display problems

I'm currently having problems with my dell latitude C800 that I just purchased and did a windows 2000 clean install. I have a ATI Mobility M4 with 32 mb ram. It seems that the screen area default the computer likes is 1400 by 1050 pixels. But the icons and webpages etc are too small for me.

I tried to adjust it to 800x600, but instead of making the desktop bigger, it created a 4in desktop square in the middle with blackness surrounding it around the screen.

I went to display properties<settings<advanced<displays and double clicked on the Panel option and I checked "scale image to panel size" and it seemed like it fixed everything by utilizing the 800x600 option I originally wanted.

I can reboot and everything is fine, but whenever I close the laptop and open it back up again it flickers and reverts to its 4inch square stage. Then I have to check the scale image option (magically got unchecked)and everything is fine again. If I leave it as 1400x1050 and shut the laptop, it stays 1400x1050.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? Some things I noticed:

When I boot up the microsoft windows 2000 professional start up logo is contained in the 4 in square instead of being fullscreen.

Device Manager says I have 4 default monitors. I remove them and they come back when I reboot.

Display Properties<settings says display: (Multiple Monitors) on Mobility M4.

Maybe its possessed?

lol

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

RussS

I have seen this lots with TFT panels. Although you do not have to worry about refresh rates for them the operating system sometimes does not realise this. You need to make sure that you are on the correct graphics controller for your motherboard and then delete all of the screens. When it has restartet check your settings again and it should take

LETHALAI

You need to make sure that you are on the correct graphics controller for your motherboard and then delete all of the screens

I've installed the drivers from dell.com and messed with the refresh rates, but still no luck

What did you mean when you advised me to delete all of the screens? I'm not sure what I should do from this point.

What would cause the device manager to see multiple monitors (4 default monitors) for a laptop? This is my first laptop and I never had any problems with setting the display settings with any of my desktops in the past. Thanks for your help.

RussS

You are in the right place. Remove all of those multiple monitors and see what occurs when you reboot

LETHALAI

great. I searched the dell forums and found that my problem is common. Everything is working fine now. Thanks for the help.

If anyone has this problem do the following:

Fn + F7 fixes the black boarder problem.

If your c800 is running an ATI M4, you could also check the display options (display properties --> settings --> advanced --> displays) and then check whether the option stretch image to fill screen (or something like that) is selected for your LCD. Otherwise "you'll only get a fullscreen desktop at your optimal resolution (either 1400x1050 or 1600x1200 depending on a 14' or 15'screen)"