Video driver update removes resolution choices?

[Rob Bell]

Hi,

I have a Dell Latitude C610 with the ATI Mobility Radeon. A fresh
install of WinXP Pro was set up on a new hard drive. The video drivers
that XP choose to install worked for the default LCD resolution
(1400x1050) and also offered a large list of possible resolution options
for when I hooked up to an external monitor. Specifically, it had
1920x1200 (wide version of 1600x1200). This one worked fine on my
widescreen monitor, though it was slightly fuzzy.

However, at any resolution I found that the video driver would crash
windows when resizing a notepad window (ack!). I figured the best thing
to do was to download the specific ATI drivers for WinXP from Dell's
download site (for this exact computer). After successfully installing
those drivers I am now only offered a few of the original resolution
choices in Display Properties that were there before! None of the
widescreen choices are there. How can I get back to those other
resolution choices? Obviously the display adapter supports the
resolutions but now I have no way to select them.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Guydpb]

Hi,

I have a Dell 4100 notebook and XPPro and I've installed the Del
driver R58682 (latest) Video: ATI Radeon Mobility, Driver, Window
2000, Windows XP, Multi Language, Inspiron 4100, Latitude C510 / C610
v.7.83-030120a1-8238C, A07,
It's possible this driver could do the job for you, look it up on th
Dell site. I also use a resolution of 1400x1050. You could try t
download "Desktopkeeper" from www.greatis.com, this will give you
choice of some 40 screenresolutions/frequency settings, although
doubt they'll all work
-
Guydp

 

[Rob Bell]

Guydpb:

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, that is the exact driver
that I downloaded from Dell and installed that reduced my resolution
choices from about 10 to just a handful. Does that driver offer more
choices on your system (including the widescreen ones?)?

I do notice that the resolution choices in Display Properties are
different when I'm just on the LCD versus when I'm in the port
replicator with the external monitor attached. For instance, 1600x1200
is not shown when I'm just on LCD, which makes some sense, though I
really wish the driver (or XP?) would stop trying to take care of me and
hide stuff.

Thanks again for your help.

Rob

 

[Guydpb]

Did you try "desktopkeer" from www.greatis.com as I sugested ?
I think it's freeware. In any case it offers many more resolutio
choices. Which I must honestly say I never tried out, because some tim
ago I lowered my resolution with the previous Dell driver for ATI, an
got stuck with a lower resolution for 5 months, until I downloaded th
brand new driver you did
-
Guydp

 

[Rob Bell]

I did try it, and it did not offer any resolutions higher than
1600x1200. Thanks for the tip though.

Still stuck in low-res...

Rob