Need some serious help here...
Published on February 4, 2007 By Armbut In Video Cards
Okay, first off my mom got a refurbished computer from her friend this week and she wanted me to fix it up for her. I agreed, of course, and when I took my first look at it my thoughts were "OH MY GOD!". It is an HLC Pentium machine with a P 133MHz processor, 64MB of EDO RAM (I upgraded it to 128MB thankfully), 10 GB Hard Drive (I added a second 20GB for 30GB total storage, good enough for her anyway), a CD-ROM 4x drive and Floppy. As I said earlier, I added more system memory, and a second hard disk but my main problem now is with her display. She is running Windows 98 Second Edition for your records, and I added a new Dell M991 Monitor (17" CRT) in place of her old (I could even say rusty) 13 or 15" monitor that came with the PC. I also had this problem with her old monitor for your information. Okay, now to the symptoms: First off, I noticed that her resolution was set at 640x480. So, naturally, I tried to set it at 1024x768 (which appeared to be the maximum resolution supported by her graphics chip). It was at 16 colors, so I changed that to High Color. WhenI clicked "Apply", I got a dialogue box that said "Windows must be restarted for the settings to take effect. Click Yes to restart now or No to restart later.". I clicked Yes to restart, it restarted and it was still set at 640x480 res and 16 colors. This is when I started getting worried. I updated both the Display Adapter and Monitor drivers but Windows Update claimed that the most current drivers were installed and could not continue. What should I do? Thanks for the help guys. Peace.
Comments (Page 2)
4 Pages1 2 3 4 
on Feb 04, 2007
Maybe a bios flash?


ill try that give me a second
on Feb 04, 2007
this would be a lot easier if we were all in an IM conference instead of just a forum...quicker response times anyway...oh well
on Feb 04, 2007
I have occasionally seen monitor drivers(standard plug and play) refuse to allow higher settings when windows didnt know what kind of monitor the card was attached to...(especially refresh rates)

try telling windows exactly what monitor is hooked up.
on Feb 04, 2007
it knows what monitor is hooked up, under Device Manager it is called "Dell M991" instead of "Default Monitor"
on Feb 04, 2007
hmmmm...MS driver or manufacturer?
on Feb 04, 2007
What about uninstalling all related components and rebooting?  
on Feb 04, 2007

I think your mum's expert needs an expert.

Step #1 in any messing around with an 'old' computer...open it up....remove all the cards....note their model numbers/types/whatever...along with the MoBo's....and 'Google' to find out exactly what you're looking at....

AKA....

RTFM ....

 

on Feb 04, 2007
I'm pretty sure that a Dell M991 is a 19" monitor, could this be part of the problem?
on Feb 04, 2007
I think your mum's expert needs an expert.[/quote]

I never said I was an expert...I'm still learning...I'm only 14...

hmmmm...MS driver or manufacturer?


both Display Adapter and Monitor drivers by MS

[quote]I'm pretty sure that a Dell M991 is a 19" monitor, could this be part of the problem?


Yeah, yrag addressed that earlier...I dont think that would be part of the problem though...
on Feb 04, 2007
oookkk...that didn't quite come out right
on Feb 04, 2007
here goes: to Jafo, i never said i was an expert

to I.R. Braniac, both drivers by MS

and to BoXXi, i dont think so but yrag said that it was a 19" earlier
on Feb 04, 2007
No jumper...hummmmmmmmm....

There's got to be something in that bios. Look for a 'Shared Memory' option and set it to it's lowest denominator. On some boards that shut the chip off.

Just out of curiosity....if you pull the PCI card out and boot up, what happens? (there is no AGP slot, correct?)
on Feb 04, 2007
no, no jumper

there is no Shared Memory option in BIOS

i dont know what happens yet if i pull out the PCI...hold on as soon as i finish this BIOS flash I'll try it, and there is NO AGP slot. Just 3 ISAs and 3 PCIs.
on Feb 04, 2007
ok i downloaded a bios flash program and i ran it in DOS mode but unfortunately it comes up "SYSTEM BIOS DOES NOT HAVE FLASH SUPPORT"......................great...
on Feb 04, 2007
OK...i took out the PCI video and booted...and im right back where i started when i posted this...
4 Pages1 2 3 4