Display Port, Win7, multiple screens, headache!
Discussion
I used to run two DVI screens. Could turn one off, both off, or whatever. Great. Just worked as you'd expect.
Now one is a DP screen (also has DVI but I believe bandwidth is an issue at 60hz on 2560x1140px) and the others DVI, Windows 7 seems to go crazy if one screen turns off, or either is turned on or off, or other combos. Also I only have so many DVI outputs on my graphics adapter (2x)
All my apps fly back or forth, icons all over, just generally a horrible multi-monitor experience.
It seems people were complaining about this in 2010, and it's still an issue now in 2014.
A quick Google seems to suggest no known simple fixes, with most people just living with it or buying auto-detect blockers or some such. But then again Google is so sensitive to search terms so maybe I'm missing something.
Can anyone help with any fixes that have worked for them in this regard?
Cheers
Dave
Now one is a DP screen (also has DVI but I believe bandwidth is an issue at 60hz on 2560x1140px) and the others DVI, Windows 7 seems to go crazy if one screen turns off, or either is turned on or off, or other combos. Also I only have so many DVI outputs on my graphics adapter (2x)
All my apps fly back or forth, icons all over, just generally a horrible multi-monitor experience.
It seems people were complaining about this in 2010, and it's still an issue now in 2014.
A quick Google seems to suggest no known simple fixes, with most people just living with it or buying auto-detect blockers or some such. But then again Google is so sensitive to search terms so maybe I'm missing something.
Can anyone help with any fixes that have worked for them in this regard?
Cheers
Dave
What's the issue exactly?
I have three monitors connected to my PC; one on displayport, one via hdmi and one via dvi.
I have the option of running one large desktop via my AMD gfx card control panel but as the monitors aren't all the same I just extend the display to the two others through Win7 display settings.
If I turn a monitor off all the apps, etc remain on that screen and are still there when I turn it back on, this isn't the case for you?
I have three monitors connected to my PC; one on displayport, one via hdmi and one via dvi.
I have the option of running one large desktop via my AMD gfx card control panel but as the monitors aren't all the same I just extend the display to the two others through Win7 display settings.
If I turn a monitor off all the apps, etc remain on that screen and are still there when I turn it back on, this isn't the case for you?
I think AMD put a feature in their graphics driver that allows auto-screen detect to be disabled.
Basically once a DP connection is used then all the graphics adapter outputs appear to be sensed when they turn on/off.
So right now if I turn my main centre screen off, then all the windows, apps, icons etc shift over to the right hand screen which already has stuff on it.
If I then turn that screen off, then the middle screen on, all the windows in that right hand screen that were on it originally, and on the middle one, come to just the middle one.
Basically if you have things set out nicely for working then it just messes it all up. Icons are all just bunched up into a bundle at the left hand side.
There is no way to turn a screen on/off without doing it by turning the PC on/off. Any turn on/off event via the monitor itself means a re-jig of the desktop contents.
This is here so people with projectors at meetings don't end up with their windows stuck on a projector output that is no longer there. But to have no option for people with multi-screen setups to get a persistent appearance is a bit frustrating
The big problem for me is that some apps are using hardware acceleration, and when the app is shifted to another screen it crashes.
So I can't have auto-screen off running, so have to basically use light sleep type modes or turn the entire machine off which isn't ideal either.
I really can't believe that MS has left PC users stuck with this.
It seems people pay for these:
http://monitordetectkiller.com/
To fix the issue.
I really want to give MS a piece of my mind right now. Mucking fuppets!
Basically once a DP connection is used then all the graphics adapter outputs appear to be sensed when they turn on/off.
So right now if I turn my main centre screen off, then all the windows, apps, icons etc shift over to the right hand screen which already has stuff on it.
If I then turn that screen off, then the middle screen on, all the windows in that right hand screen that were on it originally, and on the middle one, come to just the middle one.
Basically if you have things set out nicely for working then it just messes it all up. Icons are all just bunched up into a bundle at the left hand side.
There is no way to turn a screen on/off without doing it by turning the PC on/off. Any turn on/off event via the monitor itself means a re-jig of the desktop contents.
This is here so people with projectors at meetings don't end up with their windows stuck on a projector output that is no longer there. But to have no option for people with multi-screen setups to get a persistent appearance is a bit frustrating
The big problem for me is that some apps are using hardware acceleration, and when the app is shifted to another screen it crashes.
