Is it possible to modify my video driver?

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Hey.

I can install cards and make them work, but I know virtually nothing about programming and I need some help!

Here is what I have:

Board: Biostar Group P4M800-M7A Via P4M800/8237
OnBoard Graphics: VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP
Monitor: ASUS VH196 (19.1" visible)

... and here is my dilemma:

My monitor has a native resolution of 1440 x 900 and can handle 75 Hertz, but 1280 x 768 and 60 Hertz is the closest my current driver can get at the moment.

My previous computer had a graphics driver that could be customized inside its own control panel, but this one does not. I have searched and searched, and I have been to the Systemax site and downloaded everything available there but still cannot get 1440 x 900! Some drivers I have found will go way past the resolution I need -- I have poor eyesight -- but none of them hit the mark.

Can anyone here help me customize the driver I have or point me toward some other solution?

Many thanks!

what windows version are you using?

about the eyesight:
do you have installed the clearType tuner? http://www.microsoft.com/typography/Cle ... ertoy.mspx

btw, isn't 60hz bad for the eyes?

Have you been to the Biostar website to look for stuff for your specific motherboard?

Right now I have a dual-boot with Win2K Pro and XP Pro, and I plan to add 64-bit Win7 in a few days.



Ah, I will check that out ... and yes, anything brighter or more flickering than a dull moon bothers my eyes.



No, but I think that would only relate to my BIOS and not a graphics driver.

Here is the Systemax link, but my machine is newer than the dates I see on things there!

http://www.supportforyourpc.com/tools/d ... 8&dltype=0

... but none of those will install anyway.

Usually the mobo manufacturer is the one to provide for onboard video.

The IGP driver is (usually) written by the chipset company. Unless it's a notebook, it's usually best to use the driver directly from them. And that would be the first thing I try. After installing the driver from VIA/S3G, check if there's somewhere to add custom display resolution in the drivers' settings page.

If there's no such feature, you can try changing the resolution in the registry.
Go to the key HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO,
each key here represent a display card and the sub keys (starting from 0000) are the display outputs the card supports. Change the Default.Settings.XResolution and Default.Settings.YResolution to the values you like. Reboot and see if it works.
If there's more than 1 display card or output key, then you may use a trial and error approach or change them all. Under each output key is the monitor key. It stores the resolutions of the attached monitor. I don't think Windows check those keys on startup but if your first attempt fail, you can try changing those too.

It that doesn't work you may also want to look up programs that can add custom resolution. PowerStrip is one famous example. I have no need to use such programs before, so I don't know if they work.

Ah, CloudWalker, I so greatly thank you! That is *exactly* the kind of tweaking I love doing ... but now first I must do a clean re-install. Not long after coming back here to get ComputerLover's link to the ClearType utility, I deleted my PowerUser account (and all others and groups) with intentions of just using "Administrator" ... and the next Desktop I saw after re-booting told me I was in big trouble ... and then I spent the next couple of hours on the phone with one of the helpful folks at MS ... but we could never get rid of the "security clamps" so he could get in and try to fix things himself. But just as soon as the OneCare scanner he ordered gets finished, I will begin looking in my Win2K registry and "practice up" a bit to get ready for my next encounter with XP!

Sorry to hear that but how could that happen? I thought the Administrators group and the Administrator account is undeleteable?

It was not the Administrator group or account I had deleted, just everything else, and including my own Power User account and even that group. I am sure I had done the initial OS installation as Administrator, and I do not recall ever making a "leejosepho" Power User account at all. But, I obviously must have. However, the thing that struck me as odd here is this:

There was the usual Administrator account ...

Ah, and please pardon this interruption to the flow of thought here, at least mine, but TweakUI just now came to mind, and I bet that explains all of this! Consider:

In the Users section of the Control Panel (and prior to the big crash), there was the usual Administrator account and "leejosepho" as a Power User, but there was no "leejosepho" in Documents and Settings out on the drive. Administrator and "All Users" were the only folders to be found in "Documents and Settings", and that is one reason I had thought nothing of deleting the "leejosepho" Power User account even though the Administrator's Documents and Settings folders were all virtually empty ... and now here is what I now suspect:

A few days ago, I had used TweakUI to move the Administrator's "My Documents" to a different spot, and I am guessing that is why the OS had no idea what to do after re-boot when it found nothing more than "All Users" in Documents and Settings!

