No widescreen resolutions after adding projector

[jbrighton]

Hi,

I recently bought a second hand projector (Epson EMP-730) which only supports XGA resolution. I connected it via a manual switch, and now my 19" monitor isn't displaying any widescreen resolutions anymore. I was previously running it at 1440x900, but now the Vista display settings are only showing standard resolutions, and the monitor is described as 'standard PnP monitor'. Even after a reboot this doesn't change.

How can I get my monitor to display widescreen resolutions again?

Thanks in advance for any help with this problem.

 

[hunter315]

Is the projector set to mirror the main monitor? Generally setting it up to clone will set both screens to the highest resolution supported by both of them, since few projectors support wide screen it will have knocked out those options. Check your dual screen settings and see if you can fix it through that.

 

[jbrighton]

There are no dual screen settings. The display settings only show one monitor as I haven't got a dual monitor graphics card. I attached a switch to the output on the graphics card (onboard graphics chip), and both monitor and projector to the switch.

The graphics chip is shown as 'Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset Family', and after I previously installed Vista and hooked up my widescreen monitor, the available widescreen resolutions were shown, both in the built-in Vista Display settings, and through the utility which was installed with the motherboard drivers. Now both only show the standard resolutions, which obviously make my screen appear stretched.

 

[hunter315]

Plug the monitor directly into the computer, see if the settings return, some important data may be getting lost at the switch itself.

 

[jbrighton]

Plug the monitor directly into the computer, see if the settings return, some important data may be getting lost at the switch itself.

Two days later and I've finally got around to switching off my computer and plugging the monitor cable directly into my PC's VGA output.

Happy to say that I can now work in 1440x900 again without the picture being stretched!

The sad thing is though that I'll now probably have to wait until I can afford a dual monitor graphics card, before I can use the projector without things getting messed up again ...

 

[hunter315]

Just about any graphics card you can find these days will run two screens fine, my old radeon 9550 had support for it, if you can find a card still for sale today that doesnt have support for two screens i will be impressed.

 

[jbrighton]

I'll have a look around. I do a lot of work in Photoshop, but don't play any 3D games etc. so it won't need to be the latest model.

 

[jbrighton]

what type of unit are you running, what are the specs.?

Pentium E5200, not exactly the latest model, and Vista x64 running on only 2GB RAM ...

I usually create my artwork in at least 4k x 4k resolution, and my latest design for a logo had almost 270 layers, so you can imagine how slow things can get!

 

[jbrighton]

that RAM is holding you back BIG-TIME.!
make the move to Win7 if 32-bit or 64-bit.
to me if staying at 4GB or less than also stay with 32-bit OS.
right now your 64-bit OS is a hindrance then anything else with only 2GB RAM.
you at least need this for any type of performance:
4GB(2x2GB) sticks in dual channel mode.

I know, it gets incredibly annoying.

I got a 64bit OS two years ago because I was planning to upgrade my RAM to more than would have been supported by 32 bit.

At the time I made a mistake and accidentally ordered 2x1GB RAM, instead of 2x2GB. Unfortunately at the moment memory is more expensive than it was at back then! I will need to figure something out though, as things get ridiculously slow. When I work in Photoshop, I often have a page file of 5-6GB, and all RAM is being used, especially as I usually have several dozen browser tabs open as well.

 

[jbrighton]

Also, with double sided RAM modules I can only use two of the four available memory slots, so I can't just add another 2GB.

 

[jbrighton]

i couldn't do it...
first thing is to upgrade the RAM or jump down to 32-bit and that might not be an option because you have t ore-format and do a clean install.
i wouldn't even get the video card just yet, I need the RAM first.

I can't believe the RAM prices haven't gone down during the past two years – I thought technology was getting cheaper? Fifty to sixty quid are a lot of money for me. And if I do spend it on 2 x 2GB memory modules, I might get p***ed off because I'll realise that I actually need more, so the money could have gone towards a new motherboard & extra RAM ...

 

[jbrighton]

I'm getting an early Christmas present, so things should be a lot faster by the end of the week – looking forward to seeing what difference those extra 2GB are going to make!