Out of Range - LCD monitor errors

After adding a new iiyama LCD flat panel monitor to my battery of PCs, this meant a trusty old Windows XP PC would inherit a hand-me-down Viewsonic VP2250wb flat panel.

Having hooked up the LCD the PC booted up OK but I was then greeted with an ‘Out of Range’ message on the flat-panel screen which then went blank. This means the PC’s video card is set to a resolution (or maybe frequency) that the screen cannot handle.  To change the resolution you have to see what you’re doing, but as the screen had blanked out the PC had therefore gone blind.

Windows XP video settings panel (click to see)It’s worth trying to boot into Safe Mode (press F8 during boot-up) to access basic video settings (right-click the desktop > Properties > Settings tab > Screen resolution slider), and see if you can force it to work that way, but my screen refused to work with any of the resolution choices on offer.

I tried a nearby TV LCD which has a VGA input – same problem, the TV couldn’t handle the PC’s current resolution (probably 1024 x 768 px) either, nor could my new iiyama 23” widescreen. So I’d have to re-connect the old CRT (darn – it was behind the garden shed!) and then change the Windows driver’s screen resolution manually to one that the hand-me-down LCD can use.

The next problem was that the LCD’s “native resolution” that I needed (1680 x 1050 px, says the manual -  the one that you should try to match in Windows settings to get the sharpest image) wasn’t available. That’s probably because the video driver in Windows was quite old. I managed to change it into running at 1600 x 900 and then I re-connected the LCD but of course some of the image was cropped off.

It was getting a bit silly now but I managed to run Firefox and headed over to Nvidia.com in search of better drivers.  The NVidia website I found to be a nightmare.  In order to find the best driver for my current GPU (or video card, which turned out to be a GeForce 6200) I would have to install Java and let NVidia’s applet run.  After a blizzard of blocked popups, NVidia pointed me to Version 307.83 which I downloaded.

I chose a ‘clean installation’ and NVidia installed it without a further hitch. After rebooting my PC – joy! – I could select the resolution that I needed in Settings and finally the flat-panel was working properly at full screen at he sharpest resolution.

In Windows 7 you can right-click the desktop and immediately go to Screen resolution.

This wasted over an hour and the motto is, you can save yourself a whole load of hassle if you install the latest video drivers before swapping to a new screen!

Monitor Rotation – easy switching to Portrait mode

A handy helper for rotating LCDs

Monitor in Portrait mode displays my Word document (click to see)I’ve just taken delivery of a new monitor, an iiyama XB2380HS.  It’s a 23” IPS panel with both adjustable height and pivot, DVI, VGA and HDMI. As the LCD rotates 90° I can view documents in portrait mode, which is ideal for word processing and it reduces the need for scrolling.

Before now I have had three Viewsonic LCD monitors, each equipped with an automatic rotate that never worked properly: turning the screen to portrait mode still left the image stuck in landscape mode. Two of them failed after lengthy use – I do thrash them, after all – but I could never get the bundled auto rotate software (Pivot Pro) to work and I suspect a combination of OS and video graphics drivers foiled the useful picture swivel feature; I gave up trying to use it in portrait mode.

If you’re interested Pivot Pro from Portrait Displays costs $19.95 and claims to work with almost every graphics card ever made. If your screen has an auto sensor then Pivot Pro can rotate the image automatically and it manages workspaces too. A free 14 day trial is available.

Back to my new iiyama then, which has no auto pivot. The sturdy height-adjustable stand allows the screen to both tilt and swivel, but after spinning the LCD to portrait mode you have to rotate the image manually.

It’s not the end of the world, as in Windows 7 simply right-click the desktop, choose Screen Resolution and then Orientation, Landscape or Portrait. You can also access similar settings through your video card software (eg NVidia Control Panel).

Setting image orientation in Windows 7 (click to see)However I found a neat little utility, free for personal use, that helps a lot. iRotate runs in the Windows notification area and offers simple keystrokes to rotate the image.  Simply hit CTRL + ALT + left arrow to spin the image 90°. CTRL + ALT + up arrow restores normal landscape, or spin it 180° or 270° instead.

