Refresh rate stuck at 60hz

[Camion]

Hi -- One day the refresh rate on my monitor decided to get stuck at 60hz. I tried changing the resolution around and it still stayed at 60hz (It flickers, and it says "Current refresh: 60hz" on the Display Properties> Settings> Advanced> Monitor Settings tab). There is no separate way to adjust the refresh rate (on some google searches I've seen screen shots of windows in the display settings that have this, but I don't). I tried reinstalling the video card software but that didn't change anything. There were no changes done to anything that could have caused this as far as I know. Running P-III 733, 98SE, 256 Ram,Matrox G400, 1152x864, Dell P990 monitor(not a dell computer though). Help, and Thanks.

 

[khtm]

on the Advanced > Adapter tab, does it have a button that says "List All Modes" ??

on the Advanced > Monitor tab, did you try unchecking the box that says "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" ??

-khtm-

 

[uhohibrokeit]

with a 990 you should be able to change it as long as you have it set to plug and play monitor in your device manager

 

[Camion]

I looked in Advanced>Monitor and there is not a "Hide modes..." box, only "Monitor is energy star compliant", (unchecked), "Automatically detect plug and play monitors" (checked), and Reset display on suspend/resume." (checked). Also, in Advamnced>Adaptor, there is no "list all modes..." button, only a "Change" button, which leads to changing the driver for the video card (I think). Is my monitor settings box wierd? Thanks.

 

[bunker]

Go to your display settings and click on the 'settings' tab. Click on the 'advanced' button and then the 'monitor' tab. Does it have your monitor listed or just say 'Plug and Play monitor'? If it just says plug and play, try downloading this and installing it. It's the dell driver for win9x for all their monitors.

Here

 

[Camion]

In the Monitor tab it says "Default Monitor" in the gray area to the right of the little monitor icon in the upper left part of the tab area. I assume this is what you are refering to. BTW, the title of the whole box, in the blue area at the top, is "Matrox millenium G400 Dual Head - English properties," if that matters. I'll try the download you suggest. Thanks.

 

[GregMal]

I think you've found the problem. "Default monitor"
Windows doesn't know that your monitor can go higher.
It needs the correct "inf" files for the monitor.
Download them as suggested.
If those still don't work, I'd try some of the generic SVGA monitor
drivers from windows.............
Greg

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Yep, download a specific driver for the monitor and you'll be set

 

[Camion]

Thank you very much all who helped! I did everthing you said and now it works. I run at 1152x864, and I set it for 75hz, and now there's no flicker! Just like that! Now, I wonder why it was working with no flicker last week, before it knew that there was a P990 monitor, and before the Dell driver. Oh well. Does anybody know where there might be a table that tells the optimum refresh rates for various resolutions? I went to Dell and their specs don't go that deep, only min to max rates. Thanks

 

[Scudtech]

As for the drivers: maybe some program messed it up, or something in Windows messed up. It's hard to say exactly. Somehow, the INF file that was needed got lost.
As for the refresh rates: I'd say: "the higher, the better!" Go for the highest refresh you can at your desired resolution, since it depends on the monitor as to how the refresh rates work. When/if you change your refresh rates, look for distortion or "interlacing" like my poor, old monitor does at its highest refresh (1024x768@75Hz) .