Can't choose proper monitor or refresh rate

[+Bob+]

XP SP3, ATI Radeon 9800 XT, Optiquest V95

I can't seem to set my refresh rate anymore. It stays at 60 hz no
matter what I choose.

While doing a Windows Update, I ignorantly allowed it to update my
display driver along with a slew of other security updates. After a
reboot, I was back in low-res mode and a message popped up "your
display driver was written for a previous version of windows" (way to
go, Windows Update!).

I got out the original ATI CD and reinstalled the original display
drivers. That fixed my driver compatibility problems. However, I can't
seem to choose the refresh rate. I can make the selection in Advanced
display settings, but it runs at 60hz no matter what I choose. I
downloaded the latest drivers from ATI but they didn't help. I can set
it for 150hz (a rate my monitor definitely does not support) and it
still looks exactly the same.

I also noticed that the monitor is now "Default Monitor" and I'm
suspicious that that might be the issue. However, XP refuses to detect
my monitor as a V95 and keeps it as Default. I can't find any way to
force the monitor I want - the most it will let me choose is Default
Monitor or Plug-n-Play - neither setting allows me to actually change
refresh rates. Unfortunately the Optiquest drivers are no longer
available on the public net from Optiquest (now Viewsonic) although
they were in XP itself.

Ideas on how I can get my refresh rate back where it belongs?

 

[Paul]

+Bob+ wrote:
> XP SP3, ATI Radeon 9800 XT, Optiquest V95
>
> I can't seem to set my refresh rate anymore. It stays at 60 hz no
> matter what I choose.
>
> While doing a Windows Update, I ignorantly allowed it to update my
> display driver along with a slew of other security updates. After a
> reboot, I was back in low-res mode and a message popped up "your
> display driver was written for a previous version of windows" (way to
> go, Windows Update!).
>
> I got out the original ATI CD and reinstalled the original display
> drivers. That fixed my driver compatibility problems. However, I can't
> seem to choose the refresh rate. I can make the selection in Advanced
> display settings, but it runs at 60hz no matter what I choose. I
> downloaded the latest drivers from ATI but they didn't help. I can set
> it for 150hz (a rate my monitor definitely does not support) and it
> still looks exactly the same.
>
> I also noticed that the monitor is now "Default Monitor" and I'm
> suspicious that that might be the issue. However, XP refuses to detect
> my monitor as a V95 and keeps it as Default. I can't find any way to
> force the monitor I want - the most it will let me choose is Default
> Monitor or Plug-n-Play - neither setting allows me to actually change
> refresh rates. Unfortunately the Optiquest drivers are no longer
> available on the public net from Optiquest (now Viewsonic) although
> they were in XP itself.
>
> Ideas on how I can get my refresh rate back where it belongs?
>

I only have one suggestion. If you know a web link for the driver
you're looking for, you can use web.archive.org to find an archived
copy. When you look up a link, it shows you all the dates of the
backup copies it made. Archive.org has at least 5500 1TB hard drives
to store stuff on.

For example, I can see files listed here, but clicking a link
didn't give me the file.

http://www.la.viewsonic.com/la/soporte/drivers.htm

If I take one of the links and look it up on archive.org, this
is what I get. I clicked the most recent one, to download it.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://www.viewsonic.com/drivers/vs_winxp.exe

That file looks like an InstallShield, so I can't burrow inside it
and tell you whether the V95 INF is in there or not.

You don't have to use the search dialog on web.archive.org. Just
build a URL manually, by tacking the desired URL, onto the end of...

http://web.archive.org/*/

The asterisk is a wild card, asking for a match on any date, which is
why a page full of dated links shows up.

web.archive.org doesn't have everything. And the software on the site,
has to "rewrite" difficult web pages, to make them work. And that fails
to work properly... frequently. So the archive is not a "precision
instrument". But it has found useful stuff for me, more times than
I can count.

