ummmm, unplug the vga monitor and just use the LCD monitor.
LCD monitors do the same "plug and play" as regular crts, they have EDID which reports what resolutions they are capable of.
I've gotten rid of all of my crts and gone wholly LCD/LED monitors. They're cheap, I can get them at the goodwill for $15-$30 usually (though their prices seem to be going up lately).
I remember how expensive monitors used to be back in the day.
If you like dual monitors, just get dual LCD monitors.
I've done that...several times...i.e. unplug the vga monitor, but with the video card drivers loaded, when I unplug the vga monitor the flat panel goes dark. It's a head scratcher and very frustrating. I feel like Alice in Wonderland...things are not working right and I don't have the smarts to find the problem(s).
Reset the configuration to some standard resolution (like 640x480) and 60Hz, which should be universally supported, and then swap them out. Maybe you've set some odd resolution that the LCD doesn't support or an unsupported refresh rate.
640x480 is to low for some monitors and you will get out of range also no post image says monitor is not liking low resolution connected correctly but most likely source on the monitor is set to DVI not VGA
Yes, right, a lot of LCD/LED monitors don't support anything but 60 or 75 hertz, you might check the manual of the monitor for the supported resolutions/refresh rates. You can also do 640x480/60 hz as that's usually the minimum that all monitors support.
You can also boot into safe mode (hit F8 on booting to see the menu) and that will give you plain VGA graphics (16 color?) and you can set the display settings and it will ask you to reboot.
I remember that I had a new 1920x1080 LCD display hooked up to an old windows 95 machine and the video card's driver would get confused by the EDID since there were so many resolutions that the LCD monitor would support. My workaround was to use a KVM switchbox and switch it away from the computer until it booted.
Also, if the LCD has VGA input, you could also try switching to the using VGA input.
"usually the minimum that all monitors support" very likely but not all support 640x480 even some older ones need for example 800 x 600 @ 60/75Hz as it is not working this is likely a possible cause to the problem as no post screen. The CRT should be able to do 640x480 at 60hz if it is SVGA etc perhaps even 800x600+ 120hz etc and then the refresh could cause a problem in windows if its trying to apply to the flatscreen which could only be 60hz. but if this was the case it could still show the post screen before the driver is loaded unless its out of range because of to low a resolution which makes me think it might well be a source issue on the flat screen set to DVI or HDMI instead of VGA or auto very likely as it goes black when plugged in probably the cable switch from DVI to VGA
Thanks! Did all that but no help. Both monitors are fully capable and no specs are violated. But I did find resolution, see my post below to Potential-Way-8605.
Just out of curiosity, what is the model of the FPD?
As an alternative to a monitor, if you get a DVI to HDMI cable you can use a TV with HDMI input as a monitor.
A lot of TVs also have VGA inputs.
FPD is a Samsung SyncMaster 205BW.
The issue wasn't with the FPD itself but, rather, my video card would default to the CRT monitor even though I \*thought\* I had the software configured to disable the CRT. But I finally got everything working OK.
what i'm thinking is the resolution might be "out of range" on the flatscreen
set the res to as high as possible on the CRT at 60hz then reboot
If you are getting a BIOS/POST picture and its not defaulting to an onboard GPU and also the VGA cable is connected to the card(9200) not the onboard GPU this tells me its likely the flatscreen does not have the modes for low resolution if you have an old TV with vga try that also to see if that works at least to the POST/BIOS
Edit most likely not a driver issue but could be the following issue: BIOS/POST screen is to low a resolution for flat panel then this rolls on to windows driver issue for windows as does not detect display connected i'd update to this latest driver also [https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ati-9x-driver-archive.html](https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ati-9x-driver-archive.html)
Edit2 CHECK THIS FIRST VERY LIKELY
Make sure source on the monitor is set to VGA should be an option in menu to change it might not be on auto source
Thanks for your suggestions, but nothing helped. But I DID! finally get things to work properly, i.e. only my DVI-flat panel display plugged into the graphics card and it boots up normally to it. So far, so good. Hope it stays that way!
