why can't I rotate my monitor?!
January 23, 2010 5:21 PM Subscribe
Why can't I rotate my monitor?
Hi I have a Dell PC + monitor with Raydeon X800 SE ATI graphics card. The LCD monitor is set up as 1280 x 1024, 32 bit colour depth, 60 Hz refresh - landscape mode.
I'd like to rotate it to portrait mode. OK, I right click on the desktop -> settings -> advanced and there is a rotation tab.
Trying it out (90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise) gives me this:
"The requested rotation mode is not supported by your current display mode (resolution and/or refresh rate and/or colour depth). Please change the current display mode and try again"
changing resolution to a lower value won't work, nor with going to 16 bit colour depth, nor to 75 Hz refresh (No, I have not tried all possible combinations of resolution, refresh, or bit depth).
Can you give any information what's wrong?
thanks
Hi I have a Dell PC + monitor with Raydeon X800 SE ATI graphics card. The LCD monitor is set up as 1280 x 1024, 32 bit colour depth, 60 Hz refresh - landscape mode.
I'd like to rotate it to portrait mode. OK, I right click on the desktop -> settings -> advanced and there is a rotation tab.
Trying it out (90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise) gives me this:
"The requested rotation mode is not supported by your current display mode (resolution and/or refresh rate and/or colour depth). Please change the current display mode and try again"
changing resolution to a lower value won't work, nor with going to 16 bit colour depth, nor to 75 Hz refresh (No, I have not tried all possible combinations of resolution, refresh, or bit depth).
Can you give any information what's wrong?
thanks
Response by poster: yes, it can be physically rotated
FWIW when I tried changing the orientation it was still in landscape mode...
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2010
FWIW when I tried changing the orientation it was still in landscape mode...
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:10 PM on January 23, 2010
Hm, I would suggest that the resolutions and color depths probably don't really affect things. If it supports 1280x1024 and 32 bits of depth in landscape mode, it certainly ought to support 1024x1280 and 32 bits in the portrait mode. The refresh rate might be a bit odd in those modes because the number of vertical lines is different in portrait mode, though technically speaking LCD monitors don't refresh like CRTs (there's no scanning going on, though the refresh rate dictates the rate at which the video card refreshes the image). Try looking for a refresh rate that's around 4/3 of the one you use in landscape mode.
Check your monitor's manual for what refresh rates/modes are supported, and you should make sure you have the appropriate drivers installed for both your monitor and the graphics card in question (they should appear as two separate items in the hardware manager).
posted by axiom at 6:20 PM on January 23, 2010
Check your monitor's manual for what refresh rates/modes are supported, and you should make sure you have the appropriate drivers installed for both your monitor and the graphics card in question (they should appear as two separate items in the hardware manager).
posted by axiom at 6:20 PM on January 23, 2010
Make sure you're using the most recent video drivers available. That can make all the difference.
posted by mhoye at 8:38 PM on January 23, 2010
posted by mhoye at 8:38 PM on January 23, 2010
The most important piece of information we need to answer this question is the brand and model of the monitor. Also, we should know if you're running XP, Vista, or Windows 7 - can you let us know, thermonuclear.jive.turkey? Thanks in advance for checking on that.
posted by koeselitz at 10:27 PM on January 23, 2010
posted by koeselitz at 10:27 PM on January 23, 2010
That's pretty odd. When you rotate your display all you're actually doing is rotating the desktop so that it displays sideways. Then you rotate your monitor sideways to counteract the rotation. It's no different then rotating an image in photoshop.
I don't think it has anything to do with your monitor at all, rather it's your video card and it's drivers that can't handle the rotation.
Looking around I'm seeing other people having trouble, all with ATI cards on windows XP. I'm not seeing that anyone was able to come up with a solution. Has it ever worked before? You could try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers.
posted by delmoi at 5:18 AM on January 24, 2010
I don't think it has anything to do with your monitor at all, rather it's your video card and it's drivers that can't handle the rotation.
Looking around I'm seeing other people having trouble, all with ATI cards on windows XP. I'm not seeing that anyone was able to come up with a solution. Has it ever worked before? You could try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers.
posted by delmoi at 5:18 AM on January 24, 2010
Oh, and Superuser.com would be a great site to ask this question on.
posted by delmoi at 5:18 AM on January 24, 2010
posted by delmoi at 5:18 AM on January 24, 2010
Response by poster: The most important piece of information we need to answer this question is the brand and model of the monitor. Also, we should know if you're running XP, Vista, or Windows 7 - can you let us know, thermonuclear.jive.turkey? Thanks in advance for checking on that.
Windows XP home; Dell 1703FP plug & play monitor.
