My kids have a desktop that is on it's last leg. They use it for homework and internet. I decided to try and reformat it and something went wrong.

It did have Windows XP and it, that's what I tried to reformat it with. Now when it starts out, everything is big on the screen - the screen color quality is set to 'Lowest 4 bit' and it won't let you change it. I can't get onto the internet on it yet, I have to download my driver from my provider but it won't let me b/c the screen to do that doesn't fit on the monitor.

I am on my laptop looking for any ideas. I knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but I am not completely dingy around computers. I wasn't scared to try this on the desktop--maybe I should have been.

INtel Celeron CPU 1.7GH, 256 MB of RAM (I know, little RAM)

Any ideas...

Did you try to reformat it, or did you just try to install Windows? The reason I ask is that people often assume that just because they re-installed Windows that it is the same as a reformat.

If you know the type of video driver, you can download the driver from another computer, burn it to a disk, or put it on a thumbdrive and transfer it over. I am guessing that you are seeing 600*800 resolution. On 'hack' to get around that (temporarily) is to make a minor registry change. If you are up for that, I can walk you through it. It is not all that hard.

I did try to reformat it. I'm not sure what type of video driver it was. Somebody else rebuilt the system for me. Yes,it does say 600*800 resolution is avaliable. I can try to do the registry hack if you have the time to help. Thanks

Ok, this isn't too bad. I just had to do this the other day on one of my machines because one of Microsofts critical updates fubared the display, and when I tried to reinstall the driver, it actually removed it...

Anyway, all you need to do is open regedit (Start, run, type in regedit. Once it opens, export a backup to your C: directory (just in case things go badly). (File, Export, and choose a name that you can easily remember.)

Now, the next part is to HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO. Once you expand the key, you may find several longish looking keys that represent video drivers. Finding the correct one will take some trial and error, but when you expand the key, you will see some settings that will say 'Default Resolution X', and 'Default Resolution Y'. Under yours, they will probably say 600 and 800. You need to edit those two settings.

Right click on Default Resolution X, and then select Modify. Select 'Base Decimal' and put in 1024, then save the key.

Right click on Default Resolution Y, and then select Modify. Select 'Base Decimal' and put in 7684, then save the key.

Reboot, and see if that helps. ****VERY IMPORTANT**** If your resolution is only designed to handle up to 1024*768, do not attempt any settings higher than that. If you picked the correct one, the display will change. If it didn't, restore the keys and try another key. It is important to only change one display set of settings at a time. On my computer, there are three sets of values. One is for the onboard card, one is for my PCI video card, and one is a default set.

Also, try going to Start...Run...and type in "devmgmt.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter.

Are there any yellow !'s or red x's? If so, you'll need to install the drivers for those devices. You can download the drivers on another computer and copy them to a USB drive or a CD to transfer them to the other computer for installation.

After I go into the >HKEY--Video> I have only one long sequence of numbers/letters mixed. If you open that sequence there is only a 'file 0000'. If you highlight that long sequence it says on the right screen 'defult (name), REG_SZ (type), value not set (data). This is all I see in the long number under >video>.

-usasma-

I did that and there are yellow marks for ethernet controller, multimedia audio controller, and video controller (vga compatible).

Do I just google those things? Do I google something in specific?

Sorry...this is part of technology that I question myself on.

We'll need to know the exact make and model of your system in order to get more info. If you can't find that info out, we'll point you to a tool that'll look it up for you.

Armed with that info, we can figure out what drivers to get for the ethernet (that's your Internet), multimedia audio (that's the sound), and the video controller (that's the picture).

I'll need to know how to look it up. I know that it's a Gateway that was 'built' by a local guy here in town a couple years ago.

Use this free tool to take an inventory of the system - post the results here and we'll point you at the drivers. http://www.gtopala.com/index.html

If it's a Gateway, you can use the serial number at the Gateway site to look up the drivers.

I'm currently on the Gateway Site right now. And,I'm finding some of that information.