Windows 7 Monitor refresh rates not the same as in XP

[auricgoldfinger]

I have a Samsung Syncmaster 1100DF monitor. I have installed the available drivers without any apparent hitch (dated 2003), but none of the resolutions support a refresh rate above 85hz, and the "show unsupported resolutions" tickbox is ghosted for some reason. In Windows XP I can get 120 HZ or higher on some resolutions. Anyone know what the deal is?

 

[Tepid]

Drivers are old. Need updated, probably never will be. Talk to Samsung.

 

[auricgoldfinger]

Actually, it turned out it was due to something called EDID, a standard that allows the monitor to electronically inform the computer what displays it supports. Windows 7 strictly adheres to EDID whereas Windows XP does not.

As to driver support, I believe that so long as binaries are 32 bit and Windows is 32 bit, then the binaries are intercompatible between XP, Vista and 7. What is NOT compatible are the inf files. I may be mistaken, there may be exceptions, but here's why I hold this view:

I have an ancient BT Voyager 1010 wireless adaptor. It is declared by BT to be incompatible with OS's beyond Windows XP; they say you should just upgrade your adaptor and not live in the past. Well, I got said adaptor working on Windows 7. True enough it did not work just by running the installer. I had to extract the self-installing executable, then unpack the cab files which are not ordinary cab files but, for whatever reason, special ones that only come with driver installers, and it needed a third-party program to extract them. Then I had to run the inf file manually and check the log files to see where it choked. Then I had to manually copy some files over to their designated places since it wasn't doing it automatically. Then I ran the inf file again and, surprise, the BT voyager 1010 was recognised as working correctly and it connected to my router. And it's still working, replete with the firmware bugs that it had when i used it with XP.

The Samsung drivers didn't need anything special, they just work. Everything is working as it should, in fact, just not how I'd like it to.