What video card/chip does this machine have? And how much video memory? What OS? Have you tried other OSes, e.g. a bootable Linux DVD, which is often a great way to test whether the problem is software or not?

And why do you think a new video card wouldn't help?

(I tried to google that model number, but found nothing conclusive)

yes sorry I should put the specs on the PC here.

So here's the specs

Compaq Presario SR1200NX
AMD Sempron 2800+ 2Ghz
1.5GB DDR RAM
Sound Blaster Audigy SE
VIA S3G UniChrome IGP Graphics
Windows XP Home Edition

Google shows nothing cause there's no where to look (well nowhere that still has it {Google doesnt look at web.archive.org so I can assume thats the reason}) as I said in my previous post that my machine has a resolution issue so idk what to do hopefully you can help me

Regards,
Kevin M

BIOS restricted to a max of 1600x1200 iirc

some have said they had luck brute forcing it with certain programs but I tried and it seems it doesnt work so why is the BIOS that way?

do i have to buy a monitor of that size?

or is there a way to bypass the BIOS restrictions?

Regards,
Kevin M

SFMG wrote on 2023-10-01, 02:11:

some have said they had luck brute forcing it with certain programs but I tried and it seems it doesnt work so why is the BIOS that way?

It's worth noting that, like a lot of things, high resolutions used to be rare and costly. If you had a system with 1 meg of video RAM in the mid-1990s, I think the most you were doing was something like 1024x768... at 256 colours.

It was only around ~1999-2000s that video cards, which started to be designed more for 3D than anything, had enough video memory to be able to do 1920x1200 @ 16.7 million colours, which I think was pretty much the limit until dual-link DVI and DisplayPort came along years later.

Your system has on-chipset integrated graphics, which draws memory (can you adjust how much in the BIOS?) from system memory I presume. It's a low-end system from ~2004-05, a time when affordable monitors would... probably still have been CRT... or maybe you stretched your budget big time for a 1280x1024 LCD which probably cost more than this computer. I don't think anyone would have imagined 1920x1080/1920x1200 monitors being plugged into such a system's built-in video back in the day...

true I think in the BIOS it did give me an option between:
8MB
16MB
32MB
64MB

I could be wrong but thats as far as I remember from when I looked

should I change it? should I choose one?

and yes and no

Yes, my parents stretched their budget and got a more easy on the eyes LCD in place of a CRT meanwhile when this one became a handmedown after they got a newer Presario about 5 years later they went and bought me an LCD to use with this old boy of a PC, but no because even when this same machine became my personal machine back in as far as memory serves, 2012, they purchased a 1366x768 60Ghz LCD to use with this old machine

Regards,
Kevin M

As mentioned previously, try booting a live linux distro (Linux Mint for example) with the monitor you want to use ~ monitor EDID values will be read in, and display should start at default 'native' resolution of monitor... ie; 1920x1080 or whatever. If this is the case (it works like this)....

....then just get another video card .... IGP is as slow as watching paint dry, and a 3rdparty video card will have it's vbios open to other resolutions ~ no hacking required & much quicker than IGP.

FWIW I don't widescreen wrt retro computing (any/all platforms).... seems 'un-natural' to me, so I never need cross this bridge ~ plenty of 5:4 19" or bigger LCD displays out there, ex govt/business, cheap as chips (I have 3 HP A1956x displays and 1 Samsung LS19A450 ...which is a nice unit 'coz it has a CRT filter enhancement that actually works 'properly' =)

ah i see yeah it wouldn't be for any OpenGL 3D things probably for Emulating thre N64 or other low end consoles that were easily done with hardware of this type so thats why I was asking but I'll give linux a try and find out for myself thank you and I'll get back to you

Regards,
Kevin M

Update:
So using old version of Kubuntu I used the command
user~$ lspci -v | less

Output:
VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies Inc, Inc. KM400/KN400/P4M800 [S3 UniChrome] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: ASUSTek Computer Inc. Device 8118
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at e900000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: viafb

not sure what most of this means but I assume that by memory at e4000000 is 64MB and memory at e8000000 is 16MB
but I could be wrong. maybe you can tell me.

Regards,
Kevin M

M'kay ... so tell me, what resolution did the X server startup at, on the monitor you want to use?

By rights, the X server should've auto-selected the via driver (cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log) .... https://linux.die.net/man/4/via

Draw your attention to 3rd para under 'Description' wrt dotclock values and other caveats.

For purposes of example. I'm going to presume you've got a widescreen 16:9 display, that has a native resolution of 1920x1080 67.5KHz @ 60Hz refresh (everyday non gaming display)...

....then I try to calculate the modeline for that, knowing I'm constrained to a maximum 229.2MHz dotclock ... and for 16:9 the max display area is 1680x945 ... basically dotclock not fast enough. 'Closest' 16:9 mode would be 1600x900 (if display supports it)...and depending on the available dotclock frequencies dictates what display modes you can address...ie; likely 1280x1024/5:4 is doable...1366x768 should work.... at least, I think I did the math right, it's been many moon since I had to muck about with modelines =)

it started up with the monitor's native resolution which is 1440x900 @60Ghz which is what I wanted for Windows XP but no matter what I try nothing works

SFMG wrote on 2023-10-01, 19:10:

it started up with the monitor's native resolution which is 1440x900 @60Ghz which is what I wanted for Windows XP but no matter what I try nothing works

There are numerous old posts re this IGP and the lack of widescreen Windows support (Compaq, Dell, PCChips & others). Seems (as @giantclam hinted at earlier) to be a restriction in the IGP vga module of the motherboard BIOS which causes this. Best suggested fix seems to be to patch out the module with one from a motherboard with no restrictions. Couldn't find any mention of a patched version of this Compaq BIOS.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2023-10-01, 23:56:

SFMG wrote on 2023-10-01, 19:10:

it started up with the monitor's native resolution which is 1440x900 @60Ghz which is what I wanted for Windows XP but no matter what I try nothing works

There are numerous old posts re this IGP and the lack of widescreen Windows support (Compaq, Dell, PCChips & others). Seems (as @giantclam hinted at earlier) to be a restriction in the IGP vga module of the motherboard BIOS which causes this. Best suggested fix seems to be to patch out the module with one from a motherboard with no restrictions. Couldn't find any mention of a patched version of this Compaq BIOS.

I've been here before with the VIA Eden/EPIA platform (CLE266 chipset) ~ I was building an embedded controller and for the life of me couldn't get the FBdev to work properly under linux. Eventually I figured out it was BIOS related, emailed via-tech (this is nigh on 20years ago now), and they sent me a 'beta' BIOS image which resolved the issue....but of course, don't expect any service like this these days... (especially with proprietary vendors like Compaq, Dell...HP.. others). 1440x900 @60Hz is the resolution I would expect it to choose .... the output of Xorg.0.log would provide some more insight, but likely leading to the same brick wall....

alright then thanks anyway just purchased a AGP Video Card so should get what I need soon

thanks

Regards,
Kevin M

Update:
Just got the AGP Card I bought and it worked full 1920x1080 @60Ghz video resolution

the card is a ATI Radeon 9550 AGP yes old old but thats what I needed for this old boy anyway thank you so much everyone for your knowledge and advice as it ended up helping me in the end.

Regards,
Kevin M

You'll be much better off/happier with the setup now ~ those early unichrome IGP chipset was simply woeful =)

Indeed