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Restore XP Home problem
Hi, going mad here and run out of ideas. Can anyone help?
I have an (old, 5 to 6 years) Dell Dimension 2350. Had been working fine but the hard disk got corrupted. In the end I had to remove the drive, plug it into my other computer. Good news is I managed to recover nearly all the data. Bad news is that I had to reformat the drive. I checked it after reformat and it is "clean" and fully working.
I have reinserted it into the PC and reinstalled Windows XP Home from the original Dell supplied CD (SP1). For the most part it is fine except for the screen which will not work in anything other than a basic modes. (640 x 480 pixels at 8 bit colour). Nothing I try will allow me to change it, e.g. right click screen, properties, settings. Tried Advanced and Troubleshoot etc. Same problems if I try via Device Manager. Tried updating drivers etc but still no luck.
The system shows it as a "Default Monitor", properties of the adaptor type indicates VgaSave with device type "Non Plug and Play Drivers"
I have updated Windows with all relevant updates recommended by Microsoft, SP2, SP3, all the security updates etc. etc.
Now it's actually worse. Still 640 x 480 pixels but only 4 bit colour - it's very difficult to read!
I've been onto the Dell site to try to download any relevant drivers but it says there are none. I've tried looking for drivers relevant to the screen (E173FP). There are none.
To check, I've tried another screen on the Dell computer; same problem. The Dell screen on the other computer is fine.
I've run out of ideas. I suspect it is a driver problem but there seems to be nothing in the Dell downloads that will help. Has anyone else experienced similar problems and can share a solution with me. As I said, everything else seems to be fine; the machine is responding very quickly, the wireless broadband works fine, everything except a screen you can read!
Thanks in anticipation.
TheRealFireblad
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April 3rd, 2009 11:00
Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:
It most certainly is a drivers problem. You haven't installed any :emotion-55:
:emotion-2:
You need to install graphic drivers, before you can choose higher resolutions.
Since it's a desktop you're using, you don't have to use the graphics drivers Dell offer. You *could get them direct from the graphics card manufacturer's site.
(*See below)
????
Where exactly did you look for them? Dimension 2350 'Drivers & Downloads' :emotion-55:
Select the appropriate graphics drivers for whatever card/chip is in your system, from the 'Video' category :emotion-5:
You'll need to download/install both the 'Intel Graphics Controller' drivers, as well as the actual graphics drivers (right at the bottom).
But if you haven't installed any drivers set (as it sounds?), you should download/install the other important drivers as well
And you need to install them in the order specified in Dell's 'drivers installation order' advisory.
mark_is_resting
2 Posts
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April 3rd, 2009 12:00
:emotion-1: Thank you. You were right, I hadn't installed any drivers. In the past I have only had to install drivers when I have added new hardware, never for the standard kit. Obviously the standard video/monitor input on this machine is an enhanced one that doesn't work too well with the drivers embedded in XP. Whether it's perfect or not I don't know but at the moment it looks great, plus I'm a little wiser! Always try to learn something new everyday!
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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44.3K Posts
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April 3rd, 2009 13:00
Open Device Manager and make sure that nothing is marked with a red X or a yellow !. That should tell you if you've got all the drivers needed.
Can I assume you installed the chipset driver first? That driver is needed for most other drivers to install and function properly. So if you find any problems listed in Device Manager, it may be because you didn't install the chipset. And in that case, you'll need to boot in Safe Mode to install the chipset...
Ron