LCD Monitor Problems

[Brasseaux]

I had to recently reformat, and after re-installing my drivers for my Motherboard and Video Card, my picture will not clear completely. All the fonts and icons are soft and hazy. Video games work fine and are crystal clear. I have a Samsung Sync Master 171v 17" Flat Panel. Any Suggestions?

 

[Brasseaux]

Noticed this new problem also: When I click on Display Properties, and then Settings, it is showing me two Monitors to set. I only have one, never ran dual monitors. Could this be the problem?

 

[Ken90630]

If you're running Windows XP (you didn't mention your OS), did you remember to enable the ClearType feature after you re-formatted? It's off by default with XP (you have to manually turn it on). You won't see a significant difference with graphics, but you will with text when using XP and a digital display. (Are you running digital or analog video on your monitor? And what vid card do you have?)

Your prob could be caused by a number of different things, but that's the first place to start as it often fixes this very problem.

Ken

:moon:

 

[Brasseaux]

Thanks for the reply!
I believe I figured it out (almost, some text are still a tad blurry). My OS is XP, and I have clicked the Clear Type feature. I have a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800/380Mhz VC. But when I re-installed the driver following the format, I believe I accidently installed some extra software on the CD (HydraVision) for dual monitors, and it messed up my display settings. Anyway, I uninstalled everything save for the VC driver, and it is 90% better. But there still is some glare left....

could it be needing maybe a tweek on the resolution hertz?

Oh, I forgot. I'm running analog video. My max res is 85htz, and I am currently running it at 60hz.

 

[Ken90630]

But when I re-installed the driver following the format, I believe I accidently installed some extra software on the CD (HydraVision) for dual monitors, and it messed up my display settings.

Yeah, that prolly didn't help! :laugh:

could it be needing maybe a tweek on the resolution hertz?

Oh, I forgot. I'm running analog video. My max res is 85htz, and I am currently running it at 60hz.

Yeah, that could be it. I fixed a friend's computer for him a month or so ago, and after I reformatted and loaded the vid drivers & stuff, his refresh rate defaulted to 60Hz and things looked terrible. Not only were things fuzzy, but the screen was visibly 'wavy.' The waviness was a tipoff to look at refresh rate, so I simply checked it and upped it to 75Hz and everything was fixed. The difference was like night & day. I don't know many monitors that look good at anything less than 75Hz these days (your screen resolution setting comes into play here too, but since you're using an LCD, I'll assume you're using the monitor's native resolution).

I bet if you up the refresh rate to 75Hz or higher, the prob will go away. Having said that, there are other potential causes for this sort of thing, so I know better than to offer an iron-clad guarantee. But I'd try that first.

Ken

 

[Brasseaux]

I un-installed all my video card drivers and software, leaving only the single one for the video card and everthing seemed to go back to normal. I came home today, and the top of my monitor, and the right side (about an inch) were all messed up, severly blurred and stretched.

I have that fixed now, and everything is clear. BUT, I can only use one setting 1280 by 1024. This setting is much too small. If I try to change it to anything else, it blurs. My max refresh rate is 85hz, but I can only run at 60hz...anything else causes it to blur, moving up or down.

The wierdest thing is that when I open Display Properties, and then on the setting tab...the picture it is still giving me a picture of Dual Monitors (1 & 2)...there is also a drop box under display, and the options read as follows:

1) Syncmaster 171/S - Primary (this is the one it is set to)
2) (Default Monitor) on RADEON 9800 PRO - Secondary

???????????????????? How do I shake this dual monitor stuff....I can't find any options (that work) to make it do anything but that.

I have never had a problem with this Monitor. It's a plug and play, and that is all I have simply done with it. It has been hooked up to other PC's with no problem.

 

[Ken90630]

Hmmm ... okay, let's back up a bit. You mentioned in your first post that you had to reformat. Do you mind if I ask why? What happened with the computer that caused you to have to reformat? Did you replace any hardware, like a PSU or anything? Any virus or spyware infections that you know of? "Processes" tab on Task Manager look okay?

And have you tried the obvious things like unplugging the computer and then re-seating your vid card, checking connections, that sort of stuff?

And have you tried the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard? Do 2 monitors show up there, and if so, can you remove one that way? And can I assume you've re-booted recently?