I'm seeing other people having trouble, all with ATI cards on windows XP. I'm not seeing that anyone was able to come up with a solution. Has it ever worked before?
No it has never worked before. FWIW I have a similar PC at work that likewise I can't rotate. The IS people at work are disinterested in providing low-level support like this, they only jump if a virus corrupts the company network.
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:19 AM on January 24, 2010
Windows XP home; Dell 1703FP plug & play monitor.
I'm seeing other people having trouble, all with ATI cards on windows XP. I'm not seeing that anyone was able to come up with a solution. Has it ever worked before?
No it has never worked before. FWIW I have a similar PC at work that likewise I can't rotate. The IS people at work are disinterested in providing low-level support like this, they only jump if a virus corrupts the company network.
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:19 AM on January 24, 2010
It's most likely not your monitor but your graphics card and/or drivers. I've used several monitors (with non-rotating stands) on my monitor arms that work fine in portrait mode.
The graphics card is what's doing the rotation and shouldn't have any bearing on model or make of your monitor. Are you using the ATI catalyst driver or the generic Windows update driver? I would definitely go to ATI's site and download the latest driver. That should fix your issue.
posted by wongcorgi at 9:37 AM on January 24, 2010
The graphics card is what's doing the rotation and shouldn't have any bearing on model or make of your monitor. Are you using the ATI catalyst driver or the generic Windows update driver? I would definitely go to ATI's site and download the latest driver. That should fix your issue.
posted by wongcorgi at 9:37 AM on January 24, 2010
Hey, thanks, thermonuclear.jive.turkey!
I'm just guessing, but maybe it has something to do with this little note in the documentation on rotation of the 1703FP:
“To take advantage of the "Display Rotation" function (Landscape versus Portrait view) an updated graphics driver is required for your Dell Computer not included with this monitor. Please download the graphics driver from http://www.support.dell.com and refer to the "download" section for "Video Drivers" for latest driver updates.”
So: apparently, out-of-the-box, with the drivers they give you, it doesn't do rotation; you have to add a newer driver.
My suggestion would be to go here to AMD's site, download the full Catalyst package of Radeon ATI drivers, and install it. This might take care of the problem.
Good luck. Let us know if this works!
posted by koeselitz at 1:08 PM on January 24, 2010
I'm just guessing, but maybe it has something to do with this little note in the documentation on rotation of the 1703FP:
“To take advantage of the "Display Rotation" function (Landscape versus Portrait view) an updated graphics driver is required for your Dell Computer not included with this monitor. Please download the graphics driver from http://www.support.dell.com and refer to the "download" section for "Video Drivers" for latest driver updates.”
So: apparently, out-of-the-box, with the drivers they give you, it doesn't do rotation; you have to add a newer driver.
My suggestion would be to go here to AMD's site, download the full Catalyst package of Radeon ATI drivers, and install it. This might take care of the problem.
Good luck. Let us know if this works!
posted by koeselitz at 1:08 PM on January 24, 2010
Oh, and I didn't recommend going to Dell's support site for those drivers because the 1703FP is just old enough that they don't seem to have it anymore - well, they have it, but it's not listed. If you'd like to try the direct driver just for that monitor, I googled a bit and found it here, but I think the Radeon driver will more likely be what you want.
posted by koeselitz at 1:11 PM on January 24, 2010
posted by koeselitz at 1:11 PM on January 24, 2010
Response by poster: I tried all of the following:
If all else fails, there's always eeerotate.
[also iRotate linked from the page]
If you'd like to try the direct driver just for that monitor, I googled a bit and found it here,
My suggestion would be to go here to AMD's site, download the full Catalyst package of Radeon ATI drivers, and install it. This might take care of the problem.
still no success. The eeerotate, and iRotate, rotate the mouse movements but not the display. Updating the dell driver and the AMD/ATI driver likewise didn't solve the issue.
?
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 3:10 PM on January 24, 2010
If all else fails, there's always eeerotate.
[also iRotate linked from the page]
If you'd like to try the direct driver just for that monitor, I googled a bit and found it here,
My suggestion would be to go here to AMD's site, download the full Catalyst package of Radeon ATI drivers, and install it. This might take care of the problem.
still no success. The eeerotate, and iRotate, rotate the mouse movements but not the display. Updating the dell driver and the AMD/ATI driver likewise didn't solve the issue.
?
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 3:10 PM on January 24, 2010
Response by poster: ... and I now reinstalled an earlier driver because the display kept reverting to a low resolution upon every reboot...
oh well thanks to all who tried
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:21 PM on January 24, 2010
oh well thanks to all who tried
posted by thermonuclear.jive.turkey at 6:21 PM on January 24, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by axiom at 6:07 PM on January 23, 2010