1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Displays Monitor won't display correct resolution (Nvidia card)

Discussion in 'Tech Support' started by xaser04, 12 Apr 2011.

  1. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    Hi all,

    This is a bit of a strange issue and to be honest I don't really know what is at fault. To give some more detail it is easier to show a "timeline" as to what went wrong.

    Saturday - Booted up PC, played Crysis Warhead for a couple of hours and tinkered with MSI afterburner running benches at different clocks etc. Everything was fine and the monitor correctly displayed 1680x1050 without any issues.

    Sunday - As above but was updating my cashflows and cashbook in excel, no monitor issues at all. Shut down pc like normal.

    Monday - Booted up PC to find I couldn't read the text properly. Upon closer inspection the monitor is now displaying 1600x1024 and 1680x1050 is not available (through the siaply properties menu). Using the Nvidia control panel I can select 1680x1050 but it doesn't change anything (automatically reverts to 1600x1024).

    I have tried the following:

    - Restarted Windows - I know this sounds like a typical "tech support" response but it has worked with other issues before.

    - Reinstalled the latest Nvidia drivers (270.51 IIRC) - no change.

    - Attempted to update monitor driver using windows update - I got the usual "your drivers are up to date" response.

    - Attempted to uninstall the monitor drivers - on restarting the machine nothing had changed.

    I have done a bit of digging and it does look like there is an issue with Windows 7 and Nvidia drivers but alot of the threads I have been reading are quite old now and thus I don't know if the issues were due to Windows 7 being beta or are still relevant in my circumstance).

    Solutions have ranged from simply resintalling the Nvidia drivers to customising them with powerstrip before installing. Whilst I don't mind trying some of the solutions I am perplexed as to why it worked perfectly fine before and now doesn't work properly at all :confused:. I can understand if I was having this issue from the get go but I am not, it is very odd.


    For clarity the system is the one showing in my sig. I have had no issues changing over Nvidia drivers before and this machine has never had a AMD card installed so there can't be a conflict going on there.

    Have any of you ever come across this issue before? Do you have any solutions?

    Any help is greatly appreciated :)

    (Please note - I am away from the system at the moment and won't be able to test anything until this evening).
     
  2. adam_bagpuss

    adam_bagpuss Have you tried turning it off/on ?

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    4,282
    Likes Received:
    159
    can you create a custom resolution of 1680x1050@60hz and set it correctly ?
     
  3. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    In theory yes but once I confirm the selection nothing happens. This occurred both before and after I resinstalled by Nvidia drivers (so 266.58 and 270.51).

    What I don't understand though is why I should have to suddenly create a custom resolution (or do other tweaks) when the system was running perfectly fine before. It almost feels like the PC has "forgotten" what monitor was connected to it.
     
  4. Fingers66

    Fingers66 Kiwi in London

    Joined:
    30 Apr 2010
    Posts:
    8,873
    Likes Received:
    1,054
    Have you tried another monitor cable, just to eliminate that?

    Also try using Driver Sweeper to remove all NVidia drivers and start again?
     
  5. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    I havn't tried either of those. (I can't until this evening).

    I will try with another monitor cable as well as trying both another monitor(19") on the PC and the main monitor (22") on my laptop. This should rule out a physical issue leaving only a driver / OS conflict.

    I havn't had to use driver sweeper for, er, actually I can't remember the last time I did use it. I will give it a try if nothing else works (when installing the Nvidia drivers I always choose the "clean install" method).
     
  6. adam_bagpuss

    adam_bagpuss Have you tried turning it off/on ?

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    4,282
    Likes Received:
    159
    maybe try a different monitor is that working ok ?

    EDIT - ninj'd
     
  7. Tibby

    Tibby Back Once Again

    Joined:
    9 Oct 2005
    Posts:
    2,882
    Likes Received:
    39
    I had a similar problem to this before, not sure the root cause but an uninstall of drivers and reinstall, along with a reboot or two seemed to fix it...
     
  8. GoodBytes

    GoodBytes How many wifi's does it have?

    Joined:
    20 Jan 2007
    Posts:
    12,300
    Likes Received:
    710
    When you re-install Nvidia Drivers, did you check the box to do a clean install, if not, do so. It's under "Custom" install.

    When you create a custom resolution set the Hz to 60.001Hz if that does not work try 59.997Hz (both are 60Hz, depends on the monitor that you have). Note: For some odd reason Windows 7 sees 59.997Hz, at 59Hz, but don't worry, as you can confirm from the monitor OSD menu, it will be 60Hz, it's just the drop down box item is not rounding properly.
     
