New widescreen monitor resolution problems.

[Swish]

No, this has nothing to do with music, but some of you PC geeks may know how to help me since the Viewsonic website told me nothing.

My Dell flat panel took a dump last week so I shopped for an LCD widescreen and got a great deal on the Viewsonic VX2255. I installed the software (has a webcam and mic built in) and used the DVI cable that was provided, but when I went to set the resolution, the 1680 x 1050 doesn't appear in my menu and I'm stuck at 1440 x 900. The monitor is 22" wide and does allow it, but when I try to go above the 1440 x 900, the next step up is 1600 x 1200, which, as we all know, is the old 4:3 aspect ratio that I don't want.

I have a fairly good PC running Windows XP Pro, so I can't understand why the display setting menu doesn't show this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Swish

[BradH]

Are you sure your video card supports 1680 x 1050?

[Swish]

Are you sure your video card supports 1680 x 1050?

...and updated the drivers after connecting my monitor. It actually shows an even higher resolution of 1920 x 1200, which is a 16:9 ratio, but my monitor won't support that, and the one I need is still missing. I suppose you could be correct in that it doesn't support what I need, but why would it support the higher one? Does that sound as odd to you as it does to me?

I'm wondering if the DVI connection has something to do with it, but that doesn't make any sense to me at this point. Maybe I'll see if NVIDIA's support can help me.

Thanks,
Swish

[Rich-n-Texas]

Make sure you have XP's refresh rate set to your monitor's native resolution, which is probably 60Hz.

[Swish]

Make sure you have XP's refresh rate set to your monitor's native resolution, which is probably 60Hz.

I picked up a lot of suggestions on the NVIDIA website, but nothing has solved my problem yet, and I can't find anything that can explain it. The screen lots really good at 1440 x 900, but why not take advantage of the higher res offered by the monitor? I'll keep digging and let you know if I resolve it.

Thanks anyway,
Swish

[Rich-n-Texas]

I assume you're trying to make the settings change from within XP's desktop settings control panel correct? Do you have the nVidia control panel installed and open? If so, try going to the menu item in the left column: Display settings => Change Resolution and see if the correct resolution is available there. I recall having a similar problem when trying to set the resolution for my Acer 22", and I'm pretty sure there was something in the nVidia CP that I used to resolve this issue.

[Swish]

I assume you're trying to make the settings change from within XP's desktop settings control panel correct? Do you have the nVidia control panel installed and open? If so, try going to the menu item in the left column: Display settings => Change Resolution and see if the correct resolution is available there. I recall having a similar problem when trying to set the resolution for my Acer 22", and I'm pretty sure there was something in the nVidia CP that I used to resolve this issue.

...that resolution isn't available. I also tried setting it as a custom resolution, but it failed the test so I gave up.

Say, what is that car in your avatar? It's too small for me to tell. Is that a BMW coupe?

Swish

[Rich-n-Texas]

No it's my 2000 Firebird Formula. I can't afford BMW's!

[Jack in Wilmington]

Hey Swish, what model Dell do you have? If you tried to download the right graphics driver from Dell and that didn't work, you may need a graphics adapter, I just picked up a Dell 22" widescreen monitor from Staples and it looks good. Luckily I had the right driver. Good luck.

[BradH]

I'm wondering if the DVI connection has something to do with it, but that doesn't make any sense to me at this point.

I checked the gaming nerd websites and you're right, it's the DVI cable. Try the VGA cable.

[Swish]

I checked the gaming nerd websites and you're right, it's the DVI cable. Try the VGA cable.

...problem, but I didn't want to give up on the DVI until I heard back from Viewsonic. I really appreciate your help and will switch the cables shortly.

Thanks!
Swish

[Swish]

Hey Swish, what model Dell do you have? If you tried to download the right graphics driver from Dell and that didn't work, you may need a graphics adapter, I just picked up a Dell 22" widescreen monitor from Staples and it looks good. Luckily I had the right driver. Good luck.

I had a Dell flat panel before this, but it went to crap on me, hence the new widescreen. I think I got the answer from Brad H. that confirmed my suspicion of the DVI connection. I'm going to switch to the analog and see what happens.

Thanks,
Swish

[Swish]

and immediately got the max resolution allowed by my new monitor. Thanks to everyone for their input. I learned a lot from going through the experience, but I put a lot of time into it, and it's kind of funny that I had the answer staring me in the face but didn't feel like crawling under my desk to change the connections. I have so many wires under there that it's always a pain to change something.

Swish Baby

[Rich-n-Texas]

It's too bad you can't use your DVI connection Swish. You're picture quality is going to suffer using the VGA input. I have an 8600 GTS card and I use the DVI cable to connect to my widescreen monitor. If your 5200 has DVI and you're monitor has a DVI in, there's no reason it wouldn't work, unless of course the cable's defective.

BTW, my ID on the nVidia message board is nomoreATI. ATI = never again!!!

