Acer a1916w widescreen monitor with TNT2 Model 64

I have an old Dell Dimension 4100. It came with an NVidia TNT2 Model
64. I have the latest driver from the NVidia website. I also have the
latest a1916w driver from the Acer website.

In my Display Settings, I see a variety of 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio
resolutions. However I can only get 800x600 and 1024X768 resolutions
to work. None of the remaining 4:3 and absolutely none of the 16:9
resolutions work - in each case the display is right shifted to an
extent I cannot use the monitor settings to offset it.

I could care less about any of the 4:3 resolutions. I bought this
monitor because I wanted a widescreen. And I simply cannot use it that
way. I would appreciate any advice on what I can try to make this
work.

A couple of things.
1) Windows Update tells me there's a newer driver from Microsoft. This
"new" driver blue screens my computer. Regardless, the date on the
driver on Microsoft Website is earlier than what I get from Nvidia. So
I indeed have the latest driver for my graphics card.
2) I have fried a couple of CRT monitors in the past by accidently
using higher frequency. Is it possible for me to do so with a flat
panel? I would hope not, but wanted to ask, because I have not
experimented with changing the frequency with my resolutions.

Best Regards.

"PrototypeWannabe" wrote in message
...
I have an old Dell Dimension 4100. It came with an NVidia TNT2 Model
64. I have the latest driver from the NVidia website. I also have the
latest a1916w driver from the Acer website.

Given the old age of the card, are you using an analog connection to the
A1916W?

In my Display Settings, I see a variety of 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio
resolutions. However I can only get 800x600 and 1024X768 resolutions
to work. None of the remaining 4:3 and absolutely none of the 16:9
resolutions work - in each case the display is right shifted to an
extent I cannot use the monitor settings to offset it.

By "monitor settings", do you mean the buttons on the monitor, or geometry
adjustments within the nVidia control panel?

A couple of things.
1) Windows Update tells me there's a newer driver from Microsoft. This
"new" driver blue screens my computer. Regardless, the date on the
driver on Microsoft Website is earlier than what I get from Nvidia. So
I indeed have the latest driver for my graphics card.

If you haven't learned to ignore drivers from Windows Update yet, now is the
time. :-)

2) I have fried a couple of CRT monitors in the past by accidently
using higher frequency. Is it possible for me to do so with a flat
panel? I would hope not, but wanted to ask, because I have not
experimented with changing the frequency with my resolutions.

Most LCDs should be set at 60 Hz at every resolution. There is no benefit to
setting the refresh rate any higher or lower. What happens if you
"accidentally" attempt to set a higher refresh rate? The panel electronics
may simply ignore the non-supported refresh rate, or it may show some
garbage. Basically, if it seems to work, you are not damaging it.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

Given the old age of the card, are you using an analog connection to the
A1916W?

Yes, unfortunately I am :-(. Is there a good chance that's my problem.

By "monitor settings", do you mean the buttons on the monitor, or geometry
adjustments within the nVidia control panel?

Monitor settings using buttons on my monitor. I'm not sure my video
card comes with control panel. Or is there some general purpose
control panel software available from Nvidia?

If you haven't learned to ignore drivers from Windows Update yet, now is the
time. :-)

No kidding !!!


Most LCDs should be set at 60 Hz at every resolution. There is no benefit to
setting the refresh rate any higher or lower. What happens if you
"accidentally" attempt to set a higher refresh rate? The panel electronics
may simply ignore the non-supported refresh rate, or it may show some
garbage. Basically, if it seems to work, you are not damaging it.


Well, when I click "Advanced" and looked at the frequency, it was at
75 Hz. So I did try 60 for those resolutions it was available (I have
"Don't display frequencies this monitor cannot display checked"). It
did make things a little better for ONE resolution. But after a while,
the screen shifts again and I'm back to square one.

Thanks for responding. If there's something else you think I should
try, please do reply.

Best Regards.

'PrototypeWannabe' wrote, in part:
| Well, when I click "Advanced" and looked at the frequency, it was at
| 75 Hz. So I did try 60 for those resolutions it was available (I have
| "Don't display frequencies this monitor cannot display checked"). It
| did make things a little better for ONE resolution. But after a while,
| the screen shifts again and I'm back to square one.
|
| Thanks for responding. If there's something else you think I should
| try, please do reply.
_____

Yes, you should install the correct 'driver' for the monitor. This supplies
the resolutions and screen width : height ratios the monitor supports. This
informs the operating system and the video adapter as to the monitor
capabilities. Otherwise, if you have 'Don't display frequencies this
monitor cannot display' checked, you the displayed frequencies will not
include all those the monitor supports. Not to mention that frequencies
aren't really meaningful for LCD monitors as there is no vertical or
horizontal sweep. Since there are no sweep circuits in a LCD monitor, there
is no possibility of damage by selecting ANY resolution or sweep rate;
those unsupported just will not display properly.

