Problems with screen resolution

I recently got a new 1440x900 monitor, but now everything is distorted. I've tried every setting there is for the screen resolution, but nothing is acceptable. Is their any other way to change it? Like some sort of way to get a custom screen resolution?

 

Hi

a little more detail could help narrow things down a bit
- did the monitor work OK to start with?

- CRT monitor or LCD?

what sort of distortion...
- squished up one side only? both sides? top to bottom?
- overlapping the edges of the screen?
- colour OK? focus OK?


best wishes, HJ

 

Rule of thumb

Always try downloading newest video drivers first. It's the easiest thing to do. Next make sure your video card or onboard video supports the resolution that your monitor can. 1440x900 is a widescreen resolution i think so i can assume that you have an LCD. The best resolution is the highest one of course, so anything other than the highest resolution (native resolution) will result in distortion.

 

It is probably using the drivers for your old monitor to run the new one. Go to Device Manager, open the Monitor branch, right-click on everything listed under Monitor and select Uninstall. This will make Windows detect the new monitor when you restart the computer. I would expect that the new monitor would use Plug and Play Monitor drivers, unless a driver disk was supplied with it. If you want to go back the old monitor, Windows will detect it and load the old drivers automatically.

Just to check, you are shutting down the computer to change monitors? They should not be connected or disconnected while the computer is running.

Matt

 

When I first plugged the monitor in, everything looked normal (only wider, because my old monitor was 1024x768) but after I put the disk that came with to get a new driver, it said everything was up to date. When I exited, the resolution changed and messed everything up. This new monitor is an LCD. The resolution is currently 1440x900 (everything other option was wacko) but it still looks distorted even though it fits the correct screen size. All colors, focus, and edges are fine, the problem is that it all appears...too big. Icons look all pixelated and font are twice as big as normal.

I tried what you said, and I unistalled the plug and play driver, but nothing happened when I restarted. I went back to the device manager and the driver appears where it should. And when I changed to the new monitor, I did make sure everything was turned off.

 

"Wacko" I would expect implicates drivers. Higher level drivers are the graphics/display/video drivers as djmaxx007 mentioned, but might also involve chipset drivers at an even higher level.

You may need to update your drivers. Start by updating the chipset drivers, then the graphics drivers.

There are settings in Control Panel -> Display for large/small icons and fonts, but it sounds like the problem might be due to drivers.

Matt
[Aside: Hi HJ, good to see you around ]

 

How do I update the chipset drivers?

I also looked in the display. The only font sizes are normal, large, and extra large. I have it set to normal. BTW, the only distorted icons are in the taskbar, start button, and the ones shown at the top of windows.

 

Hi CPUDude, Hi Matt

ahh, are we looking at a pixels per inch scaling problem here? (like font scaling but I think it "got" those icons as well...) Dang it, I don't know where the setting is for XP!

I have a note on this, recent too, but can't find it at the moment grrrr. Back soon.

best wishes, HJ

 

check this out, does it bear similarity to your problem? (sorry about the big pic)

The Start button icon & text are too big, the quick launch icons are my normal size


best wishes, HJ

 

Yeah, exactly that only in XP form.

 

I think that what's happened is that when you installed the new drivers, it's either corrupted the scaling settings, or only made some of the changes it needed.

So, lets try getting you back to "normal" settings (even if it needs something a bit different, getting back to the land of normality first would surely be a good place to start from!)

Here's how to do it for Win98, I'm hoping that the "route" for XP isn't too far different. If it is then surely an eXPert will be along soon to help us out

[SIZE= "1"]While you are doing this, the first time you get to the various screens, it might be a good idea to jot down on paper any "interesting" numbers - like if it starts off saying 114% or something. Just in case we need them later on [/SIZE]

- Display Properties, at the Settings tab, click Advanced;
- you want the general tab;
- where it says Font Size, use the dropdown arrow to select Other;

(this should give you the Custom Font Size dialogue)

- use the dropdown arrow to select 125% *;
- OK, OK, Apply, OK etc (say yes to everything);

[SIZE= "1"]* if you have no 125% setting, choose something that's not exactly 100%, but is not too far off from 100%; too far off might get tedious[/SIZE]

you may receive a warning "some apps won't display properly ", don't worry. You will almost certainly need to restart the computer.

Now, repeat the above procedure, only this time when you get to the Custom Font Size you want to select 100%. OK it all, and restart the computer again.

Let us know how you get on, pls and good luck !!

BTW could you pls let us know the physical screen size (diagonal) of your display - thanks

best wishes, HJ

 

That worked. Thanks!

BTW my screen is a 19 inch if that's what you mean.

 

great stuff

was asking about the screen size mainly in case we had to use something other than 100%

I'm not sure that you will ever get "good" results with an LCD at any other than the native resolution ? but then, I've only used one LCD, a pretty grotty one at that...

best wishes, HJ

 

Right click the Desktop > Select Properties > Select Settings tab > Click the Advanced Button > Select the General tab > Set your DPI to Normal or Large and check the appearance. If you still don't like the size you can create a custom DPI settings.

You can also set the font size to Normal, Large or Extra Large when you have Display Properties open. Select the Appearance tab and set the Font size.