Resolution problem with my computer all of a sudden

[lok3sh]

Hey guys,

I have a BENQ G2400WDL monitor and an NVIDIA GTX 275 video card on my system. This morning I turned on the computer and found that my resolution was really low for some strange reason. So I did the usual. Uninstall monitor, uninstall video card and drivers, re install everything and no go. And then I plugged the monitor into my second DVI port on the video card and boom. Back to normal. Anyone know what the problem might be? So far it looks like maybe the video card has issues, but I'm still just hoping that maybe it's got something to do with a driver or something software related.

Any help would be really appreciated!

 

[Maxx_Power]

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

 

[lok3sh]

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

You don't have to mess with the drivers. Sometimes it is a hardware issue in the video card (dying or otherwise) that causes some sort of driver crash. The two ports are driven by independent digital circuitry in the GPU die, it could be that one of the two is dying for some reason. It wouldn't be new. You can always try another monitor on that same DVI port to see if the behaviour is the same.

 

[lok3sh]

Ah gotcha. I do also have a TV that I hook up to this card along with my monitor and extend displays with. The TV is connected with a DVI-HDMI adapter through an HDMI cable. The TV works fine in 1080p on either port right now. It is only my monitor that works on just one port at full resolution. My monitor's native is 1920x1200.

Also my monitor now shows as Generic Non-PnP Monitor and if I remember correctly (I might not) it used to show up as BenQ something before.

So the fact that my TV works fine on both ports, does that mean anything? I feel like if my TV works fine on both and the resolution is very similar to the monitor, then this should be a software thing rather than hardware?

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

You don't have to mess with the drivers. Sometimes it is a hardware issue in the video card (dying or otherwise) that causes some sort of driver crash. The two ports are driven by independent digital circuitry in the GPU die, it could be that one of the two is dying for some reason. It wouldn't be new. You can always try another monitor on that same DVI port to see if the behaviour is the same.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Ah gotcha. I do also have a TV that I hook up to this card along with my monitor and extend displays with. The TV is connected with a DVI-HDMI adapter through an HDMI cable. The TV works fine in 1080p on either port right now. It is only my monitor that works on just one port at full resolution. My monitor's native is 1920x1200.

Also my monitor now shows as Generic Non-PnP Monitor and if I remember correctly (I might not) it used to show up as BenQ something before.

So the fact that my TV works fine on both ports, does that mean anything? I feel like if my TV works fine on both and the resolution is very similar to the monitor, then this should be a software thing rather than hardware?

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

You don't have to mess with the drivers. Sometimes it is a hardware issue in the video card (dying or otherwise) that causes some sort of driver crash. The two ports are driven by independent digital circuitry in the GPU die, it could be that one of the two is dying for some reason. It wouldn't be new. You can always try another monitor on that same DVI port to see if the behaviour is the same.

I suppose then it COULD (also) be an issue with the DVI receiver in the BenQ monitor. Can you perhaps try a different DVI cable ?

 

[lok3sh]

I can, I will have to borrow one from my friend. I'll post back with results when I get around to trying.

So if it is in fact my monitor, wouldn't it show me low resolution in both the DVI ports and not just for one? Because right now I'm back to full resolution and everything is working exactly as before except that I had to switch the ports that the monitor and TV were plugged into.

Ah gotcha. I do also have a TV that I hook up to this card along with my monitor and extend displays with. The TV is connected with a DVI-HDMI adapter through an HDMI cable. The TV works fine in 1080p on either port right now. It is only my monitor that works on just one port at full resolution. My monitor's native is 1920x1200.

Also my monitor now shows as Generic Non-PnP Monitor and if I remember correctly (I might not) it used to show up as BenQ something before.

So the fact that my TV works fine on both ports, does that mean anything? I feel like if my TV works fine on both and the resolution is very similar to the monitor, then this should be a software thing rather than hardware?

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

You don't have to mess with the drivers. Sometimes it is a hardware issue in the video card (dying or otherwise) that causes some sort of driver crash. The two ports are driven by independent digital circuitry in the GPU die, it could be that one of the two is dying for some reason. It wouldn't be new. You can always try another monitor on that same DVI port to see if the behaviour is the same.

I suppose then it COULD (also) be an issue with the DVI receiver in the BenQ monitor. Can you perhaps try a different DVI cable ?

 

[Maxx_Power]

I can, I will have to borrow one from my friend. I'll post back with results when I get around to trying.

