Vista - Dual monitor issues.. Ati HD4870.. no luck

Hello everyone!

I've recently bought a new rig and decided to go with Vista Enteprise 64-bit version on it.

I currently have a 30" Dell monitor and a 19" Packard Bell Maestro 190W setup that I used on my previous XP rig.


Now, when I try to use my PB Maestro 190" Screen on the Vista machine, I get no signal. I can detect the monitor through the ATI Catalyst program but it cant it to work.

The monitor works and shows stuff when I reload the computer, but it goes "No signal" just when Vista Loads...


I have downloaded Powerstrip and another monitor program to try and force it to 1440x900 settings, but still no signal.. Even wrote my own drivers for the screen with a fixed resolution 640x) but no luck.


I plugged in my LCD TV instead and it worked like a charm! So i quickly switched the cables between the second 19" monitor and the TV and bam! I got the second monitor up and running!

But I had to reload the computer and I lost the output, tried several times again to repeat the procedure with plugging in the TV and then the monitor.. no luck...


The only thing I havent tried yet is to use a VGA cable instead of the DVI one..


I'm running the lastest ATI drivers (9.3)..

Just find it strange that it can detect the screen, just not send the video signals to it..

Vista installs the second monitor as a "generic pnp monitor".. And I cant seem to find any drivers on this packard bell monitor on the internet.


Anyone got a good advice to me to try? Is the screen that old that Vista cant support it even? sounds strange but..


I'd gladly take any tip you have guys and girls!

Thank you

Maybe it's your motherboard
Asus has a bios update for this problem

It's not a motherboard issue. What kind of video card do you have?

Also please post system specs.

I'm having the same issues. I'm attempting to run 2 monitors on my HIS IceQ 4850 and it only detects one. Even more odd is that if I only connect the 2nd one (1440x900) but as soon as I connect the first (1680x1050) the second one shuts off. If I connect do it in reverse the 1680 stays on and the 1440 is never detected.

I know that vista searches for another monitor on bootup , this option can be disable to speed up your boot times , silly question i know but have you tweaked anything?

I know I haven't touched anything with those settings. It worked for me when I first did it but then failed after I rebooted. I really miss having both. It was awesome to have MSDN open on one monitor and Visual Studio on the other.

I have same issue on
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB
1st monitor: Acer 22'' 1650x1080
2nd monitor: ViewSonic 20'' 1650x1080
Abit motherboard

Both monitors receiving signal during computer startup and vista boot up. Second monitor stops receiving signal just before vista desktop appears. Tried to boot vista in safe mode - both monitors OK. Both monitors are visible in Catalyst Control panel and both monitors worked fine with previous graphics card Radeon X1950. I have latest drivers 9-4. (But tried 9-3 drivers - same problem)

PS from previous post:

Just used DVI to Analog(RGB) adapter to connect second monitor and it worked !