Native resolution

I have a Gateway FPD2185W 21" widescreen with a native resolution of 1680
X1050, hooked up to a 6800GT via VGA. It now seems that if I select a
resolution lower than this it shifts the display about 4 inches to the
right, with the right hand 4 inches not visible. The problem with this is
if I start a game that does not support the native resolution, the same
thing happens to the game. It just started doing this today, out of the
blue. I have reinstalled my drivers (84.21 Forceware) and done some
exploring on Google to no avail. Any ideas?

Rod

"Rod" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway FPD2185W 21" widescreen with a native resolution of 1680
X1050, hooked up to a 6800GT via VGA. It now seems that if I select a
resolution lower than this it shifts the display about 4 inches to the
right, with the right hand 4 inches not visible. The problem with this is
if I start a game that does not support the native resolution, the same
thing happens to the game. It just started doing this today, out of the
blue. I have reinstalled my drivers (84.21 Forceware) and done some
exploring on Google to no avail. Any ideas?

Rod


another reason i *hate* LCD

* Rod:

I have a Gateway FPD2185W 21" widescreen with a native resolution of 1680
X1050, hooked up to a 6800GT via VGA. It now seems that if I select a
resolution lower than this it shifts the display about 4 inches to the
right, with the right hand 4 inches not visible. The problem with this is
if I start a game that does not support the native resolution, the same
thing happens to the game. It just started doing this today, out of the
blue. I have reinstalled my drivers (84.21 Forceware) and done some
exploring on Google to no avail. Any ideas?

Sure. Connecting a LCD via VGA (analog) is the worst idea. The gfx card
has to convert the digital signal into an analog signal, and the monitor
has to convert the analog signal back to digital. This doesn't only
affect image quality, it also leads to the effect that the LCD has to
synchronize with a bunch of different horizontal frequencies. Especially
with cheaper LCDs the synchronization sometimes can fail, resulting in a
shifted image.

Now it's time to do what you're supposed to do when you bought your
monitor: RTFM. Your monitor should have a button that lets you initiate
the synchronization process. Press it, and the picture should get
cenetered. If that fails, use the manual controls of your monitor to
correct the shifting. If the monitor is a somewhat better model it will
memorize the settings so you only have to do that once.

The best thing would be to use a DVI connection - better image quality
and no such side effects.

Benjamin

OK, I'm making no assumptions on how you're connecting or why, that's
your issue and you do what you do for your own reasons. As this only
started recently, double check your connections (bent pins or cables?)
just in case it's something simple.

The issue seems to be that many programs and games don't support
widescreen format resolutions and only support older standard
resolutions, e.g. 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 etc and not 1280x800 or
1680x1050.

Even connecting with a DVI cable you'd still have a problem because
although you'd get better image quality image scaling / centering would
still be required.

I did have a quick glance on Gateway's website, but I don't know what
hardware scaling your monitor is capable of - it does however say the
monitor can autosense so as the other poster says, RTFM - there should
be something about this in the manual.

You should be able to click the autosense feature on and it should
detect the incoming resolution and adjust / centre accordingly, or as
stated below, save a few settings in memory automatically.

May be worth checking out game websites for patch updates or workarounds
(config file edits?) to support the widescreen resolutions in what you
want. Also check the refresh rates in the control panel. Your monitor
may have saved the settings for say, 1024x768 @ 75 hz, but not at 60Hz
which your driver may have defaulted to when you reinstalled it - may be
worth checking those settings.

Good luck,

Neil.

In message , Benjamin Gawert
writes
* Rod:

I have a Gateway FPD2185W 21" widescreen with a native resolution of
1680 X1050, hooked up to a 6800GT via VGA. It now seems that if I
select a resolution lower than this it shifts the display about 4
inches to the right, with the right hand 4 inches not visible. The
problem with this is if I start a game that does not support the
native resolution, the same thing happens to the game. It just
started doing this today, out of the blue. I have reinstalled my
drivers (84.21 Forceware) and done some exploring on Google to no avail. Any ideas?

Sure. Connecting a LCD via VGA (analog) is the worst idea. The gfx card
has to convert the digital signal into an analog signal, and the
monitor has to convert the analog signal back to digital. This doesn't
only affect image quality, it also leads to the effect that the LCD has
to synchronize with a bunch of different horizontal frequencies.
Especially with cheaper LCDs the synchronization sometimes can fail,
resulting in a shifted image.

Now it's time to do what you're supposed to do when you bought your
monitor: RTFM. Your monitor should have a button that lets you initiate
the synchronization process. Press it, and the picture should get
cenetered. If that fails, use the manual controls of your monitor to
correct the shifting. If the monitor is a somewhat better model it will
memorize the settings so you only have to do that once.

The best thing would be to use a DVI connection - better image quality
and no such side effects.