If a target web site has an exclusionary robots.txt file, then archive.org
won't archive it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots_exclusion_standard

*******

With respect to your original question, I've had problems like that
too, where there is some cruft in the registry preventing video
settings to change. But if the setting isn't in plain English,
I can't find it using regedit. The problem is figuring out
where that is stored.

Paul

 

[Michael]

"+Bob+" <nomailplease@example.com> wrote in message
news:drc1v5lrr0jptftigvet4e27343n99btjs@4ax.com...
> XP SP3, ATI Radeon 9800 XT, Optiquest V95
>
> I can't seem to set my refresh rate anymore. It stays at 60 hz no
> matter what I choose.
>
> While doing a Windows Update, I ignorantly allowed it to update my
> display driver along with a slew of other security updates. After a
> reboot, I was back in low-res mode and a message popped up "your
> display driver was written for a previous version of windows" (way to
> go, Windows Update!).
>
> I got out the original ATI CD and reinstalled the original display
> drivers. That fixed my driver compatibility problems. However, I can't
> seem to choose the refresh rate. I can make the selection in Advanced
> display settings, but it runs at 60hz no matter what I choose. I
> downloaded the latest drivers from ATI but they didn't help. I can set
> it for 150hz (a rate my monitor definitely does not support) and it
> still looks exactly the same.
>
> I also noticed that the monitor is now "Default Monitor" and I'm
> suspicious that that might be the issue. However, XP refuses to detect
> my monitor as a V95 and keeps it as Default. I can't find any way to
> force the monitor I want - the most it will let me choose is Default
> Monitor or Plug-n-Play - neither setting allows me to actually change
> refresh rates. Unfortunately the Optiquest drivers are no longer
> available on the public net from Optiquest (now Viewsonic) although
> they were in XP itself.
>
> Ideas on how I can get my refresh rate back where it belongs?

Go to ATI/AMD site and search for 'Legacy Drivers." Download the most
current, but don't run. Uninstall your current video driver and reboot,
then install the ATI driver. ATI no longer supports the 9800 and came out
with a "universal" driver for their older cards. If that still doesn't work
a Google search will lead you to sites that still have the original 9800
drivers, although dated. You could use those and never let Microsoft update
hardware drivers unless the hardware was produced by Microsoft......these
include sound drivers.
--


"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."

 

[+Bob+]

On Mon, 17 May 2010 085:03 -0400, "Michael" <mdsjhu@gropumail.com>
wrote:

>Go to ATI/AMD site and search for 'Legacy Drivers." Download the most
>current, but don't run. Uninstall your current video driver and reboot,
>then install the ATI driver. ATI no longer supports the 9800 and came out
>with a "universal" driver for their older cards. If that still doesn't work
>a Google search will lead you to sites that still have the original 9800
>drivers, although dated. You could use those and never let Microsoft update
>hardware drivers unless the hardware was produced by Microsoft......these
>include sound drivers.

Following up... I've confirmed that it's a problem with monitor
recognition. It's installing the default monitor and only really
allowing a 60hz refresh rate. I found a way to go in through the ATI
interface and tell it to ignore what it has detected from the monitor
and just let me set the rate I want.

That has cured the problem, to some extent. I still have another
system (win2003) which suffers from the same malady: it's picked the
default monitor and that leaves it at 60hz. Unfortunately that one
can't run ATI's CCC software and override the settings.

In older versions of windows, I was able to go in and tell it I had
whatever monitor I wanted installed, regardless of what is attached.
Is there some way to do that with XP & 2003? When I try to change the
monitor type (by changing the Driver via Device Manager) I only get
access to "default monitor" and "Plug-n-play". Is there some way to
get to a generic "SuperVGA" monitor setting?

Also, are you suggesting that the older ATI driver would work better?
I do have an original CD that I could reinstall from... although I
don't know that that will fix the monitor detection issue.