... and having now solved this case, maybe I should apply for a job at MS, eh?!

If the Administrator account is still there, can you just logon to it instead?

That is actually the only account in the system, so yes, that is where I go ... and this afternoon I had a brainstorm ...

Prior to their suspected deletion, I have a hunch the Documents and Settings folders for "leejosepho" (as a Power User rather than as "Administrator") were on my second drive where I had told TweakUI to tell the OS to find my "DataDocs" ("My Documents") folders. If so, that seems to me to explain why the Docs and Sets folders for "Administrator" were (and actually still are) essentially empty, thereby leaving the OS "empty-handed" (no info or points of reference) even for doing something as simple as finding a background I had tried to set for my Desktop. So, I am going to go digging for deleted Docs and Sets files on my second drive and copy them into Administrator's Docs and Sets folders and see what happens after a re-boot ... and I just might be able to get that done yet tonight if my OnTrack software cooperates!

... and on my initial question here ...

Changing my video settings with regedit did not have any effect ... but I *have* found the .exe file that makes the list of modes available ...! !

Well, my "brainstorm" turned out to be more like some kind of mental windstorm. The files I thought I might find were not to be found ... but now my XP is almost back to working well -- I cannot unlock the task bar or switch to "classic" in the Control Panel -- but the only thing that had been done to it since yesterday was the scan that had been suggested to me. Yesterday I could not download or install anything at all, but now I have finished some re-updates. So, we will see what happens there ...

... and I think I am going to just put a new video card in my machine to take care of my resolution problem. Windows 7 is going into it at the moment and I am on a Dell with the 1440 x 900 that is so easy to see, and I want to get there soon! If my onboard video could support that resolution well, I cannot imagine why the manufacturer would have skipped over it and moved on to even higher numbers.

Ah, I should have listened! A BIOS update *did* get me to 1440 x 900!

I am still going to install an AGP card to get past 60 hertz, but at least now the MB can match my monitor's native resolution.

I thank you.

I just did a little test on TweakUI. It turned out it changed the location of My Documents without copying the stuffs from the original location. So the new location will be empty unless you copy those files manually. On the other hand, if you use Explorer to move My Documents to a new location, Windows will move the contents and update the new location in one go.

I also created a new user, logon to it and then log out and delete it. Windows keep all the files intact even after the user is deleted. It doesn't seem like normal Windows behavior for those files to disappear.

Yes ... the problem here is the presence of an abnormal user. Ugh.

To explain a bit ...

I used to work with a young man who really knew his stuff in just about everything related to Windows. He had begun back in the DOS days, and he viewed all the later operating systems like a big virus trying to take over his computer. And of course, he made the usual comments about the irony of having to press "Start" in order to stop it, and that he did not need anyone to tell him when it was safe to turn off his own computer! I was never all that proficient in DOS, but I still enjoy doing things there whenever an opportunity arises. But anyway ... and please excuse me if this becomes a long read ...

In Wins 95 and 98, I got used to moving things around and tweaking stuff at will. Then I bought a copy of 2K a couple of years ago and began getting my fingers slapped while doing some of the same stuff, and even more. For example, I get all worked up when I still see my personal stash of Favorites "scattered around" (as I see things) in "Default User" and/or "All Users" or wherever else even though I am the only one with an account on my machine ... and that is where my battles with Desktop.ini files began ... and I have yet to win ... and maybe all of that explains why my system got all messed up as a result of my DOS-preferred mentality of having complete control of my own machine ...

... and now everyone might get a chuckle out of this:

Here is a great site I have found very useful while setting up old computers in the past ...

http://www.techarp.com/freebog.aspx

And somewhere amist all that information is a warning about having to re-install Windows if you later change certain things in your BIOS ...

... and can you guess what I am doing right now?!

I have a nice KVMP switch, and 2K has been going back into my machine while I type here. And when that is done, XP will again go in right behind it, and then Win 7 once again. For, you see, and after doing the BIOS update to get the 1440 x 900 resolution I wanted, I installed an APG card and changed a couple of things in my BIOS that I should have left alone.

But since I got a nice nap a little earlier, I will be fine for the night and have even most of the updates done by morning!

You almost sound like you'd be happier in linux.