Adding video modes to G450 dual head with Win 2000 (XP?)

[Jean Naimard]

I have been running my t^crusty old G450 for more than 5 years now, and I just inherited of an ACER AL2017 LCD display.

The display’s native resolution is a wonky 1400x1050, which the latest drivers from Matrox won’t support.

I can run it in 1600x1200, or 1280x1024, yes, but I don’t like blurry text.

Digging in the windows registry (I like to live dangerously), I find those gems at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\G 400DH\Device0:

"Graphic.320.200"=hex:55,00,24,00,c5,3e,00,00,20,0 0,20,00,40,00,03,00,03,00,10,\
00,00,00,00,00,4a,00,1f,00,0a,32,00,00,08,00,20,00 ,30,00,03,00,03,00,10,00,\
00,00,00,00
…
"Graphic.1280.1024"=hex:3c,00,40,00,e0,a5,01,00,30 ,00,70,00,f8,00,01,00,03,00,\
26,00,0c,00,00,00,4b,00,50,00,58,0f,02,00,10,00,90 ,00,f8,00,01,00,03,00,26,\
00,0c,00,00,00,55,00,5b,00,3c,67,02,00,40,00,a0,00 ,e0,00,01,00,03,00,2c,00,\
0c,00,00,00

(Click here for full, complete, unadulterated text of the registry entries)

Obviously, those are RAMDAC chip parameters. Could there be some kind of Linux-like video mode tweaking utility I could use to generate a native 1400x1050 entry so I could use my new screen?

[Jean Naimard]

Well, there is such an animal after all. I just found it at

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Matrox-Technical-Support-Tweak-Utility-Download-824.html

Works fine, although I had to do some convoluted contortions to my dual-monitor setup…

(Here is the extra line added in the registry by the utility: )

"Graphic.1400.1050"=hex:3c,00,42,00,f6,d5,01,00,37 ,00,a1,00,ec,00,01,00,03,00,\
27,00,00,00,00,00

[Mehen]

Cool, always good to know there are still people using the G4x0 series. I'm about to retire a G400 MAX that has been in use since it came out (literally since day 1 of the MAX's existance). Nothing to do with the card either, but the rest of the computer its in is showing its age.