OS and board upgrade dumbed down my Dell 3008WFP monitor

rew2,

* I found the 3008WFP Windows 7 driver here:
ftp://ftp.dell.com/monitors/3008WFP%20Win7%20signed%20and%20Wistron%20verified%20no%201331508.zip
* Save the zip file to your windows desktop
* Extract the contents of the xip file into its own folder
* Open the folder 3008WFP_Win7_signed_and_Wistron_verified_no_1331508

* Open the Device Manager
* Click the icon left of Monitors
* Double click the monitor listed
* Click the Driver tab
* Click the Update Driver button
* Click No, not at this time
* Click Next
* Dot Install from a list or specific location
* Click Next
* Click Don't search. I will choose the driver to install
* Click Next
* Click Have Disk
* Click Browse and navigate to where the files are now
* Click the monitor inf file
* Click Open
* Click OK
* Click Next
* Click Finish
* Now the Device Manager- Monitors should show your monitor

I tried that.  I extracted the .zip file and put the files in c:\Installs\Monitor-Dell-3008WFP\dell-drivers.

First, Windows 7 only lets me specify the directory, not the particular *.inf file.  Anyway, I gave it the directory where I had unpacked the files, including the *.inf file.  I clicked Next, and Windows 7 told me it didn't install the driver because it already had a more up to date driver (the one that gives me the low resolution).

So I tried the brute force approach.  I logged in as Administrator, and in cmd.exe I went to c:\Windows\System32 and ran:

pnputil -i -a c:\Installs\Monitor-Dell-3008WFP\dell-drivers\*.inf

The result:

Microsoft PNP Utility

Processing inf :           3008WFP.info
Failed to install the driver on any of the devices on the system:  No more data is available.

Total attempted:              1
Number successfully imported: 0

So that didn't work either.  Windows 7 is determined to stick me with my lousy driver.

I just tried uninstalling the monitor driver entirely, so I could install the new driver without there being any competition.  When I did that the monitor symbol disappeared entirely from the Device Manager screen.  So I tried pnputil again to install the new driver.  But I got exactly the same error as before.  I had to do a system restore and get back to where I started.

BTW, the .inf file is text so I tried fooling Windows by changing

DriverVer=05/19/2009,1.0.0.0

to

DriverVer=11/19/2012,2.0.0.0

but that didn't work either.  Windows still insisted it already had a more up to date driver.

Things look even worse.  It turns out that there is no reason to force Windows into letting me install that driver because it already has it.

In the device manager I clicked on Properties for the Dell 3008WFP.  On the Details tab with the "inf name" property it shows that the device driver currently used is oem13.inf.  That file is found at c:\Windows\inf\oem13.inf.  When I look at it I see that it is identical to the 3008WFP.inf file in the .zip file you gave me.

So... windows has the right driver but still thinks that my maximum resolution is 1920 x 1080 and that my preferred resolution is 1680 x 1050.

In the "Driver" tab of the Properties panel for the Dell 3008WFP I click on "Driver Details" and get this:

Driver files:

c:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\monitor.sys

c:\Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color\3008WFP_DP.ICM.

Now what's interesting is that in the second directory there is also a 3008WFP_DVI.ICM file.  Shouldn't that be the file used, rather than 3008WFP_DP.ICM, given that I have a DVI-D cable?