WinXP Pro Getting Senile

[John]

WinXP Pro SP3 + patches up to Nov 2008

What makes WinXP forget its display settings? My user set her PC display to
1280x1024 with the highest color quality (32-bit). Occasionally, her PC
display settings goes back to 1024x768. A restart fixes the problem. Note:
she doesn't have to change display settings back to 1280x1024 before
restarting the PC.

I've updated her display adapter driver (it's an on-board Intel display
adapter) to the latest version that I got from IBM/Lenovo site. The PC is
Lenovo Thinkcenter model 9167-A2U.

Nothing in the log indicates corrupted profile. Other than messed up display
settings every now and then, everything else looks intact (eg: Outlook
profile, desktop icons, printer settings, My Documents content etc... they
all remain intact). That tells me that there is nothing wrong with the user
profile.

Any thoughts?

 

[Paul]

WinXP Pro SP3 + patches up to Nov 2008

What makes WinXP forget its display settings? My user set her PC display to
1280x1024 with the highest color quality (32-bit). Occasionally, her PC
display settings goes back to 1024x768. A restart fixes the problem. Note:
she doesn't have to change display settings back to 1280x1024 before
restarting the PC.

I've updated her display adapter driver (it's an on-board Intel display
adapter) to the latest version that I got from IBM/Lenovo site. The PC is
Lenovo Thinkcenter model 9167-A2U.

Nothing in the log indicates corrupted profile. Other than messed up display
settings every now and then, everything else looks intact (eg: Outlook
profile, desktop icons, printer settings, My Documents content etc... they
all remain intact). That tells me that there is nothing wrong with the user
profile.

Any thoughts?

Any chance the OS is not getting monitor identity information across the
DDC serial interface, and so the video driver is selecting a
"safe" resolution instead ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Data_Channel

To check that something is coming across DDC, try the moninfo tool.
This tool reads the DDC over the monitor cable, and displays the
results in English. If anything shows up, that means at some point
the DDC was working.

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/moninfo.shtm

Installing a "monitor driver", can sometimes help. At least, on
my computer, my monitor is now properly labeled as a NEC product,
whereas before it was just a generic display.

The monitor driver is a tiny file consisting of an INF (with
max resolution entry to be placed in the registry), plus it may
include a color management file, so that programs like Photoshop
can render more realistic colors on the monitor. The file in that
case, is a color profile, and allows correcting for the color
response of the monitor. Color profiles can also be created
with a hardware calibrator you can stick to the screen of the
LCD. Obviously, downloading such a file, means only the general
characteristics of the monitor will be corrected - a real calibrator
would be needed to get better results.

My "monitor driver" (which is not a real driver, but that is
a name people recognize), was only a 6KB download. Some
monitor makes offer jumbo .EXE style packages, and yet the
meat of it, will be 6KB worth.

Some companies refuse to offer a monitor driver for download,
stating that they support "Plug and Play" via DDC. So there
is no guarantee you're going to find one.

Paul

 

[John]

Any chance the OS is not getting monitor identity information across the
DDC serial interface, and so the video driver is selecting a
"safe" resolution instead ?

Not sure. Does the monitor have to be switched on? I'm thinking perhaps the
monitor is off when the user turns on the PC. It's hard to say because I'm
not the actual user. I don't know the actual user habit.

Installing a "monitor driver", can sometimes help. At least, on
my computer, my monitor is now properly labeled as a NEC product,
whereas before it was just a generic display.

You're right. There are 2 entries under Monitor. Both show Plug ang Play
Monitor. I've just loaded the driver for the Lenovo 19" LCD monitor.

If this doesn't work, I'll get the moninfo tool.

Thanks for the tips, Paul.

 

[Paul]

Not sure. Does the monitor have to be switched on? I'm thinking perhaps the
monitor is off when the user turns on the PC. It's hard to say because I'm
not the actual user. I don't know the actual user habit.


You're right. There are 2 entries under Monitor. Both show Plug ang Play
Monitor. I've just loaded the driver for the Lenovo 19" LCD monitor.

If this doesn't work, I'll get the moninfo tool.

Thanks for the tips, Paul.

The design intent at one time, was for the computer to send
+5V over the VGA cable, so the DDC would work with the monitor
turned off. Only a tiny current is required to make DDC work
(milliamps).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector

Other options include the monitor alway having a trickle of
power available internally. Implying the power button on
the monitor is a "soft off" and doesn't kill all the power.
So the monitor could still have power, even if nothing
is being displayed.

It is also possible to find VGA cables which have pin 9
missing. So if the monitor doesn't have standby power
at all times, and pin 9 is missing, then the DDC might
not work at boot (with the monitor off).

Paul

 

[John]

Very informative. Thanks again for your reply.