 

[Michael]

"+Bob+" <nomailplease@example.com> wrote in message
news:go13v59iolitomu6t2um0f5ckq8o464cld@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 17 May 2010 085:03 -0400, "Michael" <mdsjhu@gropumail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Go to ATI/AMD site and search for 'Legacy Drivers." Download the most
>>current, but don't run. Uninstall your current video driver and reboot,
>>then install the ATI driver. ATI no longer supports the 9800 and came out
>>with a "universal" driver for their older cards. If that still doesn't
>>work
>>a Google search will lead you to sites that still have the original 9800
>>drivers, although dated. You could use those and never let Microsoft
>>update
>>hardware drivers unless the hardware was produced by Microsoft......these
>>include sound drivers.
>
> Following up... I've confirmed that it's a problem with monitor
> recognition. It's installing the default monitor and only really
> allowing a 60hz refresh rate. I found a way to go in through the ATI
> interface and tell it to ignore what it has detected from the monitor
> and just let me set the rate I want.
>
> That has cured the problem, to some extent. I still have another
> system (win2003) which suffers from the same malady: it's picked the
> default monitor and that leaves it at 60hz. Unfortunately that one
> can't run ATI's CCC software and override the settings.
>
> In older versions of windows, I was able to go in and tell it I had
> whatever monitor I wanted installed, regardless of what is attached.
> Is there some way to do that with XP & 2003? When I try to change the
> monitor type (by changing the Driver via Device Manager) I only get
> access to "default monitor" and "Plug-n-play". Is there some way to
> get to a generic "SuperVGA" monitor setting?
>
> Also, are you suggesting that the older ATI driver would work better?
> I do have an original CD that I could reinstall from... although I
> don't know that that will fix the monitor detection issue.

If you're happy with the way the current driver is working, leave it alone,
although I dislike Microsoft's video drivers. If it were my machine I head
to ATI and download the most current legacy drivers for your 9800.

For the other problem I'd head to the monitor manufacturer's site and see if
drivers are available for it. As I said before, never install M$ hardware
drivers unless they're for M$ hardware.
--


"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."

 

[+Bob+]

On Mon, 17 May 2010 15:15:51 -0400, "Michael" <mdsjhu@gropumail.com>
wrote:

>"+Bob+" <nomailplease@example.com> wrote in message
>news:go13v59iolitomu6t2um0f5ckq8o464cld@4ax.com...
>> On Mon, 17 May 2010 085:03 -0400, "Michael" <mdsjhu@gropumail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Go to ATI/AMD site and search for 'Legacy Drivers." Download the most
>>>current, but don't run. Uninstall your current video driver and reboot,
>>>then install the ATI driver. ATI no longer supports the 9800 and came out
>>>with a "universal" driver for their older cards. If that still doesn't
>>>work
>>>a Google search will lead you to sites that still have the original 9800
>>>drivers, although dated. You could use those and never let Microsoft
>>>update
>>>hardware drivers unless the hardware was produced by Microsoft......these
>>>include sound drivers.
>>
>> Following up... I've confirmed that it's a problem with monitor
>> recognition. It's installing the default monitor and only really
>> allowing a 60hz refresh rate. I found a way to go in through the ATI
>> interface and tell it to ignore what it has detected from the monitor
>> and just let me set the rate I want.
>>
>> That has cured the problem, to some extent. I still have another
>> system (win2003) which suffers from the same malady: it's picked the
>> default monitor and that leaves it at 60hz. Unfortunately that one
>> can't run ATI's CCC software and override the settings.
>>
>> In older versions of windows, I was able to go in and tell it I had
>> whatever monitor I wanted installed, regardless of what is attached.
>> Is there some way to do that with XP & 2003? When I try to change the
>> monitor type (by changing the Driver via Device Manager) I only get
>> access to "default monitor" and "Plug-n-play". Is there some way to
>> get to a generic "SuperVGA" monitor setting?
>>
>> Also, are you suggesting that the older ATI driver would work better?
>> I do have an original CD that I could reinstall from... although I
>> don't know that that will fix the monitor detection issue.
>
>If you're happy with the way the current driver is working, leave it alone,
>although I dislike Microsoft's video drivers. If it were my machine I head
>to ATI and download the most current legacy drivers for your 9800.