So if it is in fact my monitor, wouldn't it show me low resolution in both the DVI ports and not just for one? Because right now I'm back to full resolution and everything is working exactly as before except that I had to switch the ports that the monitor and TV were plugged into.

Ah gotcha. I do also have a TV that I hook up to this card along with my monitor and extend displays with. The TV is connected with a DVI-HDMI adapter through an HDMI cable. The TV works fine in 1080p on either port right now. It is only my monitor that works on just one port at full resolution. My monitor's native is 1920x1200.

Also my monitor now shows as Generic Non-PnP Monitor and if I remember correctly (I might not) it used to show up as BenQ something before.

So the fact that my TV works fine on both ports, does that mean anything? I feel like if my TV works fine on both and the resolution is very similar to the monitor, then this should be a software thing rather than hardware?

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

You don't have to mess with the drivers. Sometimes it is a hardware issue in the video card (dying or otherwise) that causes some sort of driver crash. The two ports are driven by independent digital circuitry in the GPU die, it could be that one of the two is dying for some reason. It wouldn't be new. You can always try another monitor on that same DVI port to see if the behaviour is the same.

I suppose then it COULD (also) be an issue with the DVI receiver in the BenQ monitor. Can you perhaps try a different DVI cable ?

My guess is that the two DVI ports uses independent DVI transceiver circuitry in the GPU die, so one of them may have more margins than the other one, OR, one of the two is slowly dying and can't negotiate with the BenQ any more...

 

[lok3sh]

Ok it is very possible that my port is dying then lol. It is an old card and I've had issues with it sometimes going black for a second and coming back with a message that the display driver crashed and has recovered. But this has been happening for over a year and I've read that this sometimes is "normal" on some system configurations and happens to others as well and might be software related and so I just ignored it.

So is there any way to kind of test this for sure? This way I can plan to buy a new card perhaps.

I can, I will have to borrow one from my friend. I'll post back with results when I get around to trying.

So if it is in fact my monitor, wouldn't it show me low resolution in both the DVI ports and not just for one? Because right now I'm back to full resolution and everything is working exactly as before except that I had to switch the ports that the monitor and TV were plugged into.

Ah gotcha. I do also have a TV that I hook up to this card along with my monitor and extend displays with. The TV is connected with a DVI-HDMI adapter through an HDMI cable. The TV works fine in 1080p on either port right now. It is only my monitor that works on just one port at full resolution. My monitor's native is 1920x1200.

Also my monitor now shows as Generic Non-PnP Monitor and if I remember correctly (I might not) it used to show up as BenQ something before.

So the fact that my TV works fine on both ports, does that mean anything? I feel like if my TV works fine on both and the resolution is very similar to the monitor, then this should be a software thing rather than hardware?

Thanks for the reply. This is not what happened though. I did not mess with any of my drivers. Last night I shut down my computer as usual, and powered it on this morning. And when it came on, it was on a very low resolution for some reason. So I thought maybe something had happened to the drivers. So I uninstalled all the drivers for the monitor and the video card, and re installed them as a fresh install. This did not solve anything. I then pulled out the monitor cable from the the DVI port that it was plugged into (my video card has two) and plugged it into the second port. Now everything is fine. When I plug it back into the first port, it goes back to low resolution. This is my issue.

It sounds like a driver crash of some sort, possibly related to the video card itself. If you uninstall the video card drivers (or the drivers crashed for some reason), the resolution goes down to whatever the software driver in windows determines that your hardware and monitor can handle.

If you go to device manager, and right click on the GPU (video card) and uninstall the driver software (without deleting it), then your resolution will go down. If this is what you saw, then that's probably it. Then you can go to the menu and do a hardware scan for changes, and the driver will be installed again.

You don't have to mess with the drivers. Sometimes it is a hardware issue in the video card (dying or otherwise) that causes some sort of driver crash. The two ports are driven by independent digital circuitry in the GPU die, it could be that one of the two is dying for some reason. It wouldn't be new. You can always try another monitor on that same DVI port to see if the behaviour is the same.

I suppose then it COULD (also) be an issue with the DVI receiver in the BenQ monitor. Can you perhaps try a different DVI cable ?

My guess is that the two DVI ports uses independent DVI transceiver circuitry in the GPU die, so one of them may have more margins than the other one, OR, one of the two is slowly dying and can't negotiate with the BenQ any more...

 

[Maxx_Power]

The best way to do this is to divide and conquer. Isolate the (suspect) device and test it with other parts that are known to work. So if you want to test the monitor, try it on a different computer (or computers). If you want to test the GPU, try a few different GPUs with the same monitor.

