Samsung 205BW Resolution Problems...

[Slitherythesnake]

I made the switch from my old Samsung 955DF CRT that I've had for the past 7 years to a Samsung 205BW LCD. While I'm enjoying it quite a bit, I am frustrated by its inability to run widescreen resolutions (with AND without scaling through either the monitor or video card) which are below the native res. (ie. 1440x900, 1280x800) This is crucial during games because my 6600GT is sorrily lacking in terms of running games at 1680x1050. So far, I have only tested BF2 and NFS: MW using the respective WS hacks, but everytime I try to run it in any widescreen resolution below the native, it simply reverts to the desktop after the splash screen. I have a feeling something is awry with my video card as when I go to display properties in the desktop, it still displays a CRT monitor in the desktop and screen savers tabs. I've tried both the latest Nvidia and XG drivers to no success.

BTW, I have installed the drivers that came with the monitor.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Update: I checked the 93.71 driver files which I have installed, specifically the nv4_disp.inf and found no 16:10 resolutions in it except for 1280x800 (this will NOT display in DVI, only in analog). Is this normal? This monitor should be able to display 16:10 resolutions in DVI which are non-native right?

Update #2: Tried the monitor via analog on my dad's laptop (Dell Latitude D820 w/ a Quadro NVS 120 M TurboCache.) Worked fine, displaying in the properties and control panel a whole batch of resolutions strangely absent on my machine. Displayed both native and 1440x900 perfectly, also supported 1280x800. What could possibly be wrong with my video card/drivers?

Update #3: Problem solved! Used PowerStrip to add the "custom" resolutions of 1440x900 and 1280x800 to the video card and set the LCD scaling to maintain aspect ratio. Both display perfectly in games now!

 

[Brian48]

Dunno if it's the same issue, but I've found that the scaling does now work properly unless you are using the EXACT scale with the specific input (DVI versus VGA).

I have the Samsung 225BW and with the DVI input, I have to use 1280x800 to scale properly when not using 1680x1050. When using the VGA input, I have to use 1280x768 (1280x800 will look like crap). Too a lot experimenting before I found the correct res I should be using.

 

[Slitherythesnake]

Okay, for some reason, 640x400 works in both games, however, as you can imagine, it looks horrible. Unfortunately, still no success with 1280x800 or 1440x900.

 

[xtknight]

You probably need to remove the CRT and its cached modes from your graphics card and load in the LCD's resolution modes. How exactly to do that with your drivers I'm not sure. It really should be automatic. Completely uninstalling the drivers and installing fresh ones would probably work. Also use this method and delete all monitors that you see in the device manager: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodte...skit/prork/prdh_dmt_tolm.mspx?mfr=true

An EDID (display resolution/refresh rate data) is stored for each monitor instance in the registry and removing the monitor 'device' should remove that as well. I don't think it really matters if you delete all the monitors in the device manager. It should be fine after you reboot. Then, it should enumerate your current LCD and fill in the EDID. After that, the correct refresh rates/resolutions should be intact and the resolution switch shouldn't fail.

 

[Slitherythesnake]

xtknight: Did everything in your post, still no success. I am pretty sure that the video card is wrongly identifying the 205BW as a CRT (Properties still shows a CRT icon and the Nvidia Control Panel displays 4:3 resolutions except for 1680x1050). I did some searching on my computer after running DriverCleaner and found some registry files from the 955DF. Surprisingly, they were unremovable. I will probably install Windows onto a seperate partition later and also try to test the monitor on another computer in my house.

I did discover a temporary, although far from ideal solution to my WS woes by using the 205BW via analog input. I was able to display 16:9 resolutions (these were stretched, but that was expected) and 1280x800 (bottom was clipped badly though) in my games. For one reason or another though, 1440x900 would not display in either analog or DVI.

Getting truly befuddled

 

[Slitherythesnake]

Bump.

 

[kmmatney]

Most LCDs have no scaling whatsoever, so you are stuck with doing it through the video card driver. My old 6600GT was able to scale on my old 19" LCD, running 1280 x 968 with black bars at the top and bottom. What timing modes are you using for your video card? Try setting it to propertional scaling through the NVidia driver. This setting is somewhere is the "Device adjustments" menu item in the NVidia driver screen.

Also, I had best luck using older drivers with my 6600GT. version 66.51 worked well.

 

[Slitherythesnake]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
Most LCDs have no scaling whatsoever, so you are stuck with doing it through the video card driver. My old 6600GT was able to scale on my old 19" LCD, running 1280 x 968 with black bars at the top and bottom. What timing modes are you using for your video card? Try setting it to propertional scaling through the NVidia driver. This setting is somewhere is the "Device adjustments" menu item in the NVidia driver screen.

Also, I had best luck using older drivers with my 6600GT. version 66.51 worked well.

Well, it's not really a matter of it scaling, I'll deal with that when it'll actually display a 16:10 resolution besides 1680x1050. I've tried running the resolutions with (through monitor and video card) and without scaling and so far I have not been able to display anything like 1440x900 or 1280x800 besides native. I noticed in the properties and control panel that it doesn't even give me a option to run any other 16:10 resolutions in DVI (the exception being analog, I can choose 1280x800 although it's distorted badly.)

I did manage to find a modded 93.71 driver (can't remember who modded it) which allowed me to display 1280x800 in analog properly for BF2 (proper full screen scaling and no distortion!) Unfortunately, it cut off the bottom for NFS:MW (not too noticible though) and 1440x900 is still a no-go. Definately sticking to this modded 93.71 until I find a better solution.