Dual Matrox G400s

P

Pasternak

Hi,

I'm running a Matrox Millennium G400 dualhead (AGP) on my win2k OS. I've found out there's quite a few running two Matrox dualheads using four monitors. However, they're using G450 cards. Does anybody know if it's possible to use two G400s? I think win2k allows up to eight monitors????
 
hey,

i don't think you can do two g400's, since matrox only makes an AGP g400. the g450 comes in a PCI version, so you can add as many as you want. i run a g450 AGP and a g450 PCI in win98 and win2k, and they are very stable, although it was a pain to get them to install correctly in win2k pro.
 
kenstl,

it was a pain to get them to install correctly in win2k pro.

Do you remember exactly what snags you ran into? And how you worked around them? Thanks.
 
yes,

if you have a g450 AGP and a g450 PCI that you also want to install, do them ONE AT A TIME

first download the most RECENT win2k drivers from matrox.com

next when you restart win2k, it will detect the card and want to install drivers for it - click cancel and do not let win2k install the drivers - if you screw up and it has installed them, go into add/remove programs and remove the matrox software and drivers, and then go into add/remove hardware and remove the card and any monitors as well

after clicking cancel, go into the folder where you downloaded and unzipped the matrox drivers. launch setup

be sure to click "enable dualhead multi display" during setup, otherwise win2k will combine two monitors into one big stretched screen

restart

when it restarts, it will claim that it has detected a second monitor, regardless of whether one is plugged in

shut down and plug in your second monitor

reboot and again ignore it when it says it has detected a 2nd monitor

go to control panel, display, settings, and enable second display.

all done. similar procedure for installing the additional g450 PCI cards. just don't let windows install them - run the setup program from the matrox driver folder.
 
kenstl,

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I ran into some snags with a G450 and W2K, and now I see what I did wrong.
 
I don't see why not. Matrox also claims on their website that you need to have an intel-based system to run the g450 cards, which in my experience was not the case.

if you want the g450 PCI (which is a solid dual card at a good price IMO, although I haven't tried any other dual cards) hurry up b/c it has been discontinued. you can find OEMs for around $100 on pricewatch.com with no TV cable or the retail box with the TV cable (can use a TV in place of the 2nd monitor - I've never tried this, although it would be cheaper than using a real monitor) for $115 from matrox direct.
 
just wanted to point out that the new drivers for Matrox cards (from Sept) corrects an error where it caused 'bleeding' on java software (really annoying since I used the JTWS of IB) Glad they fixed this!
 
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