If the GPU is causing the problems, it will not work with a few monitors (but might work fine with a limited few). You just need 1 other monitor to see if the GPU's 1st DVI output is still good. If it has the same problem on at least another monitor, you can probably count on the GPU as being faulty or going faulty.

Otherwise, the same for the monitor.

 

[lok3sh]

Yeah I guess that is the way to go. Unfortunately I do not have access to more monitors. Just my TV and what I have at home. I have a feeling my monitor is fine since it is working just fine right now. I have a strong suspicion that it is my video card. But anyway. Thank you for the advice so far. I may just use it till it dies and then buy a new one I guess.

The best way to do this is to divide and conquer. Isolate the (suspect) device and test it with other parts that are known to work. So if you want to test the monitor, try it on a different computer (or computers). If you want to test the GPU, try a few different GPUs with the same monitor.

If the GPU is causing the problems, it will not work with a few monitors (but might work fine with a limited few). You just need 1 other monitor to see if the GPU's 1st DVI output is still good. If it has the same problem on at least another monitor, you can probably count on the GPU as being faulty or going faulty.

Otherwise, the same for the monitor.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Yeah I guess that is the way to go. Unfortunately I do not have access to more monitors. Just my TV and what I have at home. I have a feeling my monitor is fine since it is working just fine right now. I have a strong suspicion that it is my video card. But anyway. Thank you for the advice so far. I may just use it till it dies and then buy a new one I guess.

The best way to do this is to divide and conquer. Isolate the (suspect) device and test it with other parts that are known to work. So if you want to test the monitor, try it on a different computer (or computers). If you want to test the GPU, try a few different GPUs with the same monitor.

If the GPU is causing the problems, it will not work with a few monitors (but might work fine with a limited few). You just need 1 other monitor to see if the GPU's 1st DVI output is still good. If it has the same problem on at least another monitor, you can probably count on the GPU as being faulty or going faulty.

Otherwise, the same for the monitor.

Good idea. The GTX275 is still a great card for a lot of games.

 

[lok3sh]

Ok another interesting development... So I restarted my computer this evening and then when it booted back up, again the monitor started on a lower resolution! On the second port. So now with both ports, the resolution is low.

But then I connected the monitor to my video card over an HDMI cable to the HDMI input, and boom. It works with full resolution again. What the hell is going on??

I took my monitor to my friend's house to test it and it worked fine over DVI. So my monitor is ok. It is either something with the video card or my OS.

So unless it is possible that using an HDMI cable over a DVI cable makes a big difference (which I believe it does not) then it is the OS. Any other suggestions?

 

[Maxx_Power]

Ok another interesting development... So I restarted my computer this evening and then when it booted back up, again the monitor started on a lower resolution! On the second port. So now with both ports, the resolution is low.

But then I connected the monitor to my video card over an HDMI cable to the HDMI input, and boom. It works with full resolution again. What the hell is going on??

I took my monitor to my friend's house to test it and it worked fine over DVI. So my monitor is ok. It is either something with the video card or my OS.

So unless it is possible that using an HDMI cable over a DVI cable makes a big difference (which I believe it does not) then it is the OS. Any other suggestions?

Since your TV has a different circuitry for the digital signal input, it MIGHT work with a GPU that is failing or marginal on the digital outputs. Your BenQ may have less of a tolerance compared to your TV.

You can try your GPU AND MONITOR (together) in a different computer (your friend's, with drivers installed, of course) and try a few cold boots to see if you can reproduce the problem (even if just 1 out of 20 times boot). If you can, then it is likely a hardware issue, since you tested the monitor on a different computer, I would likely think the problem is from the GPU itself.

 

[lok3sh]

Sure BUT. My BenQ DOES now work in the first port that did not work through DVI earlier yesterday. The port that gave me low resolution on my BenQ through DVI now works fine through a DVI to HDMI converter and an HDMI cable. So it is not just the TV that works through HDMI, but now also the BenQ, just not with DVI.

Since your TV has a different circuitry for the digital signal input, it MIGHT work with a GPU that is failing or marginal on the digital outputs. Your BenQ may have less of a tolerance compared to your TV.

You can try your GPU AND MONITOR (together) in a different computer (your friend's, with drivers installed, of course) and try a few cold boots to see if you can reproduce the problem (even if just 1 out of 20 times boot). If you can, then it is likely a hardware issue, since you tested the monitor on a different computer, I would likely think the problem is from the GPU itself.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Sure BUT. My BenQ DOES now work in the first port that did not work through DVI earlier yesterday. The port that gave me low resolution on my BenQ through DVI now works fine through a DVI to HDMI converter and an HDMI cable. So it is not just the TV that works through HDMI, but now also the BenQ, just not with DVI.

