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Question

Need Help with Display Problem Never Had Before

Mar 20, 2017 4:51PM PDT

Hello to everyone! Happy

I have my computer system connected by HDMI cable to my flat-screen TV.

Everything was working fine until my computer and TV/display abruptly crashed due to a momentary power outage (and failure of my UPS). (...Probably a battery needing replacement in the UPS...there were no lightning strikes.)

After rebooting my system, I received notice that my graphics card software had been reset to its default settings.

I know I did some tweaking of my graphics settings, but I do not remember all of the software settings I had prior to the reset to defaults.

The problem is, while I can use my graphics card scaling to reduce the size of my desktop to fill but not overshoot the size of my TV/display, my video games are displaying an image that is too large to fit the size of my TV/display...even though, as I've said, I was not having this problem until my graphics card software reset itself to its default settings.

I have researched online what to do, without finding a solution. I have tried various settings using the graphics card software, but nothing I have tried has worked.

I will be Very grateful to anyone who can tell me how I can once again get my video games to display full-screen, at 1080p, as was the case before the reset to default settings.

Thank you for your time and any help you can give me.


Here’s a break-down of my system:

- Dual-boot Windows XP Professional 64-bit (with Service Pack 3) and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (with Service Pack 1);
- Asus DDR3 2400 Intel LGA 2011 Motherboard P9X79-E WS;
- Intel Core i7-3820 Quad-Core Processor 3.6 GHz 10 MB Cache LGA 2011 - BX80619I73820;
- Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler;
- 4 x CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9;
- Mushkin MKNSSDRE1TB Reactor 1TB SATA III 6Gb 2.5inch SSD;
- Crucial M550 1TB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT1024M550SSD1;
- Crucial M500 480GB SATA 2.5-Inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT480M500SSD1;
- MSI RX480 8GB GDDR5 Gaming X Twin Frozr VI graphics card;
- Seasonic PRIME 850 Titanium (SSR-850TD Active PFC F3) power supply;
- Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case CC-9011030-WW;
- CyberPower 1285AVR, 1285VA/750W (UPS)
- Dynex DX-46L260A12 46-inch 1080p TV being used as the display/screen

Discussion is locked

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Answer
This is where I use system restore to when it worked.
Mar 20, 2017 4:57PM PDT

Display settings are in SR points so I don't have to dig through every setting.

I have to ask why there is no system backup given the highly tuned setup. You see these go down in flames as the owner crashes then they can't get back to where they were.

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Unfortunately, I Cannot Do a System Restore
Mar 21, 2017 5:30PM PDT

Thank you for the suggestion but, unfortunately, I cannot do a System Restore because I stupidly turned off System Restore and deleted restore points when I felt I was in desperate need to free up some additional RAM on my SSD C: drive. 

There must be some way to adjust graphics card (or some other) settings so that my video games will display full-screen, as they did before the unwanted reset to default settings after the short power outage.

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Deleting system restore...
Mar 21, 2017 5:42PM PDT

does not free up RAM. It frees up disc space.
Dafydd.

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In my case...
Mar 21, 2017 5:49PM PDT

it freed up RAM on my SSD.

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Answer
check the resolution
Mar 20, 2017 10:40PM PDT

lower resolution equals larger images on monitor.

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There *Must* Be A Way....
Mar 21, 2017 5:43PM PDT

You're right, however, reducing screen resolution (which I have tried) is an unsatisfactory solution for several reasons, one of them being that doing so makes some critical game text appear too small to read...or to do so for a reasonable length of time without inducing eye fatigue.

There must be a way to once again get my video games to display full-screen, as was the case before the graphics card reset itself to default settings after the short power outage.

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Yes, there is
Mar 22, 2017 10:30AM PDT

Like me, you are using a TV also as a monitor. If you want, set the TV to panoramic or WIDE and that should solve the problem.

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Thanks for the suggestion, but....
May 17, 2017 8:12PM PDT

Thanks for the suggestion, but my TV monitor is always set to "WIDE" (there is no panoramic or "wider" setting). ...But I did fall into a solution to the problem; see below.

