How to switch between displays (HDMI and DVI) on ASUS M4A785-M

integraoligist

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Hi all, I have a ASUS M4A785-M mobo which uses the onboard ATI Radeon HD 4200 video
I have an HDTV connected to the HDMI output on the mobo, and I also have a LCD monitor connected via DVI. How do I switch the displays back and forth? When I have them both connected, the HDMI connection is always on and the DVI is always off... i have to physically unplug the HDMI for the DVI to work.

I read that you can not have both the HDMI and DVI running at the same time, but that is fine... i just want to be able to click a button and switch from one screen to the other.

Also, I have the AMD VISION Engine Control Center installed.

Thanks!
 

danraies

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There are several ways to configure two monitors. The most common are mirroring (both monitors are identical) and extending (the two monitors are treated as one giant monitor). If you'd like to set that up in Windows 7, right click on the desktop and go to screen resolution. If it can't see both monitors click "Detect."

As far as what you seem to want - switching completely from one screen to the other so that one is on and the other is off - I've never heard of anything like that.
 

integraoligist

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Yes, I am running Win7 64bit... I tried doing it in the Screen Resolution area, when both monitors are plugged in (I have to do it from the TV instead of the Monitor because it auto shuts off the Monitor) It does not detect the Monitor, it only sees the TV.

It doesn't matter to me if they are mirrored or not, just as long as I can have both monitors run...

Ideas?
 

danraies

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Are you sure that the integrated card supports two monitors? Because if windows isn't seeing both then either it's not supported by the driver or there's a problem with the driver.

If your tv/monitor have the same resolution, there are y-cables that will split video outputs. I don't have any experience with them, though.
 

integraoligist

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It supports multiple monitors, just not all running at the same time. I just can figure out why, even when the TV is turned off, the signal doesn't pop back over to the DVI connection.

No they are different resolutions
 

integraoligist

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Reformat was my first thought as well, I did, but it hasent changed anything.
This morning I found this:

Gra.jpg


Now I have 2 questions about this... it says it runs Dual VGA output: RGB & DVI or RGB & HDMI

Is RGB the VGA output?

Also, I have the HDMI out connected to the TV, it says it has a max resolution of 1920x1200 (1080p) but the max that I can get is 1920x1080 and the "recommended" resolution (and so it dosent look like crap) is 1360x768

The DVI-D has a max. resolution of 2560x1600... if I get a cord that converts DVI-D to HDMI, will the resolution look better on the tv? Right now the recommended resolution is far to big, I can only work on 1 window at a time because everything is so large.

Thanks again!
 

Wolfshadw

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Yes. RGB is the VGA port.

The resolution on your TV is the limiting factor to your connection to the TV. It doesn't matter which video output you use.

One thing I thought of while reading through this thread, if you're really hell bent on using both DVI and HDMI and your monitor has a VGA port, you can try this:

Connect the monitor via VGA and the TV via HDMI. Go into Catalyst Control center and see if there is a hot-key switch to activate/deactivate the attached monitors. (you may need multple hot-key switches). If there is, set up something like:

Alt+F9 ==> Deactivate Monitor
Alt+F10 ==> Activate TV
Alt+F11 ==> Deactivate TV
Alt+F12 ==> Activate Monitor

Test it out to see if it works as planned. If it does (or maybe you can find a better way of doing this), Shut down the system and reconnect the Monitor with the DVI cable.

-Wolf sends
 

danraies

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The answer to your problem seems to be that the mobo won't do DVI and HDMI together.

Personally I've never had good luck with Catalyst Control center but others have. Your best bet is probably to just buy a VGA (rgb) cable. The adapters that take DVI to VGA are alright - theoretically you're not supposed to lose resolution.
 

integraoligist

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ok, well i found a new VGA cable, installed it and both displays are on.
The "Extended" display option is a pain so I change it to Only Display Desktop on "1" or "2"... which is fine, but I have to go into Screen Resolution then when I change from Desktop 2 (the PC monitor) to Desktop 1 (the TV) it keeps the same resolution at the Monitor... so I then have to adjust that. I can't seem to save any of the resolutions so it's less hassle back and forth.

Any ideas?
And is there some type of Gadget out there that I can keep on the desktop, like a switch to switch between the displays?

Thanks all!
 

danraies

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I don't know of a way to hotkey from activating one monitor to the other (although there probably is one) but Windows does support a mirroring mode where both displays always show the same thing. That could be useful depending on the application.
 

SKG990

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Use Win + P key combo to do what you are trying to do. I have a similar setup but with 2 video cards. Note Windows will need to detect both screens.