Resolving Resolutions

Hello,
I quite recently had to rebuild both my PCs, the builds went quite smoothly, both are working just fine. M/Bs are ASRock 939 dual-sata 2, AMD Athlon 3200, Win XP home,1 gig of memory.

Both are basically the same spec' both are non-gamers but the one I write about now has a new budget PCI express card, ( a Radeon x 300 SE/ model GV-RX30HM128D) complete with it's ATI drivers CD, I had to fit the included DVI to D-sub adapter and couple that to an existing TFT moniter.
My reason for choosing a new PCI card over an AGP was simply because the shop where all the above came from was prepared to do a deal, £20 odd quid that's all, I thought what the hell.

My monitor is an 17in AOC LM720a

Before and after the rebuilds I never had a problem with the monitor but since fitting the PCI I have been unhappy with the resolution which is 800x600, colour 32bit, before the rebuild and with the AGP card fitted resolution was at 1024x768--I think.

The 800x600 is the only resolution that gives me a decent desktop and icon size, if I set it to something else the desktop and icons shrink, maybe it's me, I'm really not sure but this resolution makes the desk top icons seems a little blurred.

Last week the monitor developed a fault, ( it kept flashing on and off ), and I'm wondering if the fault might have been caused by the above 800x600 resolution, ( although' I had no choice in this), or am I being daft?

AOC are replacing the monitor under their warranty, in fact as I write they're delivering it now, ( not bad customer service, not bad at all). I am writing this on an old CRT monitor.

But is this 800x600 resolution OK.

Other things have been upset a bit, when on a web page it no longer fits the screen, I have to scroll from left to right to read it, even DAL pages, it's annoying---Grrr.

I didn't often print web pages but when I do the page won't fit, there's a way of resolving this in IE6 but I can't remember how.

Lastly, I mainly use Lotus Word Pro as my WP and I'm now what, three/ four printers down the road, it didn't always be this way but can some one suggest how I stop the last page from printing first on a permanant basis.
Thanks
Johanus

Hi Johanus,

You are right - a 17" TFT shouldn't be running at 800x600 pixels. A 17" CRT monitor will usually run at 1024x768 but a TFT monitor of the same size will usually default to 1280x1024. Because TFT monitors are only designed to run at one optimal resolution (known as the "native" resolution), any other display settings will usually make everything appear blurred as you have found. If you have installed the correct drivers for the video card from the installation CD and have checked it in Device Manager to ensure that there are no issues or conflicts, could you also confirm that you have installed the latest drivers for the monitor? Usually you can run a monitor under Windows' default "Plug and Play monitor" drivers but, if you're having problems, it's best to use the drivers that the manufacturer specifically wrote for that model.

With regards to the printing problem, right-click the printer in Control Panel and select Printing Preferences. Many printers have a default option to reverse the print order, i.e. to print the last page first and the first page last. If this is checked, uncheck it and save those new default settings. You should find that everything after that prints in the order that you want. If the printer is already set to print from page 1 onwards in front to back order, then maybe WordPro has a similar setting in its Options screens?

Let us know how you get on

__________________
DJNafey
http://www.FutureSystems-Sussex.Co.UK
Future Systems (Sussex) - IT services to homes and small businesses

D-A-L Online Hardware Scan

Hello DJNafey,

Thankyou for your response,

First of all AOC delivered the replacement moniter yesterday and I pluged it in today and it's brilliant--------------------no I mean it's brilliant-----------that's all that's coming out of it, a brilliant white light--Grrrrrrr.

So back on the blower to them, so sorry and all that came from them--- actually to be fair to her she was quite sweet, said she'd try her best to source me a brand new one, we shall see.

So at the moment I have my old faifthfull Belinea 103020 CRT installed which is running at 800x600.

I can confirm I already had the latest moniter, ( AOC), and graphic drivers installed so no go there.

I thought I'll update the drivers, for the Belinea, managed to find some to, ( as it's 4/5 years old), but I can still only run this Belinea under the above res' it then gives me a decent desktop.

I uninstalled the software for the PCI card,( just to be rid of any posible conflicts), I'll reinstall when I get the new TFT but I'm having the same problem , why can't I run the Belinea under a 1024x768 res' without everything shrinking, the moniter is reconised.

I don't want to get to hung up about this as it's the TFT I want to install but it's the same problem.

I spoke to Gigabyte UK the makers of my PCI card, I'm sure the guy was trying to be helpfull, I'll never know----he didn't speak English at all well.

I've played around with the Belinea moniter settings, without much joy, I'm at a loss.

Thanks for the printing tip-------sorted, long last.
Johanus

Ah, I hadn't realised that your CRT monitor is a Belinea. In that case, you might have to ignore what I said as many 17" Belinea monitors that you'd expect to run at 1024x768 are actually only capable of 800x600 !

Let's see how things are when you get the replacement replacement AOC TFT.

__________________
DJNafey
http://www.FutureSystems-Sussex.Co.UK
Future Systems (Sussex) - IT services to homes and small businesses

D-A-L Online Hardware Scan

Thanks DJ,

I'll see how I get along
Johanus