1680x1050

[hendersrh]

Please forgive me if I'm just crazy... thought I posted this a couple of weeks ago, and just can't find ANYTHING that I might have posted.

I'm asking here, because most folks wouldn't understand what I'm talking about... but I'm sure you folks do.

So, I work from home using VPN into work... I...
1) have a 21" NEC tube monitor at work on my "work" PC (set to 1280 x 1024)
2) I had a duplicate 21" NEC tube monitor at home on my "home" PC (also set to 1280 x 1024)
3) I used RADMIN to bing up my work PC on my Home pc... since the screens were exactly the same resolution, all was good.
4) my home pc's NEC 21" died.
5) I bought a Samsung 22" wide LCD. Native resolution = 1680 x 1050
6) as we all know, LCD monitors only look pristine at their native resolution.
7) so I tried to set my work PC to 1680 x 1050 - no joy - because my work NEC won't do that.

Even tho my work PC has a card that's good enough to do this, it WON'T do it because it still sees the old NEC 21" monitor... not an LCD monitor.

So, how can I fool the work PC to format at 1680 x 1050 so I can RADMIN from home and not go blind with the little white ghosts that result from resolution mismatch. I don't even want to turn the work PC's monitor on.

I'm sure that if I had ANOTHER 22" LCD to take to work, it would do it just fine. But, I don't want to buy another one to replace a perfectly good NEC at work. In fact, I don't even NEED a monitor at work... but the PC won't output unless it "sees" one hooked up. Does anybody know if there's a relatively inexpensive piece of Hwd that will fool the PC at work into outputting 1680 x 1050? Or some other way to fool it?

Thanks for slugging thru this mess...

Steve Henderson

 

[Coolio_alert]

I think the monitor is only cabable of it's native 1280x1024. When that monitor came out I doubt 1680x1050 was even common, I mean it's a tube monitor!

 

[hendersrh]

Exactly - I don't want the monitor to actually work (I'm not at work anyway) - I just want something to fool the PC at work into outputting the screen info in that resolution so the PC at home (WITH the LCD monitor) shows it clearly.

 

[realzeus]

I think the monitor is only cabable of it's native 1280x1024. When that monitor came out I doubt 1680x1050 was even common, I mean it's a tube monitor!

CRTs do not have a native resolution as per se. In fact CRTs work fine at all supported resolutions. Moreover, CRTs are able of much higher resolutions (not to mention refresh rates) than the equivalent sized TFTs. Problem is that 1680x1050 is not a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution but a 16:10, which clearly that Nec is not. Other than that though, a high end 21'' CRT is easily capable of 1920x1280, which a 22'' TFT (apart from a Lenovo) cannot achieve. Some 21'' CRTs are even capable of 2048x1440!!! Back to the original qiestion though. Nothing to worry about, it's probably the PC thinking that it still has the old monitor on board. Go to the control panel and in the monitor settings deselect the Nec as the default monitor and add the new one either from the drop down menu or by installing the drivers that came with the monitor. After a restart it should work perfectly.

PS: I bet you are gutted that your venerable CRT died on you; I know I was when it happened to me. TFTs are just not at that high level unfortunately.

 

[hendersrh]

Thanks so much for the reply. I'll try the de-select / re-select-new thing the next time I go into the office. Sounds like a good plan. I'll take the CD with the new LCD drivers with me.

Yes, I did love that old monitor (it's my 2nd that I lugged home - MAN is that thing heavy!) But my company doesn't lease monitors anymore, and hasn't for a few years... so it means buying a new one... and $$$ being what they are at work, they would just want me to use an old 17" (nothing doing - that's why I bought my own 22" LCD when they were on sale at Best Buy.) It really does look good on my home PC, and I'm sure it will work well when I get the same resolution throughout the whole VPN chain.

Again, I appreciate your taking the time to mention the control panel deal. I've tried the drop-down thing, but that EXACT resolution isn't there... so I'll follow your plan and load the new drivers.

 

[realzeus]

You are welcome. I hope this rectifies the issue. If it doesn't please come back and we will try to find another solution.