My Widescreen Monitor Now Thinks It's Square(ish)
 

The other day (right after Momdigr got off Facebook) I turned on my monitor, and everything was off center, moved to the right about a inch and a half. The little 'x' in the top right corner, my time and date were all off the screen. She said "Everything was fine when I turned it off." I asked her if it looked ok now, and she said yes, so, go figure.

All the listed available resolutions (that work) are for the older square-ish design monitors, 800 x 600, 1280 x 1024, etc. I had been running it at it's native (recommended) resolution of 1440 x 900. If I go to 1400 x 1050, everything goes normal except for a band about 2 inches wide on the right of colored static (pink noise?) and static-y color bars on the left about a half inch wide. Anything bigger than 1400, and it goes black with a tiny box in the center that says "Out of Range" for about ten seconds and then the picture comes back.

Any ideas? RFN I'm at 1280 x 1024, stretched to fill the screen. Everybody in my pictures is all pumpkin-headed, DO NOT LIKE.

HP Pavilion (Slim) Win7 (64-bit) Pentium 2.6 (dual core) 4gb RAM (that's all I know)

I tried to update the monitor driver, but, of course, it said no more-up-to-date driver was found. I've never found a driver using the 'update driver' feature, ever. In like fifteen years.


ETA: AVG and Windows Update did nothing for me. No love at all.

lcd monitor or tube?

Widescreen tubes, are square.

It's an LCD. By SVA. I was leery of the brand name, but it was $49 never outta the box. It's only about six months old, but, it did come from a store that buys up other stores' overstocks and such, Essex, by name. Kinda like a better class of Big Lots.

There's no monitor driver; it would be the video driver that could be updated, but this sounds like you bought the shittiest monitor available and got burned. To test the theory, plug any other monitor in and see what happens.

But just for shits and giggles, you should first make sure the cables are attached well and the video card is seated well in the computer.

You should go have a look into the "display proprerties" to check if you didn't disable one property or another regarding display resolutions

Monitor driver, :headshake, I misspoke. I checked the cables (I giggled, but I didn't shit) & they're ok, I always use those little safety screw-type things if the plug has them. As for anything inside, I'll let the Geek Squad crack it open the first time, so my little sticker stays intact, along w/my warranty. I guess at least a tech call may be in order, as well as taking the box in next time I go toward Best Buy.

Will go for the alternate monitor trial just as soon as I scrape the lazy off me...

First place I went. That's how I knew my resolution choices had changed. Oddly, there is no longer a 'recommended' resolution in the list of available resolutions, and the originally recommended resolution, 1440 x 900, is not available.

I don't know if this is due to Win7, or caused by my problem, but, there are no "Default" settings available anywhere concerning monitors, video drivers, displays, etc...


Has anyone heard of a virus doing this sort of thing? When I ran AVG, it went through the scan pretty quickly, it usually takes close to an hour.

Deep down, I want Facebook to have caused this...it was the last site Momdigr was on before this happened.

Also: Windows 7 identifies this monitor as a 'generic non-plug-and-play' monitor. I'm almost certain that when I plugged this thing up Windows said 'Hang on, something's new here. Oh, you got a new monitor, we got you covered, carry on.' My stupid may show, but, isn't that kinda what 'plug-n-play' is?

Thanx for the suggestions, btw.:blush:

pm

Oh boy, BigV must have something meaningful to contribute, because when he does he always PMs, rather than share it with the other people reading the thread.

heh

I have offered to help him directly, on his machine. The offer is still pending though. It didn't have any follow-on applicability to anyone else since it was intended only for Gravdigr. There's a chance it could be meaningful for him but useless (though perhaps not meaningless) to anyone else reading the thread.

Right click on the desktop.
Choose properties in the menu.
Choose the Settings tab.
Click on the Advanced button.
Choose the adapter tab.
Make sure the adapter is what you expected. If you're not sure look in the documentation that came with your computer.
Now choose the monitor tab.
I suspect that somehow your monitor driver got changed. (Yes there is a monitor driver - at least that's what ms calls it.)
Click on the properties button.
You'll have to poke around in this area. I've never had to fix up a situation like this. Roll back driver, and uninstall look potentially useful.
You might also try calling the SVA people to see if they've got a monitor driver file for your monitor.
All of the above assume XP, but later versions should be similar.

