My Monitor or Graphics "card" have become stupid.

[bar0]

Some time back because of desk space considerations I bought an inexpensive
19" Westinghouse LCD monitor, 14,400X900 resolution to replace the moster
17" CRT that came with the Dell Dimension. I plugged in the monitor and
adjusted resolution to the new one and everything's been Hunky Dory until
Sunday.

Saturday I was updating acrobat reader when the installer complained about
disk fragmentation, so I safe booted into the system account and defragged
the hard drive. Now in Safe Mode the WinXP SP2 Home Edition worked at the
old VGA resolution of 900X600 or similar (I forget), but since I was just
defragging, no big deal. When I finished, I rebooted normally, and did the
recommended "repair" of the Acro reader installation. and so far so good. I
also updated Flash and cleaned up a few mor files, and may have rebooted
once or twice on Sunday. No Problems. Went to bed with my account logged in
but locked.

Monday moring I get up and I can hear the CPU fan which means the machine is
busy, and the disk light is flashing, I unloked my account, and Norton had
obviously run its complete AV cycle with good results, Since that normally
takes a few hours it had probably set windows defenders completion back by a
few hours and that's why the fan and disk lights were on, I supposed. I
didn't check. At this point the screen looks normal still.

I logged into my wifes account the nominal "owner" of the box, and whoa...,
the old VGA resolution. I RMB clicked on the desktop to reset the screen
properties, and can't find the 14400X900 setting so now I have a choice
between horizontaly stretched 1152X864 (closest setting)or an inch of unused
screen on each side. The computer has Intel "Extreme Graphics". and the
connection to the monitor is VGA. The graphics properties doesn't seem to
identify my monitor and sez I have "Default Monitor". I've checked the
connections at both ends, repkugged and tightened the screws, checked the
graphics driver (it's the most recent, from 2005). Reset the Monitor, turned
things off and on and rebooted and I can't get the proper settings in the
list of available resolutions, in any of the graphics related menus. Could
the hardware that detects or identifies the monitor have been fried? Any one
have any ideas?

System summary:

Dell Dimension 4600
Intel 82865G Graphics
Westinghouse 19" wide screen 14,400X900 Resolution
VGA Monitor cable
OS: Win XP Home Edition SP2, +all critical patches up to March patch
Tuesday.

Norton AV did have a 3 piece update waiting for install when I shut down
last night. That seems to have gone fine.
I presume SP3 is downloading as resources and bandwidth permit.

[Twayne]

Post by bar0
Some time back because of desk space considerations I bought an
inexpensive 19" Westinghouse LCD monitor, 14,400X900 resolution to
replace the moster 17" CRT that came with the Dell Dimension. I
plugged in the monitor and adjusted resolution to the new one and
everything's been Hunky Dory until Sunday.
Saturday I was updating acrobat reader when the installer complained
about disk fragmentation, so I safe booted into the system account
and defragged the hard drive. Now in Safe Mode the WinXP SP2 Home
Edition worked at the old VGA resolution of 900X600 or similar (I
forget), but since I was just defragging, no big deal. When I
finished, I rebooted normally, and did the recommended "repair" of
the Acro reader installation. and so far so good. I also updated
Flash and cleaned up a few mor files, and may have rebooted once or
twice on Sunday. No Problems. Went to bed with my account logged in
but locked.
Monday moring I get up and I can hear the CPU fan which means the
machine is busy, and the disk light is flashing, I unloked my
account, and Norton had obviously run its complete AV cycle with good
results, Since that normally takes a few hours it had probably set
windows defenders completion back by a few hours and that's why the
fan and disk lights were on, I supposed. I didn't check. At this
point the screen looks normal still.
I logged into my wifes account the nominal "owner" of the box, and
whoa..., the old VGA resolution. I RMB clicked on the desktop to
reset the screen properties, and can't find the 14400X900 setting so
now I have a choice between horizontaly stretched 1152X864 (closest
setting)or an inch of unused screen on each side. The computer has
Intel "Extreme Graphics". and the connection to the monitor is VGA.
The graphics properties doesn't seem to identify my monitor and sez I
have "Default Monitor". I've checked the connections at both ends,
repkugged and tightened the screws, checked the graphics driver (it's
the most recent, from 2005). Reset the Monitor, turned things off and
on and rebooted and I can't get the proper settings in the list of
available resolutions, in any of the graphics related menus. Could
the hardware that detects or identifies the monitor have been fried?
Any one have any ideas?
Dell Dimension 4600
Intel 82865G Graphics
Westinghouse 19" wide screen 14,400X900 Resolution
VGA Monitor cable
OS: Win XP Home Edition SP2, +all critical patches up to March patch
Tuesday.
Norton AV did have a 3 piece update waiting for install when I shut
down last night. That seems to have gone fine.
I presume SP3 is downloading as resources and bandwidth permit.

