Black Bars Around Display

[J_Kepler]

Hello, I recently built my first ever computer! The problem I'm having are black bars around the screen, specifically the top and sides.

I have:
ATI Radeon HD 7870 XT
Catalyst Driver v13.4
ViewSonic VX2370
Windows 7

When I first installed the video drivers the bar was around the bottom as well. I went into the CCC and adjusted the scaling option up to 0% and this removed the bar around the bottom. However, I still have about a centimeter of black space around the top and both sides.

When I googled this, the only solution I found was to use the scaling option, which I have already done. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Here are some pictures:
http://i.imgur.com/jtWeaxc.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/yGrMK3G.jpg

Thanks!

 

[J_Kepler]

Is there an option to change the aspect ratio (16:9 or 16:10)? You might need to cange it to 16:10.

Also, if your monitor has an "overscan" option in the settings, you might try that.

The black bar border is called overscan. It usually happens when the computer is sending a 1920x1080 signal and the monitor is 1920x1200.

This is the closest I could find to an aspect ratio option:
http://i.imgur.com/QOoRgEP.jpg

It stays greyed out, I've tried checking and unchecking those boxes.

I found the overscan feature on my monitor's menu, but enabling it makes the problem worse - it blows up the screen and I can get it to fit again by scaling back ATI's scaling options, but that just gets me back to where I started.

 

[J_Kepler]

No, when I right click on the desktop and choose the resolution option there, the highest it lists and recommends is 1920x1080.

CCC also has a "maximum reported resolution" of 1920x1080.

EDIT:
I have quite a lot of Windows updates to go through (122!) so I'm going to let that run and maybe some .NET framework install will fix it =/. Going to bed for now, thanks for helping so far.

 

[J_Kepler]

Well, the windows updates didn't help. All I can think of now is to try a DVI cable instead of HDMI. Kind of frustrating since one of the reasons I chose this monitor over another was because it had HDMI =/.

 

[manofchalk]

Ahh, that HDMI is probably the root of your problem.

Go into Catalyst -> My Digital Flat-Panels -> Scaling Options and move the slider to Overscan (or just mess with it and see what works).
Its software thing, HDMI really was intended to be used for TV's but was popular enough that desktop monitors started supporting it. The graphics cards drivers still assume that HDMI is for TV's, and so underscan the image to make it display correctly on them. On desktops, leads to the annoying black bars that your experiencing until you change the settings.

 

[J_Kepler]

Ahh, that HDMI is probably the root of your problem.

Go into Catalyst -> My Digital Flat-Panels -> Scaling Options and move the slider to Overscan (or just mess with it and see what works).
Its software thing, HDMI really was intended to be used for TV's but was popular enough that desktop monitors started supporting it. The graphics cards drivers still assume that HDMI is for TV's, and so underscan the image to make it display correctly on them. On desktops, leads to the annoying black bars that your experiencing until you change the settings.

Yeah I've messed around with the over scan option, it doesn't fix it. I'm going to try a DVI cable when I get home, and also try uninstalling the monitor's drivers which may be conflicting with Catalyst.

 

[J_Kepler]

Alright, I didn't get as much time to fiddle around as I would have liked due to a power outage, but was able to try some things. I first uninstalled viewsonic's driver software, so the computer recognized it as a generic PnP monitor - this didn't fix it. Then I switched out the HDMI for the DVI and this didn't fix it either.

Right now I think my best option is to return the monitor, because I can't think of anything else that might be wrong. Unless anyone has anymore ideas?

 

[manofchalk]

Contact Viewsonic customer support before you go to the effort of returning the monitor, chances are they have fixed this issue countless times.

 

[J_Kepler]

Ok guys, well I feel pretty stupid! I figured out the problem - there is no problem. This particular ViewSonic model just naturally has a black border around the edge that looks exactly like the screen itself. It's advertised as "frameless" and I guess they have to compensate for that by making the edge of the screen act as the frame, carrying the electronics or whatever.

But yeah, I looked up a youtube video of the monitor and it had the same border like mine. Also, I finally paid attention as it booted up and saw that it had those borders even as it displays its logo and "No signal" stuff.

So thanks a bunch for your time and help!

 

[manofchalk]

:lol: