Cannot get correct resolution and aspect ratio for built-in LCD on Gateway NV75S Laptop 1600x900 Windows7

Question

After reinstalling Windows-7, I had to download video drivers before it would display in the correct resolution and aspect ratio which is for a built-in LCD, resolution 1600x900 (16:9), and built-in AMD ATI Radeon 6520G video chipset,

That worked, except that it would crash most of the time when playing a video (youtube for example, or even in a media player).

After a couple of days of this, I downloaded and reinstalled different versions of the correct video driver, but the system no longer offers up the correct resolution and aspect ratio as it once did. After an install, I would reboot. After I remove, I would reboot before installing another driver.

After installing them, I only get generic "old" aspect ratio and resolutions.

Monitor: the system reports that it is a "Generic PNP" monitor (but it's not, it's a built-in LCD that it should be reporting). And the file for that is in ...32/Monitor.sys

I suspect that AMD's Radeon video driver is taking it's information from Monitor.sys for the allowed resolutions.

How can I get my driver to display the correct resolutions? Is there a way to force it to a resolution that is not offered in the choices?

FYI, I've tried everything I could find - right-click on desktop, change resolution... device manager... AMD Catalyst Control Center (but it refuses to launch, displaying a message to the effect that only that there are no options that can be changed by the user).

In Windoze' Device Manager, under Display Adapter, it says there is a Standard VGA Graphics Adapter... after a reboot! (I think it should show the 6520G). And for a Monitor, it says there is a "Generic PnP Monitor" (as if it was referring to an external attached monitor).

I DO use my TV (1920x1080p) as an external sometimes, but have not plugged it in since the driver update. I need to make sure that any solution does not prevent a dual-monitor configuration. It is needed for watching movies, and as a supplemental monitor for trading.

BTW, I have found similar posts, but not quite addressing this situation. They are all regarding external monitors, stretching of the screen, but none quite cover needing to change the built-in detected monitor (Monitor.sys) or the driver not showing up in Device Manager.

Answer 1

I have tried at least a dozen different sources for drivers for the ATI AMD Radeon 6000 series video / display driver. Versions I tried included

VGA_AMD_8.982.10.6000_W8x64UW8x86U_A (the most recent I found) to VGA_AMD_8.836.1.0000_W7x64_A (older but by far the most common found everywhere on various download sites)

I kept on getting these error messages, when I tried to configure settings via the device manager, about not being able to launch the Catalyst Control Center.

Finally, I came across one of AMD's support sites.
They offered a program that you run, which auto-detects your hardware, selects the appropriate driver, and installs that. https://support.amd.com/en-us/download

I accepted to do the default install (absolutely everything). Right in the middle of the install process, before it was finished, but had updated the display driver, Windoze asked me to reboot. I did not (reboot later). Watched some TV, while it took what seemed forever to finish. But it did. Then I rebooted.

After the first reboot, I got a black screen, and a couple of (DOS) windows, one referring to an autoexec script that can't be launched, and the other one I don't remember. I rebooted again.
This time, everything worked. However, the system was rather slow. I figured out that what it installed, was scanning my system for games that it supports. I don't have any games.
Start, Programs, AMD Catalyst Control Center launches it... and the amount of things that it controls are absolutely mind-boggling.
It can even assign programs to different boxes/areas on the screen (in tiles), control your wifi, etc. etc.

Later, it's subroutine that checks for updates, referred me to this page, for a newer version:
https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy3&os=Windows%207%20-%2064

I'm just glad that I have my video resolution back.
I'll be testing in the coming days to see if it still crashes when playing videos. (I suspect not, but if it does, I'll be back)

Answer 2

The AMD Catalyst mgr, while it allowed to override Windoze's frustrating lock on generic settings, and recover the correct resolution, it did not resolve the freezing issues. And this time, I didn't even need to run a video for it to happen. So clearly not the solution. What's more, the Catalyst software took control of too many things, and after a reboot, I was no longer able to turn WiFi back on. It takes control of that, disabling your system's hotkey for that, but wasn't turning it on anymore either.

So I uninstalled everything except the display driver (not that it works any better, but it's too much pain to go back to a resolution for 4:3 screens in the meantime).

Now that I have my resolution back, I will attempt to install more recent video drivers and see if that works.

In the meantime, if anyone has a recommendation for a generic 16:9 video driver (if there is such a thing), please speak out.