Hmm, SP3 has apparently caused a few problems in certain cases, so you
should probably not let it install right away until you get the rest
worked out.

Apparently you just had an auto-update? Try rolling that back out and
see what happens.

It doesn't -really- sound like a HW problem, but ... those are famous
last words. Did the monitor come with a set of drivers? Perhaps you
lost those in the setup?

Even though you have the most recent drivers (per the video card mfg,
right? Not just the driver dialogs), I think I'd remove and reinstall
them; they could be corrupted.
Check with the video card mfg to be certain you have the latest
drivers, too; do not depend on the computer check to get it right and
never use any drivers MS suggests; only trust the mfr.

Before you spend any money try a chkdsk as a last resort to see what
happens.

Just off the top of my head here.

Twayne

[Charles]

Post by Twayne
Hmm, SP3 has apparently caused a few problems in certain cases

Idgits! Why change the terminal flag from /console to /admin? To screw
with people seriously? Idgits...

["Joe Gill" @prodigy.net>]

Post by Twayne

Post by bar0
Some time back because of desk space considerations I bought an
inexpensive 19" Westinghouse LCD monitor, 14,400X900 resolution to
replace the moster 17" CRT that came with the Dell Dimension. I
plugged in the monitor and adjusted resolution to the new one and
everything's been Hunky Dory until Sunday.
Saturday I was updating acrobat reader when the installer complained
about disk fragmentation, so I safe booted into the system account
and defragged the hard drive. Now in Safe Mode the WinXP SP2 Home
Edition worked at the old VGA resolution of 900X600 or similar (I
forget), but since I was just defragging, no big deal. When I
finished, I rebooted normally, and did the recommended "repair" of
the Acro reader installation. and so far so good. I also updated
Flash and cleaned up a few mor files, and may have rebooted once or
twice on Sunday. No Problems. Went to bed with my account logged in
but locked.
Monday moring I get up and I can hear the CPU fan which means the
machine is busy, and the disk light is flashing, I unloked my
account, and Norton had obviously run its complete AV cycle with good
results, Since that normally takes a few hours it had probably set
windows defenders completion back by a few hours and that's why the
fan and disk lights were on, I supposed. I didn't check. At this
point the screen looks normal still.
I logged into my wifes account the nominal "owner" of the box, and
whoa..., the old VGA resolution. I RMB clicked on the desktop to
reset the screen properties, and can't find the 14400X900 setting so
now I have a choice between horizontaly stretched 1152X864 (closest
setting)or an inch of unused screen on each side. The computer has
Intel "Extreme Graphics". and the connection to the monitor is VGA.
The graphics properties doesn't seem to identify my monitor and sez I
have "Default Monitor". I've checked the connections at both ends,
repkugged and tightened the screws, checked the graphics driver (it's
the most recent, from 2005). Reset the Monitor, turned things off and
on and rebooted and I can't get the proper settings in the list of
available resolutions, in any of the graphics related menus. Could
the hardware that detects or identifies the monitor have been fried?
Any one have any ideas?
Dell Dimension 4600
Intel 82865G Graphics
Westinghouse 19" wide screen 14,400X900 Resolution
VGA Monitor cable
OS: Win XP Home Edition SP2, +all critical patches up to March patch
Tuesday.
Norton AV did have a 3 piece update waiting for install when I shut
down last night. That seems to have gone fine.
I presume SP3 is downloading as resources and bandwidth permit.

