HP LCD monitor needs some adjustments

[loninappleton]

I just put my largest (and best picture) KDS 19" CRT monitor into semi-retirement due to a failing picture tube generating vertical scan lines. It is very old. So I brought up to my desk an HP L1740 I got used from a resale jobber of school computer lab equipment with no manual-- also very old.

I know nothing about using the adjustments but wish to ajust for sharpness. I took the color intensity down for regular use. So combined with Win7 and motherboard graphics on an MSI 760gm, how can I get it sharpest with little blur on the small 17 " screen?

It shows the current settings are 1024 x 768 @ 75 Mhz

The HP hint for 1280 x 1024 I haven't adjusted for. I don't know how it will effect my fonts and so on.

The settings options on the controls are:

Brightness
Contrast
Image Control
Color
Language
Management
OSD control
Information
Factory reset

So what is optimal for this old HP? Things like Image Control are just vague terms to me.

In any case I'll have to learn adjustments for any newer replacement I get.

[Sharc]

It shows the current settings are 1024 x 768 @ 75 Mhz

The HP hint for 1280 x 1024 I haven't adjusted for. I don't know how it will effect my fonts and so on.

The settings options on the controls are:

Brightness
Contrast
Image Control
Color
Language
Management
OSD control
Information
Factory reset

So what is optimal for this old HP? Things like Image Control are just vague terms to me.

I'd begin with the Factory reset.

[loninappleton]

Did it.

Thanks for answering. I'll review the settings to see what it did.

If I continue running at 1280 x 768 how is it to use the 'make everything bigger setting' in Win7?
I can do the usual cntl > + or - for websites but at this rez all the Win7/ Firefox fonts become a lot smaller.

Is there a Mr. Magoo setting for these things?

[Bwaak]

There is little to do about sharpness on an LCD monitor aside of setting it to its native resolution.

To make "everything bigger" in Win7 start Control Panel → Appearance and Personalization → Display. You can choose one of the presets, 125% or 150%. Or you can set custom magnification in Set custom text size (DPI).

All well-written Windows applications respect these settings. Applications that become distorted with badly scaled dialogs and menus are garbage

[loninappleton]

Ok, yes I think I tried to manipulate 'make things bigger' years ago. I'll try it again.

[loninappleton]

All good answers

thanks to those who answered. Yes, I did use the appearance and changed to 125% which is enough to get things as I usually see them but at the higher resolution.

I still need to get something new-- a 19 In 5:4 which is likely on the used market rather than new. I have no experience buying a monitor online. One company seems to be pretty good and has that HP grey style shell and
adjustment arm I like. My concern is the Grading of the product. This company says exactly if the monitor is Grade A or Grade B. I think I saw a Grade A listed once. What is the videohelp advice on buying a monitor without being able to inspect it?

Here is the one I had on Ebay 'watch':

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254578618726?itmmeta=01HQGYH40PVS47XZTWQH5FSDS7&hash=item3b46...Bk9SR9zAxJ68Yw

(maybe that url won't run)

As an example, this HP I said came from the local jobber was after a return of the initial one. The guy didn't care he had loads of them. A Grade B, as I understand it, could have a screen flaw. I just wonder if videohelp has had any discussion of that.

[zing269]

I stick with grade A now. I once bought two grade B monitors, one was usable and it's defects were only on the case while the other had significant damage to the screen.

[loninappleton]

On the Grading, thanks. I now know to stick with a place that does Grading and also to stick with Grade A. I'll just have to watch for what turns up and usually $10.00 more on these.

[loninappleton]

The screen looks great. But there are some unusual things at bootup to Win7 There is a repeated error message about at each startup onhow system is going to change the screen down to 60 Hz. (small white box). Then as desktop sets up it first-- _first_ shows 4 things on the desktop- one or more just my own, then the full desktop presentation follows and all is well.

However after I left it sit with the screen on for a while with no activity, it froze up. I had to reset from power off totally and that meant I had to do all the CMOS entries.

It's fine now and screen is sharp. I think there is a conflict with the HP which defaults to 75 Hz and I see no setting to change that. Could it be from adjusting the "make bigger" to 125% setting?

I'll see if I can google a question on HP adjustments such as reset to 60Hz.

[loninappleton]

I tried 'auto adjust'. It did something but I haven't seen any place where the 60 Hz shows up.
Screen is holding steady. I can live with everything as is if it stabilizes.