CS2 problem with dual monitors

KS
Posted By
Keith_Shrum
May 5, 2005
Views
511
Replies
8
Status
Closed
I just installed the trial version of CS2 on a system that I’ve been using for Photoshop for a very long time. I have a dual monitor setup. My large monitor is set to high res, which is where I edit my images. The small monitor is set to 600×800, and this is where I place my tools. The problem show itself in the IMAGE window. Some tools’ cursors disappear on the right and bottom of the image. The tool functions, but you can not see the cursor. Examples of disappearing tools are: marquee, stamp, brush, text, lasso, magic wand. Other tools such as zoom, hand, move, paint bucket do not exhibit this problem. If I set the resolutions to be the same on the two monitors, the problem goes away. If you bring the cursor outside of the image window, it becomes visible again. This happen at the same point in the image window no matter where the image window is placed on the monitor. No other version of Photoshop has this problem on the same system. Any ideas?
Keith

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DM
dave_milbut
May 5, 2005
cs and cs2 have a min resolution requirement of 1024×786. that’s why you’re seeing some problems at 800×600. increase the res of the 2nd monitor.

update video drivers too. (on both cards if you’re using 2 cards to drive the monitors.)
KS
Keith_Shrum
May 5, 2005
Thanks for the quick reply, Dave. Already tried increasing the res on monitor 1 to 1024×786 from 600×800, no change. Downloaded latest drivers for video card, no change. CS installed on same system, DOES NOT have a problem, works perfect. Already called Adobe, but since they don’t offer support on trial versions, I turned my attention here. The person at Adobe said this sure sounds like a bug. I was told up to 2 months for a patch, if this is indeed a bug. I’m thankful for free trial versions!
B
BobLevine
May 5, 2005
FWIW, I’m running my second monitor at 800×600 and I’m not seeing a problem. But Dave’s right about checking your video drivers.

Bob
DM
dave_milbut
May 5, 2005
turn down hardware acceleration for both vid cards in display> settings> advanced section. if the problem goes away, it’s vid drivers.
KS
Keith_Shrum
May 5, 2005
I’ve found a workaround. I have been using the 600×800 monitor for the primary monitor and the high res monitor for the secondary. The only thing I use the high res monitor for is viewing images in Photoshop, that’s why it was set up as the secondary, so that the desktop etc. would load on the low res for easy viewing. After switching them, the problem goes away. Point being, no other Photoshop has behaved in this manor. I’ve done every version since 4.0, and this is the only version that doesn’t like having the high res monitor secondary instead of primary.
RK
Ronald Keller
May 6, 2005
Keith,

I am far from an expert on this matter (so others with more expertise might come in and correct me if I am wrong) but I don’t think it’s a good idea to have your images on the second monitor anyway as this monitor is not color managed by Adobe Gamma (unless you have a graphic card that can control color management on more than one monitor) …

Kind regards,
Ronald
DM
dave_milbut
May 6, 2005
….or a way to calibrate the second monitor if you’re running 2 graphics cards.

I have 2 cards and have been using monitor 2 uncalibrated for about a year. playing around with the settings recently i found that my 2nd card (el cheapo nvidia vanta clone) does accept a seperate color profile, and the nvidia utils allow me to customize it. i don’t have a util to actually calibrate it, but what i did was to open ps on my system and spread it across both desktops. open an image, duplicate it. keep one image on the primary and move the duplicate to the second. then adjusted the nvidia controls to match as close as i can, the 2 images. not too shabby. much better than it’s been for the last year, that’s for sure! 🙂

hth, dave
KS
Keith_Shrum
May 6, 2005
Thanks Ronald,
Yes, the graphics card I’m using can control color individually on each monitor. We use a calibrator for the color rather than Adobe Gamma, but basically it’s the same issue you’re speaking of. Like I said, I’m up and running using the high res monitor as primary, and maybe I’m just whining, but that is not what I want to do. I’ve had it set up the other way for about 8 years now, and never had a problem. This is definitely a CS2 issue. I’m hoping someone from Adobe will address this. If this is the way it is, so be it, I just want to know why it had to change. Worse things in life will happen, so far the benefits far outweigh this problem.
Thanks again,
Keith

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