Radeon X1600 - Monitor "Out of Range" at native resolution

Roman2K · Dec 23, 2007, 04:48 PM

Hi,

I'm struggling with setting my screen resolution to its native 1440x900 under Windows XP Pro SP2. Every resolution works (blurry) from 800x600 to 1400x1150, but the native one causes an "Out of Range" message to be displayed on and by the screen.

I had no such problem while running Vista with modtool'd official ATI Catalyst drivers nor did I under Mac OS. But I had to switch to XP for game, driver compatibility and snappiness.

Researches on Google yielded refresh rate being to high, but my screen only supports 60 Hz from 1024x768 and up (setting it to 70, 72 or 75 Hz in the "Monitor" tab does not actually take effect since 60 Hz is the rate actually mentioned in the OSD menu), so I don't think the refresh rate is causing the resolution not being supported under XP.

So back to XP, I tried the following drivers without success:

default generic drivers (no 1440x900 listed as supported resolution),
graphics drivers from the Leopard Bootcamp CD (2.0, also tried with 1.3 beta),
latest Radeon Omega drivers,
latest AMD/ATI BootCamp iMac (early 2006) drivers,
latest ATI Catalyst drivers with modtool applied for Mobility X1600 support.

As stated above, Vista doesn't yield this weird behavior so I also tried installing Vista Plug and Play monitor drivers (monitor.sys and monitor.inf) for each of the displays listed under the "Monitor" branch of the device manager (3 Default Monitor's, 1 Generic Television, 1 or 2 Plug and Play monitor). Some of the devices were subsequently listed with a warning icon in the device manager, and that didn't do the trick.

My hardware configuration is:

iMac 17", early 2006 (internal display unplugged, because it's dying) which is equipped with a built-in Radeon X1600 graphics card,
Asus VW193S, external monitor used as main display,
the monitor is plugged into the iMac through the Apple mini-DVI to VGA adapter.

Thanks in advance!

Dyre Straits · Dec 23, 2007, 10:55 PM

Welcome to DriverHeaven!

I tend to think this should be posted in the Apple forum. But, we'll leave it here for now and hope that someone else has tried this kind of configuration with success.

Personally, I've found Vista Home Premium to be pretty robust for my gaming. I don't see where you listed the amount of RAM in this system. Perhaps some additional RAM is needed.

Good luck!

Roman2K · Dec 24, 2007, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

I tend to think this should be posted in the Apple forum. But, we'll leave it here for now and hope that someone else has tried this kind of configuration with success.

Yes you might be right about this thread fitting better in the Apple forum. I didn't post it there because the monitor is non-Apple.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Personally, I've found Vista Home Premium to be pretty robust for my gaming.

I think so too, but most of the time, I use the computer for tasks other than playing. They are not CPU intensive, but I like them to be very responsive. Also, the disk indexing of Vista kicks in on a regular basis and that bugs me. Windows XP blazing fast at desktop tasks, clean of that disk indexing, and doesn't prompt for UAC stuff for every action.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

I don't see where you listed the amount of RAM in this system. Perhaps some additional RAM is needed.

Well it's not mentioned since it doesn't seem to be related to the area of the issue. There is 2 GB of memory (maxed out, unfortunately).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

Good luck!

Thank you, and thanks for your time. Hopefully someone will be able to help me address this issue given that I will stick with XP for now.

Dyre Straits · Dec 24, 2007, 11:19 AM

As for a couple of the issues you mention:

1. Indexing: I've completely disabled that feature and very easily. I don't like having it functioning all the time, either.

2. UAC: The same. I've disabled that as well. As I'm the only one using this computer, there's no real need to have it active.

With these disabled, I've enjoyed my Vista experience "mostly". I say that as I have my system setup where I can boot to XP by simply restarting and going into BIOS to change the boot drive. Since getting Vista working so well, I rarely go back to XP now. The "mostly" part is due to there not being drivers for a couple of my devices.

And, that makes me think that, perhaps, the problem you're having is that there are no specific drivers for the way you're setting up things under XP.

Check out our Vista Tweaks in the appropriate forum.

Roman2K · Jan 1, 2008, 09:33 PM

Sorry for the late reply.
Thanks for the tips, Dyre Straits.

Eventually I decided to stick with XP anyway because of a clipping sound problem under Vista (all iMac/MBP users have the same problem).

And after some digging, I found a solution that makes the native 1440x900 resolution work under XP on an external monitor: there is only one set of drivers released by ATI as a hotfix in response to a bug in Catalyst 7.5, entitled "hotfix_xp32-64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_48430.exe". Any older or newer driver breaks the native resolution so I have to stick with that particular set of drivers for now. This 7.5 bug resulted in people having the same problem as me (see this post) except their problem didn't exist in previous versions and disappeared with the release of 7.6 and newer, mine doesn't.