So I can't have auto-screen off running, so have to basically use light sleep type modes or turn the entire machine off which isn't ideal either.
I really can't believe that MS has left PC users stuck with this.
It seems people pay for these:
http://monitordetectkiller.com/
To fix the issue.
I really want to give MS a piece of my mind right now. Mucking fuppets!
I used this workaround to sort mine out
To disable monitor detection, with AMD/ATI gfx cards under Windows 7, search for DMMEnableDDCPolling registry key and set it to 0 (it is DWord). There are several places in the registry where this key is located. Change them all and reboot. Doing this will disable constant polling of the display driver to detect if user attached a monitor.
If you lack the entry, look for UMD keys under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\ and add it to those.
Once this is done, nothing happens when you plug in/switch on or off displays you do it manually with the windows key and P
To disable monitor detection, with AMD/ATI gfx cards under Windows 7, search for DMMEnableDDCPolling registry key and set it to 0 (it is DWord). There are several places in the registry where this key is located. Change them all and reboot. Doing this will disable constant polling of the display driver to detect if user attached a monitor.
If you lack the entry, look for UMD keys under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\ and add it to those.
Once this is done, nothing happens when you plug in/switch on or off displays you do it manually with the windows key and P
Ah sorry if I misled anyone, but I'm running an Nvidia Geforce card here.
It seems they don't have any functionality to be able to stop this occurring.
I just swapped to DVI-D and all is fixed, but the 3rd screen on DP now still disappears from the device manager and shifts any contents to the other two screens.
I'll try that registry fix but from what I can tell it only works on AMD/ATI stuff?!
Or the other fix for now is to put some tape over the HDMI pin and run the other smaller screen on HDMI rather than DP.
Gah what a faff. Lets see if Win10 fixes this.
It seems they don't have any functionality to be able to stop this occurring.
I just swapped to DVI-D and all is fixed, but the 3rd screen on DP now still disappears from the device manager and shifts any contents to the other two screens.
I'll try that registry fix but from what I can tell it only works on AMD/ATI stuff?!
Or the other fix for now is to put some tape over the HDMI pin and run the other smaller screen on HDMI rather than DP.
Gah what a faff. Lets see if Win10 fixes this.
Yeah sleep seems to be the best bet for now, although that can cause restart errors in my 3D apps. That is why I prefer turning a screen off as it's more reliable than these weird sleepy states that may not wake properly, or wake with crashes etc.
I'm not sure Nvidia need to fix anything really as it's Windows that is responding to the monitors turning on and off and moving windows around etc, not the display adapter.
Yes Nvidia could offer an option to disable it internally somehow, so Windows doesn't get the disconnect signal... but then Windows could just have a tick box on the screen setup view that said, persistent config, or not. Or tick each monitor as persistent or not, so you could have some displays as actively changing, and others not.
Indeed, Nvidia do offer support for it it seems via their Quadro cards. Clearly workstation (multi-screen) card owners complained and Nvidia fixed it.
But in the end Windows are the one who are offering a functionality in response to the action of on/off which is contrary to past behaviour, so it'd make sense they would offer a toggle for it.
I can disable auto-play of installed disk drives. I can disable autodetect elsewhere too. But not for displays.
Probably just gonna use HDMI and tape up that pin for auto-detect on the 3rd screen.
Thanks for the help and advice so far everyone.
Dave
I'm not sure Nvidia need to fix anything really as it's Windows that is responding to the monitors turning on and off and moving windows around etc, not the display adapter.
Yes Nvidia could offer an option to disable it internally somehow, so Windows doesn't get the disconnect signal... but then Windows could just have a tick box on the screen setup view that said, persistent config, or not. Or tick each monitor as persistent or not, so you could have some displays as actively changing, and others not.
Indeed, Nvidia do offer support for it it seems via their Quadro cards. Clearly workstation (multi-screen) card owners complained and Nvidia fixed it.
But in the end Windows are the one who are offering a functionality in response to the action of on/off which is contrary to past behaviour, so it'd make sense they would offer a toggle for it.
I can disable auto-play of installed disk drives. I can disable autodetect elsewhere too. But not for displays.
Probably just gonna use HDMI and tape up that pin for auto-detect on the 3rd screen.
Thanks for the help and advice so far everyone.
Dave
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