Actually, it is the ATI "legacy" driver I have installed now. I also
have the original ATI driver that I could re-install. I'm thinking
that it might be better than the generic driver ATI has now.

>For the other problem I'd head to the monitor manufacturer's site and see if
>drivers are available for it. As I said before, never install M$ hardware
>drivers unless they're for M$ hardware.

Unfortunately both monitor companies in question were absorbed by
other companies and the drivers for the older monitors fell by the
wayside.

Personally, I can't see sending good equipment into the waste stream
just because it's a few years old and there's something kueler out now
- but you do reach a point where supporting it through the latest OS
sucks up more time than the new item would cost.

 

[+Bob+]

On Mon, 17 May 2010 00:47:59 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:

>+Bob+ wrote:
>> XP SP3, ATI Radeon 9800 XT, Optiquest V95
>>
>> I can't seem to set my refresh rate anymore. It stays at 60 hz no
>> matter what I choose.
>>
>> While doing a Windows Update, I ignorantly allowed it to update my
>> display driver along with a slew of other security updates. After a
>> reboot, I was back in low-res mode and a message popped up "your
>> display driver was written for a previous version of windows" (way to
>> go, Windows Update!).
>>
>> I got out the original ATI CD and reinstalled the original display
>> drivers. That fixed my driver compatibility problems. However, I can't
>> seem to choose the refresh rate. I can make the selection in Advanced
>> display settings, but it runs at 60hz no matter what I choose. I
>> downloaded the latest drivers from ATI but they didn't help. I can set
>> it for 150hz (a rate my monitor definitely does not support) and it
>> still looks exactly the same.
>>
>> I also noticed that the monitor is now "Default Monitor" and I'm
>> suspicious that that might be the issue. However, XP refuses to detect
>> my monitor as a V95 and keeps it as Default. I can't find any way to
>> force the monitor I want - the most it will let me choose is Default
>> Monitor or Plug-n-Play - neither setting allows me to actually change
>> refresh rates. Unfortunately the Optiquest drivers are no longer
>> available on the public net from Optiquest (now Viewsonic) although
>> they were in XP itself.
>>
>> Ideas on how I can get my refresh rate back where it belongs?
>>
>
>I only have one suggestion. If you know a web link for the driver
>you're looking for, you can use web.archive.org to find an archived
>copy. When you look up a link, it shows you all the dates of the
>backup copies it made. Archive.org has at least 5500 1TB hard drives
>to store stuff on.
>
>For example, I can see files listed here, but clicking a link
>didn't give me the file.
>
>http://www.la.viewsonic.com/la/soporte/drivers.htm
>
>If I take one of the links and look it up on archive.org, this
>is what I get. I clicked the most recent one, to download it.
>
>http://web.archive.org/*/http://www.viewsonic.com/drivers/vs_winxp.exe
>
>That file looks like an InstallShield, so I can't burrow inside it
>and tell you whether the V95 INF is in there or not.
>
>You don't have to use the search dialog on web.archive.org. Just
>build a URL manually, by tacking the desired URL, onto the end of...
>
>http://web.archive.org/*/
>
>The asterisk is a wild card, asking for a match on any date, which is
>why a page full of dated links shows up.
>
>web.archive.org doesn't have everything. And the software on the site,
>has to "rewrite" difficult web pages, to make them work. And that fails
>to work properly... frequently. So the archive is not a "precision
>instrument". But it has found useful stuff for me, more times than
>I can count.
>
>If a target web site has an exclusionary robots.txt file, then archive.org
>won't archive it.
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots_exclusion_standard
>
>*******
>
>With respect to your original question, I've had problems like that
>too, where there is some cruft in the registry preventing video
>settings to change. But if the setting isn't in plain English,
>I can't find it using regedit. The problem is figuring out
>where that is stored.
>
> Paul

Paul:

Thanks for the pointer. The link at web.archive.org led to a corrupt
file, but I searched on the file a name and found a repository where
that file and a supplemental *.inf file were stored. So, I have the
viewsonic file now.

