Computer on SDTV resolution problem

[RichS]

I'm going to try to keep this short, but I don't want to leave any info out.

I resurrected a Compaq computer to replace an older P4 for my HTPC duties. I used the Athlon 64 3500+ processor, 2 GB DDR2 533 memory, DVD RW drive, 160GB SATA hard drive, card reader, and case from the original system.

I've replaced the bad motherboard with an ASRock A780GMH/128M, the power supply with an Antec TruePower 450W, and transferred over my Hauppauge TV card and DLink wireless card.

The one problem I ran into was that the onboard ATi HD3200 graphics couldn't do SDTV out, so I got this to do S-Video output to my SDTV. I'm using the latest nvidia 186.18 graphics driver off of their site. I'm running XP Media Center 2005, all patched.

My problem is that when I boot into Windows or exit out of Media Center while connected to the TV, the resolution size is too large - I have to go into the nvidia control center and set the screen size one larger , then everything is OK. It doesn't stay that way - if I shut down and restart, enter and then exit Media Center, or restart the system, the resolution returns to being too large. I do have the resolution in the Control Panel Display properties set to 640 x 480, 32-bit color, and it is perfect in Media Center.

There are two things I'm going to try - using older nvidia drivers, and using the graphic card's Component adapter (My TV has one Component input, I just need to get a Component cable). If anyone can think of any other solutions to try, let me know! If not, and if the other two solutions don't work, I'll just have to live with it until we get an HDTV and I can switch to the onboard graphics.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[Broomjockey]

I would say the issue is it's detecting a native resolution incorrectly. How to fix it, I dunno.

[Geek King]

I would say the issue is it's detecting a native resolution incorrectly. How to fix it, I dunno.

Could also be that the display doesn't default to a supported resolution, so the driver is choosing the closest match. I'm not sure if there is a way to force the settings to keep, or to use one particular setup without autodetecting. You may have to deal with fiddling with the settings when you switch out.

[RichS]

Got it - it was the video driver.

I uninstalled the 18x driver, and installed the earliest 17x driver, and the resolution is finally like it should. Media Center output still looks good also.

I don't know what changed between driver revisions, but whatever it was, was the problem.

I might try other 17x revisions, just to see how new of a driver I can install, but there's that "don't fix what isn't broken" saying...