  9. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    Yep, as I stated above I always choose the "clean" installed method when changing over drivers. I do it quite frequently (for benchmarking) but I have never had this issue before.

    I will try the custom resolution again with those settings tonight.

    I am genuinely confused as to why it was working one day and then wasn't the next with the only variant being the system being switched off and booted back up.
     
  10. GoodBytes

    GoodBytes How many wifi's does it have?

    Joined:
    20 Jan 2007
    Posts:
    12,300
    Likes Received:
    710
    Normally it should not. Something screwed it up.

    Also, you can look at the manufacture website for your GPU, to see if there is a BIOS update for it (GPU BIOS, not your system motherboard BIOS), perhaps it has a fix for it.
     
  11. lysaer

    lysaer Suck my unit! Kirk lazarus (2008)

    Joined:
    15 May 2010
    Posts:
    1,467
    Likes Received:
    71
    Definitely try running your laptop on the monitor to see if you can get the resolution via that.

    Also try uninstalling, reboot and run driver sweeper from phyxion.net, reboot and try just installing the whql drivers from nvidia for now, I've found 270.51 to be buggy, crashes to desktop and driver stopped responding stuff.
     
  12. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    I think I will leave flashing the bios as a last resort.
     
  13. IvanIvanovich

    IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу.

    Joined:
    31 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    4,870
    Likes Received:
    252
    could be an edid enforcement problem. do you have the monitors .inf file loaded? if not see if you can find one for it, if so try using the generic pnp instead. i don't see a mention of your monitor model. if it has the same symptoms on another computer i would suspect the control board going or there may be damaged pin in the connector. loosing native resolution is a common symptom on failing samsungs. if the monitor has another connection type available, it might be worth trying that as well.
     
  14. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    Hey guys, I have solved the problem.

    Annoyingly it wasn't a complicated driver conflict or a software "bug" it was due to the drawer unit I have between me and the case pushing the monitor cable ever so slight out of the DVI connector on the back of the card. I didn't spot this initially as when I removed the drawer unit the lead moved back into place (essentially under tension). I had assumed it couldn't be the cable as normally when it gets removed the screen goes black.

    The root problem was the lead itself got caught up on one of the legs of my desk so instead of a slack cable it was taught even before the drawer unit touched it.

    A simple solution to an annoying problem.

    Thanks for all the help though :)
     
  15. adam_bagpuss

    adam_bagpuss Have you tried turning it off/on ?

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    4,282
    Likes Received:
    159
    WTH lol

    glad its sorted but strange how it was out just enough to screw up but display. last time i check digital signals either make it or they dont.

    ah well
     
  16. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    Indeed, I was scratching my head as well. My own experience like yours is that when a monitor cable is loose it either works or it doesn't. I can only assume it was a fraction loose thus causing the system to incorrectly identify the monitor.

    Genuinely it doesn't make sense but checking the connector and giving it a firm push solved the problem so :confused:

    Very strange but I am glad it wasn't anything else.
     
  17. GoodBytes

    GoodBytes How many wifi's does it have?

    Joined:
    20 Jan 2007
    Posts:
    12,300
    Likes Received:
    710
    Yes, very strange indeed. I really did NOT expect that. I wonder if the problem is that the wire has sensitive pins or wire (manufacture error), which makes the cable flimsy, and it just happen to be the pins not linked to the visuals, but instead the communication pins for the system to know the monitor specs.
     
  18. themariner

    themariner What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    27 Aug 2011
    Posts:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    I know it is not good forum etiquette to reply to an old post, but have to add that I just experience the same strange problem. I was loading up a game, and upon reaching the menu screen the text was extremely distorted. I quit and my desktop was the same way. All the text and icons were severely distorted, even though the desktop background image looked fine.

    I found that if I lowered the resolution to 1680 x 1050 or lower everything looked fine, but 1920 x 1080 and the native 1920 x 1200 resolutions were completely unusable. I tried a clean driver install and multiple restarts to no avail.

    After some searching on google I was fortunate enough to come across this thread. Sure enough with a little jiggle to the DVI connector everything went back to normal at all resolutions.

    Thanks OP!
     
    Last edited: 31 Aug 2011
  19. paisa666

    paisa666 I WILL END YOU!!!

    Joined:
    4 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    810
    Likes Received:
    42
    ...speechless...

    awesome and frustating how practice insist to differ from theory.
     
  20. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

    Joined:
    27 Jun 2008
    Posts:
    2,542
    Likes Received:
    466
    Glad you got it working mate! :thumb:

    Indeed. It is also odd how we always miss the simplest of fixes in favour of the most complex ones.
     

Share This Page