Phil Weldon

"PrototypeWannabe" wrote in message
...
| Given the old age of the card, are you using an analog connection to the
| A1916W?
|
| Yes, unfortunately I am :-(. Is there a good chance that's my problem.
|
| By "monitor settings", do you mean the buttons on the monitor, or
geometry
| adjustments within the nVidia control panel?
|
| Monitor settings using buttons on my monitor. I'm not sure my video
| card comes with control panel. Or is there some general purpose
| control panel software available from Nvidia?
|
| If you haven't learned to ignore drivers from Windows Update yet, now is
the
| time. :-)
|
| No kidding !!!
|
|
| Most LCDs should be set at 60 Hz at every resolution. There is no
benefit to
| setting the refresh rate any higher or lower. What happens if you
| "accidentally" attempt to set a higher refresh rate? The panel
electronics
| may simply ignore the non-supported refresh rate, or it may show some
| garbage. Basically, if it seems to work, you are not damaging it.
|
|
| Well, when I click "Advanced" and looked at the frequency, it was at
| 75 Hz. So I did try 60 for those resolutions it was available (I have
| "Don't display frequencies this monitor cannot display checked"). It
| did make things a little better for ONE resolution. But after a while,
| the screen shifts again and I'm back to square one.
|
| Thanks for responding. If there's something else you think I should
| try, please do reply.
|
| Best Regards.

PrototypeWannabe wrote:
Given the old age of the card, are you using an analog connection to the
A1916W?

Thanks for responding. If there's something else you think I should
try, please do reply.

A card from this century is a good start.

Seriously... you can get old GF3 cards that will include a DVI out for
like $10 on eBay. It will have far better video quality than that old
TNT2 with higher speed RAMDACs on the analog side (or DVI, even better).
It will also properly support higher resolutions and widescreen resolutions.

Venger

First a clarification. I am indeed using the latest driver for the
"monitor" from the Acer website. I thought I did mention this before,
but maybe it slipped my mind.

I thought about changing my card as well. Obviously I'm looking to
upgrade to at least 64MB and DVI since I have analog and 32MB now. If
I do get it for $10 on eBay, I'll buy it. But I really didn't see
anything less than $25.

Finally, I have one more question. What about the Video BIOS? Mine is
quite stale. Should I try updating that?

Thanks much.

'Prototype Wannabe' wrote:
| First a clarification. I am indeed using the latest driver for the
| "monitor" from the Acer website. I thought I did mention this before,
| but maybe it slipped my mind.
|
| I thought about changing my card as well. Obviously I'm looking to
| upgrade to at least 64MB and DVI since I have analog and 32MB now. If
| I do get it for $10 on eBay, I'll buy it. But I really didn't see
| anything less than $25.
|
| Finally, I have one more question. What about the Video BIOS? Mine is
| quite stale. Should I try updating that?
_____

Yes, you really did mention the monitor 'driver'. However, the problem you
present suggests that the video adapter is not 'getting' the necessary
information about the monitor capabilities. This could very well be a
limitation of your obsolete display adapter, an adapter that came out when
there was little chance it would ever be used with an LCD monitor. As for
updating the video BIOS, it is likely there have been no updates for many
years. After all, the TNT2 64 is a 64-bit bus version of the 1999 128-bit
bus TNT2. For more information try the nVidia web site.

Phil Weldon

"PrototypeWannabe" wrote in message
...
| First a clarification. I am indeed using the latest driver for the
| "monitor" from the Acer website. I thought I did mention this before,
| but maybe it slipped my mind.
|
| I thought about changing my card as well. Obviously I'm looking to
| upgrade to at least 64MB and DVI since I have analog and 32MB now. If
| I do get it for $10 on eBay, I'll buy it. But I really didn't see
| anything less than $25.
|
| Finally, I have one more question. What about the Video BIOS? Mine is
| quite stale. Should I try updating that?
|
| Thanks much.

"PrototypeWannabe" wrote in message
...
Given the old age of the card, are you using an analog connection to the
A1916W?

Yes, unfortunately I am :-(. Is there a good chance that's my problem.

Usually an analog connection gives you *more* freedom with adjustments. A
digital DVI connection would not permit geometry adjustments at all, because
it assumes geometry will be perfect.

Monitor settings using buttons on my monitor. I'm not sure my video
card comes with control panel. Or is there some general purpose
control panel software available from Nvidia?

If you installed drivers from nVidia's web site, there should be some sort
of nVidia-branded control panel under Display Properties - Settings -
Advanced. One of the tabs will then let you do screen position adjustments.

Another thing to toggle is to try alternate monitor timing methods, also
located in the nVidia control panels. Apparently older cards may have some
issues with the "sync width" of newer LCDs, requiring a non-default timing
method. See this page for the how-to:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/advanced_timings.html

Don't even bother trying to flash the card's BIOS.


--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

All right I guess the only option I have left is to buy a new video
card.

So now I need to make sure whatever I buy will do the trick with my
Acer A1916W. Can anyone who has this monitor tell me what 64MB or
128MB Video card they have? That way I can make sure I don't waste my
money. The exact brand and model number would be super. And yeah, if
your motherboard is AGP 4x, that's would make it braindead.

Thanks in advance.