Can someone please explain this one to me???

[Quasimojo]

I just got a new Acer AL2216WBD. It's 22" with an alleged native res of 1680x1050. Why, then, does it show 1600x1200 in the LCD's on-screen setup menu???

[Rattle]

you got the res on your card set to 1680x1050?

[Quasimojo]

you got the res on your card set to 1680x1050?
Sure do. GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB card. I can't figure this one out.

[andyl33t]

Have you set the display to widescreen mode? I.e 16:10 for 1680x1050.

[Quasimojo]

Have you set the display to widescreen mode? I.e 16:10 for 1680x1050.
Yes, I have the display settings set to 1680x1050 in Windows. If you mean someplace in the monitor setup on the monitor itself, I don't see anything of that nature there.

[andyl33t]

Whats confusing is that if its native res is 1680x1050, it should not be able to display 1600x1200. Hmmm are you sure that its the correct model you bought?

[Quasimojo]

Whats confusing is that if its native res is 1680x1050, it should not be able to display 1600x1200. Hmmm are you sure that its the correct model you bought?
I agree. This should not be possible. It is the correct model. The thing is, the low quality of the image supports the notion that it is displaying the wrong resolution.

[andyl33t]

Well all the monitor is doing is not correctly displaying the aspect ratio. Its displaying 4:3 when it should be doing 16:10.

[Quasimojo]

Well all the monitor is doing is not correctly displaying the aspect ratio. Its displaying 4:3 when it should be doing 16:10.
That sounds logical. So....how do I fix it? I can't find anything in the monitor setup menu that addresses that. Would DDC/CI being set to on or off have any bearing on this? How about digital vs. analog? I tried switching to the analog cable (using the DVI to analog adapter that came with the GPU on the GPU side), and it acted like it wasn't even getting a video signal.

[Mobious]

Call Acer.

-Mobious-

[smokie mcpott]

drivers for your monitor
i know on mine, it will display nonnative resolutions until i install the drivers

[Enablingwolf]

My Acer will show a floating dialog if I am to far out of native. Very annoying. It cycles in a pattern across the screen.

It will also auto adjust if it is not native. I can see the dialog do it too. That I have no control over. It just does it.

[Quasimojo]

UPDATE:

I just got off the phone with Acer support, and after much discussion, our best guess was that, regardless of what the display settings in Windows reflects, the GPU appears to be sending the monitor a 1600x1200 signal, as the resolution reflected in the monitor setup screen changed to reflect what the PC was set at - possibly an nVidia driver issue.

I could not confirm this was the way it was working on my own setup, as I am at my office right now, but the Tech Support Rep confirmed it to work that way on his own system.

Of course, I am still taking this with a grain of salt, as I was never actually able to convice him that 1600x1200 is not a widescreen resolution. :blink:

I guess I'll know more when I get back home and confirm this behavior on my own hardware. Until then, any assistance here would be *greatly* appreciated.

[Adragontattoo]

ok every monitor I have only gives me whatever A. the monitor supports B. the Vid card supports and C. what the Resolution is set at.

AKA the 17" work monitor I have in front of me is giving me 1280x 1024 right now. I can set it to a larger resolution but it either wont work or I will have to scroll around the screen to get the the corners.

Usually it wont work though. The Vid card may not be sending a 1680x1050 signal and the monitor is adjusting the sent signal to compensate. Info is stating what it is being sent/set at.

[Quasimojo]

UPDATE:

I went home at lunch and fiddled with it some more. I tried booting into Windows in VGA-enabled mode, and Windows came up at 640x480 as expected. However, when I then checked the monitor's info screen in its OSD, it now showed *1280x1024*! As soon as I budged it any higher though - 800x600, for example - it shot back up to reporting 1600x1200, and nothing I changed it to in the Windows display settings affected that. Strange. At that point I was unable to set my display settings back to 640x480. 800x600 was my low-end limit as far as Windows was concerned, so I could not get the monitor to report 1280x1024 again without rebooting. Well, I guess this was sort of like progress. :/

I then swapped out the DVI cable for the D-Sub analog cable with a DVI/D-Sub adapter at the GPU and again booted into Windows in VGA-enabled mode. Again, Windows dutifully came up at 640x480, except now the monitor reported...wait for it...*640x480*! Finally, I was getting somewhere. I changed the Windows display settings to 1680x1050 and voila, my display became crystal clear and very crisp! What's more, the monitor reported 1680x1050 as well. Eureka!

The only problem was that now, the entire Windows desktop was about 3-4" off the left side of the display. I tried correcting for this in the monitor adjustments, but it could get it even close.

Then I remembered reading somewhere that some people had to actually go so far as to go into the nVidia control center app and create a custom configuration which addressed resolution, refresh rate and color depth as well as several other settings options that meant absolutlely nothing to me. I tried this as well. I created the custom profile, which started with all settings reflecting those of my present environment. I didn't change *anything* and just saved it, and bingo. Everything looks awesome now.

I'm not completely sure whether it's nVidia's drivers or those for the Acer display, but the workaround certainly points toward nVidia (not to mention the fact that it seemed to work fine in Vista with the Vista version of the nVidia drivers). Basically, it doesn't work over DVI, and does work over analog, but only after I jump through the appropriate hoops.

Bottom line, however, is I can finally enjoy my new monitor in all its vivid widescreen glory. :clap:

Thanks to everyone who tried to help!

[andyl33t]

Glad to hear that it worked out :)

[Quasimojo]

Gaah! Sat down in front of the PC this weekend and the monitor wouldn't come out of power-saving mode. The light stayed yellow, as if it wasn't getting a signal. The machine appeared to have crashed. When I was able to get it booted back up, the desktop was, once again, about 2.5" off the left side of the screen. This time the fix didn't work.

I've tried uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling to no avail. The eVGA rep approved an RMA, even though we both question the possibility that the GPU is actually defective. At least I'll be able to either fix the problem or rule out the GPU. :-/