John’s Tech Blog for Lawyers

I have been a member of the Linux community for the past 10 years. When I say I’ve been a member, I really mean that I’ve been a user of the great applications that other brilliant folks have created to solve their own problems.

The foundation of the Linux community, originally started by Linus Torvalds, is the idea that the program source is free for anyone to use, for whatever purpose. The main caveat is that if you add anything new to the program source, then that should be given back to the community. While the idea is somewhat between utopia and woodstock, it works. There are thousands of great applications that programmers have given back to the community, many of which I use on a daily basis. Take this wordpress blogging application for one!

Anyway, to make a long story short, I’m not a good programmer. But what I do know is how to troubleshoot just about any computer system, how to create cost-effective working solutions from many different sources of hardware and software, and how to map business workflow into an efficient, functional, and useful enterprise system. So, in the spirit of the open source community, I hope that I can give back to computer users information on how to make their systems work better for them.

If you run into a technical issue that you need help with, log-in and post it here. Then the answer can be shared with others who may be in a similar situation. And, if you find a tidbit of useful information here, please feel free to use it, copy it, and pass it on.

This post was originally written in reponse to a question posed in the TechnoLawyer newsletter. You can visit TechnoLawyer at http://technolawyer.com.

Here is how to get a third monitor working on your system if you have a special “dual head” card and an on board display connector.

Generally, Windows will recognize all attached hardware. But, when dual head cards are installed, the installation software the came with the card will uninstall all other drivers so that the new card will be the sole display source, disabling the onboard display connector.

To get all the display connectors working properly, you should first ensure that the bios is properly set up. Before starting this procedure, make sure that your bios is updated to the lastest version. If not, the updated bios can also be downloaded on the support page for your particular computer.

Once the bios is updated to the latest version, get into the bios configuration by rebooting your computer and pressing the designated key as soon as the screen starts up. You will likely see a prompt for this, but with today’s fast processors, it goes away quickly. I usually turn off the computer, turn it on and start taping the delete key (on my compuer) until the bios comes up. In the bios configuration, you will be able to enable or disable the onboard video port. Make sure it is enabled, save the changes, exit the bios, and restart the computer.

Now open up Windows and go to the control panel. Under Add/Remove software, remove ALL of your graphics drivers. Once they are installed, make sure that you have a monitor connected to the onboard video port and reboot the system.

Windows will open up in VGA mode, it will notify you that it found new hardware, and it will ask you to install a proper driver. Instead of installing all of the software for the video card, simply direct the installer to the location of the driver for which it is asking . Use your CD for your dual head card, and your system should have the driver for the onboard display connector. The system should install all of the proper software based on the .inf file in the directory where the driver is located.

If the system does not install both drivers at the same time, go to the control panel, choose add/remove hardware, and install the second driver. Reboot, and you should have all three monitors displaying the same information. At this point, you can install from the dual head card software disk, or from the manufacturer’s support Web site, the configuration applet that allows you to rotate, and configure the screens on each of the video card ports.

I love my multiple monitors (I use Linux instead of Windows, but the result is similar), but they do take some time to configure properly. You may need to visit the web site for your computer and for your dual head video card. I always recommend downloading the latest driver from the chip manufacturer instead of using the one that comes with the card. That way, you will be using the latest driver, and one that is not watered down with a bunch of other memory-hogging, but often useless apps.