Solved Screen resolution stuck at maximum 1280x1024 for CRT monitor(s)

The Win 7 Professional (32 bit) computer in question (the first of two planned upgrades from XP) was assembled in June 2016 and ran well with a Philips Brilliance 109P CRT monitor with resolutions 1029x1440/60Hz and 1600x1200/75Hz, but since March/April 2017 the screen resolution has been stuck at a maximum of 1280x1024/85Hz. This is both when trying Screen Resolution (including Advanced Settings and List all modes) and Graphics Properties.

The Device Manager sees the Philips 109P as a PnP monitor.

The same happens with a Samsung Syncmaster 1100DF CRT monitor.

A newer flat monitor (borrowed just to see) works properly at 1920x1080.

The Philips 109P monitor works properly (up to 1920x1440) when used on a PC with XP.

Switching cables between the monitors makes no difference either way (the flat screen works weel with both cables and the CRT fails with both cables).

At computer startup, and at Windows initiation, everything looks fine and normal with a small cursor arrow and spinning wheel, but as soon as Windows starts up properly the arrow/wheel become larger. Also, the Graphics Properties show the 85/75/60Hz refresh rates for the monitor correctly, so somehow somewhere it seems that there is a recognition of the actual properties.

So far unsuccessfully, among other things I have tried to roll back the versions of the graphics card driver and the Windows monitor driver, and I have asked Philips about a Win 7 driver (none has been found (yet). I have also tried to roll back some (probably irrelevant) Windows updates

The roll backs were based on the thought that the issue might have been caused by some unfortunate update.

Some tasks can only be performed on the old XP still running (with its exquisite Sony GDM-FW900), so the situation is obviously non viable, and until solved the second upgrade is out of the question.

Can anyone help?

we need your specs

Speccy - Publish Snapshot of your System Specs - Windows 7 Help Forums

you might also try forcing win7 to use a different monitor driver such as the Philips SoHo 109S using device manager > monitor > update driver

Another solution would be to override your current EDID settings. Here is a tool that does that

Custom Resolution Utility (CRU)

Thank you very much, John.

Here are the specs:
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/4Iw1bVbOT8nqJiYdWEOjh5c

I have tried to look for the Philips SoHo 109S, but it seems that the only OS versions on the Philips website are 95, 98, and 2000.
109S2014 19 109S Color Monitor - Philips Support

Also, I am really at a loss about safe websites to download from, apart from manufacturers.

I am afraid the CRU/EDID suggestion is somewhat over my head, and maybe courage (I have tried a few strange suggestions, such as unplugging the monitor cable with the graphics card control panel open, and trying to switch to a standard VGA driver or something, the latter just giving a black screen which I got away from by closing down and starting with the last good configuration, which wrecked the network adapter so I had to get it repaired by the friend who assembled the PC).


The current graphics driver version is (Intel) 10.18.14.4264 from 04/08/2015, and the monitor driver is (Microsoft) 6.1.7600.16385 from 21/06/2006 (applies to the monitor stated as both Philips Brilliance 109P and Generic PnP).

try these steps, any of them might fix this

asus ez update for your motherboard, (in the utilities section)
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intel driver detect
Intel® Driver Update Utility

if they do not help, you can still try the Philips SoHo 109S driver. I did not mean to download it from philips - its already on your hard drive since its built into windows. This link tells you how - in step 2 select "monitor", and in step 7 look under "philips" instead of "compatible usb .."

Windows is unable to find a compatible driver for the Myo armband Welcome to Myo Support

John,

I just tried all your three latest suggestions, restarting after each, but still no resolution change.

A new strangeness (which may hopefully hold a key): in the Device Manager, the monitor is now listed as 109S, but in Desktop>Screen Resolution/Graphics Properties it is still listed as 109P.

Thank you very much again.

Have you tried uninstalling the driver of that Monitor and restart your computer?

RoasterMen,

I can no longer remember whether I have tried that earlier.

I presume you mean Device Manager>Monitor>Philips 109S>Uninstall+

Is there any risk that the monitor will fail to work if I uninstall that driver, or what is the worst that may happen?

I just noticed that even though the monitor is now listed as 109S instead of 109P, the Windows driver is still the same as stated in an earlier post (6.1.7600.16385 from 21/06/2006).

Jacob Bugge said:

I just noticed that even though the monitor is now listed as 109S instead of 109P, the Windows driver is still the same as stated in an earlier post (6.1.7600.16385 from 21/06/2006).

Click to expand...

