Question 2nd monitors = NO monitors!

[pissedoff55yoguy]

SYST INFO:
Asus M4 A89 GTD Pro/USB3 MOBO w/int Video;
AMD 1055T 2.8Ghz 6-core CPU;
Win7 Pro 64bit; 12GB RAM;
EVGA GeForce 9500 GT 512K Dual Head;
(https://www.evga.com/products/specs/gpu.aspx?pn=DCAA3F3D-1396-49C6-AECA-174272B8B321)

(2) Asus VW224 Monitors;
(1) Gateway FPD1985 monitor. (has both DVI and VGA, using VGA w/an adapter to DVI - dont ask me which kind)

I was 55yrs old when I started this, now Im 58, and its still not fixed.

Main Dual Monitor Issue:
The Closest I can come to having dual monitors is when I plug in the 2nd monitor into the video card (in either port on the video card)
BOTH monitors will display for just a second or two - and then they BOTH go out and I can get NO video till I unplug one of the monitors from the card and then the display will come back up ** IF ** ...

The ONLY way I can seem to get any video to stay up is to use the Gateway monitor with a VGA Cable. Then at the Video Card, connect an adapter to covert it to DVI THRU the VGA CABLE and then plug that adapter into the 9500GT card (either video port).

I can move that config to the 2nd port on the video card and it will work, BUT ... if I try to utilize the 2nd port on the card, (keep in mind I get video if Im plugged in either, or ... but NO VIDEO IN EITHER if I plug either of the other two monitors. Whether VGA or DVI.
BOTH MY SCREENS GO Blank!

Can someone (in just plain english tell me this. -
a) do my Asus Monitors require drivers to work properly?
b) What is the correct order to do this in?
NOTE: The ONLY way I found to get ANY video up was to start with the internal Video.
Install the 9500 on the MOBO
Fire it up -
Device MGR - Locate new devices. (found GT 9500 Card)
(although I can not find ANY drivers for this online)


Can anyone please give me a suggestion HTF I can get both (would actually like to set up with 4 monitors) Don't really need HDMI, but its obviously nice to have at least on one of the monitors.

Ive messed with this for over 2 yrs now. Enuf is enuf.
HELP! <smile>

 

[nmb255]

It sounds like a painful experience you've been having.

I would of expected that the natural way to achieve what you want is to use 2 x DVI-D cables [Dual-Link] and use them to connect from your display card to each of the monitors. That's two cables one going from the card port #1 to one of the monitors and the other from card port #2 to the other monitor. Have you tried that?

I don't think you will be able to connect from the motherboard and the display card at the same time [some motherboards do allow this, many don't - check bios settings].

As for drivers for the card use https://www.geforce.com/drivers and either use the automatic installation or search manually. Watch-out for the series numbers as there are both 9 and 900 series. Yours I believe will be a 9 series [older].

Without additional hardware I think 4 monitors will be beyond your current set-up.

 

[pissedoff55yoguy]

It sounds like a painful experience you've been having.

I would of expected that the natural way to achieve what you want is to use 2 x DVI-D cables [Dual-Link] and use them to connect from your display card to each of the monitors. That's two cables one going from the card port #1 to one of the monitors and the other from card port #2 to the other monitor. Have you tried that?

I don't think you will be able to connect from the motherboard and the display card at the same time [some motherboards do allow this, many don't - check bios settings].

As for drivers for the card use https://www.geforce.com/drivers and either use the automatic installation or search manually. Watch-out for the series numbers as there are both 9 and 900 series. Yours I believe will be a 9 series [older].

Without additional hardware I think 4 monitors will be beyond your current set-up.

Short Version:
Thx for reply!!
What do you suggest for 4 monitors? mostly Firefox browser - 10 - 60 tabs in ~3-10 browser windows.

Long winded version: lol
Thank You so much for the kind reply!
Sad thing is I use to own and run a brick and mortar Computer Sales and Service shop for nearly 15yrs. Got cancer, took some nasty meds and there went my (cranial) memory! I use to FIX this kind of stuff, now Im just dumb as a rock some days! <sigh>
Truthfully, Ive got more processing power and ram than I need most days.
However Im well known for opening 3, 4,... even upto 6 windows in Firefox, and have had as many as 60 tabs in all open. It sure sucks up the System RAM!

I do/did a lot of research. Found having 3 monitors up allowed me to use TWO of them for keeping Firefox Browsers windows open to do my work; compare data on the fly, etc ... while keeping the 3rd monitor for monitoring network activity, security, chat or texts with different clients, etc ..
Many times I considered adding a 4th monitor, but Id need a different Video Card.

Since I cant seem to make things work with what I have on hand after being laid up almost a whole year,

In short, - What is a decent "cheap" solution for 4 monitors?
(2) Dual head video cards?; or,
(1) 4 head card?
and if so ... what might you suggest?
I do NO Gaming, - but I do a lot of internet browsing, ads & layouts for Billboards; Menus for restaurants; Website design work; some graphics but nothing serious by any means.

(I just plugged in another older Video card. Seems to be an old <cough> ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 WDDM Dated back to 2009!) All I can get to work is the OLD Gateway monitor But ONLY when I use the VGA cable to the VGA output on the card!

When I used it with the 9500GT - I could only get it to work if I used the DVI cable but then used a VGA Adapter to the vga port on the card.

(wanna buy a computer?) lol

 

[AllanGH]

Driver:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windo...op-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-international.exe

Release Notes:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/341.95/341.95-win10-desktop-release-notes.pdf

OS: Windows 7 64bit
Driver Version: 341.95
Release Date: 8/16/2016

 

[nmb255]

In short, - What is a decent "cheap" solution for 4 monitors?
(2) Dual head video cards?; or,
(1) 4 head card?
and if so ... what might you suggest?

I would suggest a single card. You can search ebay for a GTX 7xx or GTX9xx which has 4 video outputs. Just make sure it has the 4 ports on it. Then you should be okay to hook up 4 monitors to such a card.

Such cards will have 2xDVI, 1xHDMI and 1xDisplayport. With the right cables you should be okay. So you will also you need to check the monitor connections are compatible. With DVI there are multiple types which could lead to the wrong combination of monitor and cable failing.

Card and cables should cost you less than $100 USD, possibly less than $50 if your careful.

Finally, PSU. You may find that your choice of card needs an additional power connection from your PSU. So you need to check that out also.

With careful checking [Google/Youtube is your friend] and patience on Ebay you shouldn't have any problems.

Good luck with it.