Windows Vista Screen resolution issue

I am having a problem with the display resolution on my Acer Vista computer. I don’t know if this is a hardware issue or a software one so I have decided to start by asking here.

My computer’s display adaptor is ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics. The monitor is a Lenovo wide screen 192. The problem is that the screen resolutions available change in an arbitrary manner every time the computer is cold booted. The lower resolutions remain the same but the highest two or three are inconsistent. Sometimes the highest wide screen resolution will be 1280 x 768. Other times it will be 1440 x 900. This is the one I want but when I select it, the computer will often revert to 1024 x 768 the next time it boots, and 1440 x 900 will no longer be available as a choice. When that happens the only wide screen resolution available is 1280 x 768, which I have to set manually. The next time the computer cold boots, 1440 x 900 may or may not again appear as a choice. This seems to be completely random.

Computer: Acer Aspire M3201
Chipset AMD 8650 triple core processor
OS: Home Premium SP2 32-bit
Display: ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics


I am not using the ATI Radeon graphic software that came with the computer (for 3d and colour adjustment) so I uninstalled it to see if that would make any difference, but it hasn’t. I then downloaded and installed the correct Vista driver for the Lenovo monitor but that also has made no difference. Now I am asking here.

This is the kind of thing that only drives you crazy slowly, but I sure would like to find an answer if I could. It gets very tiresome having to manually change the screen resolution every time I turn the computer on, especially when it reverts to a square display. Also, I would like to be able to choose 1440 x 900 every time, and not only when the machine feels like it.

 

Thank you for your suggestions. I have searched for the graphic chip’s resolution capabilities but cannot find anything in the official specs on this, just some statements from gaming sites that it should be capable of at least 2560 x 1600. My own feeling is that there shouldn’t be any problem with 1440 x 900 since that appears as an option some of the time and works fine when it does.

I will download and install an updated driver package when I can get to it and let you know if it makes any difference.

 

Hi rikki, I've just been given a Acer AL 1916 WA flat screen LCD monitor last night.
I run Vista OS and when I went to Acer to check for Drivers - they said none were available.

So, on that info I just hooked it in and everything started working OK.
I pushed the Auto button on the monitor and it showed 1440x900 as Native, so I left it and closed out.

Works great! My Video card is Gigabyte GV-N62-512L GeForce 6200 AGP 8X. NVIDIA driver. Cheers Neil.

 

I agree with Steve, sounds like you need the ATI drivers/software for your graphics adapter from Acer (Neil, just to note that it is an Acer laptop and Lenovo monitor). You should you be able to install the original "Catalyst" drivers/software. If you don't have a disk, they should be stored on the hard drive somewhere.

Things can go wrong sometimes when you let Windows Updates upgrade your drivers, but it doesn't upgrade the (ATI...possibly Acer) software.

Me, if I start getting headaches, I revert to the original drivers/software and if they work...don't touch them , or get the updates from the OEM (Acer in this case).

There should be two ways of adjusting the resolution. One by Windows, the other by the ATI (Catalyst) software. Try both, although you say specifically "3D and colour adjustment ", but I think you should get back to the original drivers/software as a basis to start from.

The 3D and colour adjustment might be stopping the resolution setting because of mismatched drivers.

Matt

 

Thanks for the responses. At first I had the Acer Catalyst software installed and I still have the package that came with the computer. However, I saw a number of negative comments about it on different boards and it wasn't adding anything for my purposes so I uninstalled it on the theory that it might be causing the problem. However that did not make any difference. Whether I use the resolution setting of the ATI Catalyst interface or the Windows desktop one I get the same result. Sometimes 1440 x 900 appears as one of the resolution choices. Other times the highest available is 1280 x 1024. This seems completely random.

One added thing I have discovered is if 1440 x 900 is not available as a choice, I can force it to appear by disabling the graphics adapter with Device Manager then re-enabling it. When I then try to change the resolution I get two error messages but afterwards 1440 x 900 is again available as an option and I can select it without problem. Does this say anything to anybody? Do I have a hardware issue here or is this more Windows nonsense? Once I am able to set the resolution to 1440 x 900 everything works fine until I shut down the computer. But when I start it the next time, it reverts back to 1280 x 768 with 1280 x 1024 as the highest available resolution. Even when I click on the Advanced button of the display screen and have it list all modes including the ones the monitor is not supposed to be able to handle, no resolution higher than 1280 appears. The only way to get 1440 back is to reboot until it shows up or use the trick described above. I have no idea what is going on here, which is why I asked for help, but it doesn't seem to me like an issue related to the ATI Catalyst software. It seems to be occurring at a deeper level.

The first Windows error message I get after disabling and enabling the adapter is this:

The display control panel is unable to change the display settings. You may not have appropriate administrative rights to change these settings

After I click OK the following message appears:

The display settings being saved are invalid. Please try a different combination of display settings.

After I click OK on that one 1440 x 900 appears as a choice on the resolution slider and I can select it without problem.

 

I would still try to get a good set of drivers for the graphics adapter. The discrepancy is probably just between the adapter and the monitor. Deeper problems would point at your Windows system being suspect.

As Neil mentioned, do you know the native resolution of the monitor? That should be the best setting. If you set it at something "strange ", yes it will revert. You could look up the specifications (and manual) and check if it has drivers available at the Lenovo website. Monitor drivers, I think, are only basic, but I install them if I ever have problems.

Matt

 

Also...

Find the proportions of the monitor. 4:3 is a square screen. Wide screens are (generally?) in the proportion 16:9 or 16:10. For example, 800 X 600 is in the proportion 4:3 (square screen).

Use a resolution that is in the proportion of your monitor.

 

I found an updated driver at ati.com and installed that. It is too soon to say for sure if it has fixed the problem, but so far the computer has booted every time with the 1440 x 900 resolution intact.

The monitor is a Lenovo wide screen 192 and the first thing I did was download and install the official driver for it rather than use the Windows default driver. I haven't been able to find it's native resolution though and all menus and messages on it are in Japanese.

If the resolution stays the same over the next few days, I will mark the problem as resolved. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

MY computer has been consistently booting with the correct resolution so I believe the new driver has solved this problem. For the benefit of anyone else who encounters the same and finds this thread, here is the link to the driver that worked for me:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/legacy/13-1-legacy_vista_win7_win8_32_dd_ccc.exe

 

Thanks for letting us know. Well done!

... and thanks for marking Resolved.