Dual Mon: Using Laptop as Secondary

Hey,

I just got a gateway 21" LCD (sweet) and was wondering if it was possible to use it as the primary display and have my laptop be a secondary display. I'm using an A8Jm so it's nVidia and the drivers seem to be conspiring against me.

Thanks!

 

yes its in control panel display advanced very simple just make monitor 2 the primary.

 

How? I'm assuming you mean Settings->Advanced.

But if I have it in "Dualview" (nVidia setting for 2 monitors) then the option for "make this monitor my primary display" is grayed out.

 

Should just be able to control this under Settings without clicking on Advanced, when in the Display Properties dialog box...

 

How??? Please read my previous post.

 

whats the reason that the 21" has to be the primary, why not just move whatever you are working on to that screen?

 

It's in the settings tab. Select the 21" and check "Use this device as the primary monitor." Depending on the drivers you may also be able to do this in the advanced and then the driver specific settings, but it's way deeper in.

 

Thanks for all the help, but the "Use this device as the primary monitor" option is GRAYED OUT; I can't check or uncheck it.

 

Try clicking on the actual monitor box diagrams with the numbers in the window itself. I don't have a second monitor myself at the moment so I can't test it but I think that's what you do...

~ Brett

 

In that case the option for primary and secondary is in the NVidia section inside the advanced settings.

 

I guess I just don't see the need for this, for the most part the primary monitor isn't that important, just drag your windows around.

 

In 3D applications (CAD, modeling, animation) it does matter. The primary and secondary monitors can be accelerated differently depending on the card and driver settings. On Quadro cards for example you can choose to dump most of the performance into one monitor or have both accelerated equally.

There are also some quirky 2D programs (jEdit for example) that can glitch on the secondary monitor.

 

Still the same problem. even in the nVidia settings it simply will not let me do a dual monitor setup with the DVI as the primary (it's grayed out) unless I clone the displays (which is kind of pointless).

Any input from dealers on this? I know Justin uses 23" LCDs so maybe he'd be able to help.

 

So you tried going control panel --> Display --> Settings Tab then clicking on the second monitor in the diagram...? That used to do it for me...

~ Brett

 

Try this. Turn only the external monitor on, then try to extend to the laptop screen. I have done that before, but I am not positive it is what you are looking for.

 

I have the W3Jp and I was wondering if anyone else has the problem where it looks like the LCD is flickering a bit when a solid background is viewed is this a defect with my laptop?

 

aznstyle, please stay on topic. You can always open a new thread.

rwei, okay I'm finally at a system with a NVidia card and dual monitors. I still have no clue why your checkbox is grayed out. On the nView page it allows me to change the order either via the pulldown menu or the checkbox. I have seen times where the order gets screwed up until restart but never grayed out. The only thing I can recommend is the generic reinstall/install latest drivers advice.

 

hmm. Yeah, I know the options you're talking about but in the nView page the dropdown menu only has an option for laptop screen as primary. I'll see if uninstalling/reinstalling drivers helps. Thanks!

 

Sweet, I installed the 91 Forceware drivers from LaptopVideo2Go and it works now. Thanks!

Now I have another question. Is it possible to have it so when I move my mouse to the LEFT of my primary (big) screen, it goes to my secondary (laptop) screen?

It's just that I have to have the laptop on the left and as it is it's very counterintuitive that I have to move to the left of my primary screen to get to the secondary screen.

 

In the settings tab there is a picture of two monitors representing your two monitors. You "should" be able to drag them and move them around changing the relative positions.

 

Right again dude, thanks so much for the help.

 

... Isn't that what I was sorta trying to tell you...

~ Brett

 

If you had read the thread you would see that he had a driver issue before this position thing.