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NEC Monitor

The MultiSync 95 is a 19 inch monitor

November 28, 2003 

I moved this monitor to a Windows XP computer. XP did not automatically detect it, it shows up merely as a Plug and Play monitor. 

I found this on the NEC/Mitsubishi web site: Where do I get a Windows .inf file, and how do I install it? It has instructions for installing an INF file in Windows 95, 98 and 2000. Nothing about Windows XP. Fortunately, the procedure for installing an INF file in Windows XP are pretty much the same as in Windows 2000.  

The download page linked to below, does not format correctly. It is a page within a page.  This is the correct URL now. 

January 1, 2001 

I went to install an NEC MultiSync 95 19 inch monitor today and the hardware was fine. The software was another story. The computer was running Windows 95. 

After physically hooking up the monitor, I booted the computer. The user guide that came with the monitor said nothing about what happens during this first boot. In my case, the operating system was older than the monitor, so the monitor got half installed. Windows 95 detected a new monitor, but treated it like a generic monitor rather than a MultiSync 95. The instructions in the user guide say nothing about preparing the necessary files for Windows 95 before physically hooking up the monitor. 

The monitor did not come with the necessary files to install it in Windows. Instead the user guide directs you to a URL where you can download an INF file. There is no explanation as to what an INF file is or what to do with it in the user guide.

The INF file is downloaded as a ZIP file. Is this really necessary? Some computer users may be confused about ZIP files and unpacking them. Considering an INF file is so small, zipping it seems unnecessary.  

The URL from the user guide does and does not exist.  The URL gets translated into another one which some people could get confused about.  The translated (redirected is more technically accurate) page does not have a link to download the zipped INF file. Instead it is a generic NEC tech support page. Finding the download page for NEC monitors was not hard however. 

The user guide said to download NECMSINF.ZIP and there was a link to download it. The web site instructions say to unzip this file to get NECMON98.INF which is used by Windows 95, 98 and 2000. When you unzip the file, there is no NECMON98.INF file. There are however, 47 .ICM files. The web site instructions for Windows 95 say nothing at all about these ICM files. The only INF file in the ZIP file was NEC-MON.INF.  

In putting this page together, I found the home page for this monitor. Turns out it too has a link to download the NECMSINF file. However, its a different link than the other one.