Can't get decent screen font rendering on LCD monitor

  • Thread starter Thread starter bacco baccanels
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bacco baccanels

I have an old PC (Celeron 450) initially equipped with a RAGE 128 PRO
and Windows 2000 Professional, connected with a Philips 190V LCD 19''
monitor.

Images and videos are quite good (not as with the old CRT), but at
1280x1024 and 60Hz or 75Hz (best resolution suggested by the produce
rof the LCD monitor) I can't get a decent font rendering in Windows
Explorer. To give an idea, fonts are "thin" and barely readable.

The same monitor, connected to an even old laptop with Rage Mobility
and Windows 2000 without ClearType technology, give really better
results.

So I tried to change the video card with others collected from friends

- an old S3 Savage 3D on AGP slot
- an even older Matrox on AGP slot
- a more recent Sapphire Radeon on PCI slot

The results (after driver update) is... the same.

I tried also to mess with BIOS shadow memory values, without any
success.

I've read also of ClearType technology available on Windows XP and not
available for Windows 2000, but I think the problem is in the PC and I
haven't a clue of what it is.

This problem is growing into an obsession, so if anyone can help

Thanks for your answer.

bacco
 
Try turning ClearType on
right click an empty spot on the
desktop...properties.....appearance......effects
peter
 
I have an old PC (Celeron 450) initially equipped with a RAGE 128 PRO
and Windows 2000 Professional, connected with a Philips 190V LCD 19''
monitor.

Images and videos are quite good (not as with the old CRT), but at
1280x1024 and 60Hz or 75Hz (best resolution suggested by the produce
rof the LCD monitor) I can't get a decent font rendering in Windows
Explorer. To give an idea, fonts are "thin" and barely readable.

The same monitor, connected to an even old laptop with Rage Mobility
and Windows 2000 without ClearType technology, give really better
results.

So I tried to change the video card with others collected from friends

- an old S3 Savage 3D on AGP slot
- an even older Matrox on AGP slot
- a more recent Sapphire Radeon on PCI slot

The results (after driver update) is... the same.

I tried also to mess with BIOS shadow memory values, without any
success.

I've read also of ClearType technology available on Windows XP and not
available for Windows 2000, but I think the problem is in the PC and I
haven't a clue of what it is.

This problem is growing into an obsession, so if anyone can help

Thanks for your answer.

bacco
Click to expand...

Have you tried changing the font size?

Bill
 
Thanks for your answer, but as far as I know, in Windows 2000 there is
no ClearType technology, nor a way to install it, since it's included
only in Windows XP.

bacco
 
Thanks for your answer Bill,

I tried to change the font size, but the rendering is still bad. As you
can read in my first post, same monitor with a different pc with same
OS give better results, and same monitor with same pc and 4 different
video card gives bad results.

bacco
 
Thanks for your answer Bill,

I tried to change the font size, but the rendering is still bad. As you
can read in my first post, same monitor with a different pc with same
OS give better results, and same monitor with same pc and 4 different
video card gives bad results.

bacco
Click to expand...

Doesn't sound like a hardware problem to me, and the only other thing
is software. You may have to format and reload windows, could be
something in the registry or some malware has gotten on to your
computer screwing up your fonts.

Bill
 
Images and videos are quite good (not as with the old CRT), but at
1280x1024 and 60Hz or 75Hz (best resolution suggested by the produce
rof the LCD monitor) I can't get a decent font rendering in Windows
Explorer. To give an idea, fonts are "thin" and barely readable.
Click to expand...

I don't know what do you call "thin and barely readable",
but I had often seen problems with font displaying in all types
of monitors and cards if the VGA cable was not of a good quality
or if any kind of a switch was between the card and the monitor.

For example, in a local computer store All monitors on display
cannot display word "All" properly (letters l and l are practically
merged together in a single blurry spot).

So, make sure you are using the same VGA cable, which you used
with the laptop and there are no switches.

If you suspect the font rendering problem (registry or malware,
as other people suggested), then try simply drawing 2 parallel
1 pixel wide vertical lines with 1 pixel white separation
in Windows Paint application and check how they are displayed.
The lines should come out crisp black with a clear white line in between,
without any blurring or echo.
 
bacco said:
I have an old PC (Celeron 450) initially equipped with a RAGE 128 PRO
and Windows 2000 Professional, connected with a Philips 190V LCD 19''
monitor.

Images and videos are quite good (not as with the old CRT), but at
1280x1024 and 60Hz or 75Hz (best resolution suggested by the produce
rof the LCD monitor) I can't get a decent font rendering in Windows
Explorer. To give an idea, fonts are "thin" and barely readable.

The same monitor, connected to an even old laptop with Rage Mobility
and Windows 2000 without ClearType technology, give really better
results.

So I tried to change the video card with others collected from friends

- an old S3 Savage 3D on AGP slot
- an even older Matrox on AGP slot
- a more recent Sapphire Radeon on PCI slot

The results (after driver update) is... the same.

I tried also to mess with BIOS shadow memory values, without any
success.

I've read also of ClearType technology available on Windows XP and not
available for Windows 2000, but I think the problem is in the PC and I
haven't a clue of what it is.

This problem is growing into an obsession, so if anyone can help

Thanks for your answer.
Click to expand...

Cleartype is a red herring--it's useful in some cases but you said yourself
that you get good results with the same monitor on a Rage Mobility chip.

What you're describing sounds like the dot clock is just a little bit off.
You may be able to adjust this either using the monitor front panel
settings or by using Powerstrip <http://www.entechtaiwan.com>.
 
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