dual monitor setup issues

[Jimbo]

I'm having some issues getting a dual monitor setup working under the following setup: -

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X48T-DQ6
RAM: 8GB
CPU: Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40Ghz
GFX Card: ATI Radeon HD 4350 (DVI+VGA)
Monitor 1:  Hantarex Polo/3 15Khz (pdf)
Monitor 2:  Litemax SSD 2313 Stretched LCD (pdf)
OS: WinXP 64-Bit, SP2
Driver installed: crt_emudriver_9.3_1.2b_xp_64.exe

My experience with only 1 monitor connected (the Polo): -

The Hantarex Polo has a VGA connector so I initially tried connecting that directly to the VGA port on the 4350.  BIOS/POST screen was out of sync, along with the windows logo during XP load up, but just a black screen once windows desktop was loaded (I'd previously set the desktop resolution to 640x480).

Plugging the Polo into the DVI port with a DVI->VGA adaptor works fine, I get same load up procedure, but the desktop shows fine in 640x480 interlaced.

Clicking [Desktop->Settings->Advanced->Adaptor->List all modes] still doesn't show any modes lower than 640x480, but I'm kinda expecting that to be the case because I haven't run any of the other tools yet.

With 2 monitors connected I can't get it to work: -

I plugged in the Litemax stretched LCD (for game marquees) into the VGA port (it also has a DVI port), and left the Polo in the DVI port with the VGA adaptor.  This time,  on booting up it looks like no signal is being sent to the Polo, but the Litemax is showing the BIOS/POST screen and the windows loading logo fine (well, the top half of it anyway!).  Once the desktop is loaded, still no output on the Polo, and the Litemax is just showing no output, and a flicker every 3 or 4 seconds.

Booting up with a normal LCD monitor along with the Litemax and I get the normal LCD working fine, but still no joy on the Litemax.  I've set the Litemax to extended desktop, and checked that it is the 2nd monitor, not the primary one, but I can't see a way to set the resolution to something in its range.  There doesn't appear to be a downloadable driver for it either.  It just sits there flashing at me every 3-4 seconds.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[Calamity]

Try this: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,116790.msg1237609.html#msg1237609

[Jimbo]

Thanks for your suggestion...

Now the Litemax is still no signal once XP has finished loading, but I get a screen on the Polo... but it's corrupted (see pic)... 

[Calamity]

You need to redo the video configuration, your LCD is receiving 15 kHz. Regarding the arcade monitor, try:

- Use the VGA output instead of DVI.
- Download Winmodelines, and use it to disable Tiling (uncheck the proper box).

[Jimbo]

Thanks again.  I'll try winmodelines when I get home later.  I did previously try the arcade monitor via direct VGA but there was no display, but that was before adding the registry key as you suggested in the previous post.  Is that what you meant by "redo the video configuration"?  I'm not sure what I need to do for that.  Cheers. 

You need to redo the video configuration, your LCD is receiving 15 kHz. Regarding the arcade monitor, try:

- Use the VGA output instead of DVI.
- Download Winmodelines, and use it to disable Tiling (uncheck the proper box).

[Calamity]

Yeah the registry trick will keep the VGA output enabled, however because we're preventing the card from polling the screens you need to help the card a little bit. By redoing the video configuration I mean assigning proper resolutions to each screen which my require booting in safe mode at least for the LCD.

[Jimbo]

Gotcha, I'll give it a try tonight.  Cheers.

[Jimbo]

ok still having problems...

With the Polo connected directly to the VGA port, no matter what I do (single or dual monitors) I get no image once Windows has loaded.  Just a black screen.

With the Litemax stretched LCD attached to the VGA port and a normal LCD attached to the DVI port, I can get to the windows desktop (640x480i on the normal LCD).  The Litemax is flickering/black, but looking at the desktop settings it shows it's set to 640x480.  If I change this to 1024x768, I can get a picture and set it to extended desktop.  So now I have both LCD monitors working (even though the litemax only visibly shows the top half of the 768 lines).

Rebooting and swapping out the normal LCD for the 15Khz Polo, and the litemax shows the bios/post screens on boot up, then the windows loading logo, then it goes black again with no signal.  The Polo is black until windows desktop is showing, but then it is showing in an interlaced mode with what looks like 3 scrunched tall desktops next to each other, with the corrupt graphics as before (see attached pic).

It does this regardless of me unticking the Tiling checkbox on winmodelines.  (I basically just unticked the box and clicked save - it warned of more than X resolutions, then said 0 modes inserted, 0 deleted, then it died with a "Run time error 53: file not found"... opening it again and it seems to have remembered the tickbox being unchecked).

Not sure what's going on really    I am thinking it may be easier to get another GFX card for the stretched LCD (like an old PCI one or something)... is that an option that works with groovymame for the marquee?

[Calamity]

If the video modes for each monitor don't stick then it won't be possible to achieve it, and it'll be easier to use a second video card as you say. GroovyMAME will manage to use whatever is available for a second display.

Anyway I'd swear I've had this working before. Not a marquee setup actually. But I had one LCD for the desktop, through DVI, and the VGA was always enabled even without monitor, thanks to the registry trick. Then I could use Arcade OSD to point to the VGA and switch any video mode from there and it would stick, even without monitor. This was with an HD 4350 and Catalyst 9.3, XP 32. In display properties, you could see both screen icons "1" and "2" as enabled, none of them grayed out. Maybe you need to have your marquee LCD attached and boot with it before you apply the registry trick, to give the card a chance to read its EDID and figure out its native resolution. Once you have this resolution applied, and using the LCD marquee as primary monitor, you would apply the registry hack, then extend the desktop to the VGA, and use Arcade OSD to set a 15 kHz mode for that screen (drag the window until most of it is over the second screen and press "Attach OSD to current monitor", then move the window back to your desktop so you can work, and select desktop the video mode that you want).

[Jimbo]

Thanks again for your help.

Still can't get it to work, but I've bought an old ATI Radeon 7000 64MB DDR PCI card (for next to nothing) to try alongside the HD4350 for the stretched LCD.  Do you think this will also work with the CRT Emudriver?