HD5850- TV connected via HDMI becomes the primary monitor when OFF?

[dstoop]

My setup:
Primary 23" LCD monitor connected directly to HD5850 via DVI.
Surround Receiver connected directly to HD5850 via HDMI (which then connects to the TV).
Sapphire Radeon HD5850 1GB
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Catalyst Control Center

So here's the issue. I'm looking to use my monitor as the primary display device, and use my TV with surround sound as an extended desktop so I can watch movies/etc with my surround setup while still using my computer. When everything is plugged in and turned on I can set this up fine, everythings great. The issue kicks in when I turn the TV OFF, but it's still plugged in to the graphics card via HDMI. Once its off, the turned off TV is automatically being switched to be my PRIMARY MONITOR for some reason, leaving me with my dedicated monitor as an extended desktop. Turn the TV back on and it instantly swaps my regular monitor back to the primary, but shuffles my icons all around as if I switched resolutions.

Is there any way to set it up so that when the TV is turned off it either does nothing to my settings (leaving me with an extended desktop that I just cant see) or completely disables the TV as an extended desktop and leaves my primary monitor alone.

My current workaround is to just unplug the HDMI before turning the TV off, but it's a huge pain to climb behind my desk and plug it in or take it out whenever I want to use it, especially when I should be able to toggle it with just a few clicks.

Thanks!

 

[bloc97]

After closing your TV, try to change the settings in "Screen Resolution" to make your screen the main Monitor see if it still revert back...

Hope it helps!

 

[dstoop]

I tried, but the graphics properties window is opening on what it considers to be the primary monitor, aka the turned off tv. If I open it, move it, and then turn the tv off, it automatically moves the window back to the tv.

It really doesnt make sense why it would detect that the device is *off* and then set it to the primary monitor, if anything you'd think it would just disable it for being off.

 

[netops07]

Before you turn the TV off just go into display settings and set your displays to duplicate instead of extend. Only takes a few clicks so shouldn't be that big a deal.

 

[bloc97]

Even if your TV is off, your Graphic Card still will detect it as "plugged", but did you try to change the settings after that your tv is off, then turn in on and off to see if it stills revert back.

The graphic card may remember two situations, and you need to program the 2nd one (which is the one when your TV is off) to make your monitor "Main".

 

[dstoop]

Ok, I *almost* have it the way I want it. Now it's plugged in, and whether the tv is on or its off, it's disabled and I keep my one monitor *unless* I go in and manually set it to extended. However, i'm still stuck where if it's set to extended and someone turns the TV off before I go back into CCC and manually disable the second display, the whole thing gets all sorts of fubar and I have to totally reset both the on and the off configurations. Even with "do not auto detect displays" selected in CCC, it still seems to be auto detecting whether or not the display is connected, most likely because of how HDMI works as a "smart" connection and how it's detecting whether or not the device is turned on, whereas with VGA or DVI it just assumes that however you set it up is right.

Thanks for the tips, I guess it's as good as its going to get, at least I dont have to climb behind my computer anymore and people playing video games on my TV wont constantly be resetting my monitor settings.

 

[bloc97]

Np, if you still have some problems, then post it here, and we (I and others) would be glad to help you.