VGA Mode Not Supported Message On Monitor

[WeaponX 0]

Hi, I keep getting this VGA Mode Not Supported message on the LCD monitor whenever it tries to go into Windows. I have read up on this online and it seems to be a problem with the refresh rate. The problem is that I can't boot into Safe Mode to change the refresh rate to a lower setting because it either freezes or also shows that VGA Mode message again.This is a Compaq that I'm fixing for someone and they just have the 5 recovery discs that came with it. I tried putting the first one in and selected to do the format and recover option. It goes through the recovery progress and then just shows the same VGA Mode message once again. It never asks for the second recovery disc even.Is there any way I can go around this and change the refresh rate somehow?I'm sure the LCD monitor itself is good as I connected it to a laptop and also could boot into the BIOS settings.Thanks in advance.

[wutske 0]

what about connecting another monitor to the computer ?

[equinox1405241531 0]

yeah for u to change the refresh rate u can put on another monitor maybe ur friends or neighbours and lower ur refresh rate settings from from tht monitor..and then connect your LCD monitori guess this should solve ur problem...

[WeaponX 0]

Yeah, I had to take it home with me because they don't have another spare monitor that I could use to test it with.After playing around with the recovery disc at their house, it corrupted the OS somehow already. I actually have another question for this. If I use the recovery CD and choose the option to wipe out everything first before doing the restore, why does the LCD monitor show that VGA Mode message again after the first disc is done? Shouldn't Windows be wiped out already at that point and the resolution or refresh rate settings be reset?I did the install on my old 15" monitor and it didn't give me any problems. The recovery went without a hitch. After disc 1, I inserted disc #2 to begin the Windows installation (very similar to the normal Windows XP install screen).So, any idea why it wouldn't work on the LCD monitor? My guess is that recovery disc #1 should have already wiped out Windows XP as I couldn't get the machine to bootup from my house once I brought it over. Had to do the recovery/repair from the beginning again.

[vizskywalker 0]

VGA modes are old VESA standard video modes that are supported as legacy modes on most graphics cards. In general, on modern graphics cards, they have variable refresh rates so as not to cause problems with monitors that can't handle the lower refresh rates frequently associated with VGA modes. Sometimes, graphics cards do not adjust the refresh rate for the monitor, and this can cause problems of minimum refresh rate being exceeded. The LCD monitor possibly has a very strict minimum refresh rate, and thus cannot handle the VGA mode on its standard refresh rate as sent by the graphics card.~Viz

[WeaponX 0]

I found out the problem. After returning the computer back to the owner in working order, I installed everything back for them. I asked the guy how they go online and he said his daughter will set it up. I said ok and let her do it. Then I noticed that she wanted to change the resolution. The second she changed it to 640x480, the whole thing just collapsed. Back to the VGA Mode error. I had to boot into Safe Mode and tried to set it back to the higher resolution, but (as I guessed), it's running at minimal settings.I memorized the order of the settings there in the display settings and booted back into Normal Mode. Then with the keyboard only, navigated through all those settings to change the resolution back to 800x600. Everything is working great now :)I asked her why she wanted to put it on 640x480 and she said she didn't want the icons to be so big. Told her it's actually going to make it bigger by setting it at a lower resolution. Upped it to 1024x768

[vizskywalker 0]

Windows has a setting that restricts the list of resolutions to only those the monitor can handle. You may want to see if that setting is enabled to prevent that from happening again.~Viz

[WeaponX 0]

Thanks Viz. Tried searching for more information on this online but couldn't find more details on it. I won't be going back to his house (aunt's friend), but this is a good thing to keep in mind for next time if I see this problem again

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

You may also want to install the drivers for the monitor, so it won't happen again.xboxrulz

[iGuest 3]

LCD monitors and catastrophic failures

VGA Mode Not Supported Message On Monitor

 

When a system that is "older" and especially those with on board graphics, not of the AGP variety are combined with the newer flat screen monitors (LCD) they will often cause this problem. Usually you CAN see the BIOS setup screen, and this is confusing since you think it can handle the mode that it is running in, VGA, at the time, and it can.

 

The problem comes, especially if you're using those stupid recovery disks rather than installing a fresh copy of Windows on a bare hard disk, because many of the LCD flat panel monitrs rely on drivers loaded by windows to run. Most don't come with their own drivers anymore, which is OK, but if you're trying to "reload" a system from recovery, or the "ground up," you're going to have problems with SOME of them. The reason is because the recovery disks load monitor drivers (or don't) for the monitor that originally came with the system.

