Okay, I've had a minor problem for the longest time. I've mostly learned to
work around it, but now somethings happened and I'm getting a little
frustrated.

I have my own "man den" 3 comp's, a stereo, and a 32' HDTV. A nice little
escape room, except no slamming closed metal barriers when I enter. lol
1 comp is a fairly high end gaming only comp, #2 an old one with a lot of
classic games on it, and the last one a combination HTPC and everyday machine
(e-mail what have you) running Vista. It's running a ATI 3850 hooked to a
Dell E196FP which is supposed to be the primary monitor. The secondary is the
HDTV connected by an HDMI cable.

The first problem is everything wants to default to the HDTV. New ATI
drivers, OS installs, etc. In fact I ended up reinstalling Win7 beta on a
secondary drive 3 times till I figured out it was sending the vid signal to
the HDTV and wasn't busted. Every vid driver update takes 1/2 hr+ on top of
the install. I have to reset everything again because it makes the HDTV mon 1
and moves my desktop/sidebar to it. Bit of a PITA but I can live with it. I
want to use the Dell most of the time because it has a better resolution, and
is easier to read text on. I only use the HDTV for DVD's or as a secondary
when I need a bit of extra desktop. It's more then anything for watching HDTV
cable. BTW I even tried (once I figured out the Win7 prob) changing which vid
card port went to which monitor, no change.

So now the problem that is making me pull my hair out.
I was doing a bit of work and needed the HDTV as extra desktop. I dragged an
open IE8 window over to the HDTV then closed it when I no longer needed it.
Well now IE8 will only open on the HDTV. Drag an open IE8 window from the
HDTV to the Dell and close it? Still opens on the HDTV the next time. Do it
and then reboot before opening the second time? Still the HDTV. I don't
understand why everything seems to think the HDTV is the better display, it's
not for every day use, but this last behavior is just asinine. Is there some
setting in the registry that will sort this out? An IE8 setting which I can't
find? It doesn't matter if the HDTV is on or off, it still sends the signal
there. So if I'm watching cable, or have it off, I have to turn it on or
switch the feeds just to drag the IE window on to the primary mon. :(

Can some one help me?

P.S. I thought newer vid cards, HDTV's and Window OS's all know when a
monitor is turned on or not. If that's the case why don't any of them use
that information to say, assume which is the default? Decide which one to
open windows on? If it can't what a waste of tech. :(

Srry bout the dlb post, wish I knew how to delet one.

"Gezzer" wrote:

> Okay, I've had a minor problem for the longest time. I've mostly learned to
> work around it, but now somethings happened and I'm getting a little
> frustrated.
>
> I have my own "man den" 3 comp's, a stereo, and a 32' HDTV. A nice little
> escape room, except no slamming closed metal barriers when I enter. lol
> 1 comp is a fairly high end gaming only comp, #2 an old one with a lot of
> classic games on it, and the last one a combination HTPC and everyday machine
> (e-mail what have you) running Vista. It's running a ATI 3850 hooked to a
> Dell E196FP which is supposed to be the primary monitor. The secondary is the
> HDTV connected by an HDMI cable.
>
> The first problem is everything wants to default to the HDTV. New ATI
> drivers, OS installs, etc. In fact I ended up reinstalling Win7 beta on a
> secondary drive 3 times till I figured out it was sending the vid signal to
> the HDTV and wasn't busted. Every vid driver update takes 1/2 hr+ on top of
> the install. I have to reset everything again because it makes the HDTV mon 1
> and moves my desktop/sidebar to it. Bit of a PITA but I can live with it. I
> want to use the Dell most of the time because it has a better resolution, and
> is easier to read text on. I only use the HDTV for DVD's or as a secondary
> when I need a bit of extra desktop. It's more then anything for watching HDTV
> cable. BTW I even tried (once I figured out the Win7 prob) changing which vid
> card port went to which monitor, no change.
>
> So now the problem that is making me pull my hair out.
> I was doing a bit of work and needed the HDTV as extra desktop. I dragged an
> open IE8 window over to the HDTV then closed it when I no longer needed it.
> Well now IE8 will only open on the HDTV. Drag an open IE8 window from the
> HDTV to the Dell and close it? Still opens on the HDTV the next time. Do it
> and then reboot before opening the second time? Still the HDTV. I don't
> understand why everything seems to think the HDTV is the better display, it's
> not for every day use, but this last behavior is just asinine. Is there some
> setting in the registry that will sort this out? An IE8 setting which I can't
> find? It doesn't matter if the HDTV is on or off, it still sends the signal
> there. So if I'm watching cable, or have it off, I have to turn it on or
> switch the feeds just to drag the IE window on to the primary mon. :(
>
> Can some one help me?
>
> P.S. I thought newer vid cards, HDTV's and Window OS's all know when a
> monitor is turned on or not. If that's the case why don't any of them use
> that information to say, assume which is the default? Decide which one to
> open windows on? If it can't what a waste of tech. :(