Help with LG flatpanel!

[Spirit]

Hi there! I hope someone can help with a weird problem that I just can't solve. It's Vista related you'll be unsurprised to hear!

Basically this is a laptop with ATI 2600 graphics, connecting to an LG 204WT monitor (1680 x 1050 max) through an HDMI connection. The monitor has a DVI input, so using an hdmi adaptor it is connected to to the laptops hdmi output. I have the LG monitor file installed from the LG website and it is correctly identified.

I've tried installing the drivers both with and without the Catalyst Control Centre (CCC).

The laptop screen is fine and works at the correct resolution, but when I connect the LG (or boot with it connected) it believes that 1280 x 1024 is the highest possible resolution and will not go higher. There is a check box in the Advanced settings in Display saying "Hide modes this monitor cannot display" but it is greyed out.

I dual boot XP to play a few non-Vista games (Istaria included), using the equivalent XP drivers with CCC installed, and the monitor immediately uses its optimal 1680 x 1050 resolution with no fiddling. CCC in XP reports the monitor max resolution correctly, whereas Vista says the max is 1280 x 1024 with no options to force it higher.

In the room there is also a 1080p tv, and when that is connected to the hdmi output Vista AND Xp both use the correct resolution. ((no it isn't nice to play Horizons lol))

I had this problem when I first connected this monitor to the laptop with hdmi and Vista, but one freaky day it just *worked* when I connected it one day. Now I've updated the drivers (I had to in order to play Bioshock without glitches) the same problem is back and it seems to be here to stay.

I'd use the vga connector on the panel, but it looks *really* nasty with noise in the dark areas. Should Istaria become Vista compatible I'd like to play without it looking squashed and weird lol.

Anyone had a problem like this, or knows of anything to try? I'm convinced it's probably something to do with hdmi content protection blocking something since it can't see everything (maybe) through the DVI on the monitor?? I have, and use, an hd-dvd (yes I know they're dead ) drive with Cyberlink PowerDVD. Also installed is Toshibas own HD-DVD playing software. XP has just PowerDVD installed. Remember it *did* work, by some random event, with older drivers... bl00dy Vista.

Many thanks;

Rakku

[Firestem4]

Im not certain what is wrong, but I can tell you something obvious. Regardless of what device you connect to, the maximum supported resolution is always defined by your graphics card. So I would start looking at that first.

[Spirit]

Im not certain what is wrong, but I can tell you something obvious. Regardless of what device you connect to, the maximum supported resolution is always defined by your graphics card. So I would start looking at that first.

Hey thank you for your reply! You're right it's definitely a f*** up with the talking between the graphics card and the monitor. I can only assume some setting has changed on the Vista drivers. What annoys me is that it'll work just fine through the vga connection, but the picture is horrible. The graphics board is an ATI 2600HD on a laptop, and it has worked at the correct resolution on Vista before ... but then new drivers were installed and it all went wrong. Even reverting to the old ones does no good now. I *think* the graphics card max resolution is 2048 x 1536, although in practice neither display I have will reach that.

I might try reconnecting an old vga monitor to see what happens.

Rakku

[Steelclaw]

The monitor is identified via the DDC signal pins. The HDMI, DVI and DE-15 connectors have pins for those signals. So, now the question is, is your computer able to query the monitor?

I've never had to install "drivers" for a monitor. The graphics card should query the monitor and get its capabilities without the need for a special monitor driver or definition. Start by removing the monitor drivers.

If, after removing the monitor drivers, the display shows up as "Generic Display", for one reason or another, windows isn't able to get the DDC info from the monitor, meaning either the cable or adaptor is missing the DDC pins, theres sproadic contact, or the driver isn't getting that data.

I get a 1280x1024 max resolution if Windows starts up if my KVM isn't on the Windows PC's channel, presumably since the DDC lines aren't hooked up. It's also worth noting that 1680x1050 looks fine on DE-15 if the monitor's sync settings are properly adjusted (look for an 'auto adjust' function, show something with lots of hard black-and-white contrast, and use it).

[Firestem4]

Aye. I know what you are saying.My HP Pavillion laptop has a Geforce 8600M[obile] GS (HP version, instead of the GT). Max resolution is 1440x900 even though the 8600M can support much higher resolutions. It should be able to support 1650x(whatever theother number was) But it doesn't. A lot of that has to do with secondhand graphic cards. While many companies make good graphics card. Many other companies make cheaper versions only utilizing the GPU-Cores. Which is one factor in the overall quality of a good graphics card.

[Spirit]

Aye. I know what you are saying.My HP Pavillion laptop has a Geforce 8600M[obile] GS (HP version, instead of the GT). Max resolution is 1440x900 even though the 8600M can support much higher resolutions. It should be able to support 1650x(whatever theother number was) But it doesn't. A lot of that has to do with secondhand graphic cards. While many companies make good graphics card. Many other companies make cheaper versions only utilizing the GPU-Cores. Which is one factor in the overall quality of a good graphics card.

Awesome thanks for the replies both of you.

That's a pretty low tactic from HP I'm surprised. Incidentally my old laptop was HP and worked fine up to 1920 x 1536 (ish) on an old vga monitor I had, albeit that was with a vga plug. Perhaps it would look better with a higher quality vga cable, but with the current one it looks nasty. It's not something image settings can correct since this is base interference. More critically I have to use dvi/hdmi to play high def movies through my monitor ... the software will not play otherwise.

And remember I have no such problems on XP. It's just Vista causing this problem, and I can totally believe that some kind of driver 'feature' somewhere is disrupting normal DDC functions. I'll try removing the drivers as you say, and see what defaults happen.

Rakku

[Spirit]

A little update regarding this...

Well after much fighting with the laptop I decided that I really should be gaming on a proper 'box' pc. I'm using the same lead, but whereas before I was using hdmi -> dvi using a dvi converter at the monitor end ... I'm now using dvi converters at both ends. It works fine at the correct resolutions with no problems whatsoever in Xp/Vista and even with bluray stuff (so the copyright protection is working).

The drivers are more up to date on the new box, but there are no newer ones available on the laptop (omegas included). It could be something to do with hdmi, since the laptop output is an hdmi socket whereas the box is dvi ... but more likely I point the finger at drivers still.

Anyway as soon as practical the laptop is getting a much needed Vista reinstall (xp is still fine).

Rakku