 

[Chuck]

On 5/17/2010 5:55 PM, +Bob+ wrote:
> On Mon, 17 May 2010 15:15:51 -0400, "Michael"<mdsjhu@gropumail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> "+Bob+"<nomailplease@example.com> wrote in message
>> news:go13v59iolitomu6t2um0f5ckq8o464cld@4ax.com...
>>> On Mon, 17 May 2010 085:03 -0400, "Michael"<mdsjhu@gropumail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Go to ATI/AMD site and search for 'Legacy Drivers." Download the most
>>>> current, but don't run. Uninstall your current video driver and reboot,
>>>> then install the ATI driver. ATI no longer supports the 9800 and came out
>>>> with a "universal" driver for their older cards. If that still doesn't
>>>> work
>>>> a Google search will lead you to sites that still have the original 9800
>>>> drivers, although dated. You could use those and never let Microsoft
>>>> update
>>>> hardware drivers unless the hardware was produced by Microsoft......these
>>>> include sound drivers.
>>>
>>> Following up... I've confirmed that it's a problem with monitor
>>> recognition. It's installing the default monitor and only really
>>> allowing a 60hz refresh rate. I found a way to go in through the ATI
>>> interface and tell it to ignore what it has detected from the monitor
>>> and just let me set the rate I want.
>>>
>>> That has cured the problem, to some extent. I still have another
>>> system (win2003) which suffers from the same malady: it's picked the
>>> default monitor and that leaves it at 60hz. Unfortunately that one
>>> can't run ATI's CCC software and override the settings.
>>>
>>> In older versions of windows, I was able to go in and tell it I had
>>> whatever monitor I wanted installed, regardless of what is attached.
>>> Is there some way to do that with XP& 2003? When I try to change the
>>> monitor type (by changing the Driver via Device Manager) I only get
>>> access to "default monitor" and "Plug-n-play". Is there some way to
>>> get to a generic "SuperVGA" monitor setting?
>>>
>>> Also, are you suggesting that the older ATI driver would work better?
>>> I do have an original CD that I could reinstall from... although I
>>> don't know that that will fix the monitor detection issue.
>>
>> If you're happy with the way the current driver is working, leave it alone,
>> although I dislike Microsoft's video drivers. If it were my machine I head
>> to ATI and download the most current legacy drivers for your 9800.
>
> Actually, it is the ATI "legacy" driver I have installed now. I also
> have the original ATI driver that I could re-install. I'm thinking
> that it might be better than the generic driver ATI has now.
>
>> For the other problem I'd head to the monitor manufacturer's site and see if
>> drivers are available for it. As I said before, never install M$ hardware
>> drivers unless they're for M$ hardware.
>
> Unfortunately both monitor companies in question were absorbed by
> other companies and the drivers for the older monitors fell by the
> wayside.
>
> Personally, I can't see sending good equipment into the waste stream
> just because it's a few years old and there's something kueler out now
> - but you do reach a point where supporting it through the latest OS
> sucks up more time than the new item would cost.
>
>

What you may be able to do:
Look for monitor related inf files (the old way of doing things)
Look at the registry settings for the driver and monitor you have installed.

Look at the same or similar settings for the other drivers you can
choose from.

From this, you may be able to tell where things go awry.
As to changing them, remember that you might need to use safe mode and a
registry backup to restore things, or even a recovery disk. How to go
about such things is really beyond scope at this point.