Enabling an external/secondary monitor on a Macbook Pro with ATI graphics chip

For months I couldn't figure out how to get my secondary monitor working on my 17" Macbook Pro using Boot Camp 1.01 Beta. There was no video signal being sent to the monitor. When I moved my cursor towards that monitor it stopped at the end the screen as if there was no second monitor. Well the problem (im ny case) was simple. The default secondary display is incorrectly set in the ATI Control Panel.

The Problem:

The default secondary display is not set correctly in the ATI Control Panel.

The Solution

  1. Right click the desktop > select Properties
  2. Click the "Settings" tab
  3. Select Monitor 2
  4. Check "Extend my Windows Desktop on to this monitor"
  5. Click the "Advanced" button near the bottom of the dialog window. This should being up the ATI Control Panel
  6. Click the "Displays" tab
  7. Click the green button on the "Monitor" (upper left hand corner) The two top monitors should now turn red and the "panel" should become grey.
  8. Click the red button on the "Monitor" (upper RIGHT hand corner)
  9. It should look like this
  10. Click "OK" on the ATI control panel window
  11. Click "OK" on the display properties window

Other Comments

On step 10 my secondary display flashed a number of times before staying solid. After that it was smooth sailing.