Resetting video "in the dark"

[john]

My son's friend has been "adjusting" video settings on his PC (XP Home,
onboard video) and is now in the position where:

- XP Splash screen shows OK
- "Windows sound" is heard at the stage that is normally comes on.

But screen is blank.

Booting into Safe Mode has the same result - it seems that XP is
runnning, but even in Safe Mode, the "adjusted" video settings will not
drive his screen.

We think that XP is loading fine - apart from the lack of screen
display - so can anyone suggest any easy set of keyboard strokes (or
command that we could enter under Start | Run ) that we could use
"blind" to adjust the display values to a different setting?

Or is there any option available from an XP installation CD which would
allow us to change settings without repairing/reloading XP?

The PC does not have an AGP port. I have read a suggestion that
installing a PCI graphics card might see the Plug & Play procedure find
a viewable setting on bootup. How likely is that?

John Geddes
England

 

[decoder]

My son's friend has been "adjusting" video settings on his PC (XP Home,
onboard video) and is now in the position where:

- XP Splash screen shows OK
- "Windows sound" is heard at the stage that is normally comes on.

Do you hear the Power-On Self test (POST) single beep?
This is Important.

But screen is blank.

Booting into Safe Mode has the same result - it seems that XP is
runnning, but even in Safe Mode, the "adjusted" video settings will not
drive his screen.

We think that XP is loading fine - apart from the lack of screen
display - so can anyone suggest any easy set of keyboard strokes (or
command that we could enter under Start | Run ) that we could use
"blind" to adjust the display values to a different setting?

The screen displays the taskbar? You have access to Start/Run?
If so I suggest a system restore.

Or is there any option available from an XP installation CD which would
allow us to change settings without repairing/reloading XP?

The PC does not have an AGP port. I have read a suggestion that
installing a PCI graphics card might see the Plug & Play procedure find
a viewable setting on bootup. How likely is that?

John Geddes
England

Have you tried booting from the XP disk and choosing repair?
What settings did he mess with? BIOS?