I filed a ticket at AMD support site on the 25th of December 2007 but no reply so far.

swimtech · Jan 1, 2008, 09:53 PM

The last Beta of Boot Camp (1.4) includes Catalyst Version 7.7 with the Classic control panel for XP - and that's what I'm running (X1600 graphics in this MacBook Pro). I've not tried hooking an external monitor to this laptop lately, but can try that for you late this week to see if the resolution and refresh rate is available, and maybe AMD will have the chance to respond by then too.

Roman2K · Jan 2, 2008, 12:25 PM

Hi swimtech. Yeah I would like that, that would be kind of you.

These BootCamp 1.4 beta including Catalyst 7.7 did break the native resolution. It is possible to choose it by adjusting the slider to 1440x900 but after clicking "Apply", the monitor displays the message "Out of Range". If you get the same problem, the message may vary but the screen will be blank. Don't touch the keyboard nor the mouse, Windows will automatically revert the resolution back to the previous one after 15 seconds you will be back on your feet.

Although it seems unlikely, the monitor may be the cause, in which case you may not encounter the issue. Anyway thanks in advance for trying if you have some spare time and feel like it :-). I would let AMD know of the result in my current support ticket.

swimtech · Jan 2, 2008, 10:35 PM

Gosh, that was really easy, for me anyway...

I simply unhooked the DVI cable running to my Sceptre LCD (native 1680x1050) from the "Old Girl" (specs under avatar), hooked it to the DVI connector on this MB Pro (notice, no adaptors used), activated the ATI Control Panel, clicked the #2 monitor, checked the "Extend my Windows desktop to this monitor, moved the Screen Resolution slider to 1440x900, and clicked Apply. A dialog box came up to allow me to restart or apply without restarting - I chose not to restart. It worked - no problem. I checked further in the Advanced settings, Displays, and saw that it was running 1440x900 at 60Hz.

I've yet to restart.

Now, the monitor just shows up as a Plug and Play monitor - not by name, indicating I have not installed an INF file to tell Windows specifically what the monitor is on this machine. Also note that the primary monitor remains the internal LCD, the external is monitor #2.

ATI Options tab in the Advanced settings of the Control Panel indicate only the following checked:
WMV Acceleration
Reactivate all warning messages
Enable ATI taskbar icon application
Show ATI icon on taskbar
and... this might matter...
Alternate DVI operational mode

You have to use the adaptor for that unit, hmmm...

Hopefully this post gives you some insight, or an idea to try - let us know, ok?

Edit: I just swapped the displays around in this configuration - the internal laptop display becoming #2 and the external Sceptre becoming #1 - that worked fine too.

Another edit: I guess you didn't buy AppleCare extended protection, eh?

Roman2K · Jan 2, 2008, 10:53 PM

So it worked with both the external LCD monitor plugged in and the internal display on at 1440x900. I take it its native 1680x1050 worked too, is that right?

As for the monitor drivers (the INF file necessary for Windows to know exactly what monitor it's dealing with, instead of a generic Plug and Play monitor), I couldn't find one on ASUS' website (my monitor vendor), there's only some poor, useless PDF manual.

Thanks for experimenting and giving feedback. I'll perform some additional tests on my side, and check for this interesting "Alternate DVI operational mode" option.

swimtech · Jan 2, 2008, 11:35 PM

I guess I should have asked this earlier - does your configuration work ok using your Mac in OSX (and what version of OSX are you running?)?

And yes, after checking settings, it let me select 1680x1050 for the external Sceptre monitor and it worked - note, sometimes you have to click around once or twice to get these settings to take or appear available as far as the resolution is concerned - I don't know why...

Could you post or PM me your serial number? I can double check your warranty and service history with that.

Jan 1, 2008, 09:53 PM	#6
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	The last Beta of Boot Camp (1.4) includes Catalyst Version 7.7 with the Classic control panel for XP - and that's what I'm running (X1600 graphics in this MacBook Pro). I've not tried hooking an external monitor to this laptop lately, but can try that for you late this week to see if the resolution and refresh rate is available, and maybe AMD will have the chance to respond by then too. __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Jan 2, 2008, 10:35 PM	#8
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	Gosh, that was really easy, for me anyway... I simply unhooked the DVI cable running to my Sceptre LCD (native 1680x1050) from the "Old Girl" (specs under avatar), hooked it to the DVI connector on this MB Pro (notice, no adaptors used), activated the ATI Control Panel, clicked the #2 monitor, checked the "Extend my Windows desktop to this monitor, moved the Screen Resolution slider to 1440x900, and clicked Apply. A dialog box came up to allow me to restart or apply without restarting - I chose not to restart. It worked - no problem. I checked further in the Advanced settings, Displays, and saw that it was running 1440x900 at 60Hz. I've yet to restart. Now, the monitor just shows up as a Plug and Play monitor - not by name, indicating I have not installed an INF file to tell Windows specifically what the monitor is on this machine. Also note that the primary monitor remains the internal LCD, the external is monitor #2. ATI Options tab in the Advanced settings of the Control Panel indicate only the following checked: WMV Acceleration Reactivate all warning messages Enable ATI taskbar icon application Show ATI icon on taskbar and... this might matter... Alternate DVI operational mode You have to use the adaptor for that unit, hmmm... Hopefully this post gives you some insight, or an idea to try - let us know, ok? Edit: I just swapped the displays around in this configuration - the internal laptop display becoming #2 and the external Sceptre becoming #1 - that worked fine too. Another edit: I guess you didn't buy AppleCare extended protection, eh? __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it. Last edited by swimtech; Jan 2, 2008 at 11:01 PM.

