Over Specification and Other issues with 27/29 Inch Makvision CRT

[italdream]

I am putting together an ultimate arcade II cabinet. Please note that I am complete noobie when it comes to arcade monitors, resolutions, frequency etc.

Anyway, as I am striving for authenticity, I decided to pull the trigger with a  27/29 Inch Makvision CRT (2929D). For an example:

http://www.xgaming.com/store/arcade-parts-and-accessories/product/weiya-29-flat-screen-crt-arcade-monitor

I am using a Gateway SX2865-UR11P:
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core G630 2.7GHz 3MB Cache Processor
4GB DDR3 Dual Channel Installed Memory
500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Windows® 7 64
Integrated Intel HD Graphics
I have not yet found a viable budget video card, due to the very small form factor of my system.

Here is the story:

I turned on the Makvision last night for the first time and everything run great. My F-E is hyperspin and I am emulating mame, C64, SNES and Genesis among others.
The result was fantastic and I did not have to do any set up. I had previously set up my pc resolution to 800x600@60Hz (32 bit colors). I could not stop playing the games, all games and wondering how lucky I was for not running into any problem, including with Taito games, et alia.

Then, this morning my nightmare began. I had turned down the system last night without any changes (I only played with basic settings such as  H-position, trapezoid etc.). But this morning I could not get the image on the monitor no matter what I tried. I made sure that resolution is 800x600@60Hz both in the Windows screen resolution settings and the Intel Integrated graphics settings, since I read that the Intel integrated graphics like to use their own settings.

I switched the VGA cable with my LCD secondary cable and the system is there, running at 800x600@60Hz. When I switch back to the Makvision I get an over specification message or simply a black screen. It is driving me crazy. After a few switches around, I noted that sometimes when switching back to the Makvision I get the image back on the monitor for a second or two, then I hear the little window system sound signalling the new monitor and a second later the Makvision monitor blacks out. One time during this process, the Makvision image decided to stay, but when I tried to restart the computer to see if the problem magically solved for good, I was back to square one with over specification message and/or black screen.

I think that I would need some software tool (if there is any within my hardware spec) to change all screen resolutions and frequency and to force them when I switch the vga cable back to the Makvision. Additionally,

1. Is there a way to change the resolution to 640x480. The lower option in my computer setting is 800x600
2. How do I change the frequency to 60Hz to 59Hz or lower. The only range of resolutions in my LCD go from 60 to higher.
3. How can I force the windows resolution to not do weird things when I switch the monitor back to Makvision.

Any other suggestion VERY VERY appreciated. I hope that I did not get a defective monitor.

Thank you and it is a pleasure to join this community!

[Firepro4Life]

I've had a similar problem. Despite messing with settings in windows, when windows starts up, for a split second, it outputs some other signal the monitor can't handle (I have the same monitor by the way). That causes the monitor to still display 'over spec' even if the computer starts outputting the correct signl. My workaround is to have the monitor on a separate power strip and I switch it on once I hear hyperspin has started up.

[rabidfrog]

Maybe an arcadeVGA card would make life simpler?  Ought to prevent the monitor from seeing any signals that would make it freak out.

[italdream]

Thank you. I would be curious to get an arcadeVGA card. not sure however that it would fit in my small factor gateway pc. This should be one more thing for people to think about when buying one of the new compact pc: the choice is limited to low profile video cards and only few will work size-wise.

Anyway, thank you Firepro4Life. I think that I have come to a similar solution and I was thinking of adopting an identical workaround. There should be a knowledge base for this to help people with these problems.

In my case I found out that if I turn on the computer first, and I turn on the monitor only after the windows system starts (I tell from the start jingle), the monitor works properly and outputs correctly with my setup at its max res. (800x600@32).

Incidentally, while paying around, I found out how to create custom refresh rates with Intel Hd Graphics.   This is just for idiots like me since it simply there is a setting in the Intel HD advanced mode to create custom resolutions. In that section, it is also possible to create custom refresh rates which would work for a particular monitor.

I hope that this helps. I think when the cabinet is put together that I would have to use separate switches, one for the monitor and one for everything else.