That driver is from before the SP1 version of windows 7, so your windows update is way out of date. Here's how you get up to date

How to Update Windows 7 All at Once with Microsofts Convenience Rollup

John,

I just made the Convenience Rollup update; after that I tried Windows Update which stated that there were no updates available (the latest updates before today being 23rd May). I did have automatic updates turned on ever since I found out that rolling back updates failed to solve the monitor issue.

The only visible change is that the Windows monitor driver version is now stated as 6.1.7601.23403 (instead of 6.1.7600.16385), still from 21/06/2006.

I am still anxious about the possible (imagined) dangers of just uninstalling the monitor driver, given earlier disaster.

Its good to make sure you know how to recover from any disaster. Restart the machine and press F8 and go into safe mode with networking, then restart again an due F8 to select "boot with last known good configuration". If you can do each of these, you'll be able to recover from any problem. This is important because pretty much anything you do here in troubleshooting has the chance of producing a black screen upon boot up, and you need to know you can recover. Beyond that, here some more input...

Try system file checker. start > run > sfc scannow.

Try the utility I mentioned above. Note that it has a file within it called "reset all", that you can use in safe mode to reset everything back to your defaults if you have a problem.

If you have a hardware problem its possible that neither of the above will help. VGA is unique among all PC connectors in that it uses an analog signal, which can produce unpredictable results if the signal strength weakens slightly. So if your motherboard vga output voltage has weakened at all over time, you may find that some vga monitors work fine but others do not, because some monitors are better than others at tolerating a slightly weaker signal. Higher resolutions and higher refresh rates require the strongest signals when using vga. The easiest way to remedy this is to use the thickest cable you can find (see second pic in link) which will maximize your signal strength. If you have a thick one laying around the home or office, give that a try.

VGA video card outputs

Still working on the CRU aspect.

Concerning the VGA cable, it is the thick kind with the really thick thingies at each end, like the one shown to the left in the second photo in the link (and the monitor worked fine with the higher resolutions until a few months ago).

I am afraid I am running out of options concerning the CRU, with the kind help of ToastyX.

When I run the CRU.exe (it has been like this from the beginning), all the resolutions appear, right through 1600x1200 up to 1920x1440 so the monitor is clearly recognized and things should work, but whatever I do, I still get back to the 1280x1024 upon restart (whether using restart.exe or restarting the PC after running the CRU.exe).

Throughout the whole process of trying things, Screen resolution shows a very simplified range of resolutions, like a scale from 1280x1024 (High) down to 800x600 (Low).

As mentioned, the driver version shown on Device Manager>Monitor>Philips 109P is still from 2006, just changed to a slightly different version number after choosing the Philips 109S as suggested.

Today I tried to choose a new general one (at the top of the list) called Super VGA 1600x1200, and that name now appears in the Device Manager under Monitor, but when I open Screen Resolution or Graphics Properties, the resolution is still locked, and the monitor still appears as Philips 109P (it also did that after choosing Philips 109S).

As I mentioned in the first post, at computer startup, and at Windows initiation, everything looks fine and normal with a small cursor arrow and spinning wheel, but as soon as Windows starts up properly the arrow/wheel become larger. Also, the Graphics Properties show the 85/75/60Hz refresh rates for the monitor correctly, so somehow somewhere it seems that there is a recognition of the actual properties.

I wonder whether any/all of this gives any (new) clues to the actual issue.

And I wonder whether/why not there is a viable and directly downloadable later version of the generic PnP monitor driver, than the one(s) from 2006, namely the 6.1.7600.16385 from 21/06/2006, since the attempt with 109S it became 6.1.7601.23403, still from 21/06/2006.

cru overrides your monitor driver and since it does not work, a monitor driver is not likely to fix the issue. At windows boot up your graphics driver has not yet loaded, which is why it looks normal when the logo is displaying.

Are you saying you do can get obtain a proper resolution using cru and its only upon restart that it goes back? If so, you could probably force cru to autorun at startup every time you boot.

Since your monitor works on another computer, I'm still thinking that this is a voltage related problem. You might try older versions of your graphics driver, since newer versions tend to add features which can put a slight additional burden on the card circuitry. Another thing to try is to play with graphics card settings and seeing if turning off various features such as Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering (aka AA and AF) gives a slight boost to your vga signal output.

John,

Are you saying you do can get obtain a proper resolution using cru and its only upon restart that it goes back? If so, you could probably force cru to autorun at startup every time you boot.

Click to expand...

No, but when running CRU.exe, all the right resolutions turn up.

The cable is identical to this one, except black and with a thick thingie labelled SC-B110 at either end:
https://www.amazon.com/computer-Coaxial-Ferrite-E108683-voltage/dp/B0038P4YKQ

Even before starting this thread (as mentioned in the first post), I did try to roll back the graphics driver to the version (4170 from March 2015) that was included on the CD that came with the motherboard, from the latest available (4578 from January 2017).

