Posted: 4/3/2003 12:29:04 PM EDT
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With the help of my more-computer-literate brother, I just installed a new Asus A7N266-VM motherboard with on-board video. [url]www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n266-vm/overview.htm[/url] Also, installed an AMD Athelon 2.0 GHz chip and stuck with Windows 98 SE. Now, my favorite video resolution, 1152x864, is not available on the little settings slider in Windows. Is there a way to get this 1152x864 video resolution short of adding another video card or something like that? For example, are "custom resolutions" or something an option? TIA , DrMark |
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It may be necessary to install updated video card drivers. You said the motherboard has a intergrated video chip set. Usualy it helps if you set the current drivers for the video card to vga and then install the required drivers for the particular video card or chipset you have. It may be a possability that the video chipset you have right now does not support the resolution you want. If this is the case you may be able to create a custom resolution with a program called power strip. |
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that's a great mobo for office work and people who aren't powerusers. I have built about 15 systems off that motherboard for work, clients and friends. Unfortunately, the on-board video card (a geforce2) does not support that resolution. You can go for a more "standard" resolution, like 1024x768 (cant remember if you can up it to 1280x1024, tho). I used to steer everyone away from integrated video/audio motherboards, cause they didn't have extra PCI and AGP slots to expand. But fortunately, this motherboard will allow you to add another AGP video card. If you're really dead set on that specific resolution, unfortunately the only solution is to add in a new video card (or perhaps use your old video card from the last computer?). And also, if you ever get the chance... upgrade to windows 2000 or windows XP. You should notice much better performance and stability with those (win2k being my favorite). Good luck! |
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I go with 1152 resolution on my 17" monitors. Resolution settings are determined by the video driver. When you first install Windows, it has thousands of drivers on file. If it recognizes your card, it'll install the driver automatically from the Windows CD. Being Windows 98, it will be searching among driver files that are over five years old and Asus didn't have the A7 mobo's out then. If Windows doesn't find a driver, it will use a generic VGA driver which won't take full advantage of the video card. The motherboard likely came with a CD and should have video drivers on there. It's also available on their web site. Looking at their site: [url]http://www.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N266-VM[/url] It appears that they didn't even bother to write a video driver for Windows 98 for that board...just Win2k and WinXP. Leaving Win98 to use generic drivers. Onboard video works for business...somewhat. But nowhere near as well as some of the advanced video cards out there. If you have an AGP slot, you could go with a nice GeForce or something that would have good drivers and give you much higher speeds on the video (if you play any games, it's like night and day). Even if you don't have an AGP slot, you could go with a GeForce 2MX or GeForce 4MX PCI video card. For that mobo/cpu, I'd say you're hampering it with Win98 as that OS was never designed for some of the advanced features of your hardware. |
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[url]http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=nforce_udp_win98se_2.03[/url] Before you run out to buy a new vidcard, there is another option. Yeah, ASUS doesn't always keep their drivers updated, but since you're running an nForce based board, you can just grab the latest nVidia nForce unified drivers. The above link SHOULD bring you to the latest driver page, which has a release date of March 26, 2003. The Display Driver version is 41.13. I have a HARD time believing that the GeForce 2 chipset on the nForce can't get 1152 res.....hell, my GeForce256 card could do it, as does my friend's GeForce 2 board. |