🚀 go-pugleaf

rberkley@students.wisc.edu wrote:

>Hi All:

>Just yesterday, my desktop completely flaked out on its 800x600 resolution and 
>began exhibiting the zigzag lines, etc., of a sync/refresh rate problem. I thought it
>was the drivers, b/c every couple of boots it would display properly. So, I reinstalled
>the drivers and while installing them (and using the install utility provided by ATI)
>I noticed that 800x600 resolution was missing from the list of supported resolutions.

It sounds to me like your monitor is borken.  I know firsthand that a
monitor can indeed break for specific resolutions.  I recently bought
a Nokia monitor and at first I was always pressing the adjustment
buttons to bring up a display showing the current resolution and
refresh rate.  Once, I pressed the button just as the system was
changing resolutions and the screen went blank.  It would no longer
display the resolution I was changing into (640x480 BTW, which made it
unusable for full screen DOS sessions and the like).  I called Nokia
and they admitted that it was a known possibility that doing what I
did could blow a component and cause a particular resolution to stop
working.

David Alexander
alexand@tmpmp001.allied.com

In <4cfebe$1gtu@news.doit.wisc.edu>, rberkley@students.wisc.edu writes:
>Just yesterday, my desktop completely flaked out on its 800x600 resolution and 
>began exhibiting the zigzag lines, etc., of a sync/refresh rate problem. I thought it
>was the drivers, b/c every couple of boots it would display properly. So, I reinstalled
>the drivers and while installing them (and using the install utility provided by ATI)
>I noticed that 800x600 resolution was missing from the list of supported resolutions.
>I ran all video card diags and got the same result. So, I booted to DOS and still could
>not get the diags to display 800x600 resolution. Now, I am still able to do 640x480
>and 1024x768, so I can still use my pc. However, is this one of those clear signs I need
>a new monitor? (currently using Gateway 1024ni Crystalscan, 4.5yrs old)
>If I need a new monitor, any suggestions under $400?

	Hi, Rich.  I have an ATI card, as well.  It seems like your card just forgot 
which settings it needs to use for your screen.  What you want to do is go back to
DOS (I know, I know, but what can you do?), and run ATI's INSTALL.EXE.  From
within the install program, there is a utility to tell the card what kind of monitor
you're using, or something comparable.  There should also be a user definition
section, where you can tell the card what refresh rate it should use for which
resolution.  The ATI cards are very good, that way.  They'll present you with the
various refresh rates that they support, and you can tell it which ones your
monitor will work with.  Give it a try, and see what happens before you go 
spending your money on a new monitor, when it worked not that long ago.  

Mike "Freakdog" Burger
Sysop, the Dog Pound BBS, (215) 946-5573
mburger@k2nesoft.com
freakdog@netaxs.com
http://www.k2nesoft.com/~mburger

mburger@k2nesoft.com writes:
>	Hi, Rich.  I have an ATI card, as well.  It seems like your card just forgot 
>which settings it needs to use for your screen . . . [snip]

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. I have tried a whole bunch of things
and based on the fact that I can boot to dos and *sometimes* get the card to 
"remember" that it can do 800x600, and it will work ok for about 1day or so, I 
figure the card is defective. I am working on invoking my extended warranty as I 
type.
After this experience, no more ATI cards for me. Period. The way this "top of the 
line" card got dumped from the driver updates list w/in 6mos of my buying it has
really ticked me off. Additionally, I am pretty unhappy that it never performed up
to the standards that it should have. 'nuff said.

Rich Berkley
Univ. of Wisconsin Law School
rberkley@students.wisc.edu

rberkley@students.wisc.edu wrote:
>
>Just yesterday, my desktop completely flaked out on its 800x600 resolution and
>began exhibiting the zigzag lines, etc., of a sync/refresh rate problem. I thought it
>was the drivers, b/c every couple of boots it would display properly. 
>....

A bad monitor wouldn't remove the option from your list.  What may have 
happened is that you had loaded an updated driver some time in the past, 
then loaded a backlevel version.  You may want to try to find the most 
recent version of the driver.

Another thing you may want to check out:  In your System Setting Icon (In 
the System Setup folder), check to see if you have a 2nd page on your 
Screen Tab.  If so, select the monitor that you _really_ have, instead of 
the default that the install program selects, if your monitor's listed, 
that is.

-- 
OS/2 Certified Engineer		Richard K. Glover
Standard Disclaimer: I'm	102152.1102@compuserve.com
not even responsible!		usfmdfzf@ibmmail.com

Note: Cute Tagline Dept shutdown due to governmental budget restrictions

In message <4cruln$1jvc@news.doit.wisc.edu> - rberkley@students.wisc.edu 
writes
:>mburger@k2nesoft.com writes:

:>>	Hi, Rich.  I have an ATI card, as well.  It seems like your card just forgot 
:>>which settings it needs to use for your screen . . . [snip]
:>
:>Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. I have tried a whole bunch of things
:>and based on the fact that I can boot to dos and *sometimes* get the card to 
:>"remember" that it can do 800x600, and it will work ok for about 1day or so, I 
:>figure the card is defective. I am working on invoking my extended warranty as I 
:>type.
:>After this experience, no more ATI cards for me. Period. The way this "top of the 
:>line" card got dumped from the driver updates list w/in 6mos of my buying it has
:>really ticked me off. Additionally, I am pretty unhappy that it never performed up
:>to the standards that it should have. 'nuff said.

Rich;

As an ATI user, I could not be happier with my GPT.  The symptoms your having 
are similar to some I had a while back, (different card)  when trying to set 
up a monitor.  If I set the refresh & resolution, then re-booted, everything 
worked fine, but if the machine sat unpowered for any amount of time, (say, 
overnight), I would have no video on reboot.  It turned out that I was 
setting the refresh "right on the bubble" for the monitor I had at the time.  
When I changed the driver, the monitor was "warmed up" and could handle it, 
but not from a cold boot.  Double check you refresh settings, (I had to 
revert to 60Hz) to make sure your well within range.  I have noticed that 
just because refresh rate is set at "X", it's not always "X", and can vary by 
a few + or -. (60 becoming 67, 70 becoming 74) In my case the culprit was the 
el-cheap monitor I had, not the video card.  Check it out and see if that can 
help.  Good Luck...

Mark J Mathis
mjmathis@fcol.com
Team OS/2
*** Warpin' the Highway with OS/2 Warp ***