dual monitor Black Screen

[MadeForThisPost]

I am running a brand new alienware computer (win7 64 ult) with the new 23" LCD that it came with. It has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. (2 DVI outputs) with the most recent NVIDIA drivers
When I connect an old CRT using the DVI-VGA adapter as a second monitor everything works fine.

When I connect my old 17" LCD using the same DVI-VGA adapter, however, BOTH screens go black!!!!! the old 17" LCD says "OVERSIZE RECOMMAND 1280x1024"
(btw, it really is "recommand", not "recommend")

When I disconnect the old 17" LCD, after ~20 sec the new 23" LCD comes back on, and says (sometimes) that the display recovered from a crash.

(In the past, when installing windows on a different computer using the old 17" LCD, i have had to plug in a CRT and change the resolution/refresh rate, then switch back to the LCD)

I have tried doing a clean installation of the drivers. I tried lowering the resolution/refresh rate before plugging it in.

Is there anyway to set the default output resolution when you connect a new monitor? Why would it cause my other monitor to shut off?

 

[LiquidSnak]

What driver version are you running?

 

[MadeForThisPost]

The version i just DLed from nvidia it's in a folder "270.61", but in the device manager properties it's 8.17.12.7061