Benjamin

--
Neil J Bundy

Benjamin Gawert writes:

The best thing would be to use a DVI connection - better image quality
and no such side effects.

There is no detectible difference in image quality in most cases.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Neil J Bundy" wrote in message
...
OK, I'm making no assumptions on how you're connecting or why, that's your
issue and you do what you do for your own reasons. As this only started
recently, double check your connections (bent pins or cables?) just in
case it's something simple.

The issue seems to be that many programs and games don't support
widescreen format resolutions and only support older standard resolutions,
e.g. 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 etc and not 1280x800 or 1680x1050.

Even connecting with a DVI cable you'd still have a problem because
although you'd get better image quality image scaling / centering would
still be required.

I did have a quick glance on Gateway's website, but I don't know what
hardware scaling your monitor is capable of - it does however say the
monitor can autosense so as the other poster says, RTFM - there should be
something about this in the manual.

You should be able to click the autosense feature on and it should detect
the incoming resolution and adjust / centre accordingly, or as stated
below, save a few settings in memory automatically.

May be worth checking out game websites for patch updates or workarounds
(config file edits?) to support the widescreen resolutions in what you
want. Also check the refresh rates in the control panel. Your monitor may
have saved the settings for say, 1024x768 @ 75 hz, but not at 60Hz which
your driver may have defaulted to when you reinstalled it - may be worth
checking those settings.

I'd like to thank all who replied. I downloaded the manual from gateway's
website and discovered the "reset" button. Boy do I feel like a n00b.

* Neil J Bundy:

OK, I'm making no assumptions on how you're connecting or why, that's
your issue and you do what you do for your own reasons. As this only
started recently, double check your connections (bent pins or cables?)
just in case it's something simple.

The issue seems to be that many programs and games don't support
widescreen format resolutions and only support older standard
resolutions, e.g. 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 etc and not 1280x800 or
1680x1050.

That's at least partially nonsense. Most (if not all) Windows
applications always run with the resolution Windows is set up for. If
Windows is set to a widescreen resolution then Windows programs also run
with widescreen resolution.

As to games, most newer games do support widescreen ootb. Other games
can be tweaked. For those that don't run in widescreen resolution the
image will be either stretched to fit the widescreen or it will display
with black bars on the side.

Even connecting with a DVI cable you'd still have a problem because
although you'd get better image quality image scaling / centering would
still be required.

That's utterly BS. With DVI the image is always centered...

Benjamin

* Mxsmanic:

The best thing would be to use a DVI connection - better image quality
and no such side effects.

There is no detectible difference in image quality in most cases.

What are "most cases" for you? If you speak of 15" TFTs running at
1024x768 then you're right, in most cases you don't see much difference
(but that doesn't mean you see nothing at all). For bigger screens like
the 17" TFTs that are standard today there usually is a really
noticeable difference, except maybe for people like Stevie Wonder. The
difference also increases with displays getting bigger...

Benjamin

"Benjamin Gawert" wrote in message
...
* Mxsmanic:

The best thing would be to use a DVI connection - better image quality
and no such side effects.

There is no detectible difference in image quality in most cases.

What are "most cases" for you? If you speak of 15" TFTs running at
1024x768 then you're right, in most cases you don't see much difference
(but that doesn't mean you see nothing at all). For bigger screens like
the 17" TFTs that are standard today there usually is a really noticeable
difference, except maybe for people like Stevie Wonder. The difference
also increases with displays getting bigger...

Benjamin

Depends on the display. Samsung, for example, does an outstanding job with
VGA. On my 21" 213T, there was NO difference. Even on my 1920x1080p 37",
the difference is really, really small.

Tom

Check out www.widescreengamingforums.com for hints, tricks, and guidance on
what games support wide screen resolutions, and to what degree.

Clint

"Benjamin Gawert" wrote in message
...
* Neil J Bundy:

OK, I'm making no assumptions on how you're connecting or why, that's
your issue and you do what you do for your own reasons. As this only
started recently, double check your connections (bent pins or cables?)
just in case it's something simple.

The issue seems to be that many programs and games don't support
widescreen format resolutions and only support older standard
resolutions, e.g. 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 etc and not 1280x800 or
1680x1050.

That's at least partially nonsense. Most (if not all) Windows applications
always run with the resolution Windows is set up for. If Windows is set to
a widescreen resolution then Windows programs also run with widescreen
resolution.

As to games, most newer games do support widescreen ootb. Other games can
be tweaked. For those that don't run in widescreen resolution the image
will be either stretched to fit the widescreen or it will display with
black bars on the side.

Even connecting with a DVI cable you'd still have a problem because
although you'd get better image quality image scaling / centering would
still be required.

That's utterly BS. With DVI the image is always centered...

Benjamin