Connecting and Disconnecting Monitor

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Glowhyena
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Connecting and Disconnecting Monitor

Post by Glowhyena »

Hello, Material Defenders...

I have two different monitors, one for everything, and other one for FreeSpace series and old games which don't have sources port.

I have a 1920x1080 LCD and a 1024x768 CRT.

I know about FreeSpace Open. It is alright because of stretching HUDs, medals won't appear after finishing a mission, and etc.

Well, Is it okay to disconnect or connect a monitor into my computer if the tower is still on? Should I turn both of them off before connecting or disconnecting?

I'm too worry to do that. But I just felt really want to play FreeSpace again.

Thank you for your help.

Edited:

Wait... Forget it. Smaller resolution made me sick, I set up my old monitor on my desktop and then looked at it. I said: Oh, my... It is really SMALL! I've played FreeSapce 2 for a few mins and stopped.

And... I got and connected LCD back, I just felt worth and not happy.
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Re: Connecting and Disconnecting Monitor

Post by Xamindar »

Paskiewicz wrote: Well, Is it okay to disconnect or connect a monitor into my computer if the tower is still on? Should I turn both of them off before connecting or disconnecting?
Yes it is fine, it shouldn't damage the monitor or computer. But you may want to lower the resolution to one that the smaller monitor supports before you connect it or you may get no picture.
Why doesn't it work?
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Post by d3jake »

At the very least, boot your computer with both monitors connected. I don't know if Vista\\7 are any better with this, but XP won't detect another monitor connected after bootup.
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Post by Avder »

Cant you set your graphics drivers to pillar box 4:3 images in your 16:9 lcd?
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Post by Krom »

Most video cards these days let you run two monitors at the same time, which avoids a lot of issues with swapping out monitors on the fly. You can pick which one is the primary display and if you even want the other monitor enabled from display properties/settings.

Extend my windows desktop on to this display == enable display.
Make this my primary/main display == games run here.
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Re:

Post by Foil »

Avder wrote:Cant you set your graphics drivers to pillar box 4:3 images in your 16:9 lcd?
Yes.

In ATI driversets, it's a setting called "Enable GPU scaling".

There's a similar setting for NVidia (I don't recall the name).
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Post by Glowhyena »

Avder wrote:Cant you set your graphics drivers to pillar box 4:3 images in your 16:9 lcd?
Foil wrote:In ATI driversets, it's a setting called "Enable GPU scaling".

There's a similar setting for NVidia (I don't recall the name).
Thank you, Avder for saying it.

It reminded me of playing Star Wars: Dark Forces with black bars in left and right with DOSbox, the game re-released on Steam that I bought. I just wondered I can do that but I couldn't find use nVidia scaling with fixed-aspect ratio in my nVidia control panel. Also, Change flat panel scaling was removed from Display tree. I've Googled for it as trying, the feature is not in the control panel anymore in newer driver version I've read their posts. But why? I REALLY want to use it for FreeSpace series.

Take a look at my nVidia control panel:
Image

I have a CD came with nVidia GeForce GTX 260 with old driver version... I don't know what does it contain exact driver version. Should I install with it, MDs?

When nVidia releases new driver version with scaling mode, that will be awesome. :(
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Post by AceCombat »

Paskie, you may need to use RIVA TUNER, they did remove the scaling feature of NVidia. why i dont know..... i have the latest driver and its still not there. ( good job NVidia ) :roll:
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Post by Grendel »

Image
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Post by AceCombat »

i know why its not on my screen, im using a CRT d0h!!
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Re:

Post by Glowhyena »

Grendel wrote:Image
Waaaait, how did you do it? I'm jealous a bit.
AceCombat wrote:i know why its not on my screen, im using a CRT d0h!!
Ah... But I'm already using a LCD... Strange.

Well, I just downloaded and installed new driver for my green video card... 258.96, still no scaling.
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Post by Grendel »

You have to install the driver for your monitor in order for the scaling to show up.

To verify the driver is installed, right-click desktop --> Properties --> Settings --> Advanced --> Monitor --> Properties.

Image
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Post by AceCombat »

i have the driver for my monitor, but its a CRT? would scaling still show up?
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Post by Krom »

nVidia scaling is only available on digital monitors, which excludes CRTs entirely.
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Post by AceCombat »

just wondering
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Post by Glowhyena »

Grendel wrote:You have to install the driver for your monitor in order for the scaling to show up.

To verify the driver is installed, right-click desktop --> Properties --> Settings --> Advanced --> Monitor --> Properties.

