Problems with 1680 * 1050 resolution! :-S

[smegy88]

Hey all,
I've just bought myself a nice big LG 204WT widescreen LCD with a native resolution of 1680 * 1050. That's where the problem lies... My Acer Aspire 5021WLMi laptop with ATI Radeon X700 (128Mb) doesn't like this resolution and so doesn't give me the option to select it as my screen resolution. It doesn't matter whether I use the built in laptop LCD panel as primary and the LG external as secondary, or vice versa. I just can't set my lovely new screen to it's desired resolution! It's very irritating...

Any suggestions would be very helpful.

Cheers,

Euan

Acer Aspire 5021WLMi
AMD Turion 64 ML-28 1.60GHz
512MB 333MHz RAM
Mobility Radeon X700 128MB Gfx.
100GB HDD

Drivers:
(Acer default Catalyst) 6.14 - I can't use ATI Catalyst drivers, only Acer. When using the latest Acer VGA drivers I can't use the external monitor at all...
WinXP SP2
Latest BIOS version (1.20)
Video BIOS version...? Dunno :-P

[ultim8um]

Have you tried any of the 3rd party drivers like the Omega's? These often support weird and wonderful laptop setups etc...

Normally you can force a driver install, so it might be worth having another go with the Ati Catalysts...

If not you may have to hack the .inf files in order to get standard Ati Catalysts installed...

[smegy88]

Cheers for the advice Ultim8tum. Thankfully the problem is now fixed and I didn't need to do any hacking of .inf files... I just had a fiddle around with a program called Powerstrip. Created a new driver file for my monitor which included support for the desired resolution and hey presto I now have lovely crisp widescreen! It sometimes resets my resolution to 640 * 480 randomly... Just an annoyance really...

Cheers again,
Euan

[dave87]

I want to do that with my laptop - thing is I think the x1300 will struggle rendering 2x1680x1050 screens

[smegy88]

Yeh, think you might be right there. 2x 1680 *1050's is a hefty workload. It's a pretty powerful gfx card though...
What memory you got on that? 512?
Also will you be running games etc? or CAD apps... Does your laptop panel support 1680 * 1050? nice

[dave87]

on the x1300 - 256

Core Duo 2ghz with 2gb RAM though, and its mainly pdfs/word processing work (uni - His/Pol degree)

Yup, my laptops screen is 1680x1050 (15.4" widescreen)

[smegy88]

Right... I think you'd be fine to be honest. I run a 1280 * 800 and a 1680 * 1050 fine. Especially if it's just pdf, doc or websites... The ram will help for the old dual applications, and the core duo of course. You're sorted! Go and buy a 20" widescreen!

I'm studying Product Design Engineering myself, so a lot of CAD. Hence the large screen.

[dave87]

Ah fair enough - my problem is I want to read 3-4 pdfs of articles side by side when taking notes, find it difficult on 1 screen

[smegy88]

On the LG 20.1" it's easy to view pdf's side by side. The resolution is so high that you can zoom out a bit and still fit everything in. You would have to scroll up and down a bit though... If only one could plug in (and afford) two 20.1" LCD's...