Syncmaster 245BW - 1920 x 1200 Problem

[jasn]

I'm trying to configure my new Samsung Syncmaster 245BW display to show 1920x1200, which is the highest resolution the monitor supports. My problem is that it will only display 1920x1200 on a 1600x1200 screen (with the mouse scrolling the screen to the left and right).

I have a GeForce 8600M GT running ForceWare version 169.28 (laptopvideo2go) on XP SP2. I have had the monitor display 1920x1200 correctly a couple of times, but after every reboot it goes back to displaying a 1920x1200 screen stretched across a 1600x1200 mode. My preferred mode is to leave my laptop docked and closed, and use a "single monitor" configuration. I have not tried any of the dual monitor configurations using both the laptop LCD at the same time as the 245bw.

Anyway, the first time I was able to get a proper 1920x1200 display on this monitor, was when I checked the Change to Native Resolution button in the nVidia control panel, the first time. It changed the resolution from 1600x1200 and displayed it on one screen. The second time it happened was when I went to the Manage Custom Resolutions in the nVidia control panel and then selected Allow modes not exposed by display, and then applied it. I then selected 1920x1200 and applied it, and it worked. But like I said, rebooting and then trying the same things again, will not work. I end up with the stretched display.

I tried searching the this and the nVidia user forums for 245BW, and one poster in the nVidia users forum mentioned in a thread that other users have solved this "stretching" problem by completely setting up a custom resolution, which I haven't tried yet because I don't know what values to enter in. If anyone has that info and can pass it along, it would be a big help.

Thanks..

Edited January 1, 2008 by jasn

[jasn]

Well I've got it to work properly again. I downgraded to 169.21 drivers, (which exhibited the exact same problem as noted here), upgraded back to the 169.28 drivers. Upon reboot went in to the nVidia control panel, selected the "Allow modes not exposed by display" option, applied it, and then went to the resolution section and selected 1920x1200. Voila, no more stretching. So I know this configuration can work.

It's just that when I reboot the computer, it goes back to the "stretched behavior. So if someone has a real solution for this problem, like the details of a working 1920x1200 Custom Resolution that I can apply in the nVidia control panel, I would greatly appreciate it if you could pass along the information.

Thanks.

Edited December 30, 2007 by jasn

[jasn]

I have also recently tried the laptopvideo2go 167.43 32 bit XP drivers based upon the information posted at laptopvideo2go's main page, indicating that the 167 series of drivers are the OEM drivers for laptop manufacturers. Anyway no go. Same stretched behavior.

The interesting thing is that while running in linux using the 169.07 linux drivers, this exact hardware setup performs absolutely correctly. 1 screen of 1900x1200 on my 245BW, all on one screen, not stretched across a 1600x1200 display mode.

If anyone can point me to any information I could use to solve this problem within Windows XP, it would be a big help.

Thanks..

[elbian]

I'm trying to configure my new Samsung Syncmaster 245BW display to show 1920x1200, which is the highest resolution the monitor supports. My problem is that it will only display 1920x1200 on a 1600x1200 screen (with the mouse scrolling the screen to the left and right).

I have a GeForce 8600M GT running ForceWare version 169.28 (laptopvideo2go) on XP SP2. I have had the monitor display 1920x1200 correctly a couple of times, but after every reboot it goes back to displaying a 1920x1200 screen stretched across a 1600x1200 mode. My preferred mode is to leave my laptop docked and closed, and use a "single monitor" configuration. I have not tried any of the dual monitor configurations using both the laptop LCD at the same time as the 245bw.

Anyway, the first time I was able to get a proper 1920x1200 display on this monitor, was when I checked the Change to Native Resolution button in the nVidia control panel, the first time. It changed the resolution from 1600x1200 and displayed it on one screen. The second time it happened was when I went to the Manage Custom Resolutions in the nVidia control panel and then selected Allow modes not exposed by display, and then applied it. I then selected 1920x1200 and applied it, and it worked. But like I said, rebooting and then trying the same things again, will not work. I end up with the stretched display.

I tried searching the this and the nVidia user forums for 245BW, and one poster in the nVidia users forum mentioned in a thread that other users have solved this "stretching" problem by completely setting up a custom resolution, which I haven't tried yet because I don't know what values to enter in. If anyone has that info and can pass it along, it would be a big help.

Thanks..

