M860ETU dual external monitors

Guys,

I've got 2 22" LCD monitors that I'd like to use (turn off the laptop display) and only have the 2 22" LCD's going - I've hooked one up via DVI and the other via HDMI - and turned off the desktop display, but still can't get the two external monitors to display.

Is it possible with this machine? Does it only allow one external display (ie either DVI OR HDMI)?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks guys!

 

If I'm not mistaking HDMI is DVI + sound with a different cable header. So no, you can only use 1 external monitor. You could always buy a screen splitter like Matrox which combines 2 screens and makes your computer think it only has one very high res screen.

 

i have my laptop hooked up to a 23" monitor through HDMI and to an analog TV through the DVI connector using a DVI to VGA converter and to my surprise both can be on simultaneously

i have never tried to hook up two digital monitors but I know you can make it work with one digital and one analog. perhaps you could try making one monitor analog?

 

I will give this a shot later on tonight - I remember setting them both to digital previously - what is the difference betweeen analog/digital?

I'm hoping to drive (2) displays at 1680x1050 each.

 

There's a difference between duplicating the desktop on two screens and extending your desktop on two screens. The fact that he used an analog display with a DVI->VGA adapter doesn't change anything. As i said before, HDMI = DVI, which is why he could use two screens as duplicate monitors, it's essentially the same signal coming out on two ports.

 

i'm not duplicating, i'm extending. the HDMI is my main display and i'm extending the desktop to the analog TV. The laptop's display is off though, I cant extend my desktop to 3 different displays.

EDIT: amcolex, note that the OP does not want to extend his desktop to 2 screens, he wants to turn off his laptop display, make one external monitor his main display and extend the desktop to the other monitor. In theory it should be feasible since I've done it with my setup (2 different images output to two different displays, one through HDMI and the other through DVI).

 

mattmcss, have you tried to do the following?

1. Connect both monitors, one HDMI and one DVI
2. In the Screen Resolution menu, click on the HDMI monitor, select "Extend desktop to this display", Apply
3. Click "Make this my main display", Apply
4. Select your laptop display, select the option "Disconnect this display", Apply
5. Select your second external monitor, select the option "Extend desktop to this display", Apply

 

I've had both monitors hooked up - one via DVi and the other via HDMI - and turned off my laptop monitor (not just closed lid or anything, I disconnected it) and was unable to get both external monitors to show up.

I'll give this a try again tonight though and see what happens.

Oh - what resolution are you running your displays at?

 

my HDMI monitor is at 2048x1152. the TV is a dinosaur, but i think the resolution of the image I'm feeding through to the converter is 1024x768. Like I said before I have yet to try it with two decent monitors but I have a feeling it would work.

EDIT: Oh, by the way, since Nvidia's engineers are idiots your GPU wont be able to downclock lower than stage 3 when using an external monitor so expect your idle gpu temps to jump by at least 5-10C.