visual Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and for what is on the card,

• DVI-D (digital only, single-link or dual-link)
• DVI-A (analog only)
• DVI-I (integrated, combines digital and analog in the same connector; digital may be single- or dual-link)

The DVI-D and DVI-I connector provide (via additional pins) for a second data link. This allows resolutions up to 2560x1600, which are supported by many add-on graphic cards. A connector with these additional pins is sometimes referred to as DVI-DL (dual link).

 

[Faris123]

I have just fixed my issue by using HDMI cable + old fashioned VGI to DVI thanks for your help all

 

[PeaB4YouGo]

Good deal. Don't forget to mark this solved.