Multiple Monitors?

Well, I bit the bullet today and TRIED to report a compatibility problem between DirectX and Remote Desktop. As far as I'm concerned they are both Microsoft products, each individually fully supported in XP, and therefore they d**n well ought to work together.

So, I went to Microsoft and was advised that my XP was delivered installed on my Thinkpad T-40 so I had to call IBM. So, I called IBM --- and I think you know what comes next --- IBM says "we can't fix XP problems you'll have to call Microsoft." Catch-22. Which is exactly the response I expected (my mother didn't raise any stupid children and I've been in the IT business for a long, long time).

I'm on the phone with IBM now and they are 'escalating' the problem to the next level of tech support. This is the level where Catch-22 is spelled using all caps CATCH-22. This is also the level just before the one where the problem report goes in the trashcan.

Frustrating but ...

Originally Posted by jsteele

I'm on the phone with IBM now and they are 'escalating' the problem to the next level of tech support. This is the level where Catch-22 is spelled using all caps CATCH-22. This is also the level just before the one where the problem report goes in the trashcan.

I have worked closely with the MS dev and support orgs on two occasions. At one time I was the world wide tech support contact between MS and a major IT provider (like IBM... but not IBM.) I later worked on the MS campus while I was working with my dev team (non-MS) on system management software in (un?)cooperation w/ MS. With that three years of experience within MS I only have one thing to say.... Good luck!

PS - Only one of the systems in my house isn't Linux... and if I could find a MP comparable product for Linux, it would be Linux as well.

EvilDreamer:

I did not actually expect to get anywhere :-) It is just frustrating as h**l to have MS say that its IBM's problem and then have IBM say "'we can't fix that, its a MS problem". Well, I knew IBM couldn't fix it before I called but as I explained to the 2nd level tech 'someone needs to take responsibility for this kind of problem'. But I knew it would do any good.

Anyway I put the problem up on MS's Forums but they've been down every time I checked for the past two days --- maybe my problem was the last straw :-)

Now I have another opportunity, it looks like my Radeon AGP card and the K7VTA2 MB are not compatible --- it won't even boot with the card inserted. Now I have to get another AGP card. I've put in a plain jane PCI VGA (non-DirectX) while I configure software, but needless to say MP and DirectX chokes on that card so I can't even test my MP setup.

Originally Posted by jsteele

I did not actually expect to get anywhere :-) It is just frustrating as h**l to have MS say that its IBM's problem and then have IBM say "'we can't fix that, its a MS problem". Well, I knew IBM couldn't fix it before I called but as I explained to the 2nd level tech 'someone needs to take responsibility for this kind of problem'. But I knew it would do any good.

I hear you... I feel your pain. I started out my career doing 3rd level hardware support for SVR4 Unix and then later Windows NT. Most of my frustration came in dealing with vendors and partners, not the customers. On one onsite I didn't think I was going to leave Zurich alive because of IBM's inability to admit they had a flaw in one their Token Ring cards... not to mention fix it. Hang in there... at least you're trying.

Now I have another opportunity, it looks like my Radeon AGP card and the K7VTA2 MB are not compatible --- it won't even boot with the card inserted. Now I have to get another AGP card. I've put in a plain jane PCI VGA (non-DirectX) while I configure software, but needless to say MP and DirectX chokes on that card so I can't even test my MP setup.

That doesn't sound right. What kind of Radeon is it? I noticed that on my Radeon it was by default set to plain jane AGP and not 4x or 8x. I had to tweak my mb BIOS before I could get the card to kick into 4x or 8x. You might want to check your CMOS settings. I've had issues with AMD setups in the past (I'm assuming AMD because of the "K7") not booting for the most innane reason. Hence the reason I now only build Intel based systems. My average AMD build was about 3 hours and I can build an Intel system in about an hour.

Cheers!

Its a Radeon 9200 128MB card. I tried a plain jane no-name white-box AGP card as well and it boots fine. It just will not do anything with the Radeon installed. I tried all the AGP settings (different window sizes, different multiplier settings, 1X 2X 4X) all to no avail.

I went foraging on the web and found a forum where there was some discussion of this problem and the user ended up by saying that ATI tech support told him that the Radeons have a timing problem with the ECS K7xxx series MB and that none of them will work in that setting.

So I have given up and am getting a MSI (nVidia) GEFORCE FX 5600 ULTRA 128MB AGP 8X. Lets see what that can screw up --- maybe it won't work with my PVR-150 cards now ;-)

Originally Posted by jsteele

I went foraging on the web and found a forum where there was some discussion of this problem and the user ended up by saying that ATI tech support told him that the Radeons have a timing problem with the ECS K7xxx series MB and that none of them will work in that setting.

I don't think I've ever heard good comments about ECS. My experiences with ECS are not good. My favorite for years has been FIC. My second choice is ASUS. Right now most of the systems I build are based on a Fujitsu-Siemens MB. Really nice.

My two cents... replace the MB, not the Radeon. MB is about $40 and the grahpics card is about $50. http://www.computergeeks.com

Cheers!

[avp]

In my experience programming DX in C++, I believe you can run dual display, just appears the second display is not accelerated. So, in theory, if we could set up dual display and run MP on the primary, and email, browse, etc on the 2nd, it may be all right.

I'm just about to order a htpc system, and will be installing MP then. There are some MP code features I intend to work on, multi-display being one of them... Time will tell...

I am only working with computers since I was 12 and I am 36 now, so don't blame me if I say something wrong, it is my lack of experience. Duh.

I got a good setup for two monitors (One monitor and a TV) on a Radeon 9600.

Using Catalyst 4.10 I did the following:

I selected clone mode. I changed the tv not to theatre mode but the mode with the same windowed views, not fullscreen. There is no need as MP does the fullscreen.

I tried a lot, but this has to be the way for me as I too have the PC in the attic and the TV on the ground floor. I already am tired of running up and down. I use a wireless tv sending installation with infrared extender on an AMD Athlon XP 2800+ with 1 GB Ram and no TV card installed. I have a MCE 2005 remote control.

It works, I can even see video and it is in fullscreen. The only thing is that if you watch a video, push the go back button so you get back in the my video menu and then choose another video to play (so before the first one is stopped, it still runs in the live TV window) MP locks up! I think this is a bug when playing divx or xvid files. I will post it in the bugs section.

I hope this will help.