Rebz:
I had the same frustrating situation with one of my computers, except the
"out of range" message was not caused by some unknown glitch but was due to
the fact that the last time I used the machine, it was hooked up to a 19-inch
monitor at a resolution of "1280 by 1024" pixels.
By the way, as resolution numbers increase, things on the screen get
smaller, though you can then see more of these things at once, whether they
be icons, windows or what-have-you.
The next time I went to use the computer, I'd plugged in a smaller, 15-inch
LCD monitor, which unfortunately was not able to display "1280 by 1024."
Since I had the luxury of a second computer nearby -- which was also set to
"1280 by 1024" -- I pulled it over and went through the procedure of changing
the resolution to "800 by 600," which the smaller "out of range" monitor
could handle. As I did so, I carefully watched every single keystroke,
noting exactly what I did to get from the Desktop to the point where, when I
would execute that final "OK," the change to "800 by 600" would take effect.
Note that, instead of using the mouse, I used the "Tab" key as needed to
move down through the Display Properties dialog box. If you cannot see the
mouse pointer on an "out of range" display, obvously you cannot determine
where to click. However, to first enter Display Properties from the Desktop,
I did perform a single right-click on both machines, since when Windows
starts, the mouse pointer (some refer to it as the "cursor") sits precisely
in the middle of the Desktop. Presuming that your Desktop does not happen to
have an icon directly underneath this point, you're OK.
Alternatively, you can avoid using the mouse altogether by going the route
of pressing one of the "Windows" keys to bring up the Start menu; from there
you'd navigate to Settings > Control Panel > Display. (This is the path if
you're using the "classic" Start menu; if not, go to Start > Control Panel >
Appearance and Themes > Display.
Anyway, at the same time I went through the procedure on the "good"
computer, I performed the same right-click followed by the same keystrokes on
the "bad" computer, the one with the "out of range" indication. Here is the
procedure I followed:
1. Right-click the mouse (brings up the "context menu" for the display).
2. Press the <up arrow> key once (gets to "Properties").
3. Press <Enter> once (gets to the Display Properties dialog box).
4. Press the <Tab> key five (5) times (highlights the "Themes" tab).
5. Press the <right arrow> key four (4) times, but make sure to wait five
seconds between each of these four keystrokes, to allow time for the
respective tabs to show. The "Screen Saver" tab in particular may take a
while to appear and you don't want your keystrokes entered too fast for the
tabs to follow along.
At this point, the "Settings" tab should be highlighted.
6. Now press <Tab> once, which will move you down to the "Screen resolution"
slider bar.
7. Press and hold the <left arrow> key for two full seconds. Do this
because I don't know how many "stops" your computer has between its current
resolution setting and "800 by 600." Holding <left arrow> will ensure that
you move to the lowest available resolution setting, whether this is "800 by
600" or "640 by 480."
8. Press <Tab> four times (highlights "OK").
9. Press <Enter> once (changes the resolution).
If the monitor does not light up right away, that means Windows is showing
the "Compatibility "Warning" dialog, asking you to confirm that you really
want to change the resolution. To resolve this dialog:
10. Press <Tab> once (highlights "OK.")
11. Press <Enter>.
Now your monitor should be displaying your Desktop, although with the icons
rearranged, depending on what the resolution was before you just changed it.
Since both of my computers are identical and are running the same version of
Windows, I was certain that as I went through each step on the functioning
machine, the "out of range" machine was following perfectly. If you are not
so fortunate, well, you have nothing to lose by giving this a shot.
If this is all that's wrong with your computer, you should be good to go.
If not -- you did mention some sort of BIOS error message appearing later on
-- at least you or the technician will be able to see the Desktop for more
troubleshooting.
Good luck!