Does anyone here have a Dell 2005FPW or similar?

I just got one and I'm afraid I have some very elementary questions. I'm no computer whiz.

Ask away, I dont have a dell but im sure I can solve your problems.

Thanks!

This is my first LCD monitor. Monitors always made sense to me before. They had little buttons you could turn.

OK, I got the monitor, my son set it up and left. I started messing with things, because I want to know how to use this. I did find the manual at Dell, but either my monitor isn't working right, I'm not working right, or it won't do what I want it to do because of some setting. I dunno which.

First thing, it's burning out my eyeballs, and I want to dim it. It came with no manual. The online manual is here:
support.dell.com...

I scroll down and click on "Using the Front Panel Buttons."

I scroll down to "D" about setting brightness and contrast. I know I'm using DVI (that's what you set on the far left button, and it's showing up as at "2" so it says I can't set contrast. Ok. Also, I have a brand new graphics card to go with this.

I push the correct button "-" on the monitor and the little window comes up. I'm hitting the "-" button on the monitor which causes it to toggle between Brightness and Exit. My mouse won't work on it. I set it on Brightness. Now it wants me to push the "-" to dim the monitor, but all it does is toggle. No little slider bar shows up in the little window indicating the current brighness setting. The graphic is there for it, but there's no indicator. Otherwise, it looks the same as the picture on the manual. I decide maybe I need to hit the "+" button to make it brighter, and then I can hit the "-" button to make it dimmer, but that doesn't work either. Like the other button, it just toggles. Finally, I give up. I luck out and after it's sat on "Exit" for a minute it has the good graces to go away.

Next, I *had* some little icon down on the right side of my tool bar -- I think it's NVIDIA (sp?) settings. I did mess with that, but the last time I did, it disappeared. I don't have a clue what I did to make it disappear or how to get it back. No icon ever disappeared from there before.

Next, I've managed to get all my on-screen icons really teensy. It would be nice to see them better. Yes, I messed with display in the control panel (this is a PC with XP Pro) and I've probably got that set wrong in "Settings", but I thought I should have both that and the NIVIDIA thingy set to the screen's highest resolution. Now I don't know.

Probably tied in with that, I've managed to make my background picture tiny and in the center of my screen, instead of spread out to the edges like it should be. This is a 20.1" screen and now my background measures about 4" x 5". That never happened with a CRT. It was full sized, and when I selected a different background it shrunk. I went back to the background I had, but that's shrunken too.

I did check out the Dell online forum. I did a search on the monitor name, as I couldn't tell where I should post. I got up a bunch of posts by gamers who were speaking in acronyms about stuff I don't know. I was hoping to find a post like this one with some answers. No such luck. I'll post over there if I have to, but I'm hoping I don't have to, as I probably won't even understand their answers.

Another option could be phoning Dell, but I dunno how that works yet -- they did have a thing on there about buying technical help and I dunno what's with that. When I phoned to order the monitor I got to speak with a guy in Puerto Rico and I could barely understand him through his accent.

This is like the tar baby. The more I messed with it the worse I made it. Are you sorry you asked yet?

I need to be gone for a few hours, but I'll check back here as soon as I can and I very much appreciate any help you (or anyone) can give me.


[edit on 17-9-2005 by Cubster1]

It says you have to press the button to select, I guess you didnt press that and its why its toggling between brightness and exit. Press that button over brightness first

To fix your desktop you can minimize your windows so you can see the desktop first and right click on a clear area of the screen then go to properties.
Go to the desktop tab (second one along) and on the right hand side it should say Browse, and underneath, 'Position' with a drop down box. click the drop down arrow and select Stretch and your desktop image will cover the whole screen now.
Now go to the tab that says Settings:
You should be able to set your screen resolution with the slider bar there, 1028x768 or 1280x1024 etc.
(1028 x 768 is good for me but my monitor isn't that big. If it was set any larger everything will be too small for me)

As for the nvidia icon have you clicked the small arrow to the left of the time display in the bottom right of your screen? It may just be hidden. If not, go to your start menu > programs and look for NVidia and you can probably activate the tray tools from there. Otherwise I guess it will reappear when you restart.

Sorry that icon is so big also btw.. I am not trying to be a smart a** lol

Thank you so much!

You are right about that button being select. I did miss that as it was higher up than I was reading and wasn't included in the directions I read. Duh, me! Got that fixed, thanks!

Next, I fixed my background. I never knew about that "stretch" thing, thanks!

I just was reading an epinions review on this monitor and the person said:

LCD's perform best in their "native" resolution, which in this case is a whopping 1680x1050. My eyes are getting too old to read everything with the default Windows settings, so I increased the size of all the Windows fonts, buttons and icons to make them big enough to see (right-click the desktop and click "Appearance"). You'll probably want to do this too. Expect to tinker with your Windows settings for about a half hour before you get it just right.

At 1680 x 1050 text is crisp, but everything is teensy. At 1600 x 900 things are a better size, but the text is fat and fuzzy -- no good. At the resolution you use, everything is HUGE. So I've got it back at 1680 x 1050 now, with everything teensy. I just went to "appearance" and set it for "large fonts" and that helps along the window tops is all. I'm surprised that tweaking the browser text size from the smallest to the largest makes very little difference. The difference would have been immense on my CRT (which died, btw). Do you know how I can make the buttons and icons and the text below the icon a little bigger? I can't seem to find that.

On the NIVIDIA icon, I looked next to the clock on my tool bar but there is no arrow. All the icons that are usually there are there. That NIVIDIA icon was new there, btw, from something my son did. I looked in the Start menu at all the programs, but I can't find it anywhere. The bad news is that before when I did a "find" search on the NIVIDIA I found two folders full of stuff. Now doing a find I'm seeing nothing at all. Oh oh. I wonder what I've done?

Originally posted by MrDead
Sorry that icon is so big also btw.. I am not trying to be a smart a** lol

Hey, I was just impressed that you knew how to do that at all. I don't know how.

Thank you so much -- you've really helped me!

OK, doing the search again. I guess it would help if I know how to spell it, huh? NVIDIA (no "i" between the N and V) is still there. So maybe it will show up when I reboot.

I did figure out how to get my icons bigger, too. Things are looking up over here!

The strange thing is, on other windows, adjusting my text size to "Larger" makes text very readable. But on this and one other forum I'm on, adjusting the text from very tiny to very large in my browser makes essentially no difference. Would you have a guess as to why?





[edit on 17-9-2005 by Cubster1]

It sounds like you would've been more comfortable with a monitor which has large image area and smaller resolution than what you ended up getting.
For example a Dell E193FP which is 19" and has 1280x1024 as its native resolution - things on the screen would appear larger and still crisp compared to a 20" 2001FP with 1600x1200 native resolution.

That is something people don't realize when they're switching over from CRTs. I think that older people with poorer eyesight are ones who stand to lose the most - instead of getting better picture they get worse, since their eyes can't see the information at the monitors native resolution. And instead of changing the DPI setting (which I assume is what you did) people just adjust the resolution and arrive at suboptimal result.

(I'm currently using a Dell D810 laptop with 15.4" screen and 1920x1200 native resolution and have no problems at all, but then again I'm only 34 and my eyesight has been surgically corrected )

The 2005FPW is a good monitor, I've bought several of them lately (also some 2001FPs and 2405FPWs) and I'm impressed with the image quality.

The strange thing is, on other windows, adjusting my text size to "Larger" makes text very readable. But on this and one other forum I'm on, adjusting the text from very tiny to very large in my browser makes essentially no difference. Would you have a guess as to why?

When a site uses Cascading Sylte Sheets (CSS) to control layout, font sizes, etc. the text size changes in your browser will have no effect.

Many designers use CSS to ensure their "pages" will be displayed the same for all users.

The downside of using CSS is that it hinders the ability of those with visual impairments to adjust the text to a level that is comfortable for them to view.

Hope this helps ?!

12m8keall2c, thanks for the explanation. IOW, there's nothing I can do about it.

Edited to say:
I just fixed it. See below.