 

This is because, as vizskywalker stated, the minimum refresh rates, and other issues as well, are not handled appropriately by the bare minimum drivers loaded by the recovery disks... You WILl get an "unsupported mode" error with a lot of these flat panels. Ido Computer repair for a living and I keep an old CRT monitor in my shop for just such a problem.

 

For future reference, hook up an old style CRT monitor and reload widows (SP2 is not necessary at this point) and also see if newer drivers are available for the specific LCD you have. Once a good basic load of Windows is achieved, go to CONTROL PANEL>SYSTEM>HARDWARE>DEVICE MANAGER, then click on the [+] next to the "monitors" and find the CRT and go ACTION>UNINSTALL. SHut down the system and switch monitors. When Windows reboots, it should load the LCD drivers and be fine from there.

 

-JoeBop

[iGuest 3]

Windows always solve this problem by pressing F8 and choose "enable VGA boot or something..."

-reply by Nicko Paul

[iGuest 3]

VGA Mode Not Supported Message On MonitorVGA Mode Not Supported Message On Monitor

On a similar situation. I newly installed Windows 7 on my Previously XP computer. Formated the C drive to make sure not to carry any old files. I have an LG L1919 lcd monitor that will not support an unknown video mode. I get the following error message on the LCD monitor.

OUT OF RANGE 35.4KHZ / 43HZ

I assume this is the same problem as described above.

It's very annoying to find out that Windows 7 which is supposed to be a corrected version of BUGGY vista still as such a stupid bug right at boot up. My guess is that when Windows 7 boot it is using a video mode not supported by my LG LCD monitor, hence I see this error message instead of the cute animation typical to Vista or Win7. When I connect a CRT monitor I can see the animation.

I wish someone could tell me how to change the initial video mode at bootup time.

Looked in the BIOS - noting apparent 

Maybe it's built-in the Boot Sector Program and impossible to change.

Surprising that Microsoft people didn't see this bug. After all, it's not like they didn't try this on an LCD monitor, I cant believe it! 

-reply by Fred Cailloux

[iGuest 3]

VGA issue with NEW Dell Inspiron 537S ew Intel G41 VGA Mode Not Supported Message On Monitor

I don't consider myself an expert but 30+ years of H/W S/W experience does provide a bit more insight to some of the issues surrounding failures then perhaps first tier IT support workers. Having no luck dealing with the new and improved Dell Support ... their stance on this issue is that the Machine is working properly. This pc is being used in an unsupported configuration as it is connected via a standard Belkin KVM to a LCD, keyboard and Mouse. When/if the machine is selected and rebooted there are no issues ... The moment the machine is booted while NOT selected, ie from MS updates, the G41 goes off into never land which requires a hard boot to recover. To eliminate the KVM as a potential issue I put another Inspiron/Intel G31/33 in  place of this machine and it worked fine under all reboot scenarios. To further eliminate the KVM I booted this machine without a monitor attached and again the G41 doesn't initialize properly. Both the monitor shipped with this PC and an LG monitor complain that the INPUT frequency is out of range specifically  the LG displays this error message  "Analog signal out of range 99.4 KHz / 60Hz". Today after another frustrating dialog with Dell I did some more tests ... it appears that the G41 will work provided there is a monitor cabled to it ... It doesn't appear to care if the monitor is off and plugged in to the wall/AC or  unplugged from the wall/AC ... This leads me to believe the G41 may be requiring a passive resistance value on one or more of the VGA cable leads? I will have to do some more testing to verify this for sure but for the moment that appears to be the real issue. I have never encountered a machine that doesn't go to some default or last known setting after rebooting ... Anyone else seen anything so lame and or know where this is going? This may just be a driver issue but Dell isn't doing anything but running through a set procedure to qualify hardware failures and only then will they replace a component.

-reply by Bix Dobs

[iGuest 3]

Dell No VGA Cable error messageVGA Mode Not Supported Message On MonitorI have a new Dell Inspirion 546 MT with a new Dell LCD monitor. When I boot up I get the following error message, 'No VGA cable - Dell S2209W'.What does it mean?-question by Viv Gates

[iGuest 3]

mode not supportedVGA Mode Not Supported Message On Monitor

 I also have this problem each time I turn my custom gaming computer on a message comes on to my screen saying mode not supported and I cant got onto my computer.

 

help?

-reply by luke