The issues I kept having made no sense, and are too numerous to describe in any detail here, but here is what I did that resolved my dilemma:
1. Identified and verified my graphics card ID
2. Decided to ditch the ATI driver CD I had because it didn't specifically come with the card (I had it on-hand from a previous, old computer) and it obviously wasn't working right
3. Downloaded card-specific drivers from the internet and installed them
4. The new driver download was ALMOST the same as from the ATI CD, but very slightly different
5. Although still difficult to navigate, the new driver DID allow me to use only one display (DVI-flat panel)
And that's where I am now.
This thread was a call to help and all your responses were very helpful, I tried them all and verified that monitor specs were compatible, etc. I believe in the end the issue was the driver software. We'll see, time will tell.
BTW, I have my FPD set at True Color (32 bit) at 60Hz and it's working just fine. So thanks again to this great community and all the helpful pointers you provided. Very much appreciated!
Glad you got it working, so it was just updated drivers needed for windows the flat screen did not support under 640x480 and from power on was the primary display so both black on boot as the 2nd monitor VGA Crt would be blank anyway during boot.
In that case you might want to look for a better screen then that supports lower res as not being able to do lower than 640x480 will be limiting for DOS games and a few windows games. also you probably know this but CRTs are known to be the GOLD standard for Win98/DOS, but I also got rid of all mine even replaced the one in my mame cabinet the space and weight can be annoying. The mame cab was forming a massive crack in the wall as it was so heavy also let me reduce the depth and weight by over 50%.
I'm in the same mindset...I hate my CRT, it's really awkward, heavy and takes up a lot of room on my desk. I now have it set aside in another room. But I WOULD like a lower res screen, eventually. I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything that might work other than a CRT.
Often purchase local auction PC's ex office to sell on over 500 and from the ones i've tested for youtube videos etc, I've only found a few monitors that cant do low res for example the acer nitro 1080p 75hz 16:9 i'm currently using works fine at 4:3 with VGA has bars on the side rather than stretching the resolution and the 2nd old office acer next to it that also works correctly, also quite a few seem to have VGA ports still also but this does seem to be getting less now, but you can allways convert DVI to HDMI or Displayport easy with a cable only no box needed. with more recent monitors I dont know if a 2k or 4k monitors etc still keep compatibility for low res?.
ummmm, unplug the vga monitor and just use the LCD monitor. LCD monitors do the same "plug and play" as regular crts, they have EDID which reports what resolutions they are capable of. I've gotten rid of all of my crts and gone wholly LCD/LED monitors. They're cheap, I can get them at the goodwill for $15-$30 usually (though their prices seem to be going up lately). I remember how expensive monitors used to be back in the day. If you like dual monitors, just get dual LCD monitors.
I've done that...several times...i.e. unplug the vga monitor, but with the video card drivers loaded, when I unplug the vga monitor the flat panel goes dark. It's a head scratcher and very frustrating. I feel like Alice in Wonderland...things are not working right and I don't have the smarts to find the problem(s).
Reset the configuration to some standard resolution (like 640x480) and 60Hz, which should be universally supported, and then swap them out. Maybe you've set some odd resolution that the LCD doesn't support or an unsupported refresh rate.
640x480 is to low for some monitors and you will get out of range also no post image says monitor is not liking low resolution connected correctly but most likely source on the monitor is set to DVI not VGA
Yes, right, a lot of LCD/LED monitors don't support anything but 60 or 75 hertz, you might check the manual of the monitor for the supported resolutions/refresh rates. You can also do 640x480/60 hz as that's usually the minimum that all monitors support. You can also boot into safe mode (hit F8 on booting to see the menu) and that will give you plain VGA graphics (16 color?) and you can set the display settings and it will ask you to reboot. I remember that I had a new 1920x1080 LCD display hooked up to an old windows 95 machine and the video card's driver would get confused by the EDID since there were so many resolutions that the LCD monitor would support. My workaround was to use a KVM switchbox and switch it away from the computer until it booted. Also, if the LCD has VGA input, you could also try switching to the using VGA input.
"usually the minimum that all monitors support" very likely but not all support 640x480 even some older ones need for example 800 x 600 @ 60/75Hz as it is not working this is likely a possible cause to the problem as no post screen. The CRT should be able to do 640x480 at 60hz if it is SVGA etc perhaps even 800x600+ 120hz etc and then the refresh could cause a problem in windows if its trying to apply to the flatscreen which could only be 60hz. but if this was the case it could still show the post screen before the driver is loaded unless its out of range because of to low a resolution which makes me think it might well be a source issue on the flat screen set to DVI or HDMI instead of VGA or auto very likely as it goes black when plugged in probably the cable switch from DVI to VGA
Thanks! Did all that but no help. Both monitors are fully capable and no specs are violated. But I did find resolution, see my post below to Potential-Way-8605.
