Member Avatar for .0verdrive

hi,

i am having a small problem with my new dual monitor setup. i just bought a pair of lg 22in widescreens on blackfri, and i was quite excited to get them up and running.

im running a core2duo e6400 (clocked to 3.3ghz but running stock atm), 2gb corsair ram, evga7900gs oc, on xp sp2.

when i run them, everything seems fine for about 5-10 minutes, and then both monitors simultaneously lose signal, and i can hear music still playing in the background and i can hear sounds from the computer, but am unable to get it to shut down or sleep, and am forced to hard reset. it should be noted that with this configuartion, if i run only one monitor that everything runs flawlessly. i updated all my nvidia drivers and bios, but nothing helped. after some extensive research, i decided to reinstall an older version of nvidia drivers, and that seemed to work well, with no more problems, except that the drivers were so old that games run noticably worse (im addicted to cod4 now). i did not think it would be so difficult to get dual monitors running on new drivers.

ive searched the past couple of days, and i cant seem to find the answers to my problem, and i was wondering if anyone here could help shed some light on my problem, of possibly offer me a solution. thanks for your time!

nick

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by TheNNS

Dani AI

Generated

Quick diagnostic summary tied to the thread: the simultaneous loss of video while audio keeps playing most commonly points to a GPU/driver hang rather than two monitors failing at once. ’s observation that an older driver removed the crash narrows this toward a driver regression or leftover driver files conflicting with newer releases. ’s power-setting suggestion is reasonable to rule out, but driver/hardware checks will be more productive first.

Practical, ordered troubleshooting (try one item at a time, test after each):

  • Inspect the Windows System event log (Start → Run → eventvwr.msc) for display- or driver-related errors immediately before the blackout. That gives an authoritative first clue.
  • Do a complete clean driver removal in Safe Mode with Display Driver Uninstaller, then install a WHQL NVIDIA package from the official archive rather than letting Windows Update auto-install drivers. DDU: https://www.wagnardsoft.com/ and NVIDIA archive: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us.
  • Test incremental driver versions (start from the newest WHQL, then try earlier WHQL builds) to find the newest stable release for the card. Avoid beta builds during this narrowing.
  • Run with the GPU at stock clocks (disable any overclock) and test both single- and dual-head modes. Monitor GPU temperature and clocks while testing (GPU-Z is useful): https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
  • Swap DVI/VGA cables and ports and try identical refresh rates on both screens; try mirrored vs extended desktop to see if the mode matters.
  • If hardware instability is suspected, use a GPU stress tool (FurMark) cautiously to check for hangs/overheating: https://geeks3d.com/furmark/ (stop if artifacts or crashes appear).
  • If the card still fails, test it in another machine or try a known-good card in this machine, and collect Event Viewer output to provide to EVGA/NVIDIA support: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/support/

Caution: avoid repeated hard resets (risk of disk corruption); capture logs before rebooting when possible.

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Member Avatar for TheNNS

have you tried checking the power settings?

Member Avatar for .0verdrive

could you be more specific? i havent fiddled with any of the power settings on anything. what should i be checking for? im running a 520w corsaire psu, and i didnt consider power to be a factor, because when i reinstalled older drivers it seem to work fine. was i mistaken in ruling this out?

Member Avatar for TheNNS

you want to make sure your computer isn't hibernating, though I highly doubt it is. And why should games not be able to run with older drivers?

Member Avatar for .0verdrive

its not that they dont run, its that they run noticably slower and choppier. although the drivers that i was using are pretty ancient, i might have to find some driver in between that will run games well and support the dual monitor

Member Avatar for TheNNS

i don't know what to say. the new drivers should work fine and should have less bugs.

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