Now I can quickly pivot the monitor and change the orientation with a swift keystroke combo, which is the next best thing to automatic rotation. Incidentally it does work in Windows 7.

• Iiyama LCD monitors on Amazon UK

• iiyama ProLite XB2380HS

• iRotate free edition

• Portrait Displays Pivot Pro

Adding a Search engine to your website

With Atomz Search having bitten the dust without warning, I look at one or two alternative ways of adding a Search function to your website without going down the bespoke coding route.

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To catch a Troll

I keep hearing about Internet “trolls” and how some “victims” of trolls have recently forced Facebook to reveal the identities of their online attackers. But what is a troll? I correct one or two popular misconceptions in this article.

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Chinese domain offers - beware!

Updated on Friday, September 27, 2013 at 3:59PM by Alan W

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Updated on Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 1:31PM by Alan W

Updated on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 11:06AM by Alan W

Updated on Friday, June 13, 2014 at 12:08AM by Alan W

Updated on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 10:19AM by Alan W

Updated on Friday, July 4, 2014 at 3:17PM by Alan W

Updated on Friday, August 1, 2014 at 2:58PM by Alan W

Updated on Thursday, August 7, 2014 at 11:47AM by Alan W

Updated on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at 5:54PM by Alan W

Updated on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 at 9:56AM by Alan W

Updated on Friday, October 17, 2014 at 10:39AM by Alan W

Updated on Monday, December 8, 2014 at 11:05AM by Alan W

Updated on Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 10:59AM by Alan W

Updated on Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 9:47AM by Alan W

Updated on Monday, August 10, 2015 at 11:54AM by Alan W

Updated on Monday, August 31, 2015 at 11:36AM by Alan W

Updated on Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:06PM by Alan W

Updated on Monday, April 17, 2017 at 6:35PM by Alan W

Updated on Monday, May 15, 2017 at 9:45PM by Alan W

Updated on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at 5:13PM by Alan W

Updated on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 1:31PM by Alan W

Updated on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 at 2:11PM by Alan W

Has a Chinese company Emailed you trying to sell a bunch of Asian domain names based on your company name or UK domain name? You're not alone and here's an actual example to help you make up your mind about the authenticity of the Chinese company's 'overtures'.

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What's a KVM? Using the Aten CS22U Keyboard Video Monitor switch

I have two PCs running side by side that I wanted to control with a KVM (keyboard-video-monitor) switch. One PC runs W98 and hosts my accounts, and has VGA video. The other has DVI. Here's how I managed to configure an Aten CS22U USB KVM to do the job.

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Anti virus for Windows 98? Really?

Updated on Friday, May 26, 2017 at 11:27PM by Alan W

I've an old Windows 98 PC that's dedicated to running my accounts package. A few days ago I had to rebuild it and re-install everything (Y2K bug patches and all!) - but what about anti virus software? After hunting high and low, I found an old friend that seems to run in W98. Or at least it looks like it...

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World Trade Register

It’s silly season for Online Business Directories again, and I’ve received two junk emails from the so-called “World Trade Register”. It’s an innocent-looking thing with a big sting in the tail:

Dear Madam/Sir,
In order to have your company inserted in the World Trade Register's 2012/2013 edition, please print, complete and return the enclosed form to the following address:
World Trade Register
P.O. Box 3079
3502 GB Utrecht
The Netherlands
Updating is free of charge!

A PDF form called “update_form.pdf” was attached. Well of course updating it might be free, but if you read the small print you’re placing an order for €995 per year for three years, and annually thereafter. I can just imagine some office-bod falling for it when an invoice for €995 duly arrives.

The updating form is an order for €995 per year for 3 years. Click to view.

On the world-traderegister.com website, well, I found some “popular categories” on the home page, often containing just one company. There were four dentists worldwide though. The website Search engine didn’t work at all.

Similar mails have come in the past from “World Business Guide” with a Madrid address, “World Company Register” also in Utrecht, and “EU Business Register” in Madrid. The “Update” forms are broadly the same.