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    m1330 poor quality on external monitor through hdmi, fan full power

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by korkanu, Jul 28, 2008.

  1. korkanu

    korkanu Notebook Enthusiast

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    Just received my m1330 today, and hooked it up via HDMI to my 1900x1200 24 inch external monitor.

    Problems:

    Resolution is awful on the external monitor (and I only have the external display on)

    Fan is extremely noisy when plugged into external monitor, assuming its at max power



    I then tried a VGA cable and the resolution is better; what gives?

    My wife's m1210 looked better with the external monitor then my m1330 with the 8400.

    Anyone have any ideas? Am I doing something wrong?
     
    korkanu, Jul 28, 2008
    #1
  2. ScifiMike12

    ScifiMike12 Drinking the good stuff

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    By awful, did you mean the screen looked grainy?
     
    ScifiMike12, Jul 28, 2008
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  3. korkanu

    korkanu Notebook Enthusiast

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    Not grainy, just the resolution looks really bad (picture isn't crisp at all, slightly blurry, and looks like something you'd see with a resolution of 1024x768 or less)
     
    korkanu, Jul 28, 2008
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  4. japorm

    japorm Notebook Enthusiast

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    Have you tried going to the nVidia control panel and changing the resolution for the external monitor to its highest. My m1530 is connected to a 22in (1680x1050) monitor via hdmi->dvi and I had to change the resolution and the desktop color settings to my liking. I've also connected my m1530 to my 47in hdtv for movies via hdmi->hdmi and everything is perfect. Hopefully you get it figured out.

    Good luck.
     
    japorm, Jul 28, 2008
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  5. korkanu

    korkanu Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, I tried that...the strange thing is that it only lets me have it at a maximum of 1920x1080..shouldn't it be at 1900x1200? Maybe that's the issue here. I should note I'm also using cheapo 'Perfect Link' HDMI cables.
     
    korkanu, Jul 28, 2008
    #5
  6. japorm

    japorm Notebook Enthusiast

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    I doubt it's the hdmi cables since all of them are made fairly the same way. I have an RCA one that I bought at a local Wal-Mart. Have you tried updating drivers for your monitor or 8400gs? And yes, it should have an option for 1900x1200, unless your monitor is only 16:9 which I doubt since most 24in monitors are 16:10.
     
    japorm, Jul 28, 2008
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  7. paper_wastage

    paper_wastage Beat this 7x7x7 Cube

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    depends on the native resolution on ur monitor

    any HDMI cable works... i bought my HDMI-> DVI 3foot cable from monoprice.... its a cable transfering digital info(0s and 1s), not analog... u wont notice much, i fnot any loss in data, unless ur using like a 100foot(do those even exist?) HDMI cable

    btw, my HDMI-> DVI cable to my 19" looks nice, runs on my monitor's resolution
     
    paper_wastage, Jul 28, 2008
    #7
  8. korkanu

    korkanu Notebook Enthusiast

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    I updated the 8400gs drivers to the latest, and the monitor doesn't have any Windows Vista drivers available for download on the BenQ site (its a FP241) but I know its definitely compatible with Vista. I'm at a loss here, because like you say, there should be an option for 1900x1200...
     
    korkanu, Jul 28, 2008
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  9. korkanu

    korkanu Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, the monitor's native resolution is 1900x1200 and is a really good model so I'm at a loss.
     
    korkanu, Jul 28, 2008
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  10. japorm

    japorm Notebook Enthusiast

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    I wanted one of the 24in BenQ's but they were too expensive, so I opted for one of the 22in Samsung's instead. I hope you get this fixed because I've only heard good things about BenQ models.
     
    japorm, Jul 28, 2008
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  11. korkanu

    korkanu Notebook Enthusiast

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    Anyone have any idea why the fan would be so noisy? It's loud enough that its driving me nuts..
     
    korkanu, Jul 28, 2008
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  12. 7oby

    7oby Notebook Evangelist

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    This application shows you which resolutions the monitor tells the computer by means of DDC2/EDID:
    http://www.entechtaiwan.net/util/moninfo.shtm
     
    7oby, Jul 29, 2008
    #12