Lastly, if it comes to it, do you have another computer you can use to swap parts with to rule certain pieces of hardware out as the culprit (PSU, vid card, etc.)? Can you remove the vid card and try your mobo's onboard video (assuming it has it) to see what happens? Your symptoms point to a vid card or PSU issue, but as I said earlier, there are a number of things that can cause video anomalies. The fact that you've tried certain things along the way and they work temporarily, then things go bizarre on you again a short time later, kinda points to a hardware problem. What PSU do you have, and how old is it?

I've had a long day and am planning on turning in early tonite, but I'll wait a few minutes for your reply. If you don't see this in time, you'll have to hope one of the other guys here can help you (and they probably can).

Ken

 

[Brasseaux]

Thanks again for the reply.

ok, I had to reformat because of a virus. Not a particular bad one, it was the Bloodhound and Trojan.Downloader, Browser Hi-Jack...same old story. I formatted mainly because it was the second time I was hit in a few weeks and I just wanted to clean it up. It had been almost a year and half since I first built the pc and put XP on it. I had no hardware issues before the format, and I game everyday for a few hours at least.

now, I did all the obvious things, save for re-seating the card. I did get my Display Properties to stop showing two monitors by disabling the second display adapter named "Radeon 9800 Pro (Secondary)" in the device manager. I still have one display adapter working called simply "Radeon 9800 Pro" in my device manager. I don't ever remember having two display adapters before.

Then I updated my Motherboard.

Do you think this would work?
Totally uninstalling my Video Card and then taking it out. Then reboot without it and see what my display does. Then shut it down, put the video card back in, and let the harware manager install it?

And yes, I do have another PC with another Samsung LCD screen. I won't have time to switch out tonight, but plan on tinkering tomorrow evening.

Another note: All my games work fine, I played an online Madden 2k5 game tonight with all the settings jacked up. No problems whatsoever, and the game was clear as a bell.

Thanks a bunch for you time. It is appreciated.

 

[Ken90630]

Thanks again for the reply.

No prob.

ok, I had to reformat because of a virus. Not a particular bad one, it was the Bloodhound and Trojan.Downloader, Browser Hi-Jack...same old story. I formatted mainly because it was the second time I was hit in a few weeks and I just wanted to clean it up. It had been almost a year and half since I first built the pc and put XP on it. I had no hardware issues before the format, and I game everyday for a few hours at least.

I figured that's what you were gonna say, but I wanted it confirmed by you. You did the right thing by reformatting. Chasing and cleaning up infections nowadays often takes longer than just reformatting, and doesn't always work anyway, so I think it's best to just reformat in many instances. If you have valuable files you can't back up, that's sometimes another story, but I digress .... Since reformatting, what firewall, a-v and anti-spyware programs are you running now?

now, I did all the obvious things, save for re-seating the card. I did get my Display Properties to stop showing two monitors by disabling the second display adapter named "Radeon 9800 Pro (Secondary)" in the device manager. I still have one display adapter working called simply "Radeon 9800 Pro" in my device manager. I don't ever remember having two display adapters before.

If it were my machine, I'd spend the minute or two to re-seat the card, if only to rule that out as you proceed. Particularly if the machine has been moved or jarred recently. Glad you were able to disable the second adapter (which is a similar path I was leading you down with my comment about disabling the Radeon card completely and trying onboard video to see what happens). You might still try deleting that other monitor via Add/Remove Hardware though, just to get it out of there forever.

Then I updated my Motherboard.

What mobo and CPU do you have? Are they Intel based? This prolly isn't your problem, but awhile back I heard about some issues with Intel's "hardware acclerator" INF files causing problems with certain machines. Did you download any mobo updates that you didn't have before these probs started?

Do you think this would work?
Totally uninstalling my Video Card and then taking it out. Then reboot without it and see what my display does. Then shut it down, put the video card back in, and let the harware manager install it?

Yeah, that's kind of what I was alluding to earlier when I suggested taking the vid card out of the equation and trying the onboard video (again, assuming your mobo has onboard video) to see what happens. That way, if everything works okay with onboard video, but probs return when you install the 9800, you know it's likely a prob with the vid card, its drivers, or possibly the PSU.

As for letting the Hardware Wizard install your vid card, that idea could go either way. I'd read your ATI User Guide and see what it says about whether it's important or not to use the CD for installation. I don't work with enough computers (other than my own) to have a lot of experience in this particular area, but I do know some peripherals (my friend's printer, for example) are VERY specific about NOT letting Microsoft's Hardware Wizard do the installation. My friend's HP all-in-one simply won't work if he tried to let the Hardware Wizard install it -- he HAS to use the HP installation CD. Another factor here is which source is gonna have the most up-to-date drivers: the original install CD or Windows XP's drivers? I suppose it won't matter in the end though if you're gonna get updated drivers from ATI's Web site anyway.

