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11/12 new monitors work, 12th defaults

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15 replies

by r.katilavas

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I have a small network in the computer science and computer repair lab where I teach, at present 14 computers. We are running Win98SE, and plan to upgrade to Win2kPro as soon as we can get a donation for Win2K Server. The PCs are a variety of P3, P4 and AMD based units. Recently we were donated new 19' monitors, Medion MD1998Of, a flat screen 19inch CRT.
11 of the 12 machines installed w/o any problems but even tho the 12th says the monitor is installed, it is using the default monitor settings: only 640x480, only the default refresh rate, and only 16,256,16bit and 24bit color without the DPMS implemented, when the monitors are all capable of 1600x1200, up to 32bit color, and DPMS.
This PC has had other monitors, up to 21 inches in the past supported 1600x1200 resolution, 24bit color, and DPMS without any problems in the past.
The video card on this PC is old, but so are some of the others and I haven't had problems with them or with this one in the past: ATI Graphics Ultra Pro PCI [mach32].
All of the troubleshooting and diagnostics I know have produced absolutely no indication of a problem yet the system won't implement the new monitor's operating characteristics.
The only thing I can think of, but don't know how to check or to resolve is that earlier this fall we tried test installs of Win2000Pro on several machines, and some of them are now dual-boot. On this particular PC that won't implement the new monitor characteristics the Win2KPro install failed because it had a smaller HD than expected and there wasn't enough space for a dual boot install. Even though we removed the failed W2P install could there be some residuals we can't see that might interfere with this monitor?
Any suggestions would be appreciated: I'm convinced the answer is staring me in the face but at this point I am too close to the trees to see the forest. Thanks, RK

15 replies

by opatzg9

I have a possible solution but I'ld make it a last resort. You could flash your bios and reload for the motherboard all the drivers and directx, video and monitor drivers in that order and taht may fix the problem. I'ld start by just trying to reload the motherboard drivers/directx/video/monitor and see if that works. What are you getting for the display? I kind of hate flashing bios since taht appears to be a hit and miss kind of thing for the entire motherboard. Good luck with whatever you try!

by r.katilavas

While I am getting 24bit color, it is only at 640x480@60Hz. I hae checked with the video card mfg and they agree it is capable of handling the 1600x1200@90Hz, but I would take the 24bit color at 1600x1200. Something is wrong in the registry: it won't implement the new monitor. The suggestion of flashing BIOS just isn't supported by the symptoms.

by thechas

Yes, it is very possible that you have some remnant W2K files and / or registry settings.

Start by running System File Checker.
(SFC) it will find and prompt you to restore any file that is not the original W98 version.

Download and expand asneeded the latest drivers for ALL hardware.

Go to the enum key in the registry, and delete ALL video related hardware shown.

Then, search the Windows folders for the related driver files.

When you re-boot, make sure to point the driver wizzard to the correct folder for each driver so you install only the latest version.

Next, it sometimes works better to use the Windows "Standard" monitor types instead of the specific settings for the monitor.

Finally, make sure that ATI does nothave an updated video BIOS for your card.
On numerous systems, flashing the Video BIOS correct video problems.

Chas

by r.katilavas

So far I have done all of the things suggested: didn't want to write that detailed or extended a description. What I'm looking for is some sort of troubleshooting so I can isolate and or remedy so that I can remedy the problem. I can't figure outwhy 11/12 monitors would install w/o on identical pc's and the 12th of 12 would fail on me.

by cg it

Question: Did you try to reload the ATI drivers? Sounds like no ATI Vid card drivers [or no ATI Vid card found by PnP ] installed and therefore Windows uses it's default monitor settings. Try swapping out vid cards with one of the other 11 and see if the problem follows the vid card. If not, then ...well...probably vid driver problem.

by r.katilavas

Again I have tried swapping video cards, putting in a known "good" one from a PC that works, into the 12th where the new monitor won't implement, and got the same results. Also checked that ATI drivers were the latest and reloaded them. I didn't want to write an opus so I didn't write an extensive narrative about all of the expected things that I did. I wrote that I was, and still am at the end of my troubleshooting and diagnostics skills. I also swapped monitors putting #12 on another system where it works, and putting #11 in place of it where it doesnt work. Switch back and the original problem is there.

by opatzg9

Since you did have a partial load of another operating system have you done the fdisk/format/reload yet?

by r.katilavas

Yes I did the fdisk/format/reload. I reinstalled the Win98 SE o/s and wiped out the remnants of the Win2KPro failed install. I also reinstalled the ATI video drivers. All of this w/o any effect on the immovable 640x480 resolution in Windows. I can change the DOS resolution using Dosshell without any problems. The other thing is not being able to implement the DPMS function which the video card and the monitor are capable of. With the reinstall of the o/s and rewrite of the registry none of the problems were resolved. There must be some simple error I am not seeing, something I am too close to "the trees" to see.

by cactus pete

Some video drivers must be removed before reinstalled. Did you remove the driver/device, reboot, then reinstall? This tripped up the MaximumPC editors once, too.

If this doesn't help, perhaps you need to stick with 17" on this one...

by r.katilavas

This was done before I even came here, it is good basic advice, but was tried in this case. I also tried shutting down and doing a cold start after the reinstall of removed video drivers.

by r.katilavas

I give up on this, please pull the query. Nobody came up with anything I hadn't tried. I even switched monitors and video cards that worked from another unit. They worked in the 12th unit and the monitor and video card switched from the unit worked on the other pc. When I switched them back to original location, the 12th monitor still had same problem while other 11 were fine.
My solution was to use a utility which allowed me to manually reprogram the EEPROM on the video card for a standard monitor closest to the new 19" monitor specs, and I can get 480x640, 600x800, and 1024x768 with up to 24bit color.
Never found any problems with the registry settings, Windows config, etc so this must go down as another unexplicalbe WinGlitch.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. R.Katilavas

by thechas

Your comment to pull the thread is mis-placed.

All you need to do, is go through the close question procedure.

Chas

by r.katilavas

While the idea of closing the question was good, without directions I had to spend 1/2 hour finding where to find the directions about how to close the question.

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