Dual display problems

[Guest JoJa15]

* Toshiba M200 Tablet PC

* NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M, Dev ID 0328

* 46.44 from Toshiba Toshiba Nvidia Driver

* Windows XP SP2 Tablet PC 2005 edition

* I am trying to use an external monitor with my laptop and have the windows desktop span across both monitors. I am able to do that but my problem is that the display properties will not allow me to set my desktop monitor as monitor #1 and my laptop display as monitor #2. The reason I want this is so that all my icons and task bar will be on my main desktop monitor. I also want it becuase my laptop is to the right of my monitor so I can write notes in the tablet PC. With my desktop monitor as monitor number 2 I have to move my mouse to the right to get the mouse cursor to display in my desktop monitor which is physically to my left. Hopefully all of that makes sense. I have attached a screen shot of my Nview display properties and you can see that I do not have an option in there to set monitors.

Can anyone help me out with this problem?

Thank you in advance for any help provided.

- John

[Guest JoJa15]

I forgot to attach the image with the Nview properties.

- John

[LSudlow]

In the [nv_SoftwareDeviceSettings] section of your inf, add the following lines (or modify them if they're already there):

HKR,, IgnoreHWSelectedDeviceInSpanningMode, %REG_DWORD%, 1

HKR,, DevicesConnected, %REG_DWORD%, 255

HKR,, DualViewAllow2ndViewAsPrimary, %REG_DWORD%, 1

HKR,, DualViewAllowNonDFPAsPrimary,%REG_DWORD%, 1

HKR,, NvCplConfiguration, %REG_DWORD%, 0

Note: Some infs have more than one SofwareDeviceSettings section, customized for different cards. Make sure you modify the right one, or else modify all of them to be sure.

In the [nv_ControlPanelSettings] section of your inf, add or modify the following lines:

HKLM,"Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak", NvCplDisableSpanControls,%REG_DWORD%, 0

HKLM,"Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak", NvCplDualViewAllowNonDFPAsPrimary, %REG_DWORD%, 1

HKLM,"Software\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak", NvCplDualviewMoveDesktopIcons,%REG_DWORD%, 1

Reinstall and you should be all set.

[Guest JoJa15]

Thank you for the tip!

When I went to modify my INF I could not find out. Here is what my folder looks (See attached image) like with the files extracted from the Toshiba download. I tried seeing if I could extract the cab folders but I was unable to do so. I opened up the mode.txt file and here is what was in it:

//edit: removed code as it was the modes.txt

Is that a file that modifes the .inf file or is that only for informational purposes? Can I run the installer, let it extract the files but then stop the installation so I can modify the inf file before the actual install takes place?

Thank you again for the very quick reply and the help.

- John

Edited March 10, 2005 by ®®®

[Guest JoJa15]

Never mind. I used 7-zip to extract the files and for some weird reason it did not extract all of them. When I used the installer it extracted all the files. I will try your suggestion in your first reply as I can see the inf file now.

- John

[Guest JoJa15]

OK, I tried the INF tweaks you suggested and I got some weird behavior. At first I could see the Dual View settings as described here:

Dual View

After I tried adjusting settings using the windows monitor arrangement (right click on desktop and then select the settings tab), the Dual View settings in the Nvidia panel disappeared!

What I am basically trying to do is setup my laptop so that when it is docked my desktop monitor has my icons and task bard and my laptop has the extended desktop to the right for note taking using the Tablet PC functionality. Then if I undock my laptop I would like the laptop to get the task bar and icons and for the laptop to function in single monitor mode.

Is there any way to achieve the above? Are there any tools to do this?

-John

[LSudlow]

What you're trying to do is pretty normal. Try downloading a newer driver and modified inf from here. I recommend 71.84. Modify the inf with the lines I gave you and it should work fine. (Let us know if it doesn't.)

If you continue to be able to set it initially but it doesn't stick, that's a different problem we may be able to help with.

Good luck!

[Guest JoJa15]

OK, I went with the 67.66 drivers because I read somewhere that they were better with the 5200 32/64 mb card for memory reasons. If the 71.84 would be better let me know and I will upgrade to those.

With the 67.66 drivers and the inf tweaks you recommended everything is working fine so far. I am able to set my desktop monitor as the primary monitor and my tablet PC as the secondary monitor. I am also able to have the display rotate on my Tablet PC when the screen is changed without it affecting my desktop monitors screen orientation.

I have setup two profiles one when I am docked which has dual monitor support and one when I am undocked in single monitor Tablet mode. I then just switch between the profiles depending on my situation. I really wish there was a way for the computer to automatically detect if a second monitor is attached and automatically switch between the profiles but it does not look like that can happen. If anyone knows a way to do that let me know.

I did have one little problem when I set this up. When I was in the nview settings setting up the two monitors my system locked up in rundll32.dll. I rebooted my machine and then just used the windows dual monitor UI to setup the monitors and then saved the profile in the Nvidia tool. The only other problem is that I am unable to rotate the screen using the hardware button on the Tablet PC. I am going to do a little more research and see what may be causing that. It is not a huge deal because the screen automatically rotates when I changed the monitor from a laptop mode to a tablet pc mode.

- John