Third monitor does not appear when I restart.

[Shabakthanai]

Recently I had a problem where the (Recommended) video driver would not install. It was finally installed with the help of this forum.

My reason for wanting the installation was to be able to play 3D movies; my video card is well equipt to play 3D features.

Once the (Recommended drivers were installed), I attempted to play 3D movies. They did not play correctly. Even my backup library of movies started to try to open in 3D. Not all, but most of them. Only a couple still played without the disfigurement of 3D coloring. The movies that were never saved in 3D format appeared in the strange looking 3D coloring and also in the italic format.

In an attempt to see if by turning off my computer completely perhaps the setting of the 3D drivers would complete properly, no effect was noticed.

It then occurred to me that originally I must have had the default drivers installed, so I selected the default option and restarted my system.

When the system booted, my backup videos performed properly and things were brought partially to normal, however, only two of my three monitors came to life. I restarted a couple of times but nothing happened. I opened 'System Settings'>'Display and Monitors> and the two monitors that functioned were together in the center of the screen. The third monitor also appeared, but greyed out in the upper right corner of the window. I could see no way to activate it.

I have been operating with three monitors for quite a while, so it is not a card capability problem. I suspect it is a problem in the driver. Is there a way to force the active recognition of the 3rd monitor?

[Shabakthanai]

That is not the problem. The LED light that appears on the front of the monitor is orange and not blue as it is supposed to be when working. There is nothing to drag.

It has worked fine for the more than a year+, but when I tried to activate the (Recommended) driver so that I could play my new 3D movies, the repair that allowed the driver to install did not work properly. It tried to make all my movies 3D, even those that were not made that way. Instead of showing a normal image, they appeared on screen as though in Italic format, in fact the written portion that begins each film was in Italic.

I spent a lot of time trying to get that repaired, but because most of my collection is not 3D, when I exhausted all efforts, my only solution was to return to default settings.

That is when my middle monitor stopped being activated. Default settings no longer worked the same. The third monitor is recognized when looking in System Settings>Display and Monitor, my first and third monitors appeare and are active, the regular movies play correctly, but the middle monitor is recognized but not active.

I have given up on getting the drivers working correctly so that I can play 3D's, but I really want my third monitor back.

I do not understand how monitors are recognized and made active when a computer is started, but I think my problem is there. Usually during the boot process, all monitors are recognized while loading. That has stopped since trying to fix my 3D problems then returning to default settings after failing. Thanks for trying.

I've got plenty of problems with 2 monitors but that's on 15.10, I believe you are using 14.04.

You could try to 'kick start' the third monitor by dragging it over one of the other two and hope it'll come to life as a clone of it.
Next you can try to move it to the desired location and once more hope it'll show up as a separate monitor...

[Shabakthanai]

Dear Teunis, I had 2 monitors, but my daughter sent me a Smart TV for Christmas. I do not watch TV, but found that the TV works very well as a third monitor. Right now, the two monitors that are showing are the TV and my smaller monitor, a 24"ASUS. The monitor that is not showing is a 27" ViewSonic.

An alternate OS in my system, that I have not removed and changed yet, is Kubuntu 15.10. When I open that OS, all three monitors play just fine, so I am reasonably confident that my equipment is suited for three monitors.

In fact, prior to attempting to get 3D functioning, all three monitors worked perfectly on both OS's.

I hate to reinstall the malfunctioning OS just due to the monitor activation problem, but I suppose I will have to do that. The strange thing is that in some way the third monitor is recognized. It shows when I open the Display option in System Settings, however, it is in the upper right hand corner of the screen and is greyed out. Clicking on it is unresponsive.

Is it possible that somehow the GRUB has changed and does not activate the third monitor as it does the other two? If so, can the GRUB be re-instructed? Thanks for sticking with me.

One problem for getting help is the very limited number of readers using 3 monitors and even less that use 3D...

[Shabakthanai]

My problems are in Kubuntu 14.04 LTS. When I open Kubuntu 15.10, all three monitors appear fine. I have been unable to install Kubuntu 16.04.; installation fails right after entering the language. It is a recognized bug, but apparently does not have a fix yet.

Monitors are as far as I know not part of Grub.

So the problem is with the way X and the video driver(s) are interacting, something that has been quite troublesome for me since 15.10.

But right now it's working reasonably well for me on both 15.10 and 16.04.
Meaning both distros are getting significant updates.

Have a look if there's an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in 15.10 and if so, copy it or it's content to 16.04.

Make sure you start by saving the existing 16.04 one under a different name so you can in case of failure bring it back.

[Shabakthanai]

I am unable to understand if I am making myself clear, In this computer I have Kubuntu 15.10 and Kubuntu 14.04LTS65bit. When I open K15.04, all three monitors work just fine, however when I open K14.04, the middle or 27" monitor is black and the TV Monitor and the 24" monitor open. When I move the cursor from one to the other, the cursor moves instantly from Monitor 1 to Monitor 3, as though Monitor 2 does not exist. Monitor 2 is black screen. Nevertheless, when I open the K15.10 distribution all three monitors work perfectly.

I am unable to install K16.04 yet due to a bug that has not been repaired. I have downloaded several different K16.04 files to hopefully get the corrected version. My bug is now known, but not fixed yet. Hopefully, I will be able to install K16.04 soon. I was able to load it on my laptop and I like it very much, just not on my desktop computer which I use much more often. Thanks for your continued help, friend.

Ah
The 16.04 install bug you mention was there for all to enjoy.

But since a week ago the daily iso has been fixed.

[Shabakthanai]

I did that and installation halted following that step, no joy.

Another thing that worked for me to install 16.04, us the default (US English) language.

[Shabakthanai]

Re-installation of K14.04LTS64bit cured the problem. Thanks to all who tried to help me find a solution.