Monitor "out of range" when installing Vista

[Fred]

I've got the 32-bit Vista Ultimate edition and want to install it to a
clean, unpartitioned hard drive so I put the DVD in the drive, it allows me
to partition and format the drive, it goes through various screens and a
couple of re-boots, all OK, until it gets to a point where it reboots and
the next thing is a message on-screen (black screen, white rectangle in
centre with red borders and the words "Out of Range" on the white area).

Presumably, Vista has got to a point where it's automatically adjusting the
screen resolution (like XP does) but it's got it wrong. If I try to boot
into safe mode I get a message "Windows installation cannot continue in Safe
Mode. Please reboot into Windows" (or something like that). Clicking OK
starts the machine reboot and back to the "Out of Range" message.

Any ideas folks?

TIA, Fred.

 

[Bill Yanaire]

What video card are you using? Did you check to see if your card works with
Vista?

 

[Fred]

What video card are you using? Did you check to see if your card works
with Vista?

It's an ASRock ALiveNF6G-DVI motherboard with integrated Nvidia
GeForce6-class graphics and no, I haven't checked whether it will work with
Vista or not. I just assumed it would because it's a current motherboard,
still being manufactured, not an older one.

But even if it doesn't work *properly* with Vista, at this stage of the
installation, shouldn't it just default to standard VGA mode to the end of
the installation and then you can get/install the correct drivers?

Fred

 

[Richard Urban]

If you are using a LCD monitor, use the monitor controls to see what
resolution the monitor is operating in. Also see if there is an auto-tune
function in the monitor. If so, use it. This will usually only work in
analog mode. If in digital mode the monitor will default to the resolution
that is specified for that monitor. If your video card does not handle this
resolution you will get the "out of range" message.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Fred]

If you are using a LCD monitor, use the monitor controls to see what
resolution the monitor is operating in. Also see if there is an auto-tune
function in the monitor. If so, use it. This will usually only work in
analog mode. If in digital mode the monitor will default to the resolution
that is specified for that monitor. If your video card does not handle
this resolution you will get the "out of range" message.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Thanks Richard, I'll give it a go.

Fred

 

[Tim Judd]

I've got the 32-bit Vista Ultimate edition and want to install it to a
clean, unpartitioned hard drive so I put the DVD in the drive, it allows me
to partition and format the drive, it goes through various screens and a
couple of re-boots, all OK, until it gets to a point where it reboots and
the next thing is a message on-screen (black screen, white rectangle in
centre with red borders and the words "Out of Range" on the white area).

Presumably, Vista has got to a point where it's automatically adjusting the
screen resolution (like XP does) but it's got it wrong. If I try to boot
into safe mode I get a message "Windows installation cannot continue in Safe
Mode. Please reboot into Windows" (or something like that). Clicking OK
starts the machine reboot and back to the "Out of Range" message.

Any ideas folks?

TIA, Fred.

I haven't bought Vista but there's a lot of things that get carried over
from previous versions of Windows, which is why I try to help here.

During Vista bootup, do the normal F8 options and see if there's a "VGA
Only" or related option. That forces a 640x480 resolution on the rest
of the NT-Based Windows, and I would expect Vista to keep that. Note
that VGA Only mode is not the same as Safe Mode, so the installation
should continue.

The root of the problem most of the time is a monitor that's not
providing sufficient/any data when the monitor is being probed for
paramaters/specifications.

HTH

 

[Don]

Thanks Richard, I'll give it a go.

Fred,

I have the same problem when using my LCD monitor. I discovered by using
my old CRT monitor that the Vista bootmanager uses a high scan-rate to
display its boot menu, but once you get past that menu all works normally
again. The boot manager is waiting for you to pick a version of Windows
to boot. You can either hit Enter to boot Vista or use the up/down arrow
keys to pick a 'legacy' version of Windows -- or you can let the boot menu
timeout at 30 seconds (default).

I hate my old CRT monitor so I tolerate this inconvenience until MS fixes
the silly bootmanager.