Refresh prob, Radeon/Win 98 – 3195 days old

[floppybootstomp]

I can't seem to set my refresh rate at above 60Hz.

Using Win 98 with a Radeon 8500, Iiyama Pro 454 19" Monitor. I'm using the second VGA port of the Monmitor, it has 2 inputs, switchable from front panel.

Tried Catalyst 4.7, which is the latest official driver set for Win 98 and is combined with the Control Panel.

Have also tried Catalyst drivers 4.3 & 4.2 with no success. Both 4.2 & 4.3 have seperate control panels, so I tried setting refresh rate before installing them, hoping the 'Displays' section of the control panel would recognise the 85Hz rate, but it didn't. It just showed 60Hz.

I set up the screen res for 32 bit true colour & 1280 x 1024. I have installed the Iiyama Monitor drivers.

When I go into advanced settings and access the ATI control panel, the only place I can change the refresh rate is under the 'Adapter' tag. So I set it to 85Hz.

But under the 'Displays' tag it shows the correct res but refresh is fixed at 60Hz. And it is at 60Hz, it's hurting my eyes.

There is nowhere within the 'Displays' tag where I can change the refresh rate.

So I'm kind of at a loss. Is it worth trying older driver sets?

I recall there being an option to change refresh rate within the 'Displays' tag on some catalyst driver sets, but I'm sure that was within Win XP.

[Case]

Hmmn . . .

You're just having computer woes, eh?

You are right about being able to change the setting like that in XP.

Nothing in the BIOS could affect that?

I could find no info on refresh rates on ATi's site . . . http://www.ati.com/support/products/...=9&submit.y=14

[Night Rider]

It's the monitors .INF file that determines what refresh rates you'll be offered if it doesn't work as a Plug n Play monitor so if you've installed the drivers for the monitor I don't know what's up.

Maybe try reinstalling the monitor inf file.

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for suggestion NR, but that didn't work.

Removed Iiyama Monitor from device manager; rebooted; Win98 installed default plug and play Monitor, then I installed the Iiyama drivers again. It's just the same.

I also noticed that without the Iiyama drivers I don't even have an option to set refresh rate within the 'adapter' tag. Tried 90Hz as well to no avail.

On a bright white page damn thing's making me dizzy...

[Grogan]

Is your monitor supposed to give you higher than 60 Hz @1280x1024? Many don't (my Viewsonic only does that, but at 1024x768 I can have 85 Hz)

Yes it is, I looked it up. Supposed to be maximum 122 Hz @1280x1024 (whether 122 Hz usable or not, it's what it's rated for so you should get your 85 Hz)

That's expected that the refresh rate controls aren't present unless the monitor is correctly configured (if Windows doesn't know its capabilities). Also correct, under the Adapter tab is where the refresh rate setting is in Win9x. I always thought that was weird. Have you tried "Optimal" ("Adapter Default" is probably 60 Hz)

Yes, you might try older .inf files, like the ones that came on your disk with the monitor.

Sorry I don't know. Does the monitor do what you want if you hook it up to a Windows XP system?

[floppybootstomp]

Does the monitor do what you want if you hook it up to a Windows XP system?

Yes, it does. In the other VGA input on the Monitor is a system using Win XP, I can set the refresh rate fine at 85Hz. ATI 9800 Pro there.

Since I last posted, have tried Catalyst drivers 4.1, no luck with those, just the same. This time I deleted the ATI folder from C drive and cleared out all registry entries as well, as well as uninstalling old drivers.

I also shutdown all background apps that were running prior to installation.

Using the same procedure, I then tried the original Hercules/ATI drivers that came with the card - no good - and then went back to V4.7 drivers.

I think I'm stuffed on this one. I may well swap cards with my daughter's Nvidia FX5600 256Mb card, she doesn't play anything more demanding than the Sims, so the Radeon 8500 will be OK for her machine.

This machine/OS I'm having problems with is the one with the swappable hard drives. On one of them I have Mandrake 10 and the refresh rate is fine with that.

Totally confusing.

And Case, I checked out all Bios settings, there didn't seem to be anything there that was relevant.

The Iiyama Monitor, incidentally, didn't come with a driver CD, Iiyama reckon their Monitors shouldn't need drivers most of the time, but they have a folder at their site you can download with drivers for every one of their CRT Monitors. Or .inf files, whatever you want to call them

If anybody has got any ideas, please give me a shout.

[Grogan]

I've been wondering if we're barking up the wrong tree altogether. It could be limitations/quirks of the radeon driver under Win98. Most people running Win98 wouldn't hit that, because they probably have older monitors that can't do that anyway.

Can you get 75 or 85 Hz at 1024x768 in Win98 with that adapter and monitor?

[floppybootstomp]

Originally posted by Grogan

Can you get 75 or 85 Hz at 1024x768 in Win98 with that adapter and monitor?

Afraid not, it just the same. In fact that's the res I was running it at when I originally installed V4.7 drivers, but I thought I'd go up a notch or two to see if it made a difference.

[Grogan]

Well that pretty much rules out "a limitation of the driver" then. This is most odd.

[floppybootstomp]

Thought I'd come back to this thread, as the problem seems to have resolved itself.

I put another hard disk in, loaded Win XP/SP2 on it.

When I put the Win 98 HDD back in, on boot it went through the motions of installing new hardware (the monitor) and I noticed no flickering.

When I looked in the ATI Control Panel, in 'Displays' it was set to 85Hz, although there's still no option to change refresh rate in 'Displays'.

How odd. Anybody any ideas why that should happen?

I don't suppose Win XP 'spoke' to the Monitor itself and changed firmware settings, memory, EPROM or something?