Reinstalled XP Does Not Fill Screen...

[Max Headspace]

I have a 15" Toshiba Satellite laptop with 1.1 Ghz Celeron processor. To
clean up my computer, I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows
XP Home Edition from scratch. After a pretty much automatic installation, I
noticed that the OS window does not fill my laptop screen; it leaves about
one inch black on the right side. I tried adjusting display settings, but
no luck. It seems more to be the OS not recognizing the true size of my
laptop screen. My screen, by the way, is the traditional 4:3 ratio, not
widescreen. Any suggestions on how to correct this?

Many thanks!
Max

 

[David B.]

You need to install the graphics driver, which you need to get from the
laptop mfg's website.

 

[John]

I have a 15" Toshiba Satellite laptop with 1.1 Ghz Celeron processor. To
clean up my computer, I reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows
XP Home Edition from scratch. After a pretty much automatic installation,
I noticed that the OS window does not fill my laptop screen; it leaves
about one inch black on the right side. I tried adjusting display
settings, but no luck. It seems more to be the OS not recognizing the true
size of my laptop screen. My screen, by the way, is the traditional 4:3
ratio, not widescreen. Any suggestions on how to correct this?

Have you installed the correct drivers for the graphics card - any
exclamation mark against the card in Device Manager?

John

 

[Max Headspace]

Resolved! No exclamation point by the video manager, and the driver was
correct for the video board on the computer, but it was the Microsoft
provided version of the driver. When I downloaded the exact same driver
from Toshiba, it fixed the problem. Apparently they weren't exactly the
same! Thanks for the help!

Jeff

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Jeff;
It is often the case where the driver provided by Microsoft is
different from the driver on the manufacturers web site..
The manufacturer has to meet strict criteria before Microsoft will
distribute their driver possibly causing the manufacturer to make
changes.

It is also possible the driver from Microsoft was damaged during
installation.

However it is generally best to get drivers directly from the
manufacturer rather than Microsoft.
Among other things, the process the manufacturer goes in getting the
driver on Microsoft's website is time consuming.
Because of that time, the manufacturer sometimes have newer drivers on
their site than Microsoft.