Help -- Trouble With Multiple Monitors!

R

Raven Crowking

First Post

• Sep 12, 2006

• #1

I know that there are people on EN World cleverer than I am about this stuff, and I hope one of you can help me, 'cause this is driving me crazy.

I updated my laptop (IBM ThinkPad) to Windows XP. Now the "Multiple Monitors" feature is on (spliting the laptop monitor) and I can't shut it off.

The display properties shows that it is a multiple monitor setup, but offers me no method of changing it.

There is a ThinkPad driver and a default driver for the monitor. Disabling one and leaving the other active (in either combination) hasn't helped.

Any ideas?

RC

 

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Mycanid

First Post

• Sep 12, 2006

• #2

Hey there sir ... might be helpful for some of us if we had a few more details of a few of the specs of your laptop: what model Thinkpad is it and what is the video card bundled therein? That might be a good place to start....

P.S. You get my email?

 

Steel_Wind

Legend

• Sep 12, 2006

• #3

I will assume the monitor settings on Settings> display is something you have played with.

On a Thinkpad, there is a Blue "Function" key (Fn) on the lower left of the keyboard. When you press this key down along with F7 at the same time (look for the Blue Monitor graphic on the F7 key) , you will toggle the monitor output between three selections:

1) Laptop screen only
2) laptop and external screen at same time
3) external screen only

Note that an IBM Thinkpad will default to external monitor only if you boot the machine up with the external monitor plugged in. (This autodetect is used by Thinkpads which assume it means a docking station is in use.) This can do some other unpleasant things with Monitor behaviour too. Generally - avoid doing it

 

Last edited: Sep 12, 2006

Mycanid

First Post

• Sep 12, 2006

• #4

I will second Steel Wind ... who is way faster on the draw with these sort of things than I am, by the way.

My own experience with the thinkpads recently has been bound up with the digital projectors - sending an image to them with the thinkpad was fairly similar as Steel Wind described....

 

Plane Sailing

Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!

• Sep 14, 2006

• #5

I've attached two pictures of the properties dialog from my laptop.

As you can see, it will happily support additional monitors if they are plugged in - and it will also extend the desktop onto imaginary second monitors if you tell it too (which I believe it was doing by default at one time).

In the first picture, the two checkboxes at the bottom are greyed out. if I click on the picture of the second monitor, the 'extend my windows desktop onto this monitor' checkbox becomes available. If I then uncheck this and 'Apply' changes, the problem disappears.

Do you recognise any of this in your own setup? Does it help at all?

Cheers

 

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R

Raven Crowking

First Post

• Sep 14, 2006

• #6

The problem seems to be resolved.

Thank you all.

RC