krick Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 I just picked up an Acer 19" widescreen LCD monitor.I went to the website to download a monitor driver and the only one they have is for XP only.Here's a link to the driver download page...http://tinyurl.com/rc95zIs there some valid reason that this is XP only, or is there some way to tweak the INF file so that it will work with windows 9x and 2000? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLXX Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Monitors don't need drivers... But they do come with mostly useless add-on software... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krick Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 The "driver" usually includes color profiles and resolution and refresh rate info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erpdude8 Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 (edited) sad truth about the Acer AL1916 monitor is that it is XP compatible only. read here:http://www.thealders.net/blogs/2005/12/08/hmmmm/this kind of monitor hates any version of win98/me and some Diamond Stealth graphics cards so find another monitor (ViewSonic monitors are wonderful and their drivers are compatible with Win98 SE). Edited September 15, 2006 by erpdude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLXX Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Since when were monitors "XP compatible" only? As in, it won't even work under plain DOS?The "blurring" symptom described in that link is common on LCDs connected via 15-pin analog interface, and is caused by misaligned signals (the interval for each pixel is not centered exactly within the sampling interval of the input driver, so in effect the analog signal is overlapping pixel boundaries). All LCDs with an analog input have an Image Lock or Image Phase or similar adjustment for aligning the signal properly. Also note that a bad cable can have the same effect, and some video cards don't have very stable dot clock oscillators, but the effect is much less obvious with a CRT since they don't have distinct pixels unlike LCDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredledingue Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 Maybe this monitor is adapting itself automaticaly from the signal it received from the graphic card, then kept these settings.The w98 machine may had an old graphic card that didn't send good signal to the monitor and prevented it to adjust.The XP machine, obviousely running on more recent hardware sent a signal that was interprretad properly by the monitor for auto-adjustment.It's not XP or w98, it's the hardware that comes with it. Indeed there are no driver for monitor, keyborad, loudspeaker, microphone or mouse.Maybe you would want a driver for the case? I'm sure some manufacturer have thought about that yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erpdude8 Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 (edited) It's not XP or w98, it's the hardware that comes with it. Indeed there are no driver for monitor, keyborad, loudspeaker, microphone or mouse.Maybe you would want a driver for the case? I'm sure some manufacturer have thought about that yet! well that's Acer's problem, Fredledingue! they didn't make a Win98 driver for the Acer AL1916 monitor and only made one for XP. a driver for a computer case? pssshhh, please! seriously there are several plug 'n play monitors out there that DO require drivers that are just INF files.Monitors don't need drivers... But they do come with mostly useless add-on software...UH SOME new monitors DO actually need certain monitor drivers, LLXX, especially when using HP or Dell computer monitors [yeah, hello!].HEY I had to install a driver for the HP mx50 computer monitor on my WinME computer to make the monitor work correctly under ME.I even had to install a WinME driver for the Dell m781p monitor on my aunt's Dell Optiplex WinME computer because WinME doesnt have built-in drivers for it and asks for them. however, WinXP does have a built-in driver for the Dell m781p plug 'n play monitor.so I definitely beg to differ on "monitors not needing drivers" unless the Windows OS has built-in drivers for them. I know this from experience with connecting monitors to PCs. Edited September 16, 2006 by erpdude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drugwash Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 I recently stumbled into a monitor called Horizon 7002D, obviously manufactured for the eastern-european market, that I wanted to install properly for a friend of mine. After a painful search I found only one link in a forum post that lead me to a hungarian web page that hosted the respective driver. I manage to download the zip, somehow, and inside I found two files: an inf and a sys. So I guess that's one of the (still) rare cases when monitor drivers are not simple inf files.Don't ask me for that link, because I didn't bookmark it on this machine and Google couldn't