I have a new Samsung 216BW monitor, which works correctly with the modern computer I normally use it with. However, I sometimes want to connect it to the VGA port of an older machine. When I do this, the display works for about a minute then shuts off displaying a "suboptimal resolution" message. I have to power cycle the monitor.
I'm not worried about the resolution setting being wrong -- it still displays okay -- but how do I get it to keep from shutting off?
(Hopefully I explained this adequately, it's a little hard to describe.)
you can get the "not optimum mode" message if something has happened to the signal, or the signal is out of range. I don't know why that would be affected by power cycling the monitor.
Is the display set to 60 Hz (in the old PC's control panel)? The 216BW is spec'd to allow 75 Hz, but 60 should be safe. I have no idea why the monitor should run for any length of time at all with an out-of-range signal, but it's worth a look.
Good luck.
Return address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
"Steve Pope" <spop...@speedymail.org> wrote in message
>I have a new Samsung 216BW monitor, which works correctly > with the modern computer I normally use it with. However, > I sometimes want to connect it to the VGA port of an > older machine. When I do this, the display works for > about a minute then shuts off displaying a "suboptimal > resolution" message. I have to power cycle the monitor.
> I'm not worried about the resolution setting being wrong -- > it still displays okay -- but how do I get it to keep > from shutting off?
> (Hopefully I explained this adequately, it's a little > hard to describe.)
Bob Knowlden <nk...@comcast.net> wrote: >According to the manual: >http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200706/20070608130836359... >you can get the "not optimum mode" message if something has happened to the >signal, or the signal is out of range. I don't know why that would be >affected by power cycling the monitor. >Is the display set to 60 Hz (in the old PC's control panel)? The 216BW is >spec'd to allow 75 Hz, but 60 should be safe. I have no idea why the monitor >should run for any length of time at all with an out-of-range signal, but >it's worth a look. >Good luck.
Thanks. As another point of information, this monitor does not exhibit the shutting-off problem with a different, not quite as old computer also set for a "non optimum" resolution (i.e. 1280 x 1024, when the monitor wants 1680 x 1050). It is only with this very old computer (which I still wish to use sometimes) that the problem occurs. I'm thinking it has a quite old rev of the VGA spec on its display card.
>>you can get the "not optimum mode" message if something has happened to the >>signal, or the signal is out of range. I don't know why that would be >>affected by power cycling the monitor.
>>Is the display set to 60 Hz (in the old PC's control panel)? The 216BW is >>spec'd to allow 75 Hz, but 60 should be safe. I have no idea why the monitor >>should run for any length of time at all with an out-of-range signal, but >>it's worth a look.
>>Good luck.
>Thanks. As another point of information, this monitor does >not exhibit the shutting-off problem with a different, >not quite as old computer also set for a "non optimum" resolution >(i.e. 1280 x 1024, when the monitor wants 1680 x 1050). >It is only with this very old computer (which I still wish >to use sometimes) that the problem occurs. I'm thinking it >has a quite old rev of the VGA spec on its display card.
You missed the important part of his advice. The resolution is essentially irrelevant. It's the refresh rate you need to look at. If the old computer is set to 75Hz, but fluctuates, that could explain why the monitor gives up after a minute. Make sure the refresh on the old computer is set to 60Hz. -- - Mike
Mike Ruskai <BUTthann...@DONTearthlinkLIKE.netSPAM> wrote:
>You missed the important part of his advice. The resolution is essentially >irrelevant. It's the refresh rate you need to look at. If the old computer >is set to 75Hz, but fluctuates, that could explain why the monitor gives up >after a minute. Make sure the refresh on the old computer is set to 60Hz.
Thanks, sorry for being a bit slow here. I'll look at the refresh rate.
Steve Pope <spop...@speedymail.org> wrote: >Mike Ruskai <BUTthann...@DONTearthlinkLIKE.netSPAM> wrote: >>You missed the important part of his advice. The resolution is essentially >>irrelevant. It's the refresh rate you need to look at. If the old computer >>is set to 75Hz, but fluctuates, that could explain why the monitor gives up >>after a minute. Make sure the refresh on the old computer is set to 60Hz. >Thanks, sorry for being a bit slow here. I'll look at the >refresh rate.
That did seem to be the problem. I had to go into safe mode to get it to function well enough that I could reset the refresh rate, which I may have had at some very high setting like 85 Hz.
