Vista Hangs with Multiple Monitors

[liberona]

Hi,

I have a BFG GTX 285 Video card and I am running a Samsung 2253BW Monitor. In the other output I am running a HDMI cable to my Panasonic 50" HDTV. When I fool around with the settings in NVIDIA Control panel the computer screens just go black and the hard drive seems to be active, but the computer is stalled as in I cannot reset or do anything -- I have to hit the reset key to restart the computer. I was wondering what could be causing this issue. I want to run the monitor to play games and surf, and the HDTV is to watch movies. I want to use each display seperately, and when i try to change to one or the other it hangs. When I used the windows --> personalize --> Display settings it does not hang.

Any information on this issue would be helpful.

TIA

 

[belial2k]

is the HDMI to the tv the native PC input?...if not it could be the tv and pc are not communicating correctly causing the freeze.

 

[evongugg]

Please tell us about your power supply.

 

[liberona]

I do not know if the HDMI to tv is the native. There is two ports and I have used the one for my monitors for months now. I just hooked up the tv in the last couple days on the other port.

 

[liberona]

I can run both of them on extended desktop no problem, no issues. its as soon as i want to switch to one or the other, or even when I play with the resolutions. It seems to only stall when I use NVIDIA Control panel or Ultramon. When I used vista's display settings it does not crash. I have the newest NVIDIA Drivers.

Computer is - E8400 CPU, GB UD3R MB, G.Skill Pi 2x2GB RAM, WD HD, Power Supply Corsair 650W, BFG NVIDIA GTX 285 Video Card, Dark Knight Heat Sink, Arctic Thermal Paste. No Overclocking as of yet.

 

[belial2k]

It sounds like you are trying to force a resolution that your tv doesn't support. Mos HDTVs will have an input marked PC. It is usually vga and will allow custom resolutions up to the max it supports ie, 1366 x 768 on a 720p, or 1900x1080 or 1900 x 1200 on a 1080p. If you do not have it hooked up to the native PC input, or if you try to force a resolution it does not support it would cause the problem when you try to change resolutions

 

[liberona]

I dont think that is the problem. A few days ago I set this up DVI-HDMI cable to the TV as a primary monitor to test it out. It worked fine at 1920x1080 @60 hz. Full screen no issues. Played games all that. Once i tried to set it up in the multiple setup is when it got all funky. The only way I can get it to work in mulitple setup is as an extended desktop. When I use NVIDIA to adjust anything the computer crashes. I can do adjustments through windows vista display manager without any problems. The other issue is that on the HDTV the screen is shifted and I cannot get it to fit properly anymore.

 

[belial2k]

yes...I think it is the problem...if you were in the native pc input there would be a setting called "auto adjust" , "pc adjust" or "vga" on the tv that would automatically fit the screen correctly to the monitor. It is only available on the native PC input, though. You might need to switch to a vga cable to use the native input, but things will be much better all around if you do. You will have to run the same resolution on both monitors for best performance. Are you trying to use clone mode? If so switch which monitor is the primary and try it again.

 

[liberona]

I have never used PC input, always DVI-HDMI and it worked. I am not trying to do clone mode, the only thing i want is to run these displays seperate. The monitor is for daily use, HDTV for watching movies and maybe some gaming. When I hooked it up originally through DVI-HDMI it worked perfectly. Once i went to dual setup I had all these issues. And now when I hook it up the same way it was before it still does not fit in the screen properly. The HDTV is a Panasonic TC-P50G10. Thanks for the help btw.

 

[belial2k]

usually, in most other cases, hdmi is preferred...but not when you are connecting a PC to a HDtv (unless the PC input has a HDMI slot). Once you use the correct input you can use it just like any other monitor because it will communicate with the PC correctly...using the non native PC inputs keeps the monitor and PC from communicating correctly and will cause all sort of problems like the screen not being centered, poor picture quality, and problems with resolution. If you could get back into the graphics control center you could center the screen, but it won't solve all your problems. The best thing to do is hook it to the native PC input, and all your problems should be solved.....but you might have to do the "auto adjust" in your tv settings a few times before it learns the correct screen size for the different resolutions the pc will throw at it with games.

 

[liberona]

the thing is with the pc input the resolution sucks its very low, with hdmi it gives me full resolution. I do not know why it worked fine the first time I tried but now it does not. Thanks for the help though i appreciate it. I actually just hooked up the HDMI cable to the original port i used and it worked! !

 

[belial2k]

yes, I just checked the tvs specs and confirmed that the max resolution with the PC input is 13x7, so it will keep you at 720p....using the hdmi input will work, but mainly for movies and some games....anything that needs to change the resolution will cause problems to some degree with screen shift or other problems because it cannot "speak" directly to the PC. Another side effect is that usually the non native port will have terrible clarity compared to the native port...text will look fuzzy, there will be ghosting, ect. The native port, even at a lower resolution, will look more like a regular computer monitor.

 

[liberona]

Actually It looks great looks super clear and everything and now all the other stuff is working properly... odd that only that one HDMI port works for my comptuer but oh well Ill take it!! have a good one!

 

[belial2k]

I didn't download or read the manual...it is possible one of the hdmi ports is also a native PC input. I did notice there was one right next to the VGA input, so they might be tied together. Anyway, I'm glad the problem was solved! I'm a huge fan of HDtv as a monitor, and I think once you've used it for a while it will be hard to go back to the smaller monitor for gaming and movies.

 

[liberona]

I thought it was solved it reverted back to how it was I dont know what is going on.. When the computer is booting up the screen looks great until it gets to windows then its all shifted. I think it might have something to do with NVIDIA? Is there anything else I could try? And why when i try to change any settings for either display in NVIDIA Control Panel it gives both the displays a black screen and it looks like the HDD is working (light is flashing). I have tried to leave it doing its thing but nothing happens, computer is totally frozen the only way to get out of it is to reset it with the button.

 

[liberona]

I figured it out, was a setting on my tv. For anyone that has a panasonic there is an option HD fill you have to change this to 2 for it to fit your screen. enjoy