Flatscreen display

[Guest]

I'm being sent in circles by ATI, KDS and VIA. I'm running dual-boot, Windows
2000/XP. ATI card is Rage Fury Pro/Xpert 2000 Pro. I've obainted what seem to
be appropriate driver from ATI, as Sony CRT works fine. I connect the KDS
Rad5-c, boot screens are fine, but just as I'm achieving desktop, screen goes
black, with small window indicating "VGA mode unsupported"--I think, as
screen is dark and message flickering. ATI says it's chipset, KDS says it's
ATI, VIA doesn't show list of possible driver updates--at least one that
makes any sense. BIOS is Award, in case there's something wrong there. These
are simple Plug and Play monitors. I'm wondering, since it almost achieves
desktop, if Windows is the problem. KDS does work in VGA enabled mode, and of
course, Safe mode, but in both cases, and regardless of OS, only with low
resolution and simple color, though ATI console shows appropriate settings
for the KDS. Any ideas or thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks very
much.

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

This happens when the "vertical refresh rate" combined
with your resolution setting creates a sweep that is too fast
for the display's electronics to process. (The "flickering" is
not a very good sign, it should just blank the video completely
as this can damage the video circuitry if it goes on too long.)

The display specs will list a "horizontal refresh rate"
range the display can handle. If you mutiply the number of
lines in your resolution (the second number) by the vertical rate
you've set for the display card, that gives you the horizontal
rate you are operating at.

For example, if you have a 70Hz vertical refresh (frame) rate and
are running at 1280x1024, then you have (70 times 1024) horizontal
lines per second being displayed which is about 71KHz. That
number has to be within the range specified for the display.
And preferably not at the top edge.

You want to boot up with your Sony display. Set Windows
to 800x600 and 60Hz. Then shut down and attach your
TFT display. Boot back up and set the resolution where
you want it. Then go in to the display settings...Advanced
and find the listbox that lets you set the monitor refresh rate.
Move it from 60Hz to 70, to 72 to 75, etc. You will find the
highest rate it handles pretty quickly. Windows will revert
back to the prior setting if you can't see the screen to
answer "yes".

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, Steve. I got no notice of your answer. Yes, I had tried as you
suggest, and indeed had a serious problem being able to click on "yes." In
fact, I couldn't. After more research, it appears ATI does not offer a W2K
driver for the display. The driver avaiable for W2K is different from that
offered (and signed off on by MS) for XP. The display works perfectly when I
boot to the XP partition, but works only in "VGA enabled mode" at the W2K
partition. I tried to install the XP driver to my W2K, but am not allowed--so
an error message informed me. Odd, since I'm told 2K is basically NT 5.0,
while XP is simply NT 5.1 based--so I'm told anyway. ATI offers no answer.
Meanwhile, my system went down and I have a whole new set of problems that I
have to post in another window. Thanks for your assistance.

Frank88