Actually, did you check in your stuff to see if you got a cd with the monitor? I did when I got my samsung.

Good luck.

What software do you use for this, V? I like remote desktop, but he won't have the server part unless he sprang for professional.

RealVNC will do a remote desktop for free. The catch is, monitor resolution might throw a wrench into that plan. It will be a neat trick if a remote desktop can pick up on a resolution change on the fly.

I use GoToAssist Express, from Citrix. Not free, $70/month. But it has a ton of tools, including unattended access, which permits me to access the machines in my area of responsibility even without someone else at the other console to permit me. That sounds menacing, it's not. On the remote, there's a banner that indicates that the screen is being viewed and the remote can cancel and even block the connection at all times. But being able to see the server from home at oh dark thirty, to restart a service instead of driving half an hourrto work in my jammies and bunny slippers to do the same thing is seriously worth it.

I also us it on an ad hoc basis every day, to provide support for our worldwide staff burdened with cranky computers. My job it to make sure the computer isn't an excuse for them not getting their work done.

Crosses every firewall I've encountered, requires an internet connection, autosizes display, works on windows and mac,.. I just love it. I've used it to help a handful of dwellars. Wanna try it? Send me a pm.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

?!

Compared to not working for an hour? To have email high centered, or the sales database unavailable? It's pretty easy to get our return on that investment each month.

Thanks anyway, but for now my needs are taken care of by RDC. The only thing I use it for is remoting into my work machines from home.

Sounds like a nifty tool, though.

No prob.

I use it for that purpose, in both directions. Sometimes it's nice to be able to see one's network from the outside. I forgot to add it has file transfer functionality, chat tools, diagnostic tools, and it's reversible. I could connect to you, then reverse the connection and you could see *my* screen. Also a notes feature and the ability to reboot (and reconnect) normally and in safe mode.

Just use servers you can ssh into. Never a problem.

Right clicking the desktop gets me pic 1, when I click 'Graphics Properties', I get pic 2 (none of these options apply except Display Settings), when clicking 'Display Settings', you guessed it, pic three. Again, no real love. Highlighted is my current resolution(strrretched to fill my wide screen). Aspect Ratio changes nothing. Refresh is 60hz. Color Quality offers 16 or 32 bit. Video Settings only let you tweak colors etc.

No disc. I thought about checking their site, but was putting it off as most manufacturer's website's help systems only make me angry(er). Circular logic infuriates me.

I did see a "rollback driver" box somewhere in my wanderings, but, it was unavailable and grayed out.

Thanks for the input everyone.:thumb:

BTW: Was looking at Dwellar's pics last night...you are all punkin' heads.

Bwahahahah!

I do love the screen shots when disgnosing, Digr, thanks.

"Intel graphics driver: Unable to use the native resolution, such as 1920x1080, 1680x1050 and 1440x900"

I bet that's it right there. We'll need to figure out which Intel graphics accelerator you have. But first try rebooting your system with the monitor already turned on. There may be no reason to turn the monitor off at all, as newer monitors use a tiny trickle of power when not displaying stuff.

Am I reading this right: you used to be able to display at this resolution, and now you can't? I would do a full hardware check. Is the video card overheating, under-powered, not well-seated? Edit: If your video comes directly off the motherboard (no "video card") please ignore this whole post.

1. shut down PC and remove power cord to the PC's power supply
2. open up the case, maybe take it outside and spray out the dust bunnies with some canned air
3. an air compressor works even better...but: DON'T SPIN THE FANS (you'll wear the bearings out) . . . DO NOT USE A VACUUM CLEANER
4. find the video card and make sure the fans/heatsinks aren't gunked up with dust and fibers
5. unsecure any latches or anything holding it in place and remove it, then put it back in (checking that it is "well seated")
6. if power is pulled from the power supply (as opposed to directly off the motherboard) make sure the right things are plugged in
7. take your clean PC back inside and plug everything back...sometimes an unplug/replug, unseat/reseat "magically" fixes mystery problems

We're guilty of never turning the thing off since it uses almost no power in standby/off mode.