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Answer
My Display Problem Has Been Solved! <Big Smile> (PART ONE)
May 18, 2017 1:04AM PDT

I usually give thanks and credit to people for helpful advice or for a solution to a problem. In this particular case, while I very much appreciate the suggestions offered, I would like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for leading me to the solution to my display problem...because it was after I had stopped looking for a solution that I believe my God "worked together" two "unwitting," "experimental" changes I made to my graphics card settings to effect a resolution to my months-old display problem(s), for which, as I've said, I was no longer looking.

I hope my giving my God credit for "fixing" my problem is not offensive to anyone. It is something that, in my heart, I feel is the right thing for me to do. (I give thanks to people when they help me; why shouldn't I give thanks to my God when He helps me?) I realize that some may call this (how my problem was fixed) an example of serendipity...or coincidence, but my spiritual beliefs lead me to believe otherwise.

So...the last thing I did do to try and fix my problem was to contact the maker of my graphics card (MSI), and a very nice fellow in their tech support department took my call and suggested that I uninstall my AMD drivers for my graphics card and replace the AMD drivers with the latest/last drivers made available by MSI. To be fair, I never tried this, so I don't know if taking his suggestion would have made any difference.

I "temporarily" gave up looking for a solution to my problem, which was my video games displaying an image that was too large to fit the size of my TV/display.

(The rest of this post is in the first reply to this post, below, because all of this post would not post as a single post.)

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This is PART TWO of the "Answer," above.
May 18, 2017 1:15AM PDT

When I was (relatively recently) alerted by AMD that a new driver/package was available for my graphics card, I downloaded it through the AMD Crimson control panel (..."AMD Radeon settings" is stated in the upper-left corner of the control panel).

After downloading the new AMD driver/package, I noticed that my AMD control panel settings were in the default mode. So, I set out to re-customize the settings. In re-customizing my settings, there were only two changes I made to the settings that were different from the settings that I had used when I was experiencing the problems with my TV/display.

Here is the first change I made:

After re-customizing the settings in the main AMD control panel (this is titled "AMD Radeon Settings"), I opened up a new panel by right-clicking on my desktop and then clicking on "AMD Radeon Additional Settings." Near the upper-left corner of this new panel, there is a drop-down box with the title "My Digital Flat-Panels." After clicking on "My Digital Flat Panels," a short list drops down which includes an item called "pixel format."

Clicking on "pixel format" brings up a selection box with four choices (in my case) for setting the color pixel format. In the default mode, I believe my format was set to "YCbCr4:4:4 Pixel Format," but I'm not absolutely sure. I noticed that there was another choice available with the letters "PC" in the title. Simply for that reason, I decided to click on and use that format instead. The full title for the format I chose to use is "RGB 4:4:4 Pixel Format PC Standard (Full RGB)." After choosing this alternative pixel format, I clicked on "Apply" in the lower-right corner of the panel/screen.

Here is the second change I made:

Also on the short drop-down list (titled "My Digital Flat-Panels"...see above for how to get to this short drop-down list) is listed: "Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)." After clicking on "Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)," a panel/screen appears, where the last option listed is a check-box, followed by the words: "Enabled ITC processing." This check-box was not checked, as a default setting. Hovering my cursor over the words "Enabled ITC processing" caused this explanation to appear: "Ensures video quality through the display processor instead of the graphics driver for HDMI displays that are capable of ITC processing." Because my TV/monitor is connected to my graphics card by an HDMI cable, I decided to check the check-box, just to see what might happen. I then clicked on "Apply" in the lower-right corner of the panel/screen.

After making these two changes, here is what I discovered:

First, I no longer needed to reduce the size of my desktop by 5% (using "HDMI Scaling" in the main AMD control panel) in order for my desktop to fit within the display space of my TV/monitor.

Second, when I re-loaded a game I had been playing, I found (to my utter surprise) that the game image was no longer too large to be displayed on my TV/monitor. My months-long problem was solved! (I did not have to change the resolution of my game. I did not have to use MSI drivers. Etc.)

NOTE: I do not know which of the two changes I made corrected my display problem(s)...or if both changes needed to be made to correct the problem(s).

Although I don't understand how the changes I made to the graphics card settings resolved my problem(s), I'm hoping that this post might, somehow, help others who are experiencing the same kind of display problem(s).

In case this may be of help to someone, here are some current version numbers for the AMD Control Panel and drivers being used:

Radeon settings version 2017.0424.2119.36535
Driver packaging version 17.10.1731-170424a2-313748
C-CrimsonReLive