screen display not changing

[RT]

Help please for an older novice using a Pentium 100 with 16Mb Ram.I can move the screen area size button into 800x600 from either 640x480 or 1024x768 but on selecting 'apply' the sceen display leaves the previous resolution as normal but cannot go into the new setting. It does not always default to the previous setting after time out. When this happens, I have to reboot in 'safe mode' to reset the screen area size to 640x480. It has in the past been working OK.

Thanks in anticipation.
RT

[Paleo Pete]

Boot into Safe MOde and go to Start\Settings\Control Panel\System and open Device MAnager, remove ALL display adatpers listed, reboot and Windows will find and reinstall the video card. If you have the latest dirvers for the card, you might have to reinstall them. Then your vidoe settings should behaver.

I gotta quit listening to Kenny Wayne Shepherd while I try to typew... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif




------------------
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[RT]

Thank you for the reply.I have done what you say, except that I do not have the latest drivers for the card. However, the problem still exists. After doing some 'homework' during the past week I can provide some further information. When 'Apply' is clicked for 800x600, the resolution can be made out behind the horizontally flashing lines to have changed to this setting but the image is replicated horizontally many times, as is the mouse pointer which can be moved around. The display adapter driver information identifies it as a Cirrus Logic CL-GD5434 Rev0. I have tried WinDrivers and Winfiles without success. It's sounding like the end of the road for 800x600 or is there something simple that has been overlooked?
What do you think?

RT

[mjc]

Try changing the refresh rate to default or 60hz before changing the resolution. Also try going down a notch in color depth.

------------------
mjc
To ME or NOT to ME....

[RT]

Thank you mjc for the reply. I have two refresh rate options ie.adaptor default and optimal (what ever that means!) and have tried both. As for the colour depth only 8-bit can be chosen for the 800x600 resolution, whereas 4-bit and 8-bit can be selected for 640x480. Still no joy. Can it be a fault with the monitor?

RT

[mjc]

Probably not a monitor problem, but possibly a video card problem.

You said it had worked in the past have you added or deleted anything since it last worked properly?

What kind of video card does it have and how much memory is on the video card?



------------------
mjc
To ME or NOT to ME....

[RT]

mjc, I can see from your reply that you are taking a serious interest in my problem - thank you.
I hope to be able to borrow a monitor from work this comng week so this should enable me to eliminate one or the other.
The answer to your next question is a little more complex as a lot of water has flowed under the bridge these last few weeks and I can't recall exactly the sequence of events (I know, fundermental clanger!) but then I wasn't expecting a problem.
The only hardware that I have added since purchase is a printer but that was installed without any difficulty and works OK.
As to the software, a simple game or two has been added (my initial query says that I'm not using 'state of the art' technology) but I have had trouble with uninstalling a McAfee anti-virus program which I had installed myself - I will not go into why I had to uninstall it, it's a long story. It wouldn't completely uninstall 'automatically' so I had to manually delete files from a list that was provided by McAfee and I'm not happy with how it went although it is now deleted. If you think that this could be significant, then I may be able to provide more information.
I may not have made it clear in the past, but I can also get the 1024x768 resolution. To begin with, I always changed the resolution (when I needed to get all of the web page on the screen), via My computer/Control panel/Display/Display properties/Settings then I came across, in a book, a quicker way, namely to put the display icon on the tray (by the clock) and to right click. This brings up a box which includes the three resolutions at 256 colours. This allows me with just two clicks to change between 640x480 and 1024x768 and back again. If I click on 800x600, then the monitor display has flashing horizontal lines and doesn't time out or go back to it's original setting as it does if I try to change the
resolution via the 'long route'.
Are you still with me!!
As to the video card, is this the information that you were asking for?
From the Adapter display window I get: Cirrus Logic 5434PCI; Chip type CL-GD5434 Rev0; Memory 1MB.

If you have got this far, I look forward to hearing from you.

RT

[mjc]

What you describe is pretty much the classic way that your monitor tells you it doesn't like a particular refresh rate. Try setting the refresh rate to Adapter Default which for most video cards is about 60Hz if you have a manual for your monitor it should tell you what refresh rates you monitor will support.

Also what version of Windows are you using?

------------------
mjc
To ME or NOT to ME....

[This message has been edited by mjc (edited 03-04-2001).]

[RT]

Good evening mjc. Thank you for the quick reply.
The monitor is an Amstrad SVGA but I have no manual.The refresh rate is on Adaptor default. I'm using Windows 98SE.
It was suggested to me several weeks ago that maybe the frequency had become changed in the BIOS. I've been into this but have not found anything which relates to frequency. Are we getting closer?

