Connecting two monitors to TC-780 desktop

rossm6

Hi, i have three HDMI ports at the back of my computer - a new TC 780.  Two were blocked with plastic and the other was unblocked and further down the tower on receiving the product.  At present I can use only one monitor at a time by connecting to this furthest down port.  I would like to be able to use two monitors though.  I must be missing something because when i try to extend the display across two monitors on windows 10 - easily searchable on google - it is not even detected.  When I use another HDMI cable and insert into one of the other ports - both of which i have now unblocked - and connect to my other monitor it is not detected in Windows 10.  Finally I can confirm in advance that both monitors work separately through the method described above.  I just can't get them both to work despite enough cables and ports.  What am I missing?  Many thanks in advance.

JordanB

@rossm6

Acer typically puts those plastic blockers on desktop computers that come pre-installed from the factory with a graphics card.

Your computer has two graphics chips:

Chip #1: Onboard graphics
Chip #2: Your graphics card

When you insert a graphics card on most Acer desktops, it automatically disables the Onboard graphics chip.  That is why Acer put plastic plugs in the Onboard graphics video outputs.  Because they don't work, since you have a graphics card installed.

If you remove your graphics card from the computer, it will re-enable the Onboard graphics chip, and subsequently you can use those blocked ports. 

 You didn't post what your current graphics card has for video outputs and your monitors have for video inputs.

If your current graphics card has a displayport output, you can get one of these.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dynex-displayport-to-hdmi-adapter-black/8720184.p?skuId=8720184&ref=212&loc=1&ksid=53c62f83-2d15-465b-bdae-119861860980&ksprof_id=16&ksaffcode=pg252604&ksdevice=c&lsft=ref:212,loc:2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7vacmJnt1wIVhLjACh2rowEAEAQYASABEgKok_D_BwE


Edit: I don't know what your current, existing graphics card has for outputs.  If it has an additional video output, you may be able to run over to a place like Best Buy and get the appropriate conversion adapter to HDMI if that's what you need.

JordanB

I found a 3 year old post that talks about having tape over it.......so I'm not 100% sure what I wrote above is accurate.  Not sure if Acer still puts tape or not.

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/326188/plastic-cover-on-hdmi-port