[edit on 18-9-2005 by Cubster1]

Count, someone just told me what to do about the forums, and it worked. You check 'Ignore font sizes specified on Webpages' in the Accessibility menu under IE's Internet Options General tab. Now everything is fine, thanks. I wanted this screen because of my habit of having several windows open at once. I wanted the higher resolution because I do photo editing and other graphics applications.

But I understand what you're saying.

[edit on 18-9-2005 by Cubster1]

Cubster,

Ooops . . . sorry I meant to include that in my response. (i.e. Ways by which to circumvent the control of CSS).

Glad you got it all worked out!

Something I've always witnessed in user resolution changes ......... the user does not, after changing screen res, adjust the icon and Window font sizes within Windows Display Properties/Appearance & Internet Options font size to then match the desired size they wish for normal use, per their desired screen resolution.

If 'crisp' = small [fonts] ...... change the fonts.

I understand new user lack of knowledge, but I've met many people with years on a PC to not know a damn thing about it other then the Internet button [yet bitch and moan all about every thing of a PC] - like having a car for several years, but the radio is still on the factory pre-sets from 4 states ago! heh. ........ so I thought I'de mention it.

Misfit

I try to give the benefit of doubt as much as possible. . . but?

When a user/client calls stating that their PC will not turn on.

Okay? . . . please make sure that the power cord is properly connected from the electrical outlet to the PC.

But . . . the room is dark and I can't see behind the computer/tower.

Okay? . . . Can you turn the lights on.

No, there's a storm and the power is out right now!?

Actual story.

In all honesty . . . most are simply unaware of many features that are available in their PC. As long as it turns on and they are able to accomplish what they want . . . it's all good.

When it doesn't . . . my phone rings.

It's All Good!

To that, I give this:

Computer Stupidities

Misfit

I worked military contracts, where deadlines were critical. Equiment problems called for instant solutions. Sometimes it was faster to call a techie, and sometimes it was faster to do a tenth-hour requisition, depending on the problem.

With a transfer to another part of the company, they assigned me a desk with a keyboard that was missing a couple of keys. I swapped keyboards with an empty desk, and reported it to my lead for the purposes of equipment number tracking. I was yelled at for ten minutes. When the yelling stopped I asked what the fear was. Brace yourself. He told me I might have messed up my account. I had to explain what a peripheral was and how the account was maintained in the mainframe downstairs, but big damage was done. I had ticked off my lead. Needless to say, if I had problems after that, I called in a techie, as my lead wanted. For the techies, it was job insurance to make sure that attitude was maintained throughout the work force.

At home, it's advantageous for me to rely on my son to help me with the computer. It gives me a chance to see him and it makes him feel important because he's needed.

Further, we all tend to remember what we use a lot, and forget what we don't. People may get their settings tweaked once, then they're good for ten years or so until the monitor burns out. In contrast, techies may help people with these things several times a week.

There's only so many hours in the day. Most folks are good at something. Few are good at everything. All techies aren't created equal either. Some are a lot better than others.

It's easy to understand how someone can use a computer for years, not be good at techie things, and still be brilliant in other capacities.

One of the guys I worked with in R&D was the company's top algorythms man, and quite possibly the country's top one, but I always had to walk three buildings over to change the film in the Dunn camera for him. It changed just like any film in any camera, but he told me his wife always took pictures, not him, so he didn't know how to change the film in a regular camera.

I have another friend who ended up going to work for JPL. He'd mathematically plot trajectories in outer space for where the missile and anti-missile were supposed to meet. Yet he always ran out of gas, and he got a letter back because he forgot to put a stamp on it, then got one back because he forgot to put an envelope on it.

[edit on 18-9-2005 by Cubster1]

Originally posted by Cubster1
He told me I might have messed up my account. I had to explain what a peripheral was and how the account was maintained in the mainframe downstairs, but big damage was done. I had ticked off my lead. Needless to say, if I had problems after that, I called in a techie, as my lead wanted. For the techies, it was job insurance to make sure that attitude was maintained throughout the work force.

Now that is something I might want to introduce to the company I work at. It would be nice to be able to hire more support people so I wouldn't need to do anything myself...

I'm IT Manager by day, and I currently have only one "underling". Which is plenty, considering that there are only 29 of us total.