NOW FIXED -- Monitor/Display problems on a PC

[Rooster_Ties]

Everything seems to be OK now, after running the Win-ME "System Restore" function.

See below...

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I was surfing links on fark.com, and clicked on a link buried in a thread. My virus-checker started going off and detecting what it thought were viruses in files at the site the link went too.

Well, no big deal, I thought -- I get virus alerts when I surf, probably two or three times a month. I just have Norton try to delete the file, or quarentine it off, or whatever it recomends.

Well, this time, after about another minute after my virus-checker went off -- my screen suddenly went to 640-400, and to 16 colors only display mode.

And, for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.

I've got a Dell monitor, P991 -- though I've only been able to find the Dell P990 in the list of all the available monitors that I can try to re-install. (So I picked that one). I also strongly suspect that my video-card is no longer installed correctly (software-wise), because when I boot up - it says something about an incompatibility between the display device, and the hardware that runs it (can't remember the exact message -- I'll write it down next time I reboot, and repost it (exactly) here).

What a mess. I started running the virus checker, but it's so darn late (after 2am where I am), that I gave up on the virus checker running after about 10 minutes.

Well, I guess maybe running the virus checker might be a good idea, so I'm going to start it now, and go to bed -- and check in the morning to see if it's found anything. Thought I'd go ahead and start a thread about this, since I'm sure this will be my #1 priority tomorrow -- since we're supposed to be finishing our taxes with TurboTax, hopefully this weekend!!!

Any advice would be much appreciated. For what it's worth, I'm running Win-ME.

Thanks again!!!!!!

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Everything seems to be OK now, after running the Win-ME "System Restore" function.

See below...

Edited April 3, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[vibes]

Did your computer say anything about going into "safe mode?" That's what it sounds like. Several versions of Windows do this when there are bad software or hardware errors. It will usually go away after rebooting your computer.

If I remember correctly, doesn't ME have a system restore feature, similar to what XP has? If so, perhaps you could run that program and restore your system to an earlier date?

[Claude]

I case just the display settings were changed, you can reset it this way:

Start --> Seetings --> Control Panel --> Display --> Settings --> Adapter --> List all modes (It could be a little different depending on the video card driver)

You monitor seems to be a 19" model, so the normal resolution would be 1280x1024 or 1152x864 (depending on your preference), true color (32bit), 85Hz refresh rate at least.

Before you use the Windows Me System restore (which is not very reliable), be sure that it has regularly saved your system and contains a recent system state.

[Rooster_Ties]

I tried changing the screen resolution to a higher (more dense) mode (meaning something higher than 640x400), but 640x400 is the only screen resolution that was available from among the choices. (Normally there are many more choices than that.)

Also, 16 colors was the only choice available, where there usually is alot more choices, like 256, and probably much higher numbers than that.

I will try resetting the monitor and/or video-drivers again now, best I can. I think it's coming up in 640x400 (and 16 colors), because it is defaulting to a more primitive set of "monitor/video-driver" settings, as if the computer lost it's video-driver, AND/OR if the monitor settings were "changed/deleted/what-ever" too/instead.

[wesbed]

I don't recall the exact Display screens in WINme. If you follow the steps Claude listed, does the Display window show your correct monitor and video adapter names? The screen might/should list the brand/number of your monitor and/or video adapter. If you have the wrong name listed in Windows screen, you are probably not getting the full functionality out of your hardware. You could have the best video hardware known to man but be limited to only the very basics if you don't have the correct software/drivers installed.

You may have to reinstall the proper monitor/video adapter drivers from either (1) the Windows program or (2) by downloading the correct drivers from a manufacuter's web site. If you have a name-brand computer, the drivers should be on the computer manufacturer's site. If you have a name-brand monitor, such as a Sony for example, you would find the driver at Sony's site.

Edited April 3, 2004 by wesbed

[Claude]

Yes, it could be that the drivers suddenly could not be loaded anymore. Check also the Device manager (Control panel --> System --> Device manager) if there are alerts next to the display card and monitor entries.

Edited April 3, 2004 by Claude

[Rooster_Ties]

Before you use the Windows Me System restore (which is not very reliable), be sure that it has regularly saved your system and contains a recent system state.

I finally gave up trying to fix things manually, and went with using the Win-ME "System Restore" function.

This appears to have fixed things!!

At least my screen resultion is back to 1152x864, and the colors are back to "High Color (16 bit)".

So, all is well, it would seem.

Appreciate everyone's advice and help. Thanks!!!!!

Gosh I hate these evil machines sometimes.

Edited April 3, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[Kevin Bresnahan]

You still better run a virus scan... most viruses hide themselves from system restore. It may still be resident just waiting to do its evil.

You might also want to run an AdAware scan. It could have been spyware that hosed everything up.

[wesbed]

Rooster:

Before I say what I'm going to say... I realize that computer software/hardware is not free, and not always cheap. I'd rather be spendng my money on jazz rather than computer stuff.

With that in mind, however, you'd be much better served to get off Windows ME and move up to a better version of Windows (such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP). Windows ME seemed to have so many built-in ways to blow itself up. You may have done nothing to cause Windows ME to blow its own brains. You know?

Anyway, not to tell you how to spend your money. But, you'd be positively surprised at how stable the newer versions of Windows are. My copy of Windows XP has crashed, maybe twice, in the last year and a half.

Edited April 3, 2004 by wesbed