[Solved] Windows 7 & Dual-Monitor Issue

General Discussions
1

Hi, I have a 15" ASUS Laptop i5 2.67GHz, 64-bit OS, running Windows 7 Professional, which has an external 24" monitor connected to it.

I understand that iScreenSaver 4.4.4 will not support dual-monitors running under windows, however the trial screensaver that I have created (which works beautifully under Mac OSX 10.7.4, also with a laptop and dual monitor configuration), will firstly run on the laptop screen (which is set as the main display), and then from then on attempts to run on the second monitor.

However, when it displays on the 2nd monitor, it only runs at the size displayed on the 15", in the top left-hand corner of the screen, with an flickering line at the bottom of the screen.

See example here:

Is there a way to stop the screensaver from appearing on the 2nd monitor, other than disconnecting the monitor?

Cheers,
Brendan

2

Hi Brendan,

In Mac OS X, on the Desktop & Screen Savers panel, there is a setting “Main Screen Only”. With this checked, the screen saver will only run on the main monitor.

Under Windows, as you noted, iScreensaver will only run on the main monitor, and will blank other monitors.

If you are seeing something different, this could be an issue where you have DIsplay Mirroring enabled, and/or are having some video driver issues.

I’m not quite sure I understand: When you see the flickering garbage as shown in the picture, is that when running Mac or Windows?

3

Also, is the screensaver content an image? A movie? Or Flash (SWF)?

4

On the Mac OSX, it works perfectly, just as I would like it to … no problems.

On the PC there is no Display Mirroring enabled, and I have updated the video driver, as recommended on your FAQs.

The image as shown, is what I see on the PC.

5

Thanks, I’m sure we can figure this out.

  • Under windows 7, the only way you could be seeing something on monitor #2 is if you have the two screens set to mirror each other (“Duplicate these displays”). We suggest you try setting the monitors to “extend” mode by clicking “Extend these displays”

  • is the content shown an image, a movie, or a SWF (Flash) file? If it’s SWF, then you should first update your Flash Player plugin to the latest version.

  • If that doesn’t fix the problem, then try re-publishing your SWF file and turn off hardware acceleration (set it to “None”) on the publish settings window.

6

Hi, thanks again for your speedy response.

*Definitely 100% positive the display is set to “Extend these displays”; I would never use “Duplicate” - I need the extra monitor for PhotoShop windows, etc.!

*The content is only 3 .png files revolving continuously.

7

Interesting, thanks. In the case where you are using “Extend these displays” then iScreensaver simply blanks the 2nd monitor. So the only way that content could be showing up on monitor #2 would be a graphics driver bug. Since you are using PNGs, the images would be shown using OpenGL. Default windows laptop installations are notorious for having really terrible OpenGL drivers.

The best thing to do would be to get the most updated driver for your laptop. With laptops, it’s tricky, as sometimes the best driver will come from the manufacturer of the laptop, and sometimes the best driver is from the manufacturer of the graphics card itself.

Can you figure out the make/model of your graphics card, and the driver version # that you have? We can take a look and see if there’s a newer one?

8

Some googling suggests you have the Intel GMA series, which (i’m sorry to say) are not the most highly regarded of graphics chips. However, the problem with the GMA series is usually that the drivers are not good (the hardware is OK, but not great).

Here’s the most recent driver I can find for your laptop (assuming I have the right one):
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=20842&ProdId=3231&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%207%20(64-bit)*&DownloadType=Drivers

Note: driver installs are somewhat risky, so please don’t proceed with this unless you know what you are doing, we can’t provide any guarantees or support for this.

9

Thankyou for this information; I will install the screensaver on another Windows machine, with dual-monitors and see if the error is consistent - before I look at installing another driver to the laptop.

Really appreciate your support.

Thanks very much.

Cheers,
Brendan

10

FYI, I just ran another dual monitor windows 7 test on a machine with a GMA 950, and it works as expected. Tested with Images, Flash, and Movies.

So I’m pretty confident the issue will turn out to be driver-related.

11

Further information … not sure if this helps any …

What I do notice when the screensaver appears on the 2nd monitor, your iScreenSaver logo stays on the laptop monitor …

Graphics Driver
Product Detected
Intel® HD Graphics
Current Driver Installed
8.15.10.2361
A customized computer manufacturer driver is installed on your computer. The Intel Driver Update Utility is not able to update the driver. Installing a generic Intel driver instead of the customized computer manufacturer driver may cause technical issues. Contact your computer manufacturer for the latest driver for your computer.

