What are monitor drivers for ???

[legacy-beta tester]

I've got a ViewSonic P225fb. There are device drivers out there for it.

Now, I seem to recall once having tried to install device drivers for a monitor, only to have to reinstall Windows, because my video went nuts.

It seems that so long as I just let Windows call it "Plug and Play Monitor," and install my video card's drivers, everything works pretty good.

I have noticed that my ATI drivers don't detect all the refresh rates my monitor actually supports.

Sorry for rambling -- let me get to the point:

Do you guys install drivers for your monitors? Are you supposed to install them before installing video card drivers?

[legacy-DarK]

Good question. I never have.:weird:

[legacy-CH405]

Hmm I think drivers are for people who still use windows 98 or something. :confused:

I've recently purchased 2 monitors and haven't needed drivers at all.

[legacy-SJAndrew]

My guess would be to tell the OS what refresh rates are supported.

[Spaz]

Originally posted by SJAndrew
My guess would be to tell the OS what refresh rates are supported.

Yes and also what resolutions it can support.

[legacy-Org]

And the color profile of the phospors I beleve

[legacy-Necromancer]

ive allways used drivers:confused:

xp will use a default driver


doubt it makes any difference but its nice having what res/frequency that it supports



http://www.viewsonic.com/support/drivers/index.cfm

[Emmet Otter]

I have a Viewsonic G810 Graphic Series, and i never installed drivers. It works fine:)

[legacy-beta tester]

Well, I installed the latest drivers (thanks for the link), and my computer did not self-destruct.

Afterward, additional refresh rates were listed in the Advanced video settings. I was able to go up from 85Hz to 100Hz.

[legacy-Cą§§)-(ern]

A monitor really doesn't have a driver..it's just software that comes with your monitor kinda like nividias little program they have that lets you set everything like performance and quality..stuff like that...it just uses the products software instead of using windows proggys for it...

[legacy-Necromancer]

it will give your pc info on the monitor
like what resolution/frequencies its safe to run at:)

[legacy-Static]

Their basic purpose is to let the OS know what resolution, refresh rates and interfaces are supported by your monitor. If you have a fairly generic monitor, then the usual OS-provided inf file is fine. If you have a monitor that supports something crazy like 185hz refresh at 1280x960 or an LCD dvi made in South Cheapistan that has a nonstandard, screwy configuration (hypothetical examples), you'd need to install the monitor specific drivers to allow all supported modes to be accessed... assuming the graphics card drivers are capable of supporting anything that might be nonstandard in the first place.

Some parabolic displays are an example of what would require that specific drivers be installed to function correctly, as well as higher performance monitors that provide very fine resolutions or refresh rates above the norm for a specific resolution. The driver refresh and resolution limits can be overridden, but in doing that, you risk turning your monitor into a somewhat smelly, 40 lb paper weight.