Just bought the Dell 20.3....some help needed

[jwvdcw]

Very happy with it but having slight problems.

They give you two possible connection cables: the D-Sub(smaller blue cable)and the DVI-D(larger white cable). For some reason, my computer will hook up fine with the D-Sub, but I can't get the monitor to work using the DVI-D outlet.

The reason that I want to use the Dell with the DVI-D outlet is because I heard that I can hook up two monitors at once in order to get optimal monitor screen space. Well, my other monitor(the Sony Viao 17in that came with my computer) will only hook up with the D-Sub port, therefore, I must put the Dell into the DVI-D in order to use both at once.

So basically, I have two questions. First, how do I connect my Dell using the DVI-D port? Second, once I do this, how do I use both monitors at once?

Thanks very much for any help.

[Alobar]

well I cant answer the multi monitor question, and I dunno if I can answer the "why wont it work" question either. But one possible cause could be the fact that you have to select the appropriate setting on the monitor to correspond to the way you hooked it up. I'm not at home right now so I cant look at my dell, but there should be a button on the front of your monitor that will cycle between the different output settings the monitor can use. Give that a shot.

[jwvdcw]

Yeah, I am using that button. Heres the weird thing:

You know how if you choose one of the opions and you don't have that chord hooked up then you'll get a little box that says 'self test feature check' and it'll have four colors below it. Well, when I plug the DVI-D in and turn the montior to that option, I do NOT get that. So it is detecting it properly. What happens is that the green light on the monitor turns orange and its pitch black.

[Alobar]

I dunno man, I would shoot dell an email.

[bwana devil]

what do you mean by the Dell 20.3? trying to help but that's not a system to my knowledge.

[Alobar]

I'm pretty sure he is refering to the 2100FP

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure he is refering to the 2100FP

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah..the one that everyone recommends here....sorry for the ambiguity.

[jwvdcw]

After reading through the online instructions, it seems as if the orange light indicates 'power save mode'. So for whatver reason I am alwasy in power save mode when I try to use the DVI-D attachment. I move the mouse and hit the keyboard but it won't get out of this mode. Anyone able to help now?

[TimM]

You probably have to go into control panel > display > settings and enable dual display mode. How you do this depends on your video card and drivers.

[berya]

I'm not quite sure about the DVI. But about 2 months ago I had to set up a dual monitor. One 20.1 Dell and one 18 Dell. First I had to buy a PCI card (video card) because I had an older version of Dell 2350 model and it did not support dual monitors. After I bought the card NDIVIO 5600 (or something like that). This card had two monitors that could be plugged in. I plugged in both and had some issues. I think one was blank/dark screen like yours in power saving mode or something like that. I went to Dell support forums and searched for similar problems. You should try it. At the end it turned out I had to go in BIOS menu at start up and change one of the options. The graphics display was only set to default or something like that the way it originally was designed. I had to change it to AUTO mode for the system to recognize the new set up. Try the Dell support forums you might find some useful info there.

[jwvdcw]

I think I found my answer, but I'm not sure yet.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_monitor&message.id=33721

[jwvdcw]

Jeez...that link I posted seems to note my exact problem, but I don't have the slightest clue where to begin. I don't even know which kind of video card I have. If anyone can walk me through some of the basic steps, it'd be greatly appriciated.

[TimM]

I'll give it a try:

Right click on a blank area on your desktop, and click "Preoperties". You should get a Display Properties window - choose the Settings tab. You should see monitors labeled 1 and 2 on top, if you don't, your card may not be capable of dual display, or you do not have a driver installed that has this capability, or there is some other setting under advanced which is disabling dual display mode.

If you do have both monitors shown, right click on monitor 2 and click "Attached". Make sure the "Extend my Windows Desktop..." box is checked.

http://photoshop.superdownloads.net/uploads/TMdisplay1.jpg