Intel® HD Graphics (Core i5)

Report Date: 6/26/2012
Report Time[hr:mm:ss]: 12:29:23
Driver Version: 8.15.10.2361
Operating System: Windows 7 (6.1.7600)
Default Language: English (Australia)
DirectX* Version: 10.1
Physical Memory: 3884 MB
Minimum Graphics Memory: 32 MB
Maximum Graphics Memory: 1696 MB
Graphics Memory in Use: 224 MB
Processor: Intel64 Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5
Processor Speed: 2912 MHz
Vendor ID: 8086
Device ID: 0046
Device Revision: 18

  • Accelerator Information *

Accelerator in Use: Intel(R) HD Graphics
Video BIOS: 2056.0
Current Graphics Mode: 1920 by 1080

  • Devices Connected to the Graphics Accelerator *

Active Monitors: 1
Active Notebook Displays: 1
* Monitor *

Monitor Name: BenQ GL2440H Analog
Display Type: Analog
Gamma Value: 2.2
DDC2 Protocol: Supported

Maximum Image Size:
Horizontal: 20.87 inches
Vertical: 11.81 inches

Monitor Supported Modes:
640 by 480 (75 Hz)
640 by 480 (60 Hz)
720 by 400 (70 Hz)
800 by 600 (75 Hz)
800 by 600 (60 Hz)
832 by 624 (75 Hz)
1024 by 768 (75 Hz)
1024 by 768 (60 Hz)
1152 by 870 (75 Hz)
1280 by 800 (60 Hz)
1280 by 1024 (60 Hz)
1280 by 1024 (75 Hz)
1280 by 720 (60 Hz)
1600 by 900 (60 Hz)
1680 by 1050 (60 Hz)
1920 by 1080 (60 Hz)

Display Power Management Support:
Standby Mode: Not Supported
Suspend Mode: Not Supported
Active Off Mode: Supported

Raw EDID:
00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 09 D1 88 78 45 54 00 00
08 15 01 03 0E 35 1E 78 2E B8 45 A1 59 55 9F 28
0D 50 54 A5 6B 80 81 C0 81 00 81 80 A9 C0 B3 00
D1 C0 01 01 01 01 02 3A 80 18 71 38 2D 40 58 2C
45 00 13 2A 21 00 00 1E 00 00 00 FF 00 31 32 42
30 32 33 34 31 53 4C 30 0A 20 00 00 00 FD 00 32
4C 1E 53 11 00 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FC
00 42 65 6E 51 20 47 4C 32 34 34 30 48 0A 00 E5

            *             Built-in Display  *

Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Display Type: Digital
Gamma Value: 2.2
DDC2 Protocol: Supported

Maximum Image Size:
Horizontal: 11.42 inches
Vertical: 06.30 inches

Monitor Supported Modes:
1366 by 768 (60 Hz)

Display Power Management Support:
Standby Mode: Not Supported
Suspend Mode: Not Supported
Active Off Mode: Not Supported

Raw EDID:
00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 06 AF 2C 34 00 00 00 00
00 14 01 03 80 1D 10 78 0A 13 15 A0 58 52 90 25
0F 50 54 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01
01 01 01 01 01 01 12 1B 56 5A 50 00 19 30 30 20
36 00 25 A4 10 00 00 18 00 00 00 0F 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 FE 00 41
55 4F 0A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 00 FE
00 42 31 33 33 58 57 30 33 20 56 34 20 0A 00 DA

  • Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners. *
12

Your driver looks reasonably up to date, so I wonder if something else is amiss…

When you say “I do notice when the screensaver appears on the 2nd monitor, your iScreenSaver logo stays on the laptop monitor …” can you explain more (or perhaps take a picture of the 2 monitors side by side?)

Do you perhaps have an unusual arrangement of the two monitors? Normally monitor #1 will be the built-in laptop display, and monitor #2 will be the external monitor, and they will be arranged like this, with monitor 2 on the right:

[ Monitor 1][Monitor 2]

Is your setup different? If so can you send us a screenshot of the setup?

13

See image …

This is the setup … laptop on left, set as main display … external monitor on right, as secondary display …

I have highlighted the iScreenSaver logo on the left hand monitor …

14

Update: looks like I was wrong when I said “your driver looks reasonably up to date”

In fact, you have version 8.15.10.2361, and from this very long discussion, we find that OpenGL features were not adequately supported until a more recent version (8.15.10.2509 or later): http://www.opengl.org/discussion_boards/showthread.php/173409-Intel-GMA-HD-and-OpenGL

So, I think the answer quite clearly is “update your drivers”.

I would either use the one directly from Intel’s site (version 8.15.10.2622, linked above) or try to get the most recent one from the manufacturer (ASUS) website.

15

Thankyou again for your wonderful support - A+++

16

Hi Brendan,

We identified a driver issue with one of our test machines, and have put in a software fix that might help. (I say “might” because I’m not sure its the same issue). If you haven’t yet updated your drivers, please let us know if you’d be willing to run a test for us? (email us : support at iscreensaver.com )