find it anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erpdude8 Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 (edited) so I definitely beg to differ on "monitors not needing drivers" unless the Windows OS has built-in drivers for them. I know this from experience with connecting monitors to PCs.and to prove my point on PC monitors needing drivers, look in the \WINDOWS\INF\ folder, regardless of Windows version. you'll see a bunch of monitor*.inf files for many PC monitors. also, try buying a Dell monitor like the M781P model or an HP MX50, MX70 or MX90 monitor and connect any of these monitors to a Win98 SE computer. Win98se will detect these monitors AND ask for their drivers. if you dont provide them, they may not work correctly without the specific drivers.oh, to answer Drugwash's post about the Horizon 7002D monitor and its drivers, try this link (Yahoo! found it):http://www.tici5.tvn.hu/horizon7002d.rar Edited September 16, 2006 by erpdude8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drugwash Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Ah, that's it! Apparently there's a third file inside, a dll. My bad, I installed it a couple of months ago and forgot the details. Anyway, so much for the "no drivers needed for monitors" theory.I wonder how long until someone will create a driver for the Power button... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLXX Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 oh, to answer Drugwash's post about the Horizon 7002D monitor and its drivers, try this link (Yahoo! found it):http://www.tici5.tvn.hu/horizon7002d.rarThose files just look like they're for power management features, and the INF just sets maximum resolution and specs. Totally unnecessary.I have several video cables, where I cut the DDC lines to prevent it from "detecting" the monitor, so Windows just shows a Standard Monitor device.Show me an example of a monitor that *requires* a separate driver (and NOT a video-card driver) and I may change my opinion. As is, I should just expect to plug any monitor into my machine and, as long as I set the video card's refresh rate and resolution within its specs, it should work perfectly fine (maybe with some adjustments needed, such as the Image Lock I mentioned earlier on LCDs). So far my experience has agreed with this.Indeed there are no driver for monitor, keyborad, loudspeaker, microphone or mouse.... drivers *are* needed for the keyboard (i8042-something under 9x) and mouse (mouse.drv). Speakers and microphones... sound card drivers would handle those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drugwash Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Well, it depends on the meaning of "required"...A month or so ago, my neighbor came to me, desperate, saying he needed a monitor as his 15" IBM G54 started acting up - gone blank upon restart (that was an old issue we were expecting). I gave him my spare 15" Escort (LiteOn brand, apparently). He came back saying the image is desynchronized and he can't get it back to normal, so I went over and realized the videocard settings were giving a 85Hz vertical frequency, while my monitor could only accept 70 at most.Well, his XP had no driver for my monitor, I had no XP driver for it (could barely find a 98 one for my needs), couldn't get on the Internet to search for one and also couldn't change any display settings in safe mode (dunno why). So I would call this a case where a monitor driver was desperately required, as well as the ability for the OS to recognize the monitor and install the driver automatically.He ended up moving his huge and heavy 21" Nokia 445 monitor from his other machine and connecting it to the problematic one. Not to mention that XP did have the correct driver for it, but it failed to automatically recognize it, so a manual setup had to be done.Basically, a monitor driver would only be required to cap the maximum resolution and vertical refresh rate, so that accidents wouldn't happen (operating a monitor with a refresh rate - vertical, horizontal or both - higher than supported will eventually fry it).That's true at least for CRT monitors; LCDs are based on a different technology that I don't know, so I can't say what the risks are, if any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLXX Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 That's true at least for CRT monitors; LCDs are based on a different technology that I don't know, so I can't say what the risks are, if any.LCDs either don't display anything at all on the older models, or a message similar to "Signal out of range" if run outside of spec.85Hz refresh isn't supported by many monitors, it's best to use ~70 or even 60Hz when switching between monitors (the flickering is bad, but better than seeing nothing or a scrambled image.