Are you running SP2 by the way?

And yes, I do have another PC with another Samsung LCD screen. I won't have time to switch out tonight, but plan on tinkering tomorrow evening.

Nice. Try some different combinations of things and see if you can narrow things down.

Another note: All my games work fine, I played an online Madden 2k5 game tonight with all the settings jacked up. No problems whatsoever, and the game was clear as a bell.

Bizarre. :Q So what is the current problem, as we speak? Is your text still blurry and can you still only run at that high res?

Thanks a bunch for you time. It is appreciated.

Sure. I'm by no means an all-knowing expert on this stuff, so you may end up needing help from some of the more experienced chaps on this site. I can help to a point, but my knowledge is limited (I'm not a tech or anything). Good luck. I'm gonna sign off for the night, but I'll check back tomorrow night to see how things are goin'.

Later.

 

[Brasseaux]

ok, to answer a few of your questions first...

Since reformatting, what firewall, a-v and anti-spyware programs are you running now?

Only have the XP firewall at the moment. I have ZoneAlarm, but just haven't put it on yet. I'm running Norton 2k4, AdWare, Spybot, HiJack This, and Stinger (worm prog).

What mobo and CPU do you have? Are they Intel based? This prolly isn't your problem, but awhile back I heard about some issues with Intel's "hardware acclerator" INF files causing problems with certain machines. Did you download any mobo updates that you didn't have before these probs started?

I'm running a MSI K7 with NVidia Nforce 2 Ultra 400. My CPU is a Athlon XP 2500. I installed the drivers from the disk, and then updated with the Live Update option of the software. (Same thing I did when I installed it). I did the MSI updates today, after the problems started, and the updates did not change anything.

Are you running SP2 by the way?

No. And I wasn't before I formatted.

So what is the current problem, as we speak? Is your text still blurry and can you still only run at that high res?

The current problem is still that my display text and icons (ie desktop, trays, or ICQ lists) are blurred unless I run at the highest res, and only 60hz refresh.

So...tomorrow I will pull the Video Card sometime. Reboot and run off the motherboard yada yada yada and see what happens. After the format, I loaded the Video Card drivers from the software (the same software I used after I put the card in the first time). Maybe now, I will go straight to ATI for the drivers after I reseat the card.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks again

 

[Brasseaux]

well....I'm all of angst on this one.

Took video card out, cleaned, and then rebooted let the mobo built in one take over. Monitor still not right.

Put the card back in, and uninstalled all Radeon drivers, and software. Re-installed the software. Updated my mobo, updated Nvidia drivers, and then updated drivers for Video Card from ATI. Same problem.

Yesterday I played Madden 2k4 online and it was fine. Today, I go to practice a little before a Madden 2k5 game, (much higher graphics) and realized that not all was well. Even off line, the game was laggy, and I had a blur line (about an inch thick) that would start at the bottom, and work itself up quickly as I played.

Then I thought about what could be possibly missing (program/driver wise) from post format that could affect video. I thought outdated DirectX, so I went and downloaded the newest version and installed. No difference.

Then I shut it down, and put on another LCD Monitor (a new Samsung 17in LCD). My computer didn't even notice that I put a new monitor on following the boot so I manually unistalled the monitor and then installed the driver from cd. Rebooted....same thing. Checked Madden, same blur line and lagginess...and then checked another PC game.

I then called a friend who sported the same Sapphire Radeon Video Card, and compared display settings and they were the same. (he also runs the same mobo).

I have no idea where to go from here. I guess next step would be to get ATI on the phone and have them check their database to see if a similar problem has occurred as there website isn't very helpful.

The only other idea that comes to mind is that maybe its a windows flaw and it has screwed up pathways between old driver/ new driver and the registry and something is conflicting or not synching. But how do you wipe all drivers and blow out the registry w/o formatting?

 

[Slikkster]

If I may chime in...

With any LCD monitor, there is something known as "Native" resolution and refresh rates.

For yours, it's 1280x1024 screen size, and 60hz refresh rate.

Those settings will give you the absolute sharpest picture.

However, the most important of the two numbers is the refresh rate. You can change the screen size and keep the 60hz refresh rate and still have a sharp screen (when all is working well). But when you change the refresh rate to something like 75hz, you will most definitely end up with a worse picture. Don't change the native refresh rate!

