Notebook monitor panning at lower widescreen resolutions

[Inglo]

I've been trying to find a way to get my laptop monitor to stop panning
when I go into lower resolution widescreen modes. The monitor has a
native resolution of 1280x800 but that seems to be the only resolution
that will work at a widescreen aspect ratio. 800x480 and 1024x600 are
listed as options (and they're listed as display modes in most games,
HL2 for example), but when I switch to 800x480 it's as if the monitor
were a 4:3 monitor, the display is stretched to fit the screen and then
a portion of the display is cut off on the right side, if I'm merely in
windows I can pan over with the mouse to see the rest of the desktop,
while playing games that area is just cut off.

If I set the flat panel scaling settings to centered timing, so that
the lower resolution display is centered in a "box", it's the same
way. There is a black border around everything but the displayed area
is at 4:3 and virtual desktop, panning mode is initiated.

It's maddening, it's a widescreen monitor that will only accept one
widescreen resolution, any other and it thinks it's a 4:3. It confuses
me that a widescreen monitor accepts 4:3 modes at all, this situation is
contrary to logic. It would make more sense if the monitor *only*
supported widescreen resolutions.

It's a Gateway notebook with an ATI 1150 integrated graphics GPU. I've
tried fiddling around with Power-Strip to no avail and I've tried
editing the registry to disable DDC, but none of that has done any good
so far.


--
"We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realise that we are apes."
Richard Dawkins

Stephen Pehrson
Oakland, CA
510-533-6582

 

[PhxGrunge]

I've been trying to find a way to get my laptop monitor to stop panning
when I go into lower resolution widescreen modes. The monitor has a
native resolution of 1280x800 but that seems to be the only resolution
that will work at a widescreen aspect ratio. 800x480 and 1024x600 are
listed as options (and they're listed as display modes in most games, HL2
for example), but when I switch to 800x480 it's as if the monitor were a
4:3 monitor, the display is stretched to fit the screen and then a portion
of the display is cut off on the right side, if I'm merely in windows I
can pan over with the mouse to see the rest of the desktop, while playing
games that area is just cut off.

If I set the flat panel scaling settings to centered timing, so that the
lower resolution display is centered in a "box", it's the same way. There
is a black border around everything but the displayed area is at 4:3 and
virtual desktop, panning mode is initiated.
It's maddening, it's a widescreen monitor that will only accept one
widescreen resolution, any other and it thinks it's a 4:3. It confuses me
that a widescreen monitor accepts 4:3 modes at all, this situation is
contrary to logic. It would make more sense if the monitor *only*
supported widescreen resolutions.

It's a Gateway notebook with an ATI 1150 integrated graphics GPU. I've
tried fiddling around with Power-Strip to no avail and I've tried editing
the registry to disable DDC, but none of that has done any good so far.


--
"We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realise that we are apes."
Richard Dawkins

Stephen Pehrson
Oakland, CA
510-533-6582

If you turn off PowerPlay in Display Properties > Advanced > PowerPlay the
panning will cease and the resolutions you stated will work.
You will have to turn it back on when exiting the games to get your full
widescreen display for Windows desktop.
It is a slight hassle to switch back and forth since there is no way to do
it automatically.

 

[Inglo]

If you turn off PowerPlay in Display Properties > Advanced > PowerPlay the
panning will cease and the resolutions you stated will work.
You will have to turn it back on when exiting the games to get your full
widescreen display for Windows desktop.
It is a slight hassle to switch back and forth since there is no way to do
it automatically.

Thanks but that didn't seem to work. I'm not sure I understand why
turning off PowerPlay would make a difference with the way the display
resolution is handled.
Do you have personal experience with this same setup, an ATI XPress 1150
on a Gateway laptop?

--
"We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realise that we are apes."
Richard Dawkins

Stephen Pehrson
Oakland, CA
510-533-6582

 

[PhxGrunge]

Thanks but that didn't seem to work. I'm not sure I understand why
turning off PowerPlay would make a difference with the way the display
resolution is handled.
Do you have personal experience with this same setup, an ATI XPress 1150
on a Gateway laptop?

--
"We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realise that we are apes."
Richard Dawkins

Stephen Pehrson
Oakland, CA
510-533-6582

No, but I have an older Dell with ATI Mobility 9000.
PowerPlay "stretches" the Windows display to fit the display both vertically
and horizontally. Turing it off will let programs use actual resolutions -
such as 800 x 600, 640 x 480, etc, 4 x 3 ratio with black bars on the sides,
also widescreen displays in games.

 

[PhxGrunge]

No, but I have an older Dell with ATI Mobility 9000.
PowerPlay "stretches" the Windows display to fit the display both
vertically and horizontally. Turing it off will let programs use actual
resolutions - such as 800 x 600, 640 x 480, etc, 4 x 3 ratio with black
bars on the sides, also widescreen displays in games.

Forget that. It is not working like it did when I first got this computer.
Newer drivers since then do not work the same.
You may be able to go to Display properties > advanced > displays > panel >
and uncheck Scale image to panel size.
It does not work with the Quake games. May work with other apps.