Adding drivers for 20" Viewsonic LCD widecreen - not rocket science

[Graham Prentice]

I've followed the instructions, but my WinXPsp2 machine always shows
'Default Monitor' in Device Man.

Tried upgrading the drivers for default monitor, pointing right to the
driver location, but the system tells me I already have the best available
drivers for 'default monitor'.

Should it not be 'viewsonic lcd'?

Tried it in safe mode - even deleting the monitor and video adpt. - same end
results.

Tried right-clicking on the .inf and choosing 'install' - didn't help.

The video card is NVidia Geforce2 MX - tried updating those drivers as well.

I would like to set the video resolution to the recommended 1680x1050 - but
it is not listed.

Is it the 'default monitor' or the video card?

Have similar problem on a second PC.

What am I doing wrong? Sounds like a simple procedure.

Graham

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Presuming that you are following the installation instructions on
Viewsonic's website, try downloading the driver again. Could be that
something in the original download got messed up.

 

[Graham Prentice]

Tried reinstalling - system told me the Viewsonic drivers are already
installed.

Since they are already installed, how do I choose a Viewsonic monitor?

Under device manager there is a 'Monitors' icon.

Under that is 'Default Monitor'.

How do I make it say 'Viewsonic LCD'?

It doesn't give you the choice - just 'scan for h/w changes' or 'properties'

Tried deleting but it just comes back as 'Default Monitor'

Graham

 

[Ted Zieglar]

I apologize: I meant to say that you should download a fresh copy of the
video driver -- not the monitor driver -- and follow the instructions on the
video driver author's website. My mistake.

 

[Graham Prentice]

There are drivers for the video card and drivers for the monitor.
Which one determines whether or not it can display 1680x1050?
Presently 1680x1050 is not in the list of supported resolutions.
I would like to set my display to the recommended resolution.
There is 1400x1050, 1600x900, 1600x1200, 1856x1392, etc.
Is it a limitation of the video card (NVidia Geforce2 MX) or the fact that
the monitor still says 'default monitor' instead of "Viewsonic LCD..."?

Thanks,
Graham

 

[Ted Zieglar]

All LCD monitors are designed for a specific resolution. This is called the
monitor's native resolution. The native resolution is determined by the
number and layout of the pixels in the LCD panel - not by a driver. This is
quite different from a CRT monitor, where the drivers can display a number
of resolutions with ease.

If you attempt to run the monitor at anything other than its native
resolution, at best the image will look fuzzy and at worst the monitor won't
work at all.

There is really no point to running an LCD monitor at anything other than
its native resolution. That's why people need to know whether an LCD's
native resolution will suit their needs before buying the monitor.

You can easily determine the native resolution of your monitor - it should
be written all over the place: the shipping box, the setup instructions, the
user manual and Viewsonic's website.

It is the video driver that populates the driver name when you check your
display properties. If the name says 'default monitor', that means either a
video driver is not installed or the video driver became corrupted, which
happens from time to time. In that case, Windows uses a default setting -
hence 'default monitor'.

 

[Graham Prentice]

The Viewsonic LCD display came with a monitor driver (which was installed,
then updated with a newer version).

The video card in the machine has a separate driver.

I updated the Geforce2 driver and found they added a 'custom' section where
I added 1680x1050 successfully. (which is this monitor's native resolution)

The screen does look better, but in Device Man. it still says 'Default
Monitor'.

Can't seem to change that on two different systems. (winXPprosp2)

Graham

 

[Ted Zieglar]

If the driver is working well otherwise, then you have a question for
Viewsonic or nVidia.

 

[Graham Prentice]

Thanks for your help.

Graham

If the driver is working well otherwise, then you have a question for
Viewsonic or nVidia.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

My pleasure.