Monitor Out of Range Error – Here’s How I Fixed It

Last night I logged onto my PC and saw a notification that read “Monitor Out of Range.” Not gonna lie. This bothered the hell out of me. 

So, I did extensive research to get to an end to this. What I found out certainly helped me get to the root of this problem and solve the issue for good. 

According to my research, this display problem means that the computer’s resolution is incompatible with the display. Lowering the resolution solved the issue. But there were other solutions to the problem as well. In this article, I will be discussing all that. Keep on reading. 

How to Solve the “Monitor Out Of Range Error”?

The common way out, as you guys know, is changing the resolution. However, you could try other things as well. The success ratio depends on whether you can pull them off or not. Let’s discuss the methods in detail, shall we?

Method 1: Changing the Display Resolution

As you know, at first, I tried the most obvious solution. Changing the display resolution usually solves the issue. There are a few ways of doing that. You can do that after entering windows safe mode or just do it casually. 

Here’s how I changed the screen resolution from safe mode:

Step 1: I turned my PC on in “Safe Mode” and followed the section titled “from a black or blank screen.” In case you are wondering, I performed this fix on Windows 10.

Step 2: Once I entered the safe mode, I clicked on the Screen Resolution option. I found this option in the Appearance and Personalization section in the Control Panel. From here, I followed the Adjust Screen Resolution setting. I clicked on it.

Step 3: Then I got a drop-down menu with several resolution options. I selected the one with “(Recommended)” beside it. 

Step 4: Finally, I clicked on Apply and then clicked on Keep. Then I concluded the process by restarting the PC.

However, there is another way of doing that as well. You can apply this solution to pretty much all kinds of Windows PC.

Here’s what I did:

Step 1: First, I right-clicked on the home screen of my PC.

Step 2: Then I selected the Display Settings option.

Step 3: Under Scale and layout, I found the Display resolution option with a drop-down menu beside it.

Step 4: After hovering on the drop-down menu, I found a bunch of resolution options. I selected the recommended one and that was it.

Finally, I got a notification that asked if I wanted to keep the changes or revert the setting. I obviously selected to keep on the setting and it fixed my display resolution problem. 

Method 2: Reinstalling the Video Card

Your monitor will show notifications that something is wrong if the monitor and your video card’s resolution are not on the same level. You know that, right?

While it’s true that the problem can be solved by simply changing the display resolution, sometimes that doesn’t fix the issue. 

However, I could also figure out a hack to deal with this situation. Both your video card and the display settings work together to give you the perfect screen; either one is the culprit. The video card must be blamed if it’s not the display setting. 

Surprisingly, reinstalling the video card fixes the issue when adjusting the display resolution doesn’t work. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: I start the process by uninstalling the existing graphics driver. It’s a piece of cake to do. I just press Win+R to open ‘Run‘ and type devmgmt.msc before pressing enter.

Step 2: This gets me to the Device Manager window. Here I double-click the Display adapters option. It shows me the devices that fall in the category. 

Step 3: Now I right-click on my graphics card name. For me, the name was NVIDIA. You may have GeForce GT 640 or anything else. Just click on it.

Step 4: In this section, I click on Uninstall device. In some cases, it just shows Uninstall option.

Step 5: On the uninstall confirmation dialogue box, there is an option titled Delete the driver software for this device. I just simply click on Uninstall to finish the uninstallation process.

I am halfway there. All there’s left is to install the driver again. This is probably the easiest thing to do. After the uninstallation process, I just reboot/restart my computer. 

This automatically reinstalls the available video card. If the video card was the issue, then your problem should be solved by now just like I solved mine. 

Method 3: Updating BIOS

If nothing works, I just update the BIOS. If you don’t know, BIOS is a program on your computer that helps start the computer system when it’s powered on. 

The video card and the resolution may be okay, but you are still getting annoying notifications. I found that you can simply update the BIOS to fix the issue. Here’s how I update my BIOS.

Step 1: I start the process by downloading the updated BIOS from the manufacturer’s website. I downloaded the BIOS from their site because I have an intel processor. 

Step 2: I unzip the file, usually with WinRAR, and copy it to an empty USB flash drive. 

Step 3: Now, I restart the PC and enter the BIOS.

Step 4: At this point, I wait for a while for the BIOS update menu.

Step 5: Once the menu appears, I select the update BIOS option.

The process is done. just wait for the BIOS to be fully updated. You can easily follow this simple process. However, there is something you should know about. 

You may lose all your data if anything, such as electricity, interrupts the BIOS update process. So, the wise thing to do here is to back up all your drives. I save all my essential data on a spare USB drive. So, you can try this to save your valuable files. 

My Last Two Words 

Getting the ‘Monitor Out of Range’ repeatedly while working is really irritating. However, like every other problem, this problem is easily solvable. You don’t have to take your device to any professional. 

If you have thoroughly read this article, you now know how easy it is to fix the issue you are worried about. The best part is that all these processes are completely free. So follow the steps mentioned here, and you should be ready.