Again, you can change the screen size to something like 1024x768 if that looks better on your 17" screen (which it probably does). But don't change the 60hz refresh rate.

For example, I have a 20" Dell LCD. It's native screen size is 1600x1200, which is incredibly hard to see. It's native refresh is 60hz. I can change the screen size down a bit without any real loss in clarity, but if I change the refresh rate, things get blurry and out of focus.

Now, I see where you pretty much can't change the refresh rate to begin with, at least as I understand it. You definitely seem to have some driver issues, and yes, there's a way to get a good cleaning.

Go to this page and get this free utility:


http://www.drivercleaner.net/

As you will read on the page, the first step you need to take is to uninstall the ATI drivers from Add/Remove software.

Then, run the driver cleaner utility. Look in the list to see if you have the dual monitor software still showing up in the driver cleaner window as well, but your first duty will be to remove any remnants of ATI drivers. Once it's done, it will prompt you to reboot, at which point you can probably reinstall your ATI drivers. Follow the instructions.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: Slikkster
If I may chime in...

With any LCD monitor, there is something known as "Native" resolution and refresh rates.

For yours, it's 1280x1024 screen size, and 60hz refresh rate.

Those settings will give you the absolute sharpest picture.

Hmmm ... that's actually not quite right (no offense, Slikkster). According to the user's manual for his monitor, which can be found here, on page 51 it says the native resolution for his monitor is 1024 X 768 (like all 17" LCDs, I think) and that either 60 or 75Hz is okay (60 being termed "optimum" and 75Hz being the "maximum").

So, Brasseux, I'd start with those settings (and prolly use 60Hz) before doing anything else. Who knows -- try those settings and see if your probs go away.

If not .... After reading your last post, it looks like we can rule out the monitor or vid card as being the culprit. Good! We're makin' progress.

Reading thru all your posts again, you seem to be having intermittent probs here. It works fine for awhile, then you come back later and it's acting up again. To me, that would seem more like a PSU or mobo problem (more likely the former of the two). If you had driver probs, why would it work okay part of the time and then start acting up for no reason?

But the fact that all was okay before you reformatted, then the probs started after you reformatted and got rid of the malware, would make a PSU failure quite a coincidence (though certainly not impossible). Any chance you could swap out the PSU with one that you know for a fact is good?

Just a thought: After you reformatted, did you have an up-to-date firewall up and a-v program running before getting on the Web and downloading all those drivers? 'Cuz if you didn't, it only takes a matter of seconds for an unprotected machine on a broadband network to get infected again. It's conceivably possible you have another new piece of malware on there sucking up CPU cycles / bogging down your system resources. Likely? I dunno. Have you run at least two different spyware scans after you reformatted and hopped on the Web? Anything suspicious show up in Task Manager/Processes now?

I'm afraid I'm about at the end of my knowledge on this one. No harm in trying Slikkster's recommendations about driver cleaners. Give it a shot. He prolly has more experience with this sort of thing than I do. Sorry I can't be of more help to 'ya.

Best of luck. Let us know if you fix it and what the prob was.

EDIT: PS: Any chance you could be having a wall voltage problem? Any electrical work done at your home or in your neighborhood recently? Do you have a multimeter you could stick in the socket to check the voltage? I used to be a copier/fax machine tech years ago, and I've seen wall voltage problems cause intermittent problems with electronic equipment. It's not super common, but it does happen.

And you haven't put a desk fan or non-shielded speakers or something right next to your monitor recently have you? Or anything else that could concievably cause magnetic interference?

 

[Slikkster]

No offense taken. I couldn't find his exact manual for the life of me, but that's because Samsung doesn't list it in their products as a 171V, but I assume it's primarily listed as a 151S. (unless I'm totally blind!) So, I grabbed the so-called native specs off a website. So much for accuracy, lol.

I will quibble with you about the native resolution of "all" 17" monitors, however. Here's a quick reference to the pcworld review site on 17" LCD's, and you'll see many have a native of 1280x1024.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,117419,tk,wb083004x,00.asp

But that's not really important.

Excellent call on the magnetic interference possibility! I would definitely do the driver uninstall and driver cleaner utility. But after that (and a reboot and reinstall of ATI Drivers following the reboot followed by yet another reboot) if things still didn't clear up, I would seriously look around your physical area to see what RF (radio frequency)generating devices might be around that could interfere with the monitor. Also, any additional electronic devices that might be new to your workspace.