Since your TV has a different circuitry for the digital signal input, it MIGHT work with a GPU that is failing or marginal on the digital outputs. Your BenQ may have less of a tolerance compared to your TV.

You can try your GPU AND MONITOR (together) in a different computer (your friend's, with drivers installed, of course) and try a few cold boots to see if you can reproduce the problem (even if just 1 out of 20 times boot). If you can, then it is likely a hardware issue, since you tested the monitor on a different computer, I would likely think the problem is from the GPU itself.

Hardware failures are frequently (when not suddenly) intermittent at first. You may or may not get that monitor/ports to work together, but if it is a problem in the GPU, the problem is likely to worsen over time, so that the intermittent-working condition will get worse. If you are not seeing the name of the monitor identified over the GPU, then it means some type of data/clock problem. Check the contacts of the cable while you are at it, and try a few different cables to rule out a simple cable-contact corrosion issue (not very likely due to modern plating, but you never know for sure).

 

[lok3sh]

Ok so now here is a follow up.

I bought a new video card today. An EVGA GTX 760. I plugged it in as DVI, and I get display, but again just low resolution!! It shows my monitor as Generic. Then I plugged it in via HDMI. Boom, full resolution and everything works. What on Earth is going on?? So it was not my old video card then. I am wondering if it is some kind of software thing? Or could my motherboard be the issue?

Any help would be GLADLY appreciated.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Ok so now here is a follow up.

I bought a new video card today. An EVGA GTX 760. I plugged it in as DVI, and I get display, but again just low resolution!! It shows my monitor as Generic. Then I plugged it in via HDMI. Boom, full resolution and everything works. What on Earth is going on?? So it was not my old video card then. I am wondering if it is some kind of software thing? Or could my motherboard be the issue?

Any help would be GLADLY appreciated.

It sounds like your DVI port on the monitor isn't giving out monitor identification signals correctly. These signals communicate information about the monitor's EDID (extended display identification data). Your DVI port may have some bad pins/solder joints on the DDC (display data channel) pins (6 and 7).

Without this EDID data, windows sets the resolutions and refresh rate down to a safe level that most monitors will be able to display.

 

[lok3sh]

Also I tested this monitor at a friends place through DVI and it worked just fine.

PS: Thanks for coming back here to answer!

Ok so now here is a follow up.

I bought a new video card today. An EVGA GTX 760. I plugged it in as DVI, and I get display, but again just low resolution!! It shows my monitor as Generic. Then I plugged it in via HDMI. Boom, full resolution and everything works. What on Earth is going on?? So it was not my old video card then. I am wondering if it is some kind of software thing? Or could my motherboard be the issue?

Any help would be GLADLY appreciated.

It sounds like your DVI port on the monitor isn't giving out monitor identification signals correctly. These signals communicate information about the monitor's EDID (extended display identification data). Your DVI port may have some bad pins/solder joints on the DDC (display data channel) pins (6 and 7).

Without this EDID data, windows sets the resolutions and refresh rate down to a safe level that most monitors will be able to display.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Also I tested this monitor at a friends place through DVI and it worked just fine.

PS: Thanks for coming back here to answer!

Ok so now here is a follow up.

I bought a new video card today. An EVGA GTX 760. I plugged it in as DVI, and I get display, but again just low resolution!! It shows my monitor as Generic. Then I plugged it in via HDMI. Boom, full resolution and everything works. What on Earth is going on?? So it was not my old video card then. I am wondering if it is some kind of software thing? Or could my motherboard be the issue?

Any help would be GLADLY appreciated.

It sounds like your DVI port on the monitor isn't giving out monitor identification signals correctly. These signals communicate information about the monitor's EDID (extended display identification data). Your DVI port may have some bad pins/solder joints on the DDC (display data channel) pins (6 and 7).

Without this EDID data, windows sets the resolutions and refresh rate down to a safe level that most monitors will be able to display.

Did you attach the monitor to his computer while the computer was off ? If you do it while the computer is running, the resolution and settings are inherited from the monitor you had on the computer before you removed the other monitor to test.

 

[lok3sh]

Oh I think I might have done it while his was on.

