Can't set higher video resolutions

[Paul]

nvidia 8800gts + viewsonic p815

How do I get my XP resolution back? I can't get more than 1600 x 1200 in vista using 'personalize'. I want the 1920 x 1440 (and higher resolutions) available as they were in XP. Same hardware.

The monitor p815 will actually support many of the higher resolutions beyond 1600 x 1200.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

See this link from my website:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/change_screen_resolution.htm

Pay particular attention to 'step 5 and 6'

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[LVTravel]

Did you just update the video driver? If so, roll back the driver to the
one that was capable of driving the output at that resolution.

It is possible that the driver for Vista doesn't support the higher
resolutions that you are trying to obtain. If you are using the "built in"
Vista video driver update it to the latest Nvidia driver located here
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us and choose your correct
Vista OS (32 or 64 bit) but I think the same version downloads for each.
The release notes for this driver shows that it supports the higher
resolutions.

 

[Rojo Habe]

Have you downloaded the latest drivers from www.nvidia.com or are you using
the built-in ones that came with Vista. The Vista ones are basic at best.

 

[Paul]

This was the first thing I tried. Modes only go up to 1600 x 1200.

 

[Paul]

I just install Vista on a new partition yesterday. So far no driver has worked on it to get me my old XP modes.

The release notes say that up to 2048 x 1536 is supported, and this mode works on my monitor on XP. But in Vista the modes higher than 1600 x 1200 are not listed. This is after setting "Hide modes not supported..." unchecked.

 

[Paul]

I am using 177.83 for Vista 32. Higher modes not listed no matter what I do.


-------- Original Message --------

 

[Paul]

I have installed 177.83 and the higher modes are not listed.

 

[Curious]

Have you selected your display type as flat panel and have you selected Show
All modes before you try to change the resolution?

 

[Paul]

They have a 177.79 for vista that looks official and is the one for the card on the EVGA site (it's an EVGA card). But no matter, I have tried the one you mentioned, and all the drivers up to 177.83. I can use 2048 x 1536 successfully on XP, but on Vista, 1600 x 1200 is the most I can get. I have done all the obvious advanced settings options to show all modes. Perhaps someone knows how to do this. Does anyone achieve greater than 1600 x 1200 with Nvidia 8800gts card on vista? This is the basic question. If someone has done it, how did they do it?


-------- Original Message --------

 

[Paul]

Ok, it's fixed now thanks.


-------- Original Message --------

 

[Rojo Habe]

I have an 8800GTS; I'm running 1680x1050, with driver version 175.16. If I
uncheck the "hide modes..." setting I can go up to 1920x1080. On the
monitor tab, is your monitor listed as the right one or does it say "Default
Monitor" (or something equally generic)? Maybe you need to update the
drivers for the monitor.

 

[Paul]

What happen is that after a few support emails from nvidia, I failed to get their solution to work. They suggested a couple of older drivers that didn't show the hi-res modes. I seem to have fixed it by uninstalling nvidia display drivers in safe mode, rebooting into safe mode, cleaning nvidia display drivers with Driver Sweeper, rebooting normally, letting Vista setup the default vga driver, then installing one of the latest drivers, 177.83. This is the first driver that seems to cause my legacy monitor to be detected as generic non-pnp display, not as "viewsonic p815", which is good (I think vista is playing monitor nanny with the P815 and does the 'favor' of returning to the 1600 x 1200 mode.) The hi-res modes are there and working now (unchecking "hide modes..." box is normal procedure and hardly needs mentioning anymore). I thought I had a solution with 177.79 but the hi-res settings did not survive a reboot -- I lost the hi-res modes just by rebooting. The 177.83 driver
is working so far but I am only 1 day into it. It works with my hdtv in clone mode also and has fixed a few problems with that as well. If the settings hold as they are now I am happy camper.

I tried tweaking a new .inf file for the viewsonic p815 with PowerStrip, setting the higher modes, but that didn't work for me.

 

[Paul]

It's not fixed. Settings wouldn't hold.

-------- Original Message --------

 

[Paul]

Settings wouldn't hold for even one day, I am now stuck at 1600x1200 again. I think the problem is intractable at this point. There is not enough information.

 

[Curious]

Does the user logged in have administrator rights when you make the settings
changes? If not try a user that does.
Do you shut down your system using shutdown from the Start Menu?

 

[Paul]

UAC is off and I am administrator.

This thing is totally wacky now. I booted into Vista today, and I once again have up to 2048x1536 resolution available. But based on my experience I can't count on this when I reboot it again tomorrow.

-------- Original Message --------