Should I try to go even further back?

I am considering the purchase of this cable, just to make sure, in case the cable above has failed in some way:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/hvm/Tech...1497638486&sr=8-4&keywords=techlink+vga+cable

If you want to try a different cable, try and find a thick one that is only 1M in length. Signal loss is proportional to length.

I'd try the oldest driver that works

Another thought is to open your intel graphics control panel thing (if that is your graphics gpu) and set color depth to the minimum, refresh rate to the minimum, also turn off any advanced features I like mentioned above, also reduce graphics clock speed to the minimum (if it allows you to change it at all), then reboot, and see if cru will work then. If so, you can work the setting back upward to something you can live with.

If none of this works, chances are your monitor's circuitry has degraded slightly over time so now it requires a stronger signal than normal. Not much you can do if that's the case other than use it on another computer. Or replace it

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John,

Setting the refresh rate to 60Hz and the colour depth to 16 bit (minimum values) made no difference.

I am expecting to receive a few cables (including one thick High Quality 1 m with magnets and the Techlink triple shield) on Tuesday.

I have also bought a used EIZO S2110W (14-bit graphics processor and 10-bit LUT, with 1680x1050 resolution), which may more or less match the image quality of the CRTs we have; I will also try that one when the cables arrive (DVI - VGA, no display cable with the monitor).

One of the graphics drivers I have tried is the oldest one available for Windows 7 on the Intel website.

I am still wondering about the ancient monitor drivers by Microsoft which nothing seems to change.

There was a (right or wrong) statement elsewhere that the monitor driver does no longer matters.


Apart from everything else, I am still wondering why the other CRT I tried also failed to work (I may try it again with the new cables and reductions), which was part of my reasons to believe the issue must be on the part of the PC, along with the change after almost a year of everything working fine. Coincidence may occur, of course.

I missed the part about the other CRT not working. I would not put too much significance into the timing of the problem, hardware failures seem random but usually occur because some straw breaks the camel's back. This issue is looking to me like a vga output voltage issue with your pc, assuming its not the cable.

The reason monitor drivers are not likely the problem is because with a PNP driver (which you are using) windows interrogates the monitor at boot up and determines what resolutions and refresh rates it can handle - and it keeps finding that yours can only handle the lower ones. cru is confirming this because it is not working. You should still try minimizing other graphics settings, as you did not mention trying disabling aa/af. Also, you can find much older drivers at 3dguru.com.

John,

I tried with a thick 1 m VGA cable along with setting the colour depth and refresh rate to minimum (16 bits and 60Hz) and disabling any anti aliasing and setting the 3D options to the bare minimum; I could find no mentioning of anisotropic filtering.

Still no change from the low 1280x1024 resolution.

By the way, as a strangeness, when I was in the process of resetting the colour depth to 32 bit, the screen showed everything upside down (180 degrees rotation, not mirroring) so I cancelled and tried again, and then everything stayed upside up.

Is it thinkable that there is something wrong with the motherboard or or the onboard graphics driver (the PC is just over a year old) which has lowered the VGA output voltage?

I consider getting a(nother) graphics card and trying to see whether the CRT monitor(s) may work with that. Might there be any point in that?


For the time being I have applied the EIZO monitor; it shows its native resolution, and good colours.

Thank you very much for all your time and for your sharing your insight.

I haven't seen anything like your situation to date. Yes it could be a motherboard voltage problem and if so, getting a PCI-e graphics card should fix it, unless the motherboard voltage is gonna just underpower the pci-e slot too (I would not anticipate that but have to mention it). Be best to see if you can borrow one first though since it would be a bummer if you got one only to have it not fix the issue. Again if it is a voltage issue, a better power supply might also fix it, but again you might just be throwing money away if you go down that road. A couple things to try next are to minimize your system voltage burden by unplugging those two extra non-boot hard-drives and rebooting to see what happens. Also, you could try booting from a linux standlone-bootable usb drive to see what resolutions it can do. If the problem persists with linux then at least you know its a hardware issue and is not windows fault.

Keep A Portable Ubuntu Installation With You Wherever You Go

Another thing, try running start > run > dxdiag and see if that tells you anything.

btw in my area a crt monitor goes for about $15, perhaps cheaper than a video card. Although since you have Intel 4400 graphics, any pci-e video card no matter how cheap will be more powerful than what you have.

Your motherboard came out in 2013 so there is a 4-year old vga driver on the asus site, if you want to give that a try.

Assuming the oldest driver does not fix this, it would not hurt to update every driver on your system to the newest, expecially the bios. I think asus live update can do all of that automatically

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