Jan 2, 2008, 11:35 PM	#10
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	I guess I should have asked this earlier - does your configuration work ok using your Mac in OSX (and what version of OSX are you running?)? And yes, after checking settings, it let me select 1680x1050 for the external Sceptre monitor and it worked - note, sometimes you have to click around once or twice to get these settings to take or appear available as far as the resolution is concerned - I don't know why... Could you post or PM me your serial number? I can double check your warranty and service history with that. __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Dec 23, 2007, 04:48 PM	#1
Roman2K DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	Radeon X1600 - Monitor "Out of Range" at native resolution Hi, I'm struggling with setting my screen resolution to its native 1440x900 under Windows XP Pro SP2. Every resolution works (blurry) from 800x600 to 1400x1150, but the native one causes an "Out of Range" message to be displayed on and by the screen. I had no such problem while running Vista with modtool'd official ATI Catalyst drivers nor did I under Mac OS. But I had to switch to XP for game, driver compatibility and snappiness. Researches on Google yielded refresh rate being to high, but my screen only supports 60 Hz from 1024x768 and up (setting it to 70, 72 or 75 Hz in the "Monitor" tab does not actually take effect since 60 Hz is the rate actually mentioned in the OSD menu), so I don't think the refresh rate is causing the resolution not being supported under XP. So back to XP, I tried the following drivers without success: default generic drivers (no 1440x900 listed as supported resolution), graphics drivers from the Leopard Bootcamp CD (2.0, also tried with 1.3 beta), latest Radeon Omega drivers, latest AMD/ATI BootCamp iMac (early 2006) drivers, latest ATI Catalyst drivers with modtool applied for Mobility X1600 support. As stated above, Vista doesn't yield this weird behavior so I also tried installing Vista Plug and Play monitor drivers (monitor.sys and monitor.inf) for each of the displays listed under the "Monitor" branch of the device manager (3 Default Monitor's, 1 Generic Television, 1 or 2 Plug and Play monitor). Some of the devices were subsequently listed with a warning icon in the device manager, and that didn't do the trick. My hardware configuration is: iMac 17", early 2006 (internal display unplugged, because it's dying) which is equipped with a built-in Radeon X1600 graphics card, Asus VW193S, external monitor used as main display, the monitor is plugged into the iMac through the Apple mini-DVI to VGA adapter. Thanks in advance!

Jan 1, 2008, 09:33 PM	Thread Starter #5
Roman2K DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the tips, Dyre Straits. Eventually I decided to stick with XP anyway because of a clipping sound problem under Vista (all iMac/MBP users have the same problem). And after some digging, I found a solution that makes the native 1440x900 resolution work under XP on an external monitor: there is only one set of drivers released by ATI as a hotfix in response to a bug in Catalyst 7.5, entitled "hotfix_xp32-64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_48430.exe". Any older or newer driver breaks the native resolution so I have to stick with that particular set of drivers for now. This 7.5 bug resulted in people having the same problem as me (see this post) except their problem didn't exist in previous versions and disappeared with the release of 7.6 and newer, mine doesn't. I filed a ticket at AMD support site on the 25th of December 2007 but no reply so far.

Jan 2, 2008, 12:25 PM	Thread Starter #7
Roman2K DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	Hi swimtech. Yeah I would like that, that would be kind of you. These BootCamp 1.4 beta including Catalyst 7.7 did break the native resolution. It is possible to choose it by adjusting the slider to 1440x900 but after clicking "Apply", the monitor displays the message "Out of Range". If you get the same problem, the message may vary but the screen will be blank. Don't touch the keyboard nor the mouse, Windows will automatically revert the resolution back to the previous one after 15 seconds you will be back on your feet. Although it seems unlikely, the monitor may be the cause, in which case you may not encounter the issue. Anyway thanks in advance for trying if you have some spare time and feel like it :-). I would let AMD know of the result in my current support ticket.

Jan 2, 2008, 10:53 PM	Thread Starter #9
Roman2K DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	So it worked with both the external LCD monitor plugged in and the internal display on at 1440x900. I take it its native 1680x1050 worked too, is that right? As for the monitor drivers (the INF file necessary for Windows to know exactly what monitor it's dealing with, instead of a generic Plug and Play monitor), I couldn't find one on ASUS' website (my monitor vendor), there's only some poor, useless PDF manual. Thanks for experimenting and giving feedback. I'll perform some additional tests on my side, and check for this interesting "Alternate DVI operational mode" option.