UT: That almost has to be my salvation, doesn't it? Does this pic contain the info needed to ID the driver I need? It says , but, doesn't say which one. The drivers that contain my fix look to be different for the G31 & the G33 (the download addresses are different, anyway). If I d'load and install the wrong one will it do bad things, or, will it just not work?

Oh, and, Flint: It's a slim case computer, so I'm assuming it's on/in the mobo. Thanks tho.

But I still won't know why it decided to change in the first place.:mad:

If not an unplug/replug or an unseat/reseat, how about an uninstall/reinstall?

As gratifying as it is to be Sherlock Holmes and uncover the clues that reveal the mysterious cause of the problem, I find it even better to do some simple, brainless task which fixes the problem. Who cares why it fixed it? If it never happens again, you'll never need to know. Total time investment: 10-15 minutes. If it doesn't work, THEN go beat your head against a brick wall...to your heart's content.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...&DwnldID=18383

Download and go. Win 7 G31/33 driver that is supposed to fix your problem.

Quit fixing it that way. You didn't put a multi-meter on it.

Really? I don't know much about computers, but quite a bit about bearings, and I'm curious how you came up with that?

:lol:

UT: Will try that, tomorrow. Sleepy time now.

My reasoning was that: in order to move the amount of air that a PC fan is designed to move, it moves at the RPM it is designed to operate at. It is designed to spin at that RPM for a reasonable lifetime (number of revolutions). If you accelerate the RPM of the device x1000 by blowing an air compressor directly into the fan, it stands to reason that you are exceeding the RPM it is designed to operate at, as well as "adding years to its life" by burning through a bazillion of the revolutions the manufacturer designed it to complete before failure.

Therefore, if using an air compressor to blow out a PC, stick a pencil or something in the fan to hold it in place so you don't wear out the device unnecessarily. Maybe you can use a more correct mechanical terminology to describe why that is.

I think your concerns are unfounded, but your method can't hurt anything, as long as the fan gets cleaned.

Your FACE is unfounded.

I'll spin your fans so fast they'll melt.:p:

Fanboys. Sheesh...

As UT suggested, I d'loaded the driver he posted. I didn't pay close enough attn, and didn't see that the driver he posted a link to was for 32-bit Win 7. I got 64-bit, so, when I installed it, I got the window in the first pic. I went and found the driver for 64-bit Win 7, d-loaded & installed it, rebooted, and got no love what-so-ever. Nothing changed. There is still no joy in Mudville.

Now, I don't expect you guys to do all the lifting here, but, if any of you have any more clues that point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it. I don't want to have to go w/out my 'personal confuser' for the week or so it'll be in the hospital if it comes to that.:sniff:

Have you tried messing with the menu on the monitor itself?

This sounds very frustrating, and I really can't help, other than to offer up the rather snide YGWYPF cliche.

I'd still try another monitor on there first

My only other monitor is a square-ish one, so I would think that the resolutions not available now, w/my widescreen, wouldn't be available anyway.

I'll have to hook up the other monitor and see if its resolution is off as well. If the resolution is wonky on the other monitor, that will pretty much guarantee a trip to the 'puter hospital for the box.

Yep. No love.

Thanx.

If you haven't found a fix yet, try turning the computer and monitor off, unplugging the monitor for 5 minutes, to let its capacitors drain, and then plugging it in and turning everything back on. I just fixed a similar issue that way. It may not be the same issue, though, because my monitor actually is 4:3, but I was being restricted to 1024x768.

Strangest damn thing. All my 'puter stuff is on a plug that is controlled by a wall switch. If the weather goes south on me I just flick the switch (I know that prolly won't help). Well, the other day the weather went all bumpy on my ass, so I flicked the switch. After a couple hours I flicked it back on, booted up and, Viola!, my monitor is running at it's recommended resolution. Everything is beautiful. In it's own way.

You are no longer pumpkin-heads!

Thanks for the input HappyMonkey. (Happy belated B-Day, also!)

Do you normally shut down the system first, or just flick the wall switch?

Oh, I go thru the shut down and all...