Now after changing the refresh rate from 60 Hertz to 30 Hertz in Windows, I cannot go back to 60 Hertz. When I try, my screen goes black and I have to reboot. After I reboot, it boots up with a resolution of 1280x240 and if I change it to 640x480, the refresh automatically sets itself to 30 Hertz
You're not supposed to use Windows dialog to change the refresh alone. You want full control of what you're doing, that means setting a whole video mode (width x height @ refresh) not a simple refresh rate. You can do that using, e.g. Arcade OSD.
That said, Windows makes a confusing mess about refresh rates when interlace is considered. Instead of just saying 60 Hz+interlaced (60i), Windows reports 30 Hz. I wish the engineers that made this stupid decision are given what they deserve in this life or the next.
Probably, the issue you're seeing has to do with how Aero (the enhanced video system in 7) handles desktop compositing in combination with an interlaced video mode. Try disabling Aero and see if it makes a difference.
Hi Calamity, thanks so much for responding. I tried disabling Aero and I think that it does fix the issue. I'm just confused by some of the behavior I am noticing through troubleshooting and also confused as to why changing the refresh rate in Windows from 60 to 30 also fixes the issue as I would rather use this method. Just to make sure I am understanding correctly, you're saying that when the Windows dialog reports "30 Hertz, Interlaced" it is really 60 Hertz interlaced?
When I start fresh from a backed up image of my GM build, the Windows dialog is always set to 60 Hertz by default as in the image above (this is with the "Arcade 15.7 kHz - standard resolution" monitor preset in VMM. This setting gives me what I'll call the "ghosting" problem that I was trying to fix. When I change the refresh to 30 Hertz, Interlaced in the dialog above, it fixes the problem. I understand you said to use Arcade OSD going forward, but is "30 Hertz, Interlaced" the correct setting that should be set in the Windows dialog or is it supposed to be on 60 Hertz (with Aero turned off)?
This is a screen shot of Arcade OSD form when I start from the fresh image: