Ok, what did I do now?

[Boom]

Yesterday I computed like normal. Feel asleep playing WoW, woke up and shut down the computer. Didn't do anything weird or different.

Today I turn on my computer and I got a one inch black margin on the left side of the screen and a half inch black margin on the bottom of the screen. No margin at the top or right. Like my image got scrunched up a bit. I am almost positive it used to fit the entire screen. How did I do this without doing anything? And how to I stretch my image out again to make it fit the whole screen, without making things worse!?

[Boom]

Ok, I messed with my nvidia settings (I got geforce4200). I was able to center the image so now I have a half inch margin on the left and the right, instead of just a one inch margin on the left.

So it looks better now, but I still don't think its right. I coulda sworn that my image used to take up my entire screen, now I got all this black space all around it.

[Elvtin]

Did you mess with your monitor settings at all? to resize the screen? :)

[Rooster]

CRT or LCD?

(big fat & heavy, or thin & light?)

[Boom]

Monitor is big fat and heavy.

I don't think I messed with ANY setting prior to this happening. Monitor settings, vid card settings, nothing. I did my normal deal one night, played WoW, checked forums, checked hotmail, shut down the computer and went to sleep. The next day I boot up the computer and I got these big, fat, black margins on the left and bottom of the screen. So I went into the vidcard settings and was able to center the screen, but I still have the margins all around it.

I was kinda hoping it would fix itself, since it seems to have broke itself. But now its been over a week and its still like this.

What makes me feel dumbest is the fact that I can't remember if it was always this way, or if my image used to be stretched out to fit the entire screen.

[Swifty_Johnson]

Try degaussing it, should be an option in the monitor's internal menu, or a button to press.

You will also be able to streach the image to fit the screen in that menu.

Swifty

[Rooster]

degauss won't do a thing - that only removes magnetic variations.

Change the refresh rate on your monitor (in the Display Control Panel, under Advanced, then Monitor)... most monitors now-days remember their settings based on the input signal.

I can help ya out remotely if you can't get it (I'll have to rely on your word on how it looks though).

It's also possible that the monitor forgot its settings (stretch/alignment)... but that's less likely.

[Boom]

Ok, I found the refresh rates.

Mine is set at 70. I can change it to 56, 60, 72, 75, and 78.

This is really really weird. I would never think that refresh rates effect screen size. I would think refresh rates effect... well... the rate that the screen refreshes!

Anyway, each of those refresh rates I could choose made the screen a different size. It seems totally random. Its not like higher refresh rates make a smaller (or bigger) screen. It's just random. But I eventually settled on 75. That stretched out my viewable screen to almost the size of the monitor. I centered it again and its pretty good. My screen isn't perfectly stretched out, there is still a little margin, but its only about 1/4 of an inch all the way around.

So I don't know if its "fixed" but I am happy with the way it looks, so that means its fixed enough. :) Thanks for the help yall :)

[Rooster]

Like I said, the refresh rate doesn't REALLY affect the size of the screen.

But the monitor remembers the settings you last had (or manuf. defaults) when you select a refresh rate (which changes the Horiz. & Vert Freq.)

75 should be a good choice (or higher). I've not seen 78, not that I can recall anyway.

[Noleader]

There should be about 1cm of black space around the outside of your screen Boom. Also check your rez under the display settings. I know there are some that are designed for the different shape screens and that might be effecting your picture.

[Boom]

I think my resolution is set super low. Like 800 by 600 or whatever the lowest setting is. I think I did it when I got WoW, rather than upgrade.

I guess its fixed then, if there is supposed to be a centimeter or so. I actually got a little less than that.

[Rooster]

Ewwww, 800x600. I run WoW at 1600x1200 with full details up. :)

[Tammarion]

Boom - - you are suffering from computer rot!

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2005052441528.gif

[Figtoria]

1024x768 is a way more human level, Boom.

You don't need Superman eyesight to play at that level, but the detail is still crisp.

[Boom]

Well, the thing is, I sit really far away from my screen. Instead of the normal 1-2 foot distance between my face and the screen, I got like a 5 foot distance. My apartment is set up weird. So if the resolution is too high, the words get too little, even if I click the box to make the words bigger.

[Andolinni]

cool, i'm just glad that your comp works better

[Boom]

I'm such a dork. Yall talk about networking and routers and all kinds of complicated things here, and I can barely figure out how to keep my image from floating all over the monitor. :X

Hehehe, I was kinda hoping that my comp wouldn't be able to handle WoW so that I would be forced to buy a new one. But, my rig runs WoW juuuuuuust good enough that I can live with it. I guess I can hold off on upgrading till WoW2 comes out. :)

[Kegg OBeer]

If your monitor is a 14 or 15 inch, then 800x600 is fine, if you're using a 17 or 21 inch screen or larger, 1024x768 or higher will be much less grainy on the graphics. Kind of a rule of thumb I tend to go by.

The resolution is pretty much the same no matter what size screen you use, so a higher resolution will look much larger on a bigger monitor. For example, 800x600 is what I use on the 15 inch screen I have at work and it's just fine, but on a 17 inch screen, that resolution just looks huge. On a 17 or 21, if I run 800x600, I feel like I'm looking through a magnifying glass.

[Boom]

Hmmm, I'm tempted to mess with the resolution now. But usually when I mess with stuff I make things worse. :X

[Slightlyoff]

Booom...does your monitor have buttons on the front of it..or a little scroller knob below the front of it?
those knobby thingys and scroller doodads adjust the actual screen settings..doesnt effect the vid card but how the monitor actually displays the pic..it can smoosh the pic horizontally or vertically and off-center the entire pic changes the brightness and contrast.yadda yadda that is if it is a CRT if its LCD just ignore me..but if ya have a CRT mess with it... its kinda cool it does some kind of trapezoidal thing tooo...( I had the same problem one day..seems the boy was digging around by the monitor and I had the whole shmooshed black boarder thing going on) but as I said all depends on if its a CRT or not

[Rooster]

It's a CRT.. (he answered my question with, fat & heavy)

[Boom]

Sticky thinks that Boomkitty brushed against the monitor and pushed the buttons somehow. I guess its possible, but he would have to hit very specific buttons in a very specific order, I think the odds of him doing this is like monkeys typing Hamlet.

I've been hesitating to mess with the buttons on the monitor, I figure the more buttons I touch, the more chances I have of messing stuff up. Since I haven't touched those buttons yet, I can't possibly have screwed them up.

Now I think my computer might be possessed. Last week I mentioned that I might try different resolutions, to see what looks good. I never got around to adjusting those settings, but a few days ago I logged in and my comp was set to a higher resolution. It just did it by itself, totally at random, just because I was thinking about it.

Hmmmm, does that mean if I think about getting free porn on my computer it will just happen magically, like the resolution change?

[Miles]

Hmmmm, does that mean if I think about getting free porn on my computer it will just happen magically, like the resolution change?


If you were smart you would think of your monitor as a atm machine that distributes free money. Then you would be rich and can afford the porn.

[Boom]

Bah, that's an extra step. Why wish for money to buy porn when I can just wish for the porn directly!

Although I guess I could use money for other stuff like cotton candy and waffles.

[]LoL[Harm]

And maybe lubrication, cause with all that porn you're going to need to cut down on the friction.