Display Driver May Not Reset Refresh Rate During Setup

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

There are video drivers in Windows NT 4.0 which do not properly switch back to standard VGA mode (640 x 480, 16 colors, 60 Hz) after you test a different display mode. This only happens when the display mode tested has the same resolution as your current display mode but a higher refresh rate. The driver does not switch back to 60 Hz and may cause problems with monitors that do not support higher frequencies.

This has been observed with the Cirrus 5428, Matrox Impression, and Matrox Millenium drivers.

RESOLUTION

NOTE: Turn off the monitor so it is not damaged.

If this is happening during Setup, it is OK to turn the computer off and then turn it back on. If you want to preserve the settings you made, you can try to complete Setup by pressing Y when you are prompted whether you saw the display. Then you need to press ENTER twice. After several minutes, Setup should be completed and you can press ENTER to restart the computer. If you have specified that you want to create an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD), you need to insert the disk in the floppy disk drive and press ENTER two additional times. You should see the floppy disk drive LED flash to indicated that it is active.

If you experience this problem when detecting display adapters, you should shut down the computer by doing the following:

1. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL.

2. Press the RIGHT ARROW key twice.

3. Press ENTER.

4. Press the DOWN ARROW key, and then press ENTER again.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.