Ok so here's something I tried. I used some software I found to open up my list of previous monitors and made an INF for the BENQ that I saw there and then force installed it to the monitor through the device manager. It now displays as a BENQ but only shows me 1920x1080 instead of 1920x1200 and when I select 1920x1080, it does display but it flickers and my monitor shows me a prompt saying non standard resolution or something like that. So my question is how can I make a working INF to force my monitor to show a resolution of 1920x1200? This might bypass any issues my computer has with recognizing my monitors features due to whatever the problem is and maybe allow me to tell the computer manually what it can display?

Another test I did was using the same HDMI out from the video card (which gave me full res when plugged into the monitor through HDMI) and then plugged a DVI to HDMI converter to the moinitor and plugged in the HDMI cable to that. Low resolution again. So it seems like the HDMI cable can send high res when plugged into the monitors HDMI port but not when converted and plugged into DVI.

Also I tested this monitor at a friends place through DVI and it worked just fine.

PS: Thanks for coming back here to answer!

Ok so now here is a follow up.

I bought a new video card today. An EVGA GTX 760. I plugged it in as DVI, and I get display, but again just low resolution!! It shows my monitor as Generic. Then I plugged it in via HDMI. Boom, full resolution and everything works. What on Earth is going on?? So it was not my old video card then. I am wondering if it is some kind of software thing? Or could my motherboard be the issue?

Any help would be GLADLY appreciated.

It sounds like your DVI port on the monitor isn't giving out monitor identification signals correctly. These signals communicate information about the monitor's EDID (extended display identification data). Your DVI port may have some bad pins/solder joints on the DDC (display data channel) pins (6 and 7).

Without this EDID data, windows sets the resolutions and refresh rate down to a safe level that most monitors will be able to display.

Did you attach the monitor to his computer while the computer was off ? If you do it while the computer is running, the resolution and settings are inherited from the monitor you had on the computer before you removed the other monitor to test.

 

[lok3sh]

Ok here is another update. The reason my monitor was flickering when I forced the 1920x1080 resolution after installing the INF I created was because the refresh rate was very low. Upped it to 60 and now I have 1920x1080 from my DVI cable to my monitor working fine.

Also I realized it is not a software issue because I did a fresh Windows installation and re-installed the drivers and everything and it still will not show me full resolution. Stuck at something really low. And then I installed PowerStrip and tried to force 1920x1200 but it just wouldn't let me. It does allow me to force 1920x1080 just like my INF thing did. And this works. I then tried to force 1920x1200 with the NVIDIA software. It does not work claiming that my monitor does not support it. But it does again allow me to force 1920x1080. This is so weird! I wish I knew what on Earth was going on here.

 

[Maxx_Power]

It almost sounds like the logic portion of the monitor is starting to die. It either can't consistently send the correct EDID or some data became corrupted, so it is sending the wrong EDID (causing mis-identification by the operating system).

Can you try a few different DVI cables ? Some of them are DVI-D and DVI-I, some dual-link and single link, see if it makes a difference ?

Also, try the VGA input on the monitor, if you have one. VGA also uses EDID data over some pins, so you can figure out if the monitor is having issues with EDID data transfer.

 

[lok3sh]

Cool that is what I shall try next once I find a VGA cable which I don't currently have.

So a question though. If it is just misinformation to the OS, shouldn't my manual override make the right resolution work?

Maybe I should just give in and buy a new monitor

It almost sounds like the logic portion of the monitor is starting to die. It either can't consistently send the correct EDID or some data became corrupted, so it is sending the wrong EDID (causing mis-identification by the operating system).

Can you try a few different DVI cables ? Some of them are DVI-D and DVI-I, some dual-link and single link, see if it makes a difference ?

Also, try the VGA input on the monitor, if you have one. VGA also uses EDID data over some pins, so you can figure out if the monitor is having issues with EDID data transfer.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Cool that is what I shall try next once I find a VGA cable which I don't currently have.

So a question though. If it is just misinformation to the OS, shouldn't my manual override make the right resolution work?

Maybe I should just give in and buy a new monitor

It almost sounds like the logic portion of the monitor is starting to die. It either can't consistently send the correct EDID or some data became corrupted, so it is sending the wrong EDID (causing mis-identification by the operating system).

Can you try a few different DVI cables ? Some of them are DVI-D and DVI-I, some dual-link and single link, see if it makes a difference ?

Also, try the VGA input on the monitor, if you have one. VGA also uses EDID data over some pins, so you can figure out if the monitor is having issues with EDID data transfer.

Should just be a matter of the monitor. But before you buy a new monitor, be sure you try a few DVI cables to eliminate the possibility of 1 or 2 bad DVI cables.

If HDMI works, why not use HDMI ?