[Jack in Wilmington]

and immediately got the max resolution allowed by my new monitor. Thanks to everyone for their input. I learned a lot from going through the experience, but I put a lot of time into it, and it's kind of funny that I had the answer staring me in the face but didn't feel like crawling under my desk to change the connections. I have so many wires under there that it's always a pain to change something.

Swish Baby

If you find out why the DVI wouldn't work, let us know. Just from a curiosty stand point. I'm sure you're not the only person that this happened to. I have mine hooked up with the VGA because my CPU doesnt't have a DVI connection.

[BradH]

If your 5200 has DVI and you're monitor has a DVI in, there's no reason it wouldn't work, unless of course the cable's defective.


It's not the cable, it's the 5200. Apparently it doesn't support DVI at 1680 x 1050. One guy said the vertical DVI res would only go to 720.

[Rich-n-Texas]

So he's got a widescreen monitor and a vid card that doesn't support the monitor's native resolution. That sucks as bad as the Eagles (Feeley) did today.

Time for a new card Swish?

[BradH]

So he's got a widescreen monitor and a vid card that doesn't support the monitor's native resolution. That sucks as bad as the Eagles (Feeley) did today.

Technically I'm sure NVIDIA would say it supports it but it's only through VGA and that does kind of blow. But it might look better than DVI at 1440 x 900.

[Rich-n-Texas]

...But it might look better than DVI at 1440 x 900.
You're probably right. The important thing is that the picture fills the entire screen without any distortion.

[Swish]

It's not the cable, it's the 5200. Apparently it doesn't support DVI at 1680 x 1050. One guy said the vertical DVI res would only go to 720.

...and said the DVI connection won't work with my hardware. I certainly didn't expect a spanking new DVI cable to be defective, although you never know.

I'm not a gamer and don't know that I need to upgrade my graphics card at this time. I had to install a new motherboard, fan and the GeForce back in April of 05. I'm not one to upgrade unless I have, like when my Dell monitor died.

Once again, thanks for the comments.

Swish

[Rich-n-Texas]

Just as an FYI... The mid & upper range graphics cards nowadays are PCIe slot cards, and it sounds like your motherboard is AGP slot equipped so since you don't play games on your PC, you're right, you don't need to upgrade just for graphics reasons. I do a lot of gaming, and I'm finding out the hard way that my card is lacking with some of the new titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Oh and... It only takes one mis-aligned push to bend a pin in a connector.

[Troy]

Time for a new video card? No, time for a Mac.

[BradH]

I do a lot of gaming, and I'm finding out the hard way that my card is lacking with some of the new titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

They say Crysis is even worse. It's always like that. I got sick of the upgrade game and threw in the towel a few years ago. Suddenly Playstation started to look attractive. It was amazing that you could throw in a disc and the damned thing would just play. I miss the computer games though because they're just bettter. Homeworld, Deus Ex, Crimson Skies, No One Lives Forever, Thief, Warcraft 2, Starcraft...good times, brother. When my computer wheezed and coughed on a demo for Warcraft 3 I knew it was game over. The same computer wouldn't play Mech Warrior 2 because it was running the new Winblows XP. Screw it. It sucks because Mass Effect is making me want it and I'm not buying an XBox to play Bioshock and the Orange Box. I'd rather play those on pc.

[Rich-n-Texas]

When I introduced myself on the nVnews forum one of the early remarks was that my 8600 was a weak link. That sure was deflating. Everything has it's price I guess..

As soon as I finish Half-Life Two again I'm going to buy the Orange Box if for no other reason than it's a good value for the money. I think Bioshock would run okay on my setup but I'm not buying just because of that SecureROM crap. I played the demo and later, after reading some posts on the 2K Games board found out that even the demo installs a "Root Kit" progam and verified it myself by running a microsoft utility that flags that crap. I've upgraded my rig since then and don't use those disk drives anymore, but the game sure did look good on this widescreen monitor I must say.
Crysis is best viewed on a DX10 card in Vista from what I've read.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Time for a new video card? No, time for a Mac.
GO... AWAY!!! :incazzato:

[Swish]

Just as an FYI... The mid & upper range graphics cards nowadays are PCIe slot cards, and it sounds like your motherboard is AGP slot equipped so since you don't play games on your PC, you're right, you don't need to upgrade just for graphics reasons. I do a lot of gaming, and I'm finding out the hard way that my card is lacking with some of the new titles like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Oh and... It only takes one mis-aligned push to bend a pin in a connector.

....and is generally able to fix/repair/upgrade anything. This one had him stumped, but he didn't actually have time to research it, and I'm pretty sure he would have found the answer at some point. I didn't feel like waiting for him (he works in IT and is around this stuff all day), hence my post on RR. He actually plays some game called Eve, of which I know nothing, but he has friends all over the world because of it.

Thanks again,
Swish