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petr Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 oh, to answer Drugwash's post about the Horizon 7002D monitor and its drivers, try this link (Yahoo! found it):http://www.tici5.tvn.hu/horizon7002d.rarThose files just look like they're for power management features, and the INF just sets maximum resolution and specs. Totally unnecessary.Those DLL and SYS files are for WinNT/2K/XP only as they contain dependecies to WIN32K.SYS, VIDEOPRT.SYS, NTOSKRNL.EXE and HAL.DLL.EnTech website: http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/index.shtm looks interesting - the INF file was written using PowerStrip 3.0.PowerStrip seems to be interesting driver, version 3.7 supports many OSes and chipsets, but it is also expensive. Supported OSes include:OS support:Windows 95Windows NT 4.0Windows 98Windows MillenniumWindows 2000Windows XPWindows Server 2003Windows Server 2003 x64Windows XP 2003 x64Windows VistaSupported chipsets are:The following may work but are NOT supported:- ISA and VL-bus graphics cards- mobile and integrated graphics controllers- 16-versions of Windows with or without Win32s- generic 16-color 640x480 VGA configurations- graphics cards not explicitly listed belowThe following features and functions are supported with different graphics chipset families:Chipset Timing Gamma Clocks Notes#9 T2R Yes Yes Yes None#9 T2R4 Yes Yes Yes NoneBanshee Yes Yes Yes NoneBlade3D Yes Yes Yes NoneBladeXP Yes Yes Yes NoneChrome20 Yes Yes Yes NoneCL543x Yes No Yes NoneCL544x Yes No Yes NoneCL546x Yes Yes Yes NoneCL5480 Yes Yes Yes NoneDeltaChrome Yes Yes Yes NoneET6000 Yes No Yes NoneET6100 Yes No Yes NoneG100 Yes Yes Yes NoneG200 Yes Yes Yes NoneG400 Yes* Yes* Yes *Primary onlyG450 Yes* Yes* Yes *Primary onlyG550 Yes* Yes* Yes *Primary onlyGammaChrome Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce2 Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce3 Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce2MX Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlyGeForce4MX Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce4 Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForceFX Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce6 Yes Yes Yes NoneGeForce7 Yes Yes Yes Nonei740 Yes Yes No Nonei752 Yes Yes No Nonei81x Yes Yes No Nonei8x5 Yes Yes No Nonei9x5 Yes Yes No NoneKyro Yes Yes Yes* *Write-onlyKyroII Yes Yes Yes* *Write-onlyMach64 No Yes Yes NoneMGA-2064 Yes Yes Yes NoneMGA-2164 Yes Yes Yes NoneMystique Yes Yes Yes NoneParhelia Yes Yes* Yes *Write-onlyParhelia-LX Yes Yes* Yes *Write-onlyPermedia Yes* Yes Yes* *Write-onlyPermedia2 Yes* Yes Yes* *Write-onlyPermedia3 Yes Yes Yes NoneP9/P10 Yes Yes Yes NoneP20/P25 Yes Yes Yes NoneProSavage Yes Yes Yes NoneR100 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV100 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV200 Yes Yes Yes NoneR200 Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlyRV250 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV280 Yes Yes Yes NoneR300 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV350 Yes Yes Yes NoneR350 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV360 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV370 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV380 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV410 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV515 Yes Yes Yes NoneRV530 Yes Yes Yes NoneR360 Yes Yes Yes NoneR420 Yes Yes Yes NoneR423 Yes Yes Yes NoneR430 Yes Yes Yes NoneR480 Yes Yes Yes NoneR481 Yes Yes Yes NoneR520 Yes Yes Yes NoneR580 Yes Yes Yes NoneRage No Yes Yes NoneRageII No Yes Yes NoneRagePro No Yes Yes NoneRage128 Yes Yes Yes NoneRiva128 Yes Yes Yes NoneSavage2000 Yes Yes Yes NoneSavage3D Yes Yes Yes NoneSavage4 Yes Yes Yes NoneSavageIX Yes Yes Yes NoneSiS305 Yes Yes Yes NoneSiS315 Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlySiS6326 Yes Yes Yes NoneTNT/TNT2 Yes Yes Yes NoneTrio Yes No Yes NoneTrio/DX Yes No Yes NoneTrio/GX Yes No Yes NoneTrio3D Yes Yes Yes NoneTrioLC2X Yes Yes Yes NoneV2200 Yes Yes Yes NoneViRGE Yes No Yes NoneViRGE/DX Yes No Yes NoneViRGE/GX Yes No Yes NoneViRGE/GX2 Yes No Yes NoneViRGE/VX Yes Yes Yes NoneVolari V3 Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlyVolari V3XT Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlyVolari V5/V8 Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlyVoodoo1 No No Yes NoneVoodoo2 No No Yes NoneVoodoo3 Yes Yes Yes NoneVoodoo4 Yes Yes Yes NoneVoodoo5 Yes Yes Yes NoneXabre Yes* Yes Yes *Primary onlyPetr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredledingue Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 there are several plug 'n play monitors out there that DO require drivers that are just INF files. INI or SYS files are not realy "drivers". They are settings.That confirm what I said, there are no driver for monitors, but I agree that there some files to add in some case.Anyway the output depends from the graphic card. Normaly special monitors should come with a graphic card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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