Radeon doesn't recognize monitor (PLZ HELP ME!)

CowMan

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Jun 5, 2003
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OK, I've had problems with my Radeon 8500LE and my monitor since the first version of Catalyst. I've got Windows XP Pro, the OEM 8500LE 128mb, and a Futura 19" monitor. Originally, the pre-Catalyst drivers had no problem recognizing my monitor. Ever since I installed the first Catalyst drivers, my Radeon has been unable to recognize my monitor; after the first reboot following installation of the drivers the monitor simply went black. I could hear the windows login sounds so I know it didn't cause my computer to become unresponsive.
In order to get a picture, I've had to attatch a friend's monitor to my computer, start it up, save that configuration in ATI's "monitors" panel, then connect my other monitor and force it to recognize it. I have to bind a hotkey to this config to get rid of the green hue and distortion when windows starts up. I also have powerstrip running at startup to lock the refresh rate at 85Hz. Whenever I install new Catalyst drivers I need to completely re-do this entire process, and it's happened around a dozen times now.
Here's what puts it over the line, though. I was running 3Dmark 2k1SE just for the hell of it and noticed that I got a substantially lower score with the 3.7 drivers than I did with the 3.6. For instance, I used to get 55FPS on the Nature benchmark in 1024x768x32, now I get 15. I'm told this is just a bug with the 3.7 drivers and Direct3D, so I want to install the 3.8 drivers to resolve all other conflicts in other games (which are performing just as bad in D3D). But this time, I don't have another monitor to act as a liferaft when I install the drivers. How do I resolve this monitor conflict? Or at least, how do I save my current configuration and use it with the 3.8 drivers?
 

addiarmadar

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May i suggest getting a Viewsonic montior. Anywho you should be able to go into safe mode to trash the catalyst drivers and uninstall the ati software and delete the ati folder. When you reboot, windows will run the standard adapter. You are encountering a glitch of somekind but really I never really cared for the LE radeons.

F-DISK-Format-Reinstal DO DA!! DO DA!!
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Set your monitor to a lower resolution and refresh rate, such as 800x600@60Hz, then when you do the driver refresh or whatever it should come back at that setting and not conflict.

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CowMan

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That's the problem. It doesn't matter what resolution I set it to, it still thinks my monitor is a projection TV for some reason, even though it's not recieving any signal from the TV-out port. As for getting a new monitor, I'm broke as all hell and that's a looong way off. Does anyone know of any specific tweaks or programs that might resolve this?
 

TKS

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If you can rustle up 100 bucks, you can have a viewsonic monitor of the 17 inch variety for under that price. Go to <A HREF="http://monitoronsale.com/listproducts.asp?CategoryID=1&MaxPrice=100&OrderBy=P_Product.Price&Order=DESC&Status=1" target="_new">Monitoronsale.com (under 100 bucks)</A>. Sure they're refurbished...but my 21 inch apple with a trinitron tube has been working for about 3 years now with no glitches. Bought it for 229 US dollars...not bad eh? Anyways, hope that helps.

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Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
goto Display Properties>Settings>Advanced>Monitor and change it there.

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CowMan

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Trust me, that one doesn't do anything. Even after I've tricked it into recognizing the monitor, nothing in either the monitor section or the displays section does anything. Most options are greyed out, and those that aren't make no change to my current settings.
ATI says that it's only specific to my video card and that it SHOULD have been resolved in earlier Catalyst drivers, I think 2.3 or something. I contacted their "help" section and got a generalized email sending me to that information page, although I'd already mentioned in ALL CAPS in the problem report that I'd already seen that page and it doesn't change a freaking thing.
It's just like a large company (as much sympathy as I have for ATI) to not fix the problem that only one person has. Instead I'm sent an email compiled by a program, not a human representative of ATI. This sucks.