Video adaptor driver

[Guest Paradoxdb3]

Just the other day, I got a "new" computer from work. It's a Compaq Deskpro

EN. The case is of the small type...I believe it's called small form factor?

Anyway, I took the HDD and CD burner out of my old IBM PL300 and installed

them in the newer computer case. It took a while to get the Compaq to load

from the new hard drive. I didn't want to fdisk the HDD because I have so

much stuff on there I cannot lose! So, I used Compaq's disk "test" function

and that seemed to help.

 

Anyhow, as could e expected I need to find drivers for the new graphics

adaptor in the Compaq. It took me a while, because I didn't know what

adaptor was in the machine (I didn't really know where to look). Finally, I

found one that seems to work. I can change color depth up to True Color (24

bit). I guess that's all the graphics card can handle? (The one in the

older IBM could go up to 32 bit.) Also, when changing screen resolutions,

the screen takes on different shapes. 800x600 screen resolution is fine.

Fits the screen. But a screen resolution of 1024x768 causes the display to

shrink and not fit the screen. Plus it's not a square display...it has bowed

sides. I didn't have this display issue with the old computer. I'm

wondering if I have the wrong driver istalled.

 

Is it possible that the video adaptor can handle 32 bit display, but an

incorrect driver only allows 24 bit? Or am I out to lunch on this theory?

 

The driver I'm using works fine otherwise. I can fix the higer resolution

display problem by using the monitor's settings, but I don't think I should

have to.

 

Would I benefit from getting a separate graphics card, like one that

supports 32 bit or higher (then I KNOW the driver I install with be the right

one) or would that just bottleneck the video? And if I don't have the proper

driver installed, would the display even work at all outside of standard VGA?

Thanks for any help!

[Guest Ingeborg]

Re: Video adaptor driver

 

=?Utf-8?B?UGFyYWRveGRiMw==?= wrote:

> Just the other day, I got a "new" computer from work. It's a Compaq

> Deskpro EN. The case is of the small type...I believe it's called

> small form factor?

> Anyway, I took the HDD and CD burner out of my old IBM PL300 and

> installed

> them in the newer computer case. It took a while to get the Compaq to

> load from the new hard drive. I didn't want to fdisk the HDD because

> I have so much stuff on there I cannot lose! So, I used Compaq's disk

> "test" function and that seemed to help.

>

> Anyhow, as could e expected I need to find drivers for the new

> graphics adaptor in the Compaq. It took me a while, because I didn't

> know what adaptor was in the machine (I didn't really know where to

> look). Finally, I found one that seems to work. I can change color

> depth up to True Color (24 bit). I guess that's all the graphics card

> can handle? (The one in the older IBM could go up to 32 bit.) Also,

> when changing screen resolutions, the screen takes on different

> shapes. 800x600 screen resolution is fine. Fits the screen. But a

> screen resolution of 1024x768 causes the display to shrink and not fit

> the screen. Plus it's not a square display...it has bowed sides. I

> didn't have this display issue with the old computer. I'm wondering

> if I have the wrong driver istalled.

>

> Is it possible that the video adaptor can handle 32 bit display, but

> an incorrect driver only allows 24 bit? Or am I out to lunch on this

> theory?

 

It is possible. But why bother? In both cases (24 and 32 bit) only 24

bits are used for defining the colors. (8 bits for each color red, green

and blue). In the 32 bit case 8 bits padding are added to make the memory

addressing easier.

 

> The driver I'm using works fine otherwise. I can fix the higer

> resolution display problem by using the monitor's settings, but I

> don't think I should have to.

 

This videocard seems to use another frequency for the video signal than

your old one did. In that case it's normal that you have to tune the

monitor to give a good shape.

[Guest Paradoxdb3]

Re: Video adaptor driver

 

Thanks for the reply. As it turns out, it seems I had the wrong driver. It

seemed to work, but when I connected to the internet, any flash movies,

refreshing of the page, ect...cause the screen to flicker horribly! It seems

the driver software was not jiving with the refresh rate of the hardware.

When I did find the right driver (took FOREVER...stupid Compaq Deskpro EN!

Why can't they have a specific model number???) the problem was fixed! No

more flickering, and the screen size was perfect in every resolution. Thanks

again!

 

"Ingeborg" wrote:

> =?Utf-8?B?UGFyYWRveGRiMw==?= wrote:

>

> > Just the other day, I got a "new" computer from work. It's a Compaq

> > Deskpro EN. The case is of the small type...I believe it's called

> > small form factor?

> > Anyway, I took the HDD and CD burner out of my old IBM PL300 and

> > installed

> > them in the newer computer case. It took a while to get the Compaq to

> > load from the new hard drive. I didn't want to fdisk the HDD because

> > I have so much stuff on there I cannot lose! So, I used Compaq's disk

> > "test" function and that seemed to help.

> >

> > Anyhow, as could e expected I need to find drivers for the new

> > graphics adaptor in the Compaq. It took me a while, because I didn't

> > know what adaptor was in the machine (I didn't really know where to

> > look). Finally, I found one that seems to work. I can change color

> > depth up to True Color (24 bit). I guess that's all the graphics card

> > can handle? (The one in the older IBM could go up to 32 bit.) Also,

> > when changing screen resolutions, the screen takes on different

> > shapes. 800x600 screen resolution is fine. Fits the screen. But a

> > screen resolution of 1024x768 causes the display to shrink and not fit

> > the screen. Plus it's not a square display...it has bowed sides. I

> > didn't have this display issue with the old computer. I'm wondering

> > if I have the wrong driver istalled.

> >

> > Is it possible that the video adaptor can handle 32 bit display, but

> > an incorrect driver only allows 24 bit? Or am I out to lunch on this

> > theory?

>

> It is possible. But why bother? In both cases (24 and 32 bit) only 24

> bits are used for defining the colors. (8 bits for each color red, green

> and blue). In the 32 bit case 8 bits padding are added to make the memory

> addressing easier.

>

>

> > The driver I'm using works fine otherwise. I can fix the higer

> > resolution display problem by using the monitor's settings, but I

> > don't think I should have to.

>

> This videocard seems to use another frequency for the video signal than

> your old one did. In that case it's normal that you have to tune the

> monitor to give a good shape.

>

>