Solved Dual Monitor Boundary Issue

[ChrisR24]

Hi everybody,

First off, this is my first post around here, so hello, my name's Chris, I live in Ontario and I use a computer.

Anyways, a few weeks about I spent around $2100 building a new computer, and everything has been going smoothly. One of the more expensive components of this new computer was the video card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 570. Up until today, I've had no issues with it. However, today I went out and bought a second monitor, knowing that my video card would be capable of handling it. While the dual monitor function works almost flawlessly, there seems to be some sort of boundary issue. For example, when I move my mouse from the bottom left corner of the right monitor over to the left monitor, the mouse ends up about 3 1/2" from the bottom of the left screen. Similarly, when I move the mouse from the top right of the left monitor to the right monitor, the mouse appears around 3 1/2" from the top of the right screen. When I try to reverse these scenarios (e.g move the mouse from the top left of the right monitor to the left monitor) it stops at the left side of the right monitor as though the left monitor wasn't connected.

So, hoping that you've managed to navigate through my labyrinth of 'right's and 'left's, I was wondering if any of you Windows 7 Professionals might be able to lend me a hand in perfecting my dual monitor setup.
Thanks for reading,
Chris

 

[Golden]

Hi Chris - welcome to SevenForums.

First off, can we start by collecting some information about your system? Please use this tutorial and the tool therein to collect information about your hardware:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html

If you click on the grey link titled "My System Specs" on the bottom left-hand corner of my reply here, you will see the sort of information that is collected.

Once we have that, it will make it easier to help solve this issue.

Regards,
Golden

 

[ChrisR24]

Hi Chris - welcome to SevenForums.

First off, can we start by collecting some information about your system? Please use this tutorial and the tool therein to collect information about your hardware:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html

If you click on the grey link titled "My System Specs" on the bottom left-hand corner of my reply here, you will see the sort of information that is collected.

Once we have that, it will make it easier to help solve this issue.

Regards,
Golden

Thanks for the almost immediate response, I didn't know these forums were so active. I updated all of my system specs on my profile, I'm not sure why I didn't post them in the first place.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Chris.

Can you tell us about the two monitors? Make, model and size?

Is your graphics card and monitors updated with the latest drivers? What resolution are you using?

Regards,
Golden

 

[ChrisR24]

Well.
My first monitor is a 21.5" 1680x1050 TV connected by a VGA jack, and my second monitor is a 24" 1920x1080 Samsung SyncMaster B2430 connected by a DVI jack. I've tried setting the resolutions the same, that didn't work. I know very little about hardware, so the different jacks might be causing the issue, would I need some sort of splitter? Also, considering the graphics card was installed last week, I'm pretty sure it is up to date, but I'll check it out.

 

[Golden]

Mmm. OK, I'm almost sure its not the connections/jacks. I suspect its the TV, but can't quite be sure. I'll see if one of the graphics experts can help you out here.

In the meantime, ensure you have the latest driver for your card.

Regards,
Golden

 

[Kari]

Hi Chris, welcome to the Seven Forums.

It seems you do not have an issue, for what you describe is only natural behavior of multi display setup when used displays have different resolutions. Here's what I mean:

You can drag and drop your displays on Screen Resolution tool as you wish. This tool shows you how they are in reference to each other. Screenshots below should tell you how it works.

First, two displays lined so that the top of both are on the same horisontal line:



Then a bit more unusual setup, displays "touching" each other only from one corner:



This can also happen when displays are using the same resolution, if they are not properly lined on Screen Resolution tool:



That's it. Completely natural behavior.

Kari

 

[MvdB]

I'm a bit surprised at a VGA connection on a GTX570??? As far as I know (+ I have a GTX570 myself) these only come in 1HDMI + 2x DVI? If, as Kari correctly showed, res and positioning is set equal then there should not be a problem other than that the cursor will allays seem to jump going from a smaller to a larger screen...

 

[stormy13]

I'm a bit surprised at a VGA connection on a GTX570??? As far as I know (+ I have a GTX570 myself) these only come in 1HDMI + 2x DVI?

That's why they all come with one DVI-VGA adapter, one (and only one) of the DVI ports on those cards can do VGA via adapter. The fun part sometimes is figuring out which is the dual port and which is DVI only, usually trial and error as most of the card manufacturers don't say in the manual or mark it on the backplate of the card,

 

[ChrisR24]

Wow, you guys know your stuff. Thanks to those who helped out, I didn't know you could fine-tune the relationship between monitors like that, it's working perfectly now. I'm using a VGA simply because I had a spare VGA cable, and I guess I just got lucky with the port. Thanks for helping me out.

 

[Kari]

You are welcome, nice you got it sorted out.

Kari

 

[dustywoodworker]

Good tips. Now I must check out my system. I've just been living with it working as it does.

 

[Kari]

Good tips. Now I must check out my system. I've just been living with it working as it does.

It's quite common to read or hear of an user who swaps displays on the table, or switches VGA cables on PC, to solve an issue where he first had to move mouse over the left edge of the left display to get pointer to the right display. Unnecessary headache

Display icons on Screen Resolution Tool can be freely dragged and dropped, to any combination user wants to. It's easy and fast.

Kari