Radeon+Junk monitor=DiSaStEr!

[SpaceBz]

I took my Radeon SDR 64MB out of my parents' system and put it in my own Celeron 1100. I am practically broke, so i have to use a cheap old monitor that my friend GAVE to me. A Visiontech: Optiquest 1000s. (Good luck finding info... It's THAT old!) First I installed the 4_13_7189 drivers like I had set up before. They seemed to work fine, except when I changed to 1024X768 resolution. Then, the screen seemed to flicker, and looked almost interlaced. I thought it was probably the refresh rate, so I went to display>advanced>adapter> and tried to change it. Well, there were only 2 options there, Optimal, and Adapter default. Neither seemed to really change anything. I went and changed the drivers back to the ones off the CD, and everything worked ( after setting the right refresh rate at least) untill I tried 1024X768 again. This time, it wasn't flickering and it wasn't interlaced... It just covered about half the desktop! The screen would jog over if I were to move the mouse, but this isn't an acceptable option in the least. Then I changed to ATI's latest beta drivers. (Not sure about the number)... These ones did the same thing as the first set I tried! How annoying! I've tried this monitor on both 1024X768X16 and 32, with other cards and they worked flawlessly. What is wrong, and what can I do about it? Thanks in advance...

SpaceBz

[SpaceBz]

C'mon... You guys gotta have some ideas.. The main reason I need 1024X768 is so I can run a default benchmark on 3dmark 2k1... Any suggestions? PLEASE!

[dday]

Do you have any documentation on this monitor? Probably not, huh? It may not be able to support that high a resolution, and the refresh rate may not be up to par.
I had an old CTX that just could'nt stand an Elsa card my buddy gave me, it worked fine with my Voodo3 but it hated the Elsa, finally gave the **** thing back to him. I've had Diamond cards(before S3) and S3's choke old monitors too! You might have to bite the bullet this time and get a monitor, or wait to do the benchmarking when you do. That is if the drivers you are using are choking the one you have now. But if this monitor would run at these settings before, what card did you have before the Radeon?Sounds like a driver issue to me.

[SpaceBz]

Before that I had a GeForce 256, and before that, a Voodoo 3 2000. The monitor does support 1024X768X32, and it's been fine before. Unfortuneatly, Visiontech doesn't even support this monitor anymore... I guess I might have to scrape up some dough and buy a monitor. Oh well...:(

[JeffD]

Hi SpaceBz,

Under display>advanced>monitor what driver is it using? I noticed that under Windows ME there's a driver for the Optiquest 1000s.

Make sure when you switched out cards you didn't lose the monitor driver.

Make sure the drivers for both graphics card and monitor is reading correctly in Windows.

Also, make sure you uninstalled ALL remains of the previous video drivers (add/uninstall, registry, various windows directories)? Remains of previous drivers may cause a conflict with the newer card you are trying to use.

It sounds like the video card is working fine and the monitor is working fine with older hardware so it leads one to believe that there's an incompatibility between the two.

The big question you need to answer is the problem due to drivers or hardware?

The comment you made about the desktop shrinking down is behaviour common in analog (v/s digital) monitor technology. This was used in 14 and 15 inch monitors many years ago........which fits the 1000s. Generally they aren't smart enough to adjust to different scan and refresh frequencies on the fly. IMHO this means that the newer video card/driver is trying to adjust the monitor in ways it wasn't designed to do.

So the way I see it I suggest you start saving up a few bucks. A decent 17 inch monitor can be found for ~$100 (sometimes less if timed with a rebate).

Good Luck

Regards,

JeffD

[SpaceBz]

Thanks for your reply! I'm using Windows 98 SE, so the closest driver I found is one for the Optiquest 1000... I downloaded the monitor pack from Viewsonic, and I found a driver for the 1000S, but that one goes bonkers and won't let me change the refresh rate in even more modes. Anyway, I think I'm going to trade systems with my parents, and use the Gateway EV700 in the livingroom... My system is better, so I'd rather have it at it's best than have it not work very well, and the GeForce that's in there works with my system anyways. Thanks all!;)