Dual Monitor support fails with 7.15.11.5665A HP/nVidia update

I applied the 7.15.11.5665 A version of the 8600m GS drivers from the HP site and discovered sometime later that I had lost dual monitor support. Enabling the second monitor resulted in a black screen and some very degraded system performance. Rolling the driver back solved the problem (thankfully not having to send it in for service) and I've since updated to the unlocked drivers on LaptopVideo2Go here:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showforum=72

I have not had a chance to retest dual-monitor support - I'm just so happy to have modern drivers!

 

I haven't had any problems with dual-monitor for dv9500. Only the first time I added the 2nd monitor, using Vista windows monitor setting to 'attach' wouldn't work, but when I went to advanced nVidia setting the 2nd monitor turned on, and has been working ever since.

 

Right, this only happened after updating the current driver posted on the HP site for me. Are you saying you're running this version and you're not experiencing the issue or are you running one of the "hacked inf" versions from LaptopVideo2Go?

 

I'm using the latest beta from LaptopVideo2Go. I'm running 32-bit Vista, which may be the difference if you are using Vista 64.

 

What is the diffrence with the laptopvideo2go drivers and the hp drivers? Is one better than the other.

 

laptopvideo2go drivers are nvidia beta drivers with the .inf hacked so they can be installed in HP laptops. The official .inf files don't let you install on laptop because nvidia wants all laptop support issues to be handled by the laptop maker.

But HP releases nvidia driver updates very slowly, or sometimes not at all for older machines, and the newest games often need newest beta graphics drivers to run. laptopvideo2go is the easy way to get them installed.

 

Actually that is incorrect - the drivers on the aforementioned site are not necessarily beta, although I believe you can find the latest beta drivers there. The drivers you can download are same exact drivers you can download from the nVidia site, the laptopvideo2go site just unlocks the INF file so that the installer will detect your card properly.

nVidia uses a "unified driver model" which means after a certain chip family all cards use the same driver regardless of manufacturer or family. I don't have a clue why nVidia or the laptop manufacturers (all laptop makers, not just HP) force you to get the drivers from them and not directly from nVidia but adding the mobile chipsets back into the INF file does the trick!

UPDATE: I've had the opportunity to test dual-monitor support with both the analog and digital (HDMI) connectors and it works great now. I love the HDMI port and it drives my Samsung Syncmaster 226BW beautifully!