[italdream]

Anyway, is it me or aside from these setup hiccups, this Makvision monitor rocks? I cannot believe how authentic the games look. While playing WB in monsterland, New Zealand story, black tiger, arkanoid etc. it felt like jumping back in time. I felt for a second that it was 1986

[Firepro4Life]

Yeah, it is a really great monitor (and should be for the price and cost of shipping!). While we are on the subject of this monitor, another little quirk I have to deal with is after the computer starts up, I have to manually go into my video card settings (catalyst control center), select that the card auto-detect the resolution of the monitor, hit apply, then go back and select 800x600 and 60hz, and hit apply again. If I don't do that, a lot of games in MAME have stretched scanlines. Not the end of the world, but yet another step that detracts from simply powering it on and playing. I'm using groovymame.

Also, I notice that the monitor often has to switch resolutions when I switch to certain games or emulators. It clicks, goes blank for a second, and then the game comes up. I assume this is OK since the monitor can handle different resolutions, but just to confirm, this isn't damaging the monitor right?

[MonMotha]

Windows Vista and newer run the startup screen (the black screen with the logo on it that says "Windows is starting" or similar) at 1024x768.  WindowsXP uses 640x480.  This applies regardless of what you have the desktop set to run at.  Your desktop settings will apply as soon as it switches from the startup screen to the actual OS.

I'm not sure how to change that, but I'm guessing that's your problem.  An ArcadeVGA may take care of this (then again, it may not - check with Andy), but it seems like it's kinda overkill in this situation.

If you already have some sort of output controller on your system (e.g. PacDrive, LED Wiz, etc.),  you could just use that and a double pole relay or similar to disable the sync signals during startup then enable them once you can confirm everything's up and the software tells it to turn it on.  You could also use a time delay relay or similar and just set it up so that it turns on the sync signals after a time delay long enough to let the OS start up.  Note that you don't need to switch the video signals (you can, but it's not needed), just the sync signals.  Seems like a reasonably simple solution.  You also hide the BIOS screens that way, if that matters to you.

[italdream]

Hello guys. The same happens to my monitor. It goes off when using certain emulators from my Front-end. For example, if I switch to znes, the screen would black out, I would hear a little relay type of noise and the monitor come back to life. I too hope that this does not damage the monitor.

I would also like to point out that I solved some of the start-up issues. I simply followed the procedure on the xgaming website. I downloaded multires and placed a shortcut to the multires.exe in the windows startup folder. Multires.exe is set up to start at 800x600@60Hz. This way I can turn pc and monitor at the same time without problems.


The last few times, I even avoided the over-specification message at boot. However, I am going to test it over time before confirming that this is a permanent fix to the over spec message.

The link to the solution is:
http://www.xgaming.com/support/questions/92/Troubleshooting+video+and+audio+problems%2C+or+an+%22Out+of+Range%22+message+on+monitor.

I did not follow it through but simply did as stated above: shortcut in the startup folder and it worked for me.

[Firepro4Life]

Sweet, I am going to try this too when I have some time to fire up the MAME machine later in the week. I'll report back.

[italdream]

I should also add that I set up windows to automatically log on into the"cabinet" account.   In other words the system boots up into my default account with no password, then it finds multires and hyperspin shortcuts in the startup folder. This boots the PC directly into hyperspin as well.

[Firepro4Life]

I have mine set to boot right into hyperspin as well. Turns out I already had multires in my startup folder, but for whatever reason, I could open it to set the resolution. Tried to reinstall it and still no luck, so I guess I am stuck having to slip a separate switch for the monitor after startup is complete. A bummer, but not the end of the world.

Another problem I am having, that you all may too, is that trying to run Capcom games in MAME with scanlines just does not look good. They are stretched and just look horrible. Scanlines on most other games look great though. I dont think this has anything to do with the monitor, but it is another frustration.

[italdream]

Sorry to hear that. I recently added an ATI RADEON card and it took a while to have the monitor work with that. Now it is finally working well.

With these projects there is always some hiccup. The worst problem I am having is with the tankstick (which I will eventually replace). It might be a problem caused by my usb ports but still.

When I use any of the mouse buttons for the tankstick, it will freeze hyperspin and essentially lock the left mouse click which would not work anymore. To resolve the problem, I have to use the middle mouse button. I ended up not using any of the tankstick mouse controls, which essentially eliminate possibility to use two side tankstick buttons since they are assigned to work as mouse and are not keyboard assignable.

Anyway, sorry for the little off topic.