Question Resolution keeps opening in 1280x720 instead of 1920x1080 & causing refresh rate issues

Apr 1, 2021
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Hi folks, this is my first post on this site which I hope is okay. I'm hopeful someone can help as I am not able to figure out why this issue is happening.

Yesterday I started getting a very odd issue with my monitor. Whenever I booted up my PC, the resolution kept going into 1280x720 instead of the original 1920x1080. When the resolution goes into 1280x720, I can only select 60hz in the Refresh Rate drop down. There is no other option here (usually I can see 100hz / 120hz and 144hz options). Here is a screenshot of my Display Settings:


When I managed to get the resolution back into 1920x1080, the Refresh Rate in Windows displayed only 100hz and no other option:


The only way I was able to get the monitor to detect 1920x1080 was by plugging the Display Port cable into different ports on the back of my graphics card and restarting my PC, and eventually I was able to select 144hz. Once I restart my PC, it goes straight back to 1280x720 resolution.

My monitor is a BenQ XL2720Z that supports 144hz. I have been running my monitor at 144hz since I got it. I have tried the following but I am not able to get the Refresh Rate settings to consistently show 144hz:

  • Changed Display Port cable to a brand new cable
  • Updated to the latest Nvidia driver and rolled back (I am currently using a driver from February 2021 - driver no. 465.89)
  • Unplugged all other monitors
The other specs of my PC are below:

  • Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.9
  • OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Home, 64 bit, Build 19042, Installed 20210312121243.000000+000
  • Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 94 Stepping 3, CPU Count: 4
  • Total Physical RAM: 16 GB
  • Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
  • Hard Drives: C: 464 GB (362 GB Free); E: 223 GB (43 GB Free);
  • Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z170-A, ver Rev 1.xx,
  • System: American Megatrends Inc., ver ALASKA - 1072009
  • Antivirus: Avast Antivirus, Enabled and Updated
If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.
 
Last edited:

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
You don't need an antivirus if you're working with Windows Defender. See if disabling the anti virus changes your experience. Also, check and see that you're on the latest BIOS version. The spec list above does not list the BIOS version and we don't need the serial number to your motherboard.

Did you use DDU to uninstall your GPU drivers before rolling back to the older drivers and forwards to the latest? Also, why aren't you on the latest drivers for the GPU?
 
Apr 1, 2021
2
0
10
You don't need an antivirus if you're working with Windows Defender. See if disabling the anti virus changes your experience. Also, check and see that you're on the latest BIOS version. The spec list above does not list the BIOS version and we don't need the serial number to your motherboard.

Did you use DDU to uninstall your GPU drivers before rolling back to the older drivers and forwards to the latest? Also, why aren't you on the latest drivers for the GPU?

Hi Lutfij, thanks for the reply. I have edited my post to remove the serial number.

Regarding the antivirus, I have been running this since I got the PC without any issues until 2 days ago - would I not have experienced this issue before then if it was the antivirus?

I have checked my BIOS version in System Information and it says the following beside the "BIOS Version/Date" field: American Megatrends Inc. 1801, 24/03/2016 - Is there any way to check if there is an update available for the BIOS? Sorry I am not very knowledgeable around BIOS stuff.

I didn't use DDU to uninstall my drivers - I just downloaded an old driver on the Nvidia website and during the installation of this driver it said a message along the times of "Removing current driver" or something like that. I watched a YouTube video on how to roll back drivers and followed that method.

The reason I am not on the latest GPU driver is because when I installed the latest driver and restarted my PC it kept going into a smaller res, which I thought caused this issue. But then when I removed the new driver and installed an older an older version and the same issue kept happening. Since then, I have tried 3 drivers (newest one from 31/03 back to one released on 25/02) but the issue is persistent.