Help! MALA messed up my monitor!

[jcroach]

Good morning.  I hope someone can help me.  I installed MALA last night and I had a major break-down on my PC (PIII, WIN XP SP2, 1.6 GH ram).

I loaded MALA and got it working, no problem.  I like the GUI.  I then dicded to play around with differnt layouts.  I loaded the "retroGUI" layout from the MALA site. It worked fine but it was only in a small portion of my screen.  This layout is a "Fixed size layout for 640x480."  So, I fiddled withthe controls and found a checkbox titled "changes montiro resolution to match layout" or something like that.  As soon as I clicked this box and closed the options menu, my monitor screen went black and I got an "Out of scan range" error.  Ok, no problem I thought.  This had happened before.  I tried to get out of Mala with no luck. I tried to ctrl alt dlt out, no luck.  I tried to reboot, no luck.  i tried resetting my monitor, no luck.  I even tried my system recovery disk.  No luck.  No matter what I do, I eventually get a "Out of scan range" error.   

The only thing I haven't tried yet is rebooting into safe mode.  Do you think this will work?  My understanding of "out of scan range" errors is that the CPU is trying to output a resolution that my monitor can't handle.  I would think that 640x480 would be rather standard.  I know my PC is working fine.  I can hear it boot correctly, I just can't see anything.  How the heck do I fix a problem like this if I can't see what's going on?!?

HELP!

[jcrouse]

Well, for starters if your looking to solve a video issue the type (make and model) of monitor and the video card and/or drivers would be good information to know. After that it is probably not resolution but the refresh rate that is causing the problem. If you are using a lower spec arcadish type monitor you could try attaching a standard, higher quality PC monitor and see what you get.

John

[jcroach]

I'm using a standard PC monitor. It's only about 5 years old.  I had been running a resolution of 1024x768.  I have no idea about the refresh rate.

[swindus]

MaLa doesn't change the refresh rate at all, it only changes the resolution. Did you ever run your desktop on a resolution of 640x480? Can you see any boot or bios messages when starting your computer?

[jcroach]

Yes, I see the bios messeges and boot WinXP logo with the status bar, then it goes black.

Would removing my video card and replacing it reset everything?

[leapinlew]

Press F8 on bootup -

choose the VGA bootup option (or safemode) and change your video settings to 800x600 or whatever. You must've set your video display to a res. that your monitor couldn't handle.

Usually you have to confirm these changes, so if you hit space bar or enter within 15 seconds - that probably confirmed it.

Mala is innocent!

[Czapala]

Nope.

upon booting before the Logo screen (maybe during) hit F8 and choose "Last known good configuration".  This will only work if you have not tried Safe Mode yet.

If that doesn't work try Safe Mode.

[Czapala]

LOL

1.5 minutes too late.  I would still try the "Last Known..." first.  But Leapinlew is correct as well.

[jcroach]

Thanks a lot guys!  I'll try that when I get home from work.  (crosses fingers)

A related question, how do I keep this from happening again? Do I use a layout with a different resolution? Can I scale a resolution UP to one my monitor likes? Do I use a "scalable layouts."  I hope I can still use the "retroGUI" layout becuase I really like.

[Czapala]

On Retroblast's site, in one of his older arcticles about getting the best picture in MAME, he uses a utility that basically lets you set a range and it forces the computer to stay in that range so you don't get the "out of scan" problem.

let me see I may be able to find it real quick.
Here ya go:
http://www.retroblast.com/articles/monitor.html

I haven't used this stuff (yet)  just read about it .. Good luck

[Havok]

You might want to check for the refresh rate - ANY pc monitor can handle 640x480. Most likely the refresh is either too high (above 85 Hz - for a cheap one), or too low (below 60 Hz)...

[jcrouse]

You might want to check for the refresh rate - ANY pc monitor can handle 640x480. Most likely the refresh is either too high (above 85 Hz - for a cheap one), or too low (below 60 Hz)...

That is the point I attempted to make.

 
John

[Havok]

Haha - I skipped right over your message! You beat me to it...

[jcroach]

How do I check the refresh rate on my monitor?  Would it be in the manual? Can I get to it from the menu?  Or do I need to look at the drives and such? Becuae I can't get to those until I fix the resolution issue and can get back into windows...........

I'll check out that utility.

[jcroach]

That web page at retroblast helped out a lot. Especially this section:

Note that if you're moving a PC into your cab that has been using a PC monitor up until now, you should first set the display settings to 640x480x60Hz refresh rate if possible, although Windows XP will normally only let you set the display to a minimum of 800x600x60Hz via the Display control panel. You can use a utility like MultiRes to set the display to 640x480x60Hz. (Odds are this step isn't necessary, but it doesn't hurt to play things safe!)

That explains whythe "retroGUI" layout in 640x480 resolution messed up my monitor.

And the "MAME Resolution Tool" from the mamewah site looks interesting too.

[loadman]

..Glad to hear you are no longer blind. 

I bought a relatively expensive LCD monitor (for my Jukebox project) and it can't handle as many diffrent configs as my cheaper monitors do (go figure). Useless for mame.  Not that it matters for Jukebox use...

[Czapala]

   YAY!!  I helped someone !

Having not built a cab yet, I feel good. BUT I have been reading this stuff for a while and just started posting since I decided to take the plunge.  Also despite my cab/mame ignorance I am a tech in my grown up job   

I hope you get it working.

[jcroach]

Yup, problem fixed.  Thanks again everyone.