 

[Brasseaux]

Thanks guys.

As far as re-infection....nothing seems array here. I have ran a few ad-ware removal programs, Norton with updates in safe mode. Nothing found.

1024 X 768 @ 60hz was what I had always ran before this format, and it was crystal clear, and gaming was smooth on and offline.

as for interference..my speakers are way above my monitor and and even further from my tower. Nothing new has been added or placed near it.

My other PC doesnt support the same video card, but I may be able to grab one from a friend.

I will try the driver thing. My question is...should I instal the ATI drivers that came with the card and were installed when the PC was originally built, or should I get the latest from the site?

Thanks

 

[Brasseaux]

OK...I unistalled the drivers, slapped it in safe mode, and then blew out the old ones with Driver Cleaning. Then I rebooted in reg mode and put on the new ones. same results. Let me know if you see something wrong with that sequence. Or....I wonder if I simply dropped it out the window if that would fix the problem.

Not sure where I go from here, I was on hold with ATI for 45 minutes today. Nobody ever came on.

I guess my only option is to get another video card and test it out. I guess there is the suprising coincidence that something went bad with the card at the very same time I decided to format.

And if that doesn't work.......I don't know. Reformat?

 

[Slikkster]

Well, there's always System Restore. Can you set it back to the point BEFORE you installed the video drivers after the format?

Edit: Instead of focusing (fogive the pun) on the video card, how about thinking outside the box. Or inside the box, as the case may be, like the registry.

I'm thinking that based upon what you said about the screen size your monitor wants to run at -1280x1024- that it might be detecting incorrectly.

Here's what I would do:

Go to your registry and go to this key:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96E-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

You will probably see more than one entry, starting with 0000, 0001, etc.

I would delete all of the entries there, (all of the 000x entries) which will force XP to redetect your monitor, and your monitor only. After deletion, close the registry, and reboot. Let Windows redetect.

Verify this key is correct by opening up 0000, 0001, etc., to ensure they are referring to monitors.

You can also make a backup of the master key from the Regedit file menu if you wish to play safe, and save it as a .reg file somewhere.

Also, since you have an Nforce board, the best place for you to get Nforce updates is from www.nvidia.com, vs. MSI. Nvidia will always have the latest drivers. I'm not saying MSI won't have them, but you can bet Nvidia will always have them. You will want the "Unified Driver" from Nvidia:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_udp_winxp_5.10

 

[Ken90630]

No offense taken. I couldn't find his exact manual for the life of me, but that's because Samsung doesn't list it in their products as a 171V, but I assume it's primarily listed as a 151S. (unless I'm totally blind!) So, I grabbed the so-called native specs off a website. So much for accuracy, lol.

Slikkster:

No prob. I figured as much. I found it by going to Samsungusa.com and typing in 171v in the Search box. Bang, a list of links came up, but the first one -- which was supposedly for the 171v -- came up as some other monitor entirely. :Q Like you say, so much for accuracy. :laugh: I then went to the second "171v" link and the right manual came up. Then I sat there for 45 seconds while my Adobe Acrobat loaded (I'm using a really slooooowwww computer right now). :frown: Anyway, the manual finally came up and I spent another 5 minutes looking for the spec page (near the back, naturally). :laugh: Some times these companies don't make it easy on us.

Anywho ... You're obviously right about other 17" monitors and their native resolution. I offer my humblest apologies to both of 'ya for making a quick assumption without taking the time to verify it. I seemed to have it in my head that all LCD monitors of the same size have the same native resolution, but that misconception is now out of my head. Harrrummph! My bad.

Excellent idea about System Restore. Brilliant. I don't why I didn't think of that. Wait a minute -- yes I do : Many folks disable System Restore 'cuz it's a favorite place for certain kinds of malware to hide. Plus, many virus/spyware scanners can't even see into System Restore, and those that can can't clean anything out of it. So I'm so used to assuming people have disabled SR -- which they really should do if they're on the Web -- that I just put it out of my mind. Glad you remembered it.

Brasseaux:

My other PC doesnt support the same video card, but I may be able to grab one from a friend.

Hmmm ... okay, but I thought you had already taken the card out, let the onboard video run, and the prob remained. If that's so, then we can rule out the vid card as being the problem, can't we? Or am I missing somethin' here?

I wonder if I simply dropped it out the window if that would fix the problem.

Heh heh. I think that very thing was recommended in the "Troubleshooting" chart in the User's Manual where it says, "If the display doesn't work properly ...." :laugh: That's after you've kicked it and cussed at it, though -- be sure to try those things first.

I was on hold with ATI for 45 minutes today.

Yikes. That's unusually bad. Computer product tech support is notoriously bad, except for Apple, but that's really over the top. Any chance you could call Sapphire tech support (if there is even such a thing)? Maybe try ATI again tomorrow?

Oooh ... oooh ... I just remembered: You get two free tech support calls to Microsoft if you bought a retail version of XP (as opposed to it coming with the computer). Why not just call them, with the angle that you think your prob is related to reformatting or the registry or something? Just a thought.

Also, since you have an Nforce board, the best place for you to get Nforce updates is from www.nvidia.com, vs. MSI. Nvidia will always have the latest drivers.

I agree 100%. Great idea. And by all means try Slikkster's Registry ideas -- nothin' to lose.

I'm afraid I'm out of ideas here. I'm gonna send a PM to a guy who I think might be able to help you, just in case Slikkster's Registry and System Restore ideas don't resolve your prob. I can't guarantee he'll have the time to respond, but I'll give it a shot.

Later,

Ken

 

[mechBgon]

I'm afraid I can't read the whole saga here, but I'll throw in a couple things since I was asked to try and help:

1) 1280 x 1024 is a 5:4 ratio. 1024 x 768 is a 4:3 ratio. Trying to make a 4:3 scheme fit on 5:4 pixels results in some fuzz, it's not analog where it can fudge it.

2) ignore the dual-monitor thing. Ok, you've seen Dr. Who episodes, right? Dalek voices, all together now: IG-NORE!! IG-NORE!! DO NOT WORRY!!! IG-NORE!!!

If the video card has two outputs, or even thinks it has two outputs, well, it's going to have the second output listed as far as I've ever seen. No harm, no foul.

3) if the monitor is using a 15-pin VGA cable, then use the monitor's Auto-Adjust feature. The monitor will sync up (or that's my term for it, anyway) at this particular resolution/refresh combo, and will remember it. If your games are crystal-clear, it's because the monitor remembers the sync'ed tuning for that resolution/refresh combination, is my guess.

4) I would run the LCD at 60Hz regardless of resolution if it were me.

5) If 1280 x 1024 is too little, consider boosting your Windows font sizes and stuff to compensate, so you retain your nice 5:4 crispness.


Hope there's something useful in there

 

[Brasseaux]

First off, I would like to say thanks to everyone here. The problems are resolved. I blew out the old drivers again, and got all the updates....including the Nvidia ones (i think that was the kicker). That fixed my display on the desktop. I'm really not sure why this time it worked. But hey...:beer:..whatever works right?

My Madden 2005 was the game that had the blurring and lag. I then played Madden 2k4 and it ran clean. So then I loaded another game...Mafia, and it was blurred and laggy. Why does 2k4 run fine, and these don't? On a long shot, I thought that maybe the were bad installs, and bad installs from a drive that could be going bad. Looking back, 2k4 was the first game I put on, and maybe it went bad following that installation. SOOOOO....I uninstalled my E drive, and put another on. Uninstalled Mafia and Madden 2k5...and low and behold TA-DAH!!!!!:thumbsup:

It worked.

So thanks to everyone here!! Sorry the fix came down to something as cheesy as bad installs.:Q Why I had problems with the display settings before is beyond me.

:clock:

Brasseaux

 

[Slikkster]

Yes, whatever works. Glad you're set now. Happy computing!

 

[Ken90630]

Sorry the fix came down to something as cheesy as bad installs. Why I had problems with the display settings before is beyond me.

Sheesh ... that's pretty weird. We coulda spent a week goin' round & round tryin' different things and never pinned it down to bad installs. :laugh:

Oh well, the important thing is that it's fixed and your sanity is intact. And actually, these experiences, trying as they are, almost always result in learning some things you didn't know before. Heck, I learned some things just by being involved in this thread. Happy gaming!

Ken

 

[Brasseaux]

Sheesh ... that's pretty weird. We coulda spent a week goin' round & round tryin' different things and never pinned it down to bad installs

It's hard for me to believe as well. But...everything works. I installed 3 new games on the replaced drive, and all of them are running fine. I told a friend, "bad installs...that was what happened"...he said "No, really? What was it?"

But thanks again....

....till next time...