Good night.
RT

[mjc]

Well let's see have you tried to reset the monitor type to standard SuperVGA 800x 600. To change it you go to the little icon in the corner and click it then go to the advanced setting select monitor and then select change. Follow the instructions on the screen when it asks for specific or display all select display all then show all hardware. Scroll up to standard monitor types go to the right and scroll through the list and select Super VGA 800 x 600.

If you are using a complete Amstrad computer here is a site that may help:Unoffical Amstrad (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm)

------------------
mjc
To ME or NOT to ME....

[tjaymadison]

Did I see that right? 1MB video memory? Assume this is a shared-memory setup, so the next question is how much system memory (RAM)? If the higher resolutions worked in the past, you may be running some things now that weren't running before. Try Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information, click Tools, click System Configuration Utility, click the Startup tab, and then scroll down thru the list, noting how many boxes are checked. All the checked items are running every time you start up. You can usually un-check everything except Systray and Explorer. Any changes you make can always be changed back. After you restart, don't do anything before you try playing around with your video settings again. If this now works, then you have to decide which of those startup programs you can live without. Good luck!

[RT]

Welcome tjaymadison to my'Resolution Club'!
A result of sorts!
mjc suggested that that I visit Unofficial Amstrad (although it is only my 14" monitor that is Amstrad) and that I've done, which was interesting.
It confirmed mjc's thought that the display type be set to standard monitor types for SVGA 800x600. Well, this didn't get me anywhere but I left it at this setting.
tjaymadison, I have followed your instructions and nervously unchecked all that you said, but leaving Systray (Explorer wasn't there). I really was now into uncharted waters but my hopes were high. However this didn't resolve the problem either and I've rechecked all the boxes.
I have been able to borrow another monitor of similar age and type (Samtron) and without changing any of the previous settings ie. standard monitor type and SVGA 800x600 (refresh rate being adaptor default), I was able to have both 800x600 and 640x480 resolutions. However unlikely, it appears to have been a monitor problem! As I had to take the borrowed monitor back to work, I'm back with my Amstrad and blow me down,it now gives me the two resolutions as the borrowed monitor without me having to change any of the settings. I'm at this moment set at standard monitor types with SVGA 1024x768 and I can have once again all the three resolutions ie. 640x480; 800x600 and 1024x768 at adaptor default refresh rate(phew-what a relief!).
Success, but why? Was it at the connection into the desktop? Who knows- these computers have a mind of there own! In the end, it was to be!

Anyway, thank you mjc, tjaymadison and paleo pete for your time and
interest shown in my problem.

RT

[Paleo Pete]

I've stayed out of this one since mjc was doing so well, and I couldn't do much other then repeat what he had already posted.

I suppose this could have been caused by a bad connection, but it's usually exactly what mjc said, the monitor telling you it doesn't like the refresh rate. I looked around and I don't have the driver for your video card, I have the one for a 54M40 chip. Keep looking for a driver, Cirrus Logic makes the chip, not the card, and the drivers are not easy to find. Once you do find it, you should be able to use higher resolutions. My 5440 has been in this machine, and I had 800x600 at 32 bit true color available. With the same 1MB memory...I'll have to look around a bit, haven't had a chance yet, maybe I can dig up where I found the site...

------------------
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Paleo Pete]

OK, guess I should have done a bit of research before my previous post. Everything I can find indicates drivers for that card were included with win95, and that's all you get. I've found at least a dozen sites with drivers for win3.x, NT 3.5 and OS-2. Nothing for win95 or 98 at all. Found a couple spec sheets that said it supports up to 256 colors in all modes.

Looks like the win95 drivers are all you get. I would suggest you consider a few bucks for a better video card. If you have a PCI slot available, CSO (http://www.computersurplusoutlet.com) and Pricewatch (http://www.pricewatch.com) are about the best places I know of to find good prices, and a decent PCI card shouldn't cost more than about $30 or so, shipping and all.

Just checked CSO myself, to see, and they have the S3 Trio 2MB card posted for $14.99, and a Matrox Millenium 2MB for $19.99. With shipping both would be $30 or under. I think shipping is usually about $8 for an item that light. Either of those cards would be a great improvement over the Cirrus Logic you have. Both should give you 800x600 at 32 bit and possibly higher resolution at 16 bit.

I like Cirrus Logic chips pretty well, my 5440 has done an excellent job for 6 years, but yours is an earlier chip that was not very well supported after win3.x. It was apparently already obsolete when win95 was released, so drivers were not written for it, just the basic one included in win95.

------------------
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

[Randy_tx]

PETE .........shipping might be a tad higher to the UK http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT