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"startup" overscan compensation

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Hello everyone!

So, I got myself a GTX 560 some time ago, and I noticed, that before the graphics driver kicks-in (e.g. in the POST screen, while the OS is loading, etc), the card gives a video output that has the overscan compensation set to the max. This gives those nasty black borders.
Since I don't really care about this in the most situations where the driver hasn't already taken over, this would not be a problem. I run GNU/Linux [Happy now, Stallman?]. And when I switch to a TTY screen, which is pure CLI, X isn't loaded there. And Since NVIDIA driver loads at & works over X, the driver is also not loaded in there. That gives those nasty borders. It is really annoying to have the working area reduced that much.
I figured, it should be controlled somewhere in the graphics BIOS. I wonder, what should be edited there to get rid of that nasty overscan compensation. Anyone done and/or have any info on this?
Ah yes, the screen is connected via DVI. My old 7600 GT did not have this feature, so there was no problem there. Though, I noticed that unlike dx9 class cards, all dx[10-11] class cards I had a chance to attach to my monitor behaved that way (I remember that incuded NV 9600GT, 9800GT, AMD HD 4850, among others.)

Thanks!
 
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So, no has an idea how to set the overscan compensation by editing the card's BIOS? Bummer.
 
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OneMoar

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nope not a BIOS function its a driver function
you are SOL
 
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nope not a BIOS function its a driver function
you are SOL

Driver You say? Yet, it does have to default to something while the driver is not loaded yet [the whole problem], won't You agree?
How about You guys? Do You also get such a thing? Why do I ask: I do not remember this happening on other people computers, as much as I had the chance to observe. Along with the fact, that my monitor is detected as a TV (which is quite odd) on numerous situations. That gives me an idea: it might be detected as TV, making the overscan compensation to kick in (it is meant for TVs, right?). Yet, I am not sure if any detection [of the attached monitors/TVs/projectors/etc.] is made while the drivers are not loaded.

Ah yes, my monitor is an ASUS VH226H (it does pretend to be TV. Well, sort of.)
 
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There's nothing wrong with this
 

OneMoar

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Driver You say? Yet, it does have to default to something while the driver is not loaded yet [the whole problem], won't You agree?
How about You guys? Do You also get such a thing? Why do I ask: I do not remember this happening on other people computers, as much as I had the chance to observe. Along with the fact, that my monitor is detected as a TV (which is quite odd) on numerous situations. That gives me an idea: it might be detected as TV, making the overscan compensation to kick in (it is meant for TVs, right?). Yet, I am not sure if any detection [of the attached monitors/TVs/projectors/etc.] is made while the drivers are not loaded.

Ah yes, my monitor is an ASUS VH226H (it does pretend to be TV. Well, sort of.)

the over-scan compensation is OFF by default until the driver is loaded :banghead:
the driver provides over-scan and all the extra goodies thats not what a bios is for
there is NO bios setting for that PERIOD over and done with the only thing u can do is change your Xorg.conf
 
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the over-scan compensation is OFF by default until the driver is loaded :banghead:
the driver provides over-scan and all the extra goodies thats not what a bios is for
there is NO bios setting for that PERIOD over and done with the
I am sorry to make You bang Your head against a wall. (Even if it was done figuratively.)
I see Your point there. And now that I think of it, the driver has to do underscan compenstation (reverse, lol) to make the output normal. *sigh* it's a shame they designed their HW that way. It is quite silly from many (albeit not all) perspectives.
Yet,
only thing u can do is change your Xorg.conf
what does xorg.conf has to do with this? It is only for the X server. Yet, the issue is only present when not on X. And even when X is loaded, the driver can only work through it, and does not (and also can not) manage outputs that are not X.
 
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No, some TVs overscan the screen, and you lose information around the edges that way, possibly making it impossible to adjust BIOS settings. So by default, the card sends huge black borders just in case. Once the driver is active, you can adjust the setting. I noticed that my Radeon driver defaulted to 80%, but that my NV driver filled the screen 100% after the OS is up and running.

Too bad neither vendor has a sticky setting that the card can remember after setting it once.
 
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No, some TVs overscan the screen, and you lose information around the edges that way, possibly making it impossible to adjust BIOS settings. So by default, the card sends huge black borders just in case. Once the driver is active, you can adjust the setting. I noticed that my Radeon driver defaulted to 80%, but that my NV driver filled the screen 100% after the OS is up and running.

Too bad neither vendor has a sticky setting that the card can remember after setting it once.
Exactly my point. The "albeit not all perspectives" was exactly on that. It is a common and completely justified practice to make things compatible/usable in obscure cases, even if that sometimes makes the "normal" usage a little worse.
Pity, that there is no possibility to fiddle with it a little, considering the user knows what he/she is doing. On the other hand, such additional feature would probably make cards more complex, thus, more expensive. And I suppose no one minds having a couple 'o bucks to keep, hehe! :laugh:
 
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