Hmm, SP3 has apparently caused a few problems in certain cases, so you
should probably not let it install right away until you get the rest
worked out.
Apparently you just had an auto-update? Try rolling that back out and see
what happens.
It doesn't -really- sound like a HW problem, but ... those are famous last
words. Did the monitor come with a set of drivers? Perhaps you lost
those in the setup?
Even though you have the most recent drivers (per the video card mfg,
right? Not just the driver dialogs), I think I'd remove and reinstall
them; they could be corrupted.
Check with the video card mfg to be certain you have the latest drivers,
too; do not depend on the computer check to get it right and never use any
drivers MS suggests; only trust the mfr.
Before you spend any money try a chkdsk as a last resort to see what
happens.
Just off the top of my head here.
Twayne

I agree with the above... but I would like to add some clarifications, based
on my experience

When you said "I can't get the proper settings in the list of available
resolutions, in any of the graphics related menus", were you talking about
'hardware menus' accessed by pushing a button on the monitor, or software
menus.

A) If hardware menus, then you may have a hardware problem

B) If not then it is a driver / software problem.

1) First thought is to 'rollback' the system to a restore point before the
problem.

2) Otherwise, this is the scenario I have used when I had a similar problem.



a) Make sure you have downloaded the correct drivers from manufacturer.
b) Uninstall the drivers / helper programs for video from "Add/Remove
programs"
c) Reboot in safe mode
d) Reboot in regular mode
e) Remove the driver, if still present in Device Manager
f) Reboot, and let it find 'default' drivers
g) Now install the new drivers that you downloaded....
h) Reboot one more time and see what the results are

[Indigo]

Post by "Joe Gill" @prodigy.net>
a) Make sure you have downloaded the correct drivers from manufacturer.
b) Uninstall the drivers / helper programs for video from "Add/Remove
programs"
c) Reboot in safe mode
d) Reboot in regular mode
e) Remove the driver, if still present in Device Manager
f) Reboot, and let it find 'default' drivers
g) Now install the new drivers that you downloaded....
h) Reboot one more time and see what the results are

I have a somewhat similar problem. I have an HP TouchSmart (Vista) with an
Nvidia Geforce Go 7600 video card, driver version 7.15.10.9804. A few weeks
ago I was trying to dim the display, and when I open the Nvidia control
panel I have almost no options for changing _anything_. When I click on
"Display Properties" all I get is a tab that says "multiple display
configuration", which is no use to me (Charles could use it). I can change
some display properties from control panel/personalization, but still no
display brightness, contrast, any of the normal parameters that used to come
as buttons on the bottom of a monitor. These properties are "supposed" to be
in the Nvidia control panel as sliders, but they're not there. I did manage
to fix the brightness issue -- the wireless KB that came with the PC has hot
keys for brightness, but nothing else display-wise.

Here's my question/problem: I have the display pretty much set up the way I
want it (personalized, which took quite a while to accomplish). If I delete
the vid driver and reinstall, will I lose all my settings? I have the latest
driver version available, BTW, so there's no guarantee that re-installing
will fix anything.

Second nit for anyone who cares to help: I have the "desktop" checked off so
it shows up in my taskbar so I can easily access my most used apps. For some
reason, lately when I shut down and reboot the order of the apps in the
desktop menu bar are scattered chaotically, no order at all, not even a
correlation to the location of the icons on the actual desktop. I move the
links to where I prefer them in the menu bar, but Vista ain't saving my
preferences. Any ideas? Oh, I should add that when I installed the Kodak
EasyShare software it changed a sh*tload of stuff, including totally fscking
up my taskbar settings. How Spybot TeaTime allowed that to happen is beyond
me....