Help with error: Signal out of range

[Juusuhako]

Hello everyone,
I recently formated my friends PC that he brought over. We did it on my 23" monitor which ran at a high resolution

Hes at home now, and is getting the error mentioned in the title because the resolution I ran on my monitor isnt supported on his small monitor. I figured it could be reset in safe mode, but it seems impossible to get into safe mode.

He tried F5, F8 and F10, on top of also holding down SHIFT and ALT while doing it, but he gets no Advanced Boot Options menu.

All he can access is Bios and some Acer Boot Menu where you can choose HD or CD.

How can I now reset the resolution?

 

[jamesriley94]

What OS are you running?

Windows Key + P, then up/down arrow a few times and enter may work.

 

[Juusuhako]

What OS are you running?

Windows Key + P, then up/down arrow a few times and enter may work.

It runs Windows 8.

Im not sure I understand. You want him to hold Win key and press P, up/down arrows and enter randomly and hope something comes up during boot? o.o

 

[jamesriley94]

It runs Windows 8.

Im not sure I understand. You want him to hold Win key and press P, up/down arrows and enter randomly and hope something comes up during boot? o.o

Lol no.

I'm assuming you can get into windows alright without needing a monitor.

I'm trying to think of keyboard shortcuts to rescan/reset the resolution to the previous state.

What graphics card/chip is he running?

 

[Juusuhako]

Lol no.

I'm assuming you can get into windows alright without needing a monitor.

I'm trying to think of keyboard shortcuts to rescan/reset the resolution to the previous state.

What graphics card/chip is he running?

Well it probably boots into windows, just cant see the desktop. It has Windows Shell installed, so it boots into the "normal" desktop, not Metro UI.

Its an old Acer Aspire desktop. From what I recall its a Radeon X1250.

 

[jamesriley94]

How are you trying to connect the monitor? VGA?

If it has DVI and VGA, try swapping it to the other port if you have an adapter. That should hopefully reset it.

 

[upinesay]

Wow, Windows 8 is starting to annoy me even before I've ever installed it. There doesn't seem to be a way to get into Safe Mode or boot menu via a shortcut key (i.e. F8). Apparently they removed it. In its place, they put a graphical UI, which it seems in your case, your friend's monitor can't handle the res that you set when you installed it. Maybe try:

• Boot with the installation media (easiest option)
• I've also read that you may try to tap F12 repeatedly.

I dunno. Makes me not want to install Windows 8 unless I have to (which with my luck would probably be soon).

 

[Juusuhako]

How are you trying to connect the monitor? VGA?

If it has DVI and VGA, try swapping it to the other port if you have an adapter. That should hopefully reset it.

VGA, they dont have a DVI cable.

Wow, Windows 8 is starting to annoy me even before I've ever installed it. There doesn't seem to be a way to get into Safe Mode or boot menu via a shortcut key (i.e. F8). Apparently they removed it. In its place, they put a graphical UI, which it seems in your case, your friend's monitor can't handle the res that you set when you installed it. Maybe try:

• Boot with the installation media (easiest option)
• I've also read that you may try to tap F12 repeatedly.

I dunno. Makes me not want to install Windows 8 unless I have to (which with my luck would probably be soon).

I have seen the graphical UI, someone said something about Shift+F8 while booting, but like mentioned in my first post he did try holding Shift and Alt while pressing various F-keys, but nothing worked. The media CD is with me im afraid.

How can a PC in 2014 not be smart enough to automatically adjust the resolution to one that is compatible?

 

[TheOuterOne]

Well, sounds like it's set to the wrong refresh rate. Windows 8 doesn't give me any problems with the resolution, detects everything properly.

 

[upinesay]

How can a PC in 2014 not be smart enough to automatically adjust the resolution to one that is compatible?

Yea, exactly.

Anyway, maybe it's the monitor; does he have a spare monitor or even LCD/LED TV that he could plug the VGA cable into?

 

[Juusuhako]

Well, sounds like it's set to the wrong refresh rate. Windows 8 doesn't give me any problems with the resolution, detects everything properly.

It did to begin with, and then I set it to a 1600x1400 resolution on my monitor. Then when he came home he plugged it into his own which doesnt support that resolution (and probably refresh rate too), hence he gets the error in title.

Yea, exactly.

Anyway, maybe it's the monitor; does he have a spare monitor or even LCD/LED TV that he could plug the VGA cable into?

Nope.

He has one of those small Neovo monitors.

 

[SPS]

Simple solution.

Get him to come round to yours (as it's a laptop anyway), plug your 23" monitor in, set the resolution to 800x600. He should be able to view that res fine on his monitor which he can set to the correct res.

What I don't understand though.. can't you see the display on the laptop's screen?

 

[Juusuhako]

Simple solution.

Get him to come round to yours (as it's a laptop anyway), plug your 23" monitor in, set the resolution to 800x600. He should be able to view that res fine on his monitor which he can set to the correct res.

What I don't understand though.. can't you see the display on the laptop's screen?

Its a desktop.

He brought it over and I formated it on a spare 23" monitor at 1600x1400 reso since the GPU output wouldnt go higher. Didnt think it mattered. Then he plugged it in at home on a 14-15" monitor which didnt support the reso, hence the error.

 

[upinesay]

Hah I have one of those Neovo monitors...an S-19. It's actually a pretty nice glass to edge monitor. Anyway, it sounds like your friend is SOL unless they go to your house to re-set the res .

 

[Warchild]

Take your monitor to his place. Much easier than lugging a desktop to yours.

Or boot into safe mode and you should be able to adjust resolution there.

Or get him to hook it up to a TV with HDMI if possible.

 

[AndyN]

It does sound like the monitor is just unable to work at the set res, and with the VGA cable the monior doesn't send it's specs to the PC to let it know what it can do (this isn't a Win8 fault, just old cable tech). The easiest way to reset the res would be by using another monitor which can handle the higher res (unfortunately I don't know the Win8 shortcuts to set it without seeing it).

 

[remember300]

does he not have a tv in his house that can take vga or hdmi?

 

[SPS]

Its a desktop.

He brought it over and I formated it on a spare 23" monitor at 1600x1400 reso since the GPU output wouldnt go higher. Didnt think it mattered. Then he plugged it in at home on a 14-15" monitor which didnt support the reso, hence the error.

Ah I misread. Does he not have onboard video out? That might be set at a different res.