Image


I did do it like that but Hardware update wizard couldn't install. So, I installed and updated a driver for my LCD monitor that came from Acer support site by myself. And nothing happen. Restarted my computer, nope.
Krom wrote:nVidia scaling is only available on digital monitors, which excludes CRTs entirely.
I thought LCDs were digital monitors. I think it's connection cable or I don't know. I'm wondering to buy a digital cable or me wrong. :?
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Post by fliptw »

white or blue ends on the cable?
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Post by Grendel »

Ah yes, the monitor needs to be connected digitally as well, ie. via DVI, white connector.
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Post by Glowhyena »

White, it's a DVI-D Single Link.

I guess Dual Link would work with scaling. If you guys choose yes, I will buy one.
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Post by Krom »

Single link or dual link it shouldn't make a difference, I have the nvidia scaling option available on my LCD (which is connected using a single link cable) but not on my analog CRT. Make sure you click on the icon representing your monitor in the \"Adjust desktop size and position\" page.
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Post by Glowhyena »

I already did it.

Image

Why is my LCD an analog?
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Post by AceCombat »

is it plugged in with the BLUE or WHITE cable?
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Re:

Post by BUBBALOU »

AceCombat wrote:is it plugged in with the BLUE or WHITE cable?
Pretty obvious, but please save yourself the trouble with your "hit/miss inquiries" you need to include specifics in your questions....Ace....

"is it plugged into the BLUE or WHITE video connector on the back of the LCD"

Even if he is using a VGA>DVI adapter on a dual DVI card he will only mention the DVI port on the card is WHITE, or that the cable is BLACK!!


#justsayin :wink:

I seem to have a better workout dodging your stupidity than attempting to grasp the weight of your intelligence.
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Post by AceCombat »

whatever
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Post by Krom »

Go into the OSD screen on the monitor by pressing the menu button and in the info page see what type of input it is using, if it is using VGA go to the setting icon and under input try to force it to digital/dvi or whatever it calls it. Or on the back of the monitor it should only have the DVI and the power cables connected, you should disconnect the VGA cable if it is there.

If it is connected via the VGA cable it probably would help a bit if you pulled that off while the PC was off (or you may not get a picture to do anything with).
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Post by Grendel »

Try a DVI-D cable, yours is probably DVI-I and the monitor enumarates on the analog signals.
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Post by Glowhyena »

Alright, let me show you some photos.

Here's what I connected DVI cable to my LCD monitor:
Image

And into the video card (nVidia GeForce GTX 260):
Image

It's a white Single Link DVI-D:
Image

LCD's slots (I connected the white slot):
Image

One more, here's OSD. It chosen by itself when I got the LCD for Christmas:

Image

And still nope.
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Post by fliptw »

On board video disabled?
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Post by Grendel »

Looks perfect, beats me. Sorry.

Edit: What happens if you disable the DDC/CI channel ?
ImageImage
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Post by BUBBALOU »

http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles ... er&SC=PA_7

if after you load the monitors drivers above, and the custom name from the drivers does not SAY Digital... just move on. Usually drivers have 2 sets in the install you have to pick which to load.. VGA or Digital, then for you reboot!

I seem to have a better workout dodging your stupidity than attempting to grasp the weight of your intelligence.
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Post by Glowhyena »

EDITED
Grendel wrote:Edit: What happens if you disable the DDC/CI channel ?
Nothing happen.
BUBBALOU wrote:http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles ... er&SC=PA_7

if after you load the monitors drivers above, and the custom name from the drivers does not SAY Digital... just move on. Usually drivers have 2 sets in the install you have to pick which to load.. VGA or Digital, then for you reboot!
My LCD is now digital by choosing digital driver. But scaling mode didn't appear after restarting.

It was so close!

Updated
Paskiewicz wrote:Take a look at my nVidia control panel:
Image
What the? nVidia shows wrong monitor HDTV instead of LCD. Isn't my LCD a HDTV?
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Post by BUBBALOU »

DVI/DIGITAL/HDMI/HDTV inclusive

I seem to have a better workout dodging your stupidity than attempting to grasp the weight of your intelligence.
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Post by Krom »

Technically your monitor *is* a HDTV, it often comes optional with HDMI connection and it runs at the native 1080p HDTV resolution. It could just be a pitfall of having a 16:9 HDTV screen (as opposed to a 16:10 PC screen). Although the nvidia scaling option should still be there, the driver probably just assumes something differently when it is using common HDTV resolutions.
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Post by Glowhyena »

Hey hey! Finally, I've been found it out... Just went to OSD screen and changed wide mode from full to aspect, and then checked FreeSpace 2 out.

It worked!

Thank you, Krom! A lot!

Btw, sorry for digging the oldest topic, MDs. :P
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