As usual, I went nuts worrying about disabling the motherboard video (in the BIOS) and sticking in a new card--what to do if the screen was black? Without a monitor, how could you get back and reverse the process?
Fortunately, my BIOS.... well, Let's talk. You boot the PC, and while the initial screen says "DEL to enter setup" you tap the Delete key patiently.
Up comes the BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) from one little chip (the BIOS chip) which is connecting the keyboard to the monitor. There is no DOS. There is no Windows. There is no Java, Unix, or I-phoney. We are programming the BIOS chip. Be not afraid. Be of good cheer.
Drill down thru the many options. Don't change anything yet. If you do, remember that you can always hit the ESCape key to "exit without saving? (Y)". Piece of cake.
Fortunately, you probably won't need to change ANYTHING in the BIOS. WOW--CHANGE NOTHING! Why?
Most BIOS programmers want to play it safe. So their DISPLAY option is usually something on the order of: 1)Boot to any video card on the PCI-Express slot(the latest thing); nothing found? 2) Boot to any video card on the PCI slot (an older thing); nothing found? 3) Boot to the video chipset on the motherboard.
So just leave the BIOS options alone.
Shut down, Plug in the video card to the motherboard. M O V E yes M O V E the monitor cable to the new video card, THEN reboot. No problem. Problem? Pull out the new video card, move the cable back to the motherboard, and re-boot. You are back to the original setup. Whew! Why? No PCI-x card, no PCI card, so the BIOS would enable the video on the motherboard; back to the orignal configuration.
The odds are strictly against such problems.
Everything OK? Play around with your single monitor. Browser OK? E-mail OK? Turbo$$$ OK? Spreadsheet OK?. Try EVERYTHING, and get it stable if anything is goofy.
Shut down. Plug in the second monitor. Boot up. [In VISTA].... Go to CONTROL PANEL. Choose PERSONALIZATION. Choose DISPLAY SETTINGS. Click the IDENTIFY MONITORS. Then tweak the settings. It is actually user-friendly.
Re-boot. Re-boot. Re-boot. Try to break it.
Ah yes. Big Dummy here. If you plug one of the CRTs/LCDs into a wall socket, make sure it is not controlled by a wall switch. Or you will be poking about all evening in a wine-induced stupor wondering what is wrong with this new VIDEO CARD! while the Video display has no power.
This was so much more painless than I ever expected it to be. This review is from someone who used to build PCs, boot into DOS, and upgrade to Windoze. When I saw that there were over 100 positive reviews, I bought the product right away.
I apologize for writing yet another review. But I am delighted with this product.
I was not disappointed. By way of disclosure, I am not affilated with any corporation. This recommendation is freely given. An additional idea is that the rebate dropped the cost of this solution to $45. Thank you for listening...
...and please click the HELPFUL button if you are so inclined.
Best of luck to everyone.
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