Windows – Dual monitors with integrated and discrete graphics card

graphics cardmotherboardmultiple-monitorswindows 7

I'm trying to run dual monitors, one monitor using the VGA output in my integrated graphics card on my FOXCONN H55M-S motherboard, and the other on my nVidia Geforce GT 440.
After some tinkering I found out that I need to access the BIOS and choose one of the following on the primary graphics boot device:

  • IGD
  • PCI/IGD
  • PCI/PEG
  • PEG/IGD
  • PEG/PCI (my default)

I'm picking PEG/IGD, which I assume is what's correct, but it still isn't working. After I boot it up, I plug in the monitor and it goes into sleep mode (from what I can tell, it receives a signal, it just doesn't "work").

There's nothing wrong with either monitor; I've alternated between them. What can I do to get my dual monitors to work?

Best Answer

It's and either/or situation. You typically can't use dual monitors across integrated graphics AND a graphics card. This is because the BIOS recognises the graphics card selects it as the device to display the screen. This is so the CPU (which renders the integrated graphics) can be left to do what it does best and the GPU then does what it does best.

This is a feature of the motherboard and can't be switched off as far as I know. If you want dual monitor support...

  • Use dual monitors on integrated graphics (if supported)
  • Install a graphics card with dual monitor support
  • Install 2 graphics cards with single monitor support.

Update: While SOME mobo's can enable integrated graphics with an external graphics card (e.g. https://communities.intel.com/thread/42192) but from my research, the mobo has to be able to set the integrated graphics as the default. Unfortunately, your particular model doesn't enable integrated graphics as the default, only as a fall back. So what I said still stands.

Related Question