Vizio Not Showing PC Connection...

[Kent]

Hi,
Just bought a 32" Vizio with tons of hook-ups for various devices. I'm using it for two things right now: 1) My PS3. 2) My PC.
Problem:
My PC shows windows loading, gives me the option of how to start windows, runs the process right up to where I'd get my Log In screen and instead of a log in screen I get an error message saying something about "Invalid Format."

Upon talking to my Vizio Customer Service rep I found out it may be my resolution. I was using a 15" non-wide screen monitor on 1280x1024 and the Vizio rep said I'd need to start the PC, use F8 option and start with a low resolution mode then switch the resolution to fit my current set-up.
What sort of advice can y'all give me?
Does that sound right?
Any one else had this problem and if so how did you fix it?

Can I use my old monitor, switch the pc to the lowest resolution and restart with the new monitor and then up the res to the new monitor's standard. Or does the F8 low res option sound best?

Thanks in advance for the advice, I'll be sure to try everything tonight when I'm out of work (and of course that will be late enough that a vizio rep will probably not be available to me lol).

Any way, thanks again, I'll be looking forward to hearing back from everyone with suggestions and experiences.

 

[TB]

I seem to recall having about the same problem when I connected my PC to the Vizio. I think that I reconnected the monitor, dumbed down the res to 800x600, connected the TV back up and then upped the resolution to whatever the PC could output and the TV could receive.

Edit: If your graphics card has it as an option, it looks like your TV can handle 1920x1080, 1360x768, 800x600, 640x480. Obviously the last two you don't want!

 

[Tornado]

My friend had the same problem with his Samsung and his Mactop. We had to do the same thing TB suggested to get it to accept the signal, so check that.

One thing to keep in mind is that some TVs (and this is based on experience through circa-2006/2007 HDTVs, so it may no longer be true) only accept 1080p from certain sources. My uncle had a Sony that was 1080p and happily took in HDMI and Component to that resolution but would only accept resolutions up to 1024x768 through the VGA and DVI ports. The Vizio we own is quite similar to yours, but I've never hooked anything up to it through the DVI jack, so I can't be of more help I'm afraid.

 

[Kent]

Indeed but I'll definitely use the method you've mentioned after trying the F8 method. Seems like everyone I've talked to says I need to do the res down to nearly nothing then crank it up to whatever I can handle. Can't wait to see what that's going to be.
Should be interesting to see the PC running on something more than twice the size of my previous monitor.
One thing that scares me about this is the idea of my graphics card coming into play... Currently only using the standard card attached to my new dell. The dell is running a quad core processor and the card is nvidia if I'm not mistaken so I doubt there will be any major problems but I'll be sure to come back and make an update (hopefully from a much, much larger screen).

 

[Tornado]

If the computer is modern and has a seperate GPU of any sort it should support at least up to 1080p, so there shouldn't be any problems on that end. How have you been attempting to hook the computer to the TV?

 

[Kent]

Using the standard old school cord with a (trapazoid?) shape with two built in screws... 25 pins I think!?
RGB cable I think it's called.
I have a Sony HDMI cable on the way from newegg so that will cover the blu-ray and ps3 but the PC isn't quite as important. I just want to be able to use the TV for my monitor. I quit playing w.o.w. so my computer gaming is pretty much dead and for movies I'll be using the PS3.
All in all, I'm just looking for the convenience of having all my media running through one screen. 👍

 

[Tornado]

Using the standard old school cord with a (trapazoid?) shape with two built in screws... 25 pins I think!?
RGB cable I think it's called.

That is one of the names for it. 👍

I have a Sony HDMI cable on the way from newegg so that will cover the blu-ray and ps3 but the PC isn't quite as important. I just want to be able to use the TV for my monitor. I quit playing w.o.w. so my computer gaming is pretty much dead and for movies I'll be using the PS3.
All in all, I'm just looking for the convenience of having all my media running through one screen. 👍

Well, if the resolution fixes mentioned by Vizio and TB don't work, and your PC has an HDMI out on it, you could hook it up through that.

 

[nick09]

I use HDMI from my computer to the TV. My TV is one of those HD Ready TV's so it's resolution of 1080i is not true as it overscans. Though I'm pretty sure your TV should give you the option for HD if you hook the computer to HDMI. It's very useful to have less cable clutter behind the TV stand.

 

[Azuremen]

Using the standard old school cord with a (trapazoid?) shape with two built in screws... 25 pins I think!?
RGB cable I think it's called.

VGA cable, 15 pins. DVI is the next setp up but has a more distinct shape, as shown below.

VGA

DVI

I have a 42" Vizio that runs at 1080p, and I had no issues setting up my computer with it. Just plugged in the VGA cable, switched the input, booted up, and then changed the resolution to 1920x1080 once Windows finished booting up. Did this for XP and Win7 with no issues.

I use HDMI from my computer to the TV. My TV is one of those HD Ready TV's so it's resolution of 1080i is not true as it overscans. Though I'm pretty sure your TV should give you the option for HD if you hook the computer to HDMI. It's very useful to have less cable clutter behind the TV stand.

VGA = 1 cable
HDMI = 1 cable

Only way it will reduce clutter is if his GFX card has an audio out as well, otherwise he'll have to run separate audio cables regardless (3.5mm) for sound.