32-bit color in Vista, but only 16-bit in W7 /WS 2008 ?

hi !

i´ve been using XP & Vista with 1280x1024 resolution & 32-bit color.
but when i installed W7 i only got 1280x1024 16-bit,
if i go down to 1024x768 i get 32-bit.

i´ve tried "List all modes that the monitor can display", but 1280x1024 32-bit is NOT listed.
during the weekend i installed Windows Server 2008 (and converted it to a workstation !),
and it´s the same problem.

a wild guess: XP & Vista were installed when i had a CRT-monitor,
but W7 & WS 2008 were installed when using a LCD-monitor.

graphicscard: NVidia Quadro 2 Pro (NV15GL)
monitor: Dell 1702FP

how can i get 1280x1024 32-bit ?
reinstalling both O/S´s using a CRT ?
would it be enugh to just update/reinstall the graphic-drivers using a CRT ?

any ideas ?

I'd suggest seeing if there are any drivers available for your monitor (LCD) that you are using. Also, make sure your graphics card has the latest drivers available from nVidia.com.

usually Windows Update will find the drivers as well...

Not for this card it won't. This card is based on the same core as the old Geforce 2 Pro,

nVidia NV15 GPU - Specifications, and Pictures - GPUReview.com

a DirectX 7 card. there is not now and never will be a Windows 7 driver for it. About the best you can hope for is to try the last XP driver,

WinXP/2k - (71.84)

installed in XP compatibility mode.

i got 1280x1024 32-bit in Vista, i have used that monitor for 2 years.

i have already checked Nvidia, W7 tells me i already got the latest driver.

above: "a wild guess: XP & Vista were installed when i had a CRT-monitor,
but Windows 7 & WS 2008 were installed when using a LCD-monitor."

Please share your graphics driver type and version with us.

I'd wager (5 cents) that you're getting the generic VGA driver.

yes it´s : "Standard VGA-driver" (vgapnp.sys)

i had a look at Vista, it is using nv4_mini.sys & nv4_disp.dll.

Unless you can get the XP driver I linked to previously to install using compatibility mode, you can pretty much forget about that card and Windows 7. Sorry to say but it is just too old and out dated to still get any support (that card came out a year before XP did).

exactly how do i install the driver in compatility-mode ?

"old card" ?
yes, but since Vista is using an old XP/W2k-driver, why can´t i install the same driver under WS 2008 ?
WS 2008 is the server-version of Vista...

i already tried installing, using device-manager both W7 & WS2008 gives an errormessage:
"cannot find files", even though i told dev-manager where the files are.

running the setup from the driver-folder gives no errrormessage, it tells me the installation was done,
but after rebooting, there is no change, still the same old vgapnp.sys.

"old card" ?

Yes, old card. In computer terms more like down right ancient. To give you an idea as to just how old,

GeForce - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

your card is from the same generation as the Geforce 2 cards, which like I said came out even before XP did. It might have been a decent card when it came out 10 years ago, but today there are onboard video solutions that are more powerful.

exactly how do i install the driver in compatility-mode ?

Compatibility Mode

yes, but since Vista is using an old XP/W2k-driver, why can´t i install the same driver under WS 2008 ?

For starters the server version have stronger requirements for drivers than the consumer versions, so there is a very good possibility that the old XP driver just won't install. As far as Windows 7 goes the minimum video card requirement is a DirectX 9 card and your is DirectX 7. Again compatibility mode may or may not work. The one thing you didn't mention is whether the card is AGP or PCI. If it AGP if there isn't a properly working AGP driver in any OS, the driver for the card will not install.