Small Display On Startup

[Guest]

Good Evening,

We've recently had an issue with our Dell Laptop running Windows Vista. Once
the computer is shut down (and initially not installing anything new on last
run) and restarted, the display is about 1/4 size too small for the screen.
When exploring the screen resolution sizes there are only 2 options, neither
of which do much to fix the issue.

The first time this happened we shut down the computer and restarted, and
the problem fixed itself. Back to having 5 options for screen resolution.

Tonight, the problem isn't fixing itself and our searches online have turned
up fruitless. Any ideas???

 

[Rogue]

Try downloading the driver package for the video card from the sell site for
your laptop and reinstalling. Depending on when you bought your laptop (or
installed vista) there may be updated drivers available.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Rogue for the hints and tips: Last night we loaded drivers, tried a
system restore, deleted some programs, shut down, restart, and unplug... none
of which helped 1 ounce.

:-(

Next...

 

[Cal Bear '66]

Have you tried deleting the video adapter in Control Panel > Device Manager
(INCLUDING checking the box to delete the driver files in the uninstall
confirmation box), deleting anything related to the video adapter in Control
Panel > Programs and Features, rebooting, and installing the latest Vista video
adapter drivers?


I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!

 

[Rogue]

Ok, this is just a shot in the dark, but perhaps it is the LCD Expansion
settings in the BIOS. it says if it is disabled the screen will have a black
border and will be smaller. You may want to check that out (press F2 at the
Dell boot screen, and look under video settings). Alternately, I think it
may also be configurable in the QuickSet Module (not in mine though...)

Or it may be even on a Fn+ key combination (again, unlike mine).

I forgot to ask if your computer is plugged into an external monitor.

 

[Guest]

Thanks so much Rogue: today when we turned the laptop on, it still had a
funky display. After then trying your F2 (while there was no boot screen -
another symptom of the small display) while the desktop loaded, the computer
froze. We hard booted the system and did F2 again. The computer actually then
loaded with a boot screen and did take us to the setup screen. Under "video"
there was no option to change any resloution or bios settings as you said.
However it actually started up correctly.

Nearly 10 minutes after being up and running normally, the picture dimmed
(still said the backlight was on bright) and is now again starting up small
again. I'm at a loss.

I appreciate all your help... we are not using an external monitor, just the
laptop itself.

 

[Guest]

We haven't actually tried that, however we're worried that if we start
deleting stuff that we wont be able to see the display on the laptop, should
this be a concern?

 

[Rogue]

My Fault. I figured that the BIOS difference between one Dell and another
would be minimal, so I gave you what my settings was telling me. What model
Laptop do you have?

 

[Malke]

Thanks so much Rogue: today when we turned the laptop on, it still had a
funky display. After then trying your F2 (while there was no boot screen -
another symptom of the small display) while the desktop loaded, the computer
froze. We hard booted the system and did F2 again. The computer actually then
loaded with a boot screen and did take us to the setup screen. Under "video"
there was no option to change any resloution or bios settings as you said.
However it actually started up correctly.

Nearly 10 minutes after being up and running normally, the picture dimmed
(still said the backlight was on bright) and is now again starting up small
again. I'm at a loss.

I appreciate all your help... we are not using an external monitor, just the
laptop itself.

Hi, Zibbity (love your name!) - The symptoms you have described point to
a failing video card. Since you've tried all the software
troubleshooting (updating video drivers, etc.) it is now time to call
Dell tech support for repair/replacement. You can't fix the video card
on a laptop yourself since it is part of the motherboard.

If you want to be sure that it is hardware, you can boot with a Linux
live CD such as Knoppix. If the video is bad in this other operating
system (and I suspect that it will be), then you know for sure that the
problem is hardware and not software (Vista).

To create the Knoppix CD, go to http://www.knoppix.net and download the
..iso. It is large so you'll need a fast Internet connection. Once you
have the .iso on your hard drive, burn as an image. You need third-party
burning software (Nero, Roxio, etc.) to do this. Then as your computer
is starting, press the F12 key to temporarily boot from the optical
drive. Put the Knoppix CD in and boot into Linux. Run Knoppix for a
while and see what happens to the display. Knoppix is read-only so your
Vista installation is not affected.


Malke

 

[Guest]

Rogue: our latest update info is this: we ran our diagnostics test CD that
came with the dell system and it said this "Error Code 0321 Msg Error Code
2000-0321 Msg Unable to detect LCD"

Our model number is: M1330 & I'm assuming that Malke is correct, that we
have a failing Screen that will need to be replaced by dell. Hopefully this
is all that will fail with the system!

Thanks for all your help. I'll be calling Dell support on Monday.

 

[Guest]

Malke (my nick started as zippity on IRC -way- back, but never registered it
and someone took it, so the next closest thing was zibbity) : our latest
update info is this: we ran our diagnostics test CD that came with the dell
system and it said this "Error Code 0321 Msg Error Code 2000-0321 Msg Unable
to detect LCD"

Our model number is: M1330 & I'm assuming that what you said is correct,
that we have a failing Screen that will need to be replaced by dell.
Hopefully this is all that will fail with the system! I think that I'll try
connecting the laptop to a different monitor and see if that works rather
than taking the time to make and load from a different OS. I'm pretty fed up
with it myself & it's not even my machine. *giggle*

Thanks for all your help. I'll be calling Dell support on Monday.