Dual Extended Monitor problem w/ D620 with Nvidia and D/Dock Expansion Station

Question

I'm upgrading from a D600 (ATI card) to a D620 (nVidia Quadro). In my present D600 configuration I have both DVI and VGA monitors connected to the dock and set for dual monitor/extended desktop mode. It works great! I am running Windows XP.   Now the problem. When I dock the D620 and set the same configuration it does not persists between reboots. That is I can set up dual monitor/extended desktop mode fine. I can log in and out and it work great. If I reboot the following occurs:   - it comes up with the login screen on my primary (DVI) monitor with the VGA monitor showing blue - waits a few seconds and then clones the login screen to both monitors - when I login it takes nearly 2.5 minutes (150 secs) - it shows the 'applying settings notification' - and I now have dual monitor in cloned mode - so I reset it to be extended mode once again (every time I reboot)   I have tried to update the nVidia driver to the latest relase date (6/22/2006) from the Dell downloads. No luck. My company has sent a technician to work the probelm with no luck. They did discover that if the laptop lid is open while docked and you login and then close it the dual monitor extended mode will show up on the external monitors. How hokey is that. I have a monitor stand and can not even see the laptop LCD in this configuration. Never had this problem under the D600.   Dell says this is 'how it is supose to work'. Excuse me? Why sell a docking station with two graphic ports if you can't run dual screen extended? Why does it work find under the D600?   The machine has now been imaged twice with a clean XP OS and Dell drivers. All I can think is that the nVidia Quadro NVS 110M drivers are the cause or the hardware profile is somehow to plan. I'm no dummy and the technician isn't either.   Anyone have a similar experience or better yet a solution?   Thanks

racolorado · Answer

I too am having the same problem with a D620. Have a 1905FP on the digital port and the LG1920P on the analog. Set nVidia control panel to Dualview and works fine until you reboot and it seems that Windows (or nVidia - not sure which one) has lost the fact that you have set it to Extended. Thus nVidia looses the fact there are two monitors installed. It also defaults back to Clone mode and screws up my icons each time..

Have spent hours trying to resolve the issue with no success. What does seem to work (and this is a "fix" not a solution) is to put the laptop in to Hibernation mode instead of powering off or rebooting. When it comes out of hibernation, everything is fine - still extended and icons were you left them. Plans are to power off machine once a week to clear out the machine. Yes I realize that I will have to reset Windows and nVidia to Extended and have to rearrange my icons once again but once a week is better than each time I power off/on.

I too find it hard to believe that Dell says "this is the way it's supposed to be". Hopefully nVidia/Dell will take a look at this and come up with a solution.

-racolorado

drmaddog · Answer

I am having the simliar problems with the D620. Here is how I can produce the problem on Windows XP sp2:

1.) Connect an external monitor (LCD or CRT) to the D620 and close the lid.

2.) Login and change the resolution to something other than the native or highest setting (I recommend 800x600 or 1024x768).

3.) Apply the settings and reboot.

I am seeing that the 1907FP LCD is reverting back to the native resolution of 1280x1024 and the NEC FE2111sb CRT monitor is reverting back to 1600x1200. Anyone else seeing this and if so know of ANY type of solution?

I have already tried both A02 and A03 system BIOS and both nVidia drivers A01 and A02.

andersdgw · Answer

Here is an update. I booted the issue up through our company's IT and purchasing department. We by a lot of Dells so hopefully Dell will work to resolve the problem, but response may be slow as the battery recall is a higher priority.

Meanwhile I'm trying to learn to live with what I assume is a set of hopelessly flawed video drivers, or could it be the BIOS? My technician suggested trying the intel video chip drivers but I didn't have the time or inclination - even if it worked I bypass the nVidia card.

MaKu40 · Answer

I am having the same issue except that it reverts back to 800 x 600!! AND it only does it on a reboot.

Has anyone tried reverting back to the older driver? Just wondering before I try it.

System: Dell Latitude D620 - nVidia Quadro NVS 110M - laptop is in the dock 95% of the time and connects to an external 19" monitor.

MaKu40 · Answer

I tried the older driver on the Dell website and it worked!   R116916.exe   Then I tried the newer driver, R126608.exe, and it went back to my original problem.   I hope this helps.

Hans.B · Answer

moved to: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=latit_video&message.id=23323 Message Edited by Hans.B on 10-04-2006 11:07 AM

MaKu40 · Answer

Well, unfortunately, last post did NOT actually work.    We continue to have the problem.  The user has to change his screen resolution everytime he boots.

drmaddog · Answer

I have been working with Dell to resolve this issue and as of right now there is a temporary fix. It involves changing the power option when closing the lid of the D620.

1.) Start-->Settings-->Control Panel

2.) Open 'Power Options'.

3.) Click on the 'Advanced' tab.

4.) Change the setting on "When I close the lid of my portable computer" from 'Do Nothing' to 'Standby.

The external resolution should now stay on the resolution you set respectfully. The only thing to keep in mind now is that if you are working on your laptop with the lid open and close the lid the laptop it will go into standby mode.

Hope this helps,

drmaddog

andersdgw · Answer

Update:

I have found two ways to live with this problem. One involves additional software at cost.

Solution A
1) Configure your dual monitor settings as you like.
2) Right click on the desktop background and select nView Properties to bring up the nView Desktop Manager.
3) Select the Profiles tab and save your settings to a new profile - mine is Docked Dual Monitor Extended
4) Everytime you boot up and login open the nView Desktop Manager, Profiles tab, and load this profile.

Solution B
Purchase Realtime Soft's UltraMon utility for managing dual monitors. This is the solution I am using. I set it up to apply my settings on login and never worry about reconfiguration. A plus is that you can extend the taskbar to the 2nd monitor. There are other bells and whistles but these options are the ones that make my life easier.

zipwax · Answer

at least on my system, it BOOTS with dual monitors active, and the correct resolution, THEN it thinks for a while THEN dumps into clone mode. That means to me the hardware knows what to do, and some boot-time software thinks it's time to switch back to clone mode. It's a software issue, not a BIOS issue, I'm pretty sure.

kdizub · Answer

Has anyone gotten this to work with dual external monitors? I can get one monitor up and not both - doesnt seem right - especially when the doco states dual external is supported.

hannadl · Answer

Has a resolution for this issue been found yet? If so please provide details and/or other message thread.

I'm using a Dell D820, port replicator, and 2 NEC monitors (1 DVI, 1 VGA). If I boot the notebook undocked, put it on standby, then dock it & resume the DualView settings are retained. However, anytime the notebook starts MS Windows (XP-32bit SP2 in my case) while docked I loose the DualView settings as others have reported.

FWIW, I notice that the DualView setting seems to be retained for a brief moment when Windows boots up but before I can login the OS reverts to clone mode.

drmaddog · Answer

I have installed the latest drivers for the D620 ( v.101.19, A03) and the issue seems to have been resolved with retaining video settings.

latiude d620 · Answer

when i turn on my laptop the lcd monitor is off . with fn & f8 turn its on . plaese tell  me what can i do thanks a lot   ahmadreza shiri

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Dual Extended Monitor problem w/ D620 with Nvidia and D/Dock Expansion Station

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