Dual Monitors on IBM Thinkcentre M51 8106?

[dominover]

My PC has one built in Video card and one PCI video card. I want to have dual monitors but when I plug in the new video card into the spare PCI slot, my computer will only use that one and not the onboard Video card afixed to the m otherboad.

I thought that my PC could use both but there doesn't seem to be a way of getting it to do this.

I have gone into the BIOS and set the Devices > Video Devices > to COMBO and both devices show in the BIOS now. Still I can only run one monitor.

Both cards work, I have tested them both. The monitor cords are good and the monitors are near new. And yes, they both work.

Any clues as to how I can get this to work? I've been right through the bios and can't seem to see anything which relates to this problem.

BIOS version is: BIOS Version/Date IBM 2GKT21AUS, 29/03/2006
There is no update for a 64 bit system.

 

[BK_123]

Not all motherboards support running dual monitor off both integrated and dedicated video cards. What type of video card is it, I assume it would have VGA & DVI connectors. You may also need to check for new drivers.

 

[dominover]

Hi.. Thanks for that.
The PCI video card has a single VGA socket (TSENG LAB ET6000). That's it.
The motherboard has a built in video card. Single VGA socket as well.
It's looking like I will have to get myself a dual video card.
The thing is my System BIOS gives me the option for a COMBO video device. I believe it give me three options. DVI, FIXED, COMBO. (I think it's DVI or DVR, something like that). I have set it to COMBO.

 

[crazyman143]

My motherboard is capable of that and I used that setup for a while but it wasn't reliable and occasionally one would work and not the other. I was happy when I got a dedicated graphics card that would handle all of my monitors.

Perhaps those 3 options in your bios only apply to the onboard graphics in some way? Motherboard documentation never seems to be very good about those sorts of things. You could also check in Device Manager, see if both the integrated and discrete graphics controllers show up, and are enabled. If so, do as bk suggests and ensure you have latest drivers for each. Short of that I think you may just be best off picking up a newer graphics card and be done with it.

Besides, getting a card that supports DVI will give you a better picture than VGA assuming your monitors support it.

 

[dominover]

My motherboard is capable of that and I used that setup for a while but it wasn't reliable and occasionally one would work and not the other. I was happy when I got a dedicated graphics card that would handle all of my monitors.

Perhaps those 3 options in your bios only apply to the onboard graphics in some way? Motherboard documentation never seems to be very good about those sorts of things. You could also check in Device Manager, see if both the integrated and discrete graphics controllers show up, and are enabled. If so, do as bk suggests and ensure you have latest drivers for each. Short of that I think you may just be best off picking up a newer graphics card and be done with it.

Besides, getting a card that supports DVI will give you a better picture than VGA assuming your monitors support it.

Yep, I agree. Dual video card it is. Actually, I'm thinking of getting rid of this pc altogether. I bought it because it is small M51 8106 small form factor. But it's just not up to scratch in allot of areas now.

 

[BK_123]

The card you mentioned is pretty old and probably isn't quite capable of meeting your needs. To be honest that machine is pretty old and I wouldn't really bother spending money upgrading it. You are best off getting a new system..

 

[dominover]

The card you mentioned is pretty old and probably isn't quite capable of meeting your needs. To be honest that machine is pretty old and I wouldn't really bother spending money upgrading it. You are best off getting a new system..

True, the card is pretty old. But it's only a single VGA connection in a PCI slot. The other sound card is built in. The TSENG Labs video card works fine but I can't seem to get the second card (the one built into my motherboard) to start when the TSENG Labs card is plugged into the PCI slot.

I'm definitely thinking of ditching my efforts here. My PC is relatively small so it'll make a great spare.

If anyone knows the solution to this, feel free to comment.