Hi I'm having a Schenker M570RU (based on Clevo M570RU) with an GForce Go 7950 GTX 512MB GFX-Card and I'm having exact the same Problem ...

The first time after installing (reinstalling) the NVidia Drivers the Resolution on my Samsung 245B (via HDMI) is 1920x1600. After restarting Windows XP tells me nothing has changed but the monitor says 1600x1200.

Maybe someone has found any solution to this Problem ??

Greets from Germany (and sorry for my bad english)

Elbian

PS : I've tested the latest 3 drivers from Laptopvideo2to with patched and not patched Inf-Files ;(

[jasn]

I am now able to view a correct 1920x1200 screen with my configuration and have it survive reboots, and the key to my being able to do it was to identify when I could force my system to do a correct "non-stretched" 1920x1200. I can always obtain a correct display when upgrading my nVidia drivers, (not downgrading them), and the following method worked for both an Asus V1S w/8600M GT and an Asus V2S w/8600M GS, both running XP SP3 and the nVidia drivers mentioned below, connecting to a Samsung 245BW display, using a DVI connection between the DVI port on the Asus Power Station for V1 & V2, and the DVI port on the 245BW. The way I was able to partially solve this problem was by doing the following hack;

1) I first downgraded my nVidia drivers and used LaptopVideo2Go's XP 32 bit 167.43 drivers with their modified INF file.

2) After rebooting into XP using the older drivers, I then re-configured my nVidia Control Panel settings to use a Single Display (my 245BW), and set my resolution to 1600x1200.

3) I then upgraded my nVidia drivers and used LaptopVideo2Go's XP 32 bit 169.09 drivers with their modified INF file. (The reason why I chose 169.09 is because it is the same revision of the Linux drivers that I use on this laptop in a Linux/XP dual boot configuration.)

4) Upon rebooting into XP, (using the now upgraded drivers), I go back into the nVidia Control Panel and select the Change Flat Panel Scaling, which already has as selected "Use my display's built-in scaling" and it shows the Native Resolution as 19200x1200 and the Current Resolution as 1600x1200. I then select the Change to Native Resolution big gray button and my screen blanks momentarily before coming back in full 1920x1200 "non-stretched" mode.

Now if I don't do anything else, and simply reboot the computer, upon loading Windows XP again, this time I will have a 1920x1200 "screen" stretched onto a 1600x1200 resolution, which is not only "squished" but annoying to keep moving the mouse to scroll to the part of the screen left off of the right. So it is important to do something to retain the correct settings BEFORE rebooting.

5) I next go into Manage Custom Resolutions, and select Create.... The next menu presents a "Simple" Custom Resolution configuration of options that are already filled in. Horizontal desktop pixels: 1920, Vertical desktop lines: 1200, GDI Refresh rate:60, Bits per pixel: 32, and finally the Interlaced box is not checked. I then click on the Test button, agree to the disclaimer, and the screen goes momentarily blank again, and again presents the correct "non-stretched" 1920x1200 resolution. Finally I click OK, and I've created my correct Custom Resolution.

Now when I reboot the computer the resolution is correct, and my Custom Resolution is there. I tried deleting the Custom Resolution and when I rebooted the computer it was back to the "stretched" ugliness, so it's important to have the correct Custom Resolution defined. I also found out that it's important to configure the Custom Resolution when you are already in the correct display mode because when I tried to create an "Advanced" Custom Resolution mode, selecting Manual for my timing, and then entering in all of the settings I noted from my other successful Custom Resolution, it did NOT work. Obviously a better solution is needed, but I can at least utilize all of my HW capabilities while running XP.

Finally, I'm not sure if the problem here is related to a problem that Dell 2405FPW users discovered trying to run 1920x1200 mode on that 24" flat panel screen, but the INF modification tweak for the running 1920x1200 on the 24" Dell 2405FPW, that can be enabled using LaptopVideo2Go's INF enhancer, did NOT work for me. Whatever the issue, I hope that this is something that either nVidia or Samsung can fix with updates going forward. BTW, I'm sure that the EDID information either isn't be correctly provided from the monitor, or read by the driver, (although the nVidia Linux driver doesn't have this problem). However, using RivaTuner, or Powerstrip, did not fix this problem for me, the above method did.

Good Luck all..

Edited February 11, 2008 by jasn

[Guest Urban]

You are a golden god my friend - this finally fixed this immensely annoying bug.