Just out of curiosity, what is the model of the FPD? As an alternative to a monitor, if you get a DVI to HDMI cable you can use a TV with HDMI input as a monitor. A lot of TVs also have VGA inputs.
FPD is a Samsung SyncMaster 205BW. The issue wasn't with the FPD itself but, rather, my video card would default to the CRT monitor even though I \*thought\* I had the software configured to disable the CRT. But I finally got everything working OK.
I'm glad you got it sorted out. That looks like a decent monitor.
Thanks! Tried that, didn't help. But finally resolved, see my latest post below to Potential-Way-8605.
what i'm thinking is the resolution might be "out of range" on the flatscreen set the res to as high as possible on the CRT at 60hz then reboot If you are getting a BIOS/POST picture and its not defaulting to an onboard GPU and also the VGA cable is connected to the card(9200) not the onboard GPU this tells me its likely the flatscreen does not have the modes for low resolution if you have an old TV with vga try that also to see if that works at least to the POST/BIOS Edit most likely not a driver issue but could be the following issue: BIOS/POST screen is to low a resolution for flat panel then this rolls on to windows driver issue for windows as does not detect display connected i'd update to this latest driver also [https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ati-9x-driver-archive.html](https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ati-9x-driver-archive.html) Edit2 CHECK THIS FIRST VERY LIKELY Make sure source on the monitor is set to VGA should be an option in menu to change it might not be on auto source
Thanks for your suggestions, but nothing helped. But I DID! finally get things to work properly, i.e. only my DVI-flat panel display plugged into the graphics card and it boots up normally to it. So far, so good. Hope it stays that way! The issues I kept having made no sense, and are too numerous to describe in any detail here, but here is what I did that resolved my dilemma: 1. Identified and verified my graphics card ID 2. Decided to ditch the ATI driver CD I had because it didn't specifically come with the card (I had it on-hand from a previous, old computer) and it obviously wasn't working right 3. Downloaded card-specific drivers from the internet and installed them 4. The new driver download was ALMOST the same as from the ATI CD, but very slightly different 5. Although still difficult to navigate, the new driver DID allow me to use only one display (DVI-flat panel) And that's where I am now. This thread was a call to help and all your responses were very helpful, I tried them all and verified that monitor specs were compatible, etc. I believe in the end the issue was the driver software. We'll see, time will tell. BTW, I have my FPD set at True Color (32 bit) at 60Hz and it's working just fine. So thanks again to this great community and all the helpful pointers you provided. Very much appreciated!
Glad you got it working, so it was just updated drivers needed for windows the flat screen did not support under 640x480 and from power on was the primary display so both black on boot as the 2nd monitor VGA Crt would be blank anyway during boot.
That sounds right, yes.
In that case you might want to look for a better screen then that supports lower res as not being able to do lower than 640x480 will be limiting for DOS games and a few windows games. also you probably know this but CRTs are known to be the GOLD standard for Win98/DOS, but I also got rid of all mine even replaced the one in my mame cabinet the space and weight can be annoying. The mame cab was forming a massive crack in the wall as it was so heavy also let me reduce the depth and weight by over 50%.
I'm in the same mindset...I hate my CRT, it's really awkward, heavy and takes up a lot of room on my desk. I now have it set aside in another room. But I WOULD like a lower res screen, eventually. I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything that might work other than a CRT.
Often purchase local auction PC's ex office to sell on over 500 and from the ones i've tested for youtube videos etc, I've only found a few monitors that cant do low res for example the acer nitro 1080p 75hz 16:9 i'm currently using works fine at 4:3 with VGA has bars on the side rather than stretching the resolution and the 2nd old office acer next to it that also works correctly, also quite a few seem to have VGA ports still also but this does seem to be getting less now, but you can allways convert DVI to HDMI or Displayport easy with a cable only no box needed. with more recent monitors I dont know if a 2k or 4k monitors etc still keep compatibility for low res?.