New 22" Widescreen Monitor Stuck on 1280x960...Please Help :)

[ZenBassuk]

Hello there, a newbie...my first post so forgive me if this question has been answered before..did a search but didnt find a solution..

Okay here we go..

Just bought a Nice Acer P223W .... its a beauty for what I got her for but there is an issue..

Tech Specs...

Display Adapter - Nvidia GForce FX5200 (128Mb DDR, 8xAGP, DVI and VGA Out)

PC SPEC - Here The Link

BIOSTAR

RAM - 1GB DDR 2700

O/S - Windows XP Pro 2008 Service Pack 3

Okay here we go...

Got a Sony 17" TFT screen plugged into the VGA out and my ACER LCD plugging in via DVI.

Here's the link to my graphics cards Tech Specs

GeForce FX 5200 - Tech Specs

Now why wont this new monitor go over 1280x960..push it any higher and the screen go black and displays out of range...Now i am using the drivers that windows automatically asigned upon installtion...I downloaded the latest set of drivers from the net and installed and when I do this the screens are all distorted and very large and the display preferences wont allow the colour to go about 4bit...thus I rolled back the driver and it works fine..

My motherboard annoyingly doesnt have a PCI-E slot and I can ill afford to start replacing motherboards..

AGP as you all know is dying and PCI-E is the way forward..I can get a new graphics card with upto 512Mb ram...though I have doubts wheather it would work and the specs dont seem to produce any higher resolutions that mine..just obv takes more power away from your CPU.

Any answers would be cool as....!!!

Cheers Guys+Gals...

[RobRich]

Welcome to TechIMO!

Sounds like a refresh rate issue. In the video card configuration for the affected display, try forcing the monitors native resolution and a refresh rate of 60Hz (pretty much universally supported these days).

[ZenBassuk]

In the display properties its set to 60hz as it auto selects...selecting the option to see all refresh rates only 60hz is shown..

Could it be the 2 screens have different refresh rates and it cant make up its mind what to do ?....

lol....

[BipolarBill]

Since you have two LCD displays, you have to be certain that you are changing the refresh rate for the correct one. I would advise disconnecting the 17" long enough to get this sorted out.