Windows 10: One one of two displays works -- hardware issue

Got fedup with the daily CHKDSKs on my Win10TP install so I "cleaned" the drive and reinstalled using build 9879. First thing I noticed is that, unlike previously, only one of my two displays worked!

I check the Device Manager and the default Microsoft Basic Display driver was showing, even though I have an AMD R7 240 video card.

I installed the AMD Catalyst drivers and upon reboot, both display worked.

But, I started having CHKDSKs again, so I used a different drive and installed again.

This time, both displays showed upon initial reboot. When I checked Device Manager, instead of the Basic Display driver, it showed Radeon R7 drivers!

The only difference was the choice of which drive to use for installation.

So, I have to presume that filesystem failures on the other drive prevented proper hardware detection and drive installation.

So, if you run into the problem, in a multi display situation, where only one display shows, it could very well be a hardware problem with your drive.

:)

 

Problem using two- then one-displays

Problem USing Two Display Screens

• 0 Good Question

I would like to describe I problem I encountered with Windows10 and Lenovo Laptop. This is a general problem and not specific to Windows10.

I usually (at home) use PhotoplusX7 with my laptop and two monitors - the laptop plus an external VGA monitor.

I have Photoplus displayed on the external monitor and photos (File Explorer) selection on the laptop screen.

Recently, while away, I was doing photo editing but using only my laptop screen. (Remember - I had previously run Photoplus on the external screen.)

Without the external screen I could (MOVE) Photoplus into the laptop screen By right clicking on the Photoplus icon in the task bar.

The problem was additional "pop-ups" from Photoplus Image Adjust were still in "cyberspace" on the non-existent second monitor. Other secondary screens from Photoplus wanted to appear on the nonexistent second screen.

Nothing I tried worked to get access to these additional "pop-up" screens. My final solution was to find an external monitor to connect to the laptop. Start Photoplus and move the additional pop-ups for Image Adjust to the laptop screen. I then shutdown
the laptop and remove the second screen. Once done I was able to work.

Does anyone know of a way, without needing the second screen, I could have reset the desktop or program or moved the additional pop-up screens to the laptop screen?

 

Problem using two- then one-displays

Problem Solved. For anyone interested I have found a solution to my dilemma.

The solution requires you to make changes to the Registry - so this is my disclaimer - if you are not comfortable making registry changes please do not try this at home.

Registry Key

HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> SOFTWARE -> Serif -> Photoplus -> 18.0 ->

Preferences ->

BrightnessContrast

WindowPosition REG_SZ 612,-725

ColourBalance

WindowPosition REG_SZ 535,40

I am showing two just keys BrightnessContrast and ColourBalance.

The key WindowPosition is what needs to be changed. With the above values:

ColourBalance will appear on the main screen

BrightnessContrast will appear on the second screen [ because of -725 ]

So by changing the BrightnessContrast -> WindowPosition to 535,40 it put the secondary screen back on the main display.

Problem fixed.

 

It stands to reason that drivers and other SW will have a problem running of a damaged drive or file system.

 

That's true ... but I get forced CHKDSKs on the Win10 partition every time I reboot into Win8.1 -- and am still getting them, even though I changed to a new drive and did a clean install this time. So, with these happening all the time, it's really hard to tell if the drive is bad, or if this is the "usual" Win10 filesystem corruption problem.

And, I did a surface test on this new drive, which ran for hours, and did not find any problems with the drive. So, in this case, I am probably safe in presuming the drive itself is not bad.