Really can't understand what i should do

[CaptainMattJ.]

so i was posting a reply on subsim about 45 minutes ago and i accidentally kicked the power switch to my outlet extension (the apparatus that has multiple power outlets, and subsequently all my computer equipment plugged into it). Turned everything right off. Never had a problem before when this happened, but this time when i booted and logged in i noticed my desktop icons were jarbled and the resolution was funky.

I go into my display settings and my resolution is set to 1360x768 (i always keep my desktop res set to 1440x900, the monitor's native resolution). I try to fix it and i can't. Nvidia's control panel only shows me previously unavailable resolutions, it goes 1360x768 and then jumps to 1600x900 without allowing the option of 1440x900. Same in windows control panel. It also claims the monitor's native resolution is 1024x768.

Nothing is working. Nvidia's control panel makes no sense to me. I think the aspect ratio got messed up and the "adjust desktop size and position" panel doesn't let me change the aspect ratio back to 16:10 (or 16:9, i forget exactly which it was). I tried searching the internet far and wide to no avail.

What should i do?

[Penguin]

A quick solution is: access display settings, go to the nvidia tab in advanced properties (in my case the name of the gpu) -> screen resolution & refresh rates
There is a checkbox, unintuitively placed in the refresh rates box, uncheck "hide modes that this monitor cannot support. After this you will be able to move the resolution slider to your desired resolution.
I'm currently at my comp at work, with a quadro 4 card, so it may be different on your machine.

It looks like your machine screwed up the monitor's ini file, aka its driver. If you have a plug & play monitor, just try to remove your monitor cable while windows is running, it might be that Windows recognizes it correctly and thus overwrites the old file when you plug it in again.
Otherwise reinstall the driver for the monitor, you might want to use a software like 'Driver Cleaner' to erase the old driver before installing the new driver. If it doesn't work under your normal surrounding, you should do this in safe/repair mode - whatever your Windows version calls it.

[Sailor Steve]

I have an ATI card rather than nVidia, but I had the exact same thing happen when I had to reinstall windows a couple of months ago. I also use 1440 x 900, and it was nowhere to be found. I couldn't even access the ATI control panel. It just wasn't there. I ended up downloading drivers from every source I could find (couldn't find the disc that came with the card) and nothing worked. I finally realized I was looking in the wrong place, and I went to the website for my specific card's manufacturer. Those drivers fixed the problem and I've been a happy camper ever since.

[CaptainMattJ.]

i've tried absolutely everything with my drivers and no dice.

this is really getting annoying, i've tried everything. I updated every single driver i could that would even remotely pertain to the monitor or graphics card, no dice. Uninstalling/reinstalling drivers didn't work. I've ran out of ideas

[Sailor Steve]

I'm not sure this will help, but in my case it wasn't the latest drivers, or not, it was the right drivers. I tried a dozen different downloadable drivers (wishing I could find the box and disc that came with the card the whole time), and nothing worked. I then went directly to the manufacturer's website, and even that didn't work. At someone's suggestion I removed and reseated the card, and that didn't help either. While I was doing that I read the name on the card itself, and realized I had gone to the wrong manufacture. :oops:

A quick trip to the people who actually made the card got me the drivers that did the trick.

[CaptainMattJ.]

EVGA, the manufacturer of my GTS 450, gives me the drivers i already have, what nvidia puts out. It's really making no sense to me, i can't get it back to crisp 1440x900 (i can force it to go to 1440x900, but it looks blurred and distorted).

i might just give up and finally install windows 7. i dont know anymore.....

[HunterICX]

Here's something to try after a quick search I found this on the EVGA support site:

Question/Issue:
My monitor is blurry or my font is no legible at 1440x900.

1. NVIDIA Control Panel > Display > Manage custom timings.
2. Click both "Treat as HDTV" and "Allow modes not exposed by the display"
3. Click [Create...]
4. Under Custom display mode values:
Horizontal desktop pixels: 1440
Vertical desktop lines: 900
GDI Refresh rate: 60
Bits per pixel: 32
(don't have "Interlaced" checked)
5. Click [Advanced >>] 6. Under "Back-end parameters":
Timing standard: DMT
Desired refresh rate: 60
(the rest of the fields are grayed out)
7. Under "Front-end parameters"
Scaling type: Display (none)
8. Click [Test]
9. Click [OK]

HunterICX

[danasan]

I used to have a monitor with 1440 x 900 resolution. Not a single nvidia driver was able to recognise that on its own. ATI drivers did (with ATI cards, of course).

Grab a copy of PowerStrip. That is a tool you can easily write your own monitor "driver" with.