Display shrinks

Question

Inspiron 8200.   The screen resolution used to be 1024x768 and everything was fine.   Unfortunately I changed the resolution to 1600x1200 which is the actual pixel count on the LCD monitor.  Now when I reduce the screen resolution, the display shrinks and I get the black border around the display.    I learned on this forum that pressing Fn-F7 would fix it.  It does, for the current session.  But the next time I power on I get the shrunk display until I press Fn-F7 again.  Is there a way to make the 'please don't shrink the display' option permanent so I don't need to press Fn-F7 again?  In other words, can I make things work like they used to work before I foolishly changed the display to 1600x1200?   Apparently it's using a default driver for the display.  Would it help if it had a driver for this particular display?  How do I know which one to use?  According to the service tag info, I have part number 9H753, ultra extended graphics array, 15.   I'm pretty sure it has nVidia hardware.  I think the driver is for nVidia GeForce 440 Go.  The service tag info sez: 7J239.  32MB, NV17, Micro Star International Message Edited by steve17 on 03-10-2005 07:30 AM

funtoupgrade · Answer

Page one of the setup screen (F2 on startup) should tell you which video card you have, and the latest video driver for your card should eliminate the problem.   funtoupgrade

steve17 · Answer

Thanks for the reply. I will check it out. Actually it's my sister's laptop but I will be visiting one of these days. I think it has the latest driver for the GeForce 440 Go, but maybe not, and maybe that's not the right driver anyway.

I'm still wondering though, why this shrinking never happened before. It wasn't until I set the resolution to 1600x1200 and then set it back, that the problem occurred.

Oh well, just another reason why I personally stick to desktop machines. :smileywink:

Frazell · Answer

Also check the BIOS for the Video Shrinking option that would place a border around resolutions that are set, but not the LCD's Native res.

steve17 · Answer

I will check that too.  There wasn't much you could change in the BIOS, but it's worth a second look.   I do believe the BIOS has something to do with the problem.  I discovered two curiosities about the shrinking screen before I learned about Fn-F7.   There were two things that would display full screen. 1.  The BIOS setup always displayed full screen.  Note, the first screen that says 'press F2 to enter setup' was displayed shrunken.   2.  I found a torturous way to get XP safe mode to run full screen.  Here's the procedure.  Press F2 on startup to enter BIOS setup.  Make an innocuous change to the BIOS.  I would change the boot device order and then change it back.  Save BIOS changes and exit.  Then press F8 to run XP in safe mode.  Safe mode would then run full screen.   Note, that's the only way I could get safe mode to run full screen.  If I re-booted, safe mode would have a shrunken screen unless I did the 'change the BIOS' trick again.  And XP normal mode always ran with a shrunken screen.   By the way, is there a foolproof way to update the BIOS and the video BIOS?  By foolproof, I mean a way to fall back to some good microcode if the BIOS update should fail to complete.  Modern desktops seem to have a way to do this. Do I need a floppy to update the BIOSes?  The laptop didn't have a floppy installed, but my sister may have one, and there was an empty slot in the side of the laptop.

funtoupgrade · Answer

If you check around on the forum you will find almost universal agreement that BIOS upgrades should be done from a floppy rather than CD or hard drive. funtoupgrade

Frazell · Answer

I wonder why floppy would recommended over CD or HD (HD Outside of Windows running)... Floppy is far more error prone since any errors on the disk can translate to a failed or half-flashed BIOS...

johnallg · Answer

It is the way the updates are written for hdd.  In the C-Series notebooks it is almost 100% the hdd method will fail, leaving you a doorstop.  Floppy method reads all the info into ram before starting the procedure, so no read errors can affect it during the flash.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Display shrinks

Was this post helpful?