MadDog's Day Trading and Investing InfoHouse - Multiple Displays: Myths & Realities

Multiple Displays: Overview

Windows 98

Windows 2000

Windows ME

Windows XP

Multiport Cards

Myths & Realities

There is a fair amount of misinformation (and truth!) out there regarding Windows 98 and multimonitor usage!

Myth: All of the graphics adapters in a Windows 98 multimonitor configuration have to be PCI-based.

Reality: False! You can combine supported AGP and PCI adapters in a multidisplay system. See the table in the Windows 98 section for tested configurations.

Myth: All of the graphics adapters in a Windows 98 multimonitor configuration have to be either the same exact card or, at least, be from the same manufacturer.

Reality: False! You can combine supported adapters from different manufacturers (or different models from the same manufacturer) in a multidisplay system. See the table in the Windows 98 section for tested configurations.

Myth: The primary graphics adapter (i.e., the one that boots first) in a multidisplay configuration combining PCI and AGP adapters always has to be one of the PCI cards and not the AGP card.

Reality: False! It has been generally assumed that the primary adapter in a multidisplay system has to be a PCI-based card. However, some of the more recent BIOS versions from particular manufacturers allow you to specify that the AGP card is initialized first before any other cards in your system. Given that the AGP card would, more often than not, be the more powerful of the graphics adapters in a multidisplay system, it would normally be preferable to have your primary display be the one driven by the AGP card.

The following story is a little dated at this point, but I think the central message still applies.

True Confessions: A Real-Life Multiple Display Adapter Nightmare

Most of the time, you should be able to take adapters included in the Microsoft compatibility list, plug them into your system, connect the monitors, turn on your computer, configure the display properties, and voila! . . . multiple displays working within minutes. However, I thought I'd share with you a real-life example of how harrowing the process can sometimes be when you're attempting to get multiple displays to work, even with major PC and graphics card manufacturers. A friend had purchased a new Compaq Presario 400 MHz Pentium II system from Costco (which includes an ATI Rage LT Pro AGP 2X graphics card), an ATI Xpert 98 PCI card, and a second 17" monitor, thinking that it would be prudent to pick graphics adapters that were high on Microsoft's Windows 98 compatibility list. After we struggled for some time to get the AGP card to come alive when the PCI card was added to the system, we spoke with Compaq Technical Support, who claimed there was no specific info as to why the problem was occurring. We spent four hours on the phone with ATI Technical Support trying various workarounds to get the cards to work together, all to no avail. (FYI, ATI was extremely helpful, despite the fact that they were concerned that we needed to deal directly with Compaq, since Compaq shipped their product with a special branded version of the ATI drivers. I heartily recommend them and their products.) After failing to come up with a solution, we decided to communicate again to Compaq on the following day. In the course of speaking with another Compaq support rep, we happened to be visiting the Compaq Support web site at the same time and discovered a new driver for the ATI Rage LT Pro AGP 2X card that had just been posted that day! It turned out that the Presarios had been shipped with drivers that did NOT support the multidisplay feature in Windows 98 (this was August of 1998, mind you), we had been unable to find a single support person at Compaq that was aware of the problem, then all of a sudden, there's a new driver posted on the web site that they weren't even aware of! Lo and behold, we downloaded the new driver and replaced the one that ships with the system, and the system has been running two displays in fine fashion ever since.

The moral of this story? Don't assume a major manufacturer has their multidisplay act together just because they're a major company! Likewise, don't give up and assume you don't have a solution until you've exhausted all your alternatives!

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