vid adapter prob

i just inherited a compaq presario pentium3 running
win98se. apparently there's a problem with the monitor i
hooked it up to--it's at 16 color and 640x480. when i try
to change it, i am told 1)i must restart [which i never
had to do with previous computer, and this one i set
to 'change without restarting, but it still says i must
restart] and 2)when i do restart, i get a message that
there is a problem with my adapter [i forget exact
wording, but i think you know the one]. i downloaded an
updated driver, but it only worked correctly once--now i
keep getting the 16 color and 640x480. i am a computard
and have no idea what to do. it can't be that the monitor
is incompatible--the pc it was used with previously was
very similar, though a different make. what can i do???
in addition, every time i try and personalize the colors
of the title bars, etc. after 'applying' and 'okaying',
they revert right back to the same default ones. the only
thing that remains as i changed is the font. i am going
nuts!! also, all of a sudden, in oe, in my inbox, the
message list shows all unread message subjects in bold
text--and i never changed to this as i have no idea how.
what the heck is going on???

thank you so much--this is driving me nuts.
regards,
allyson

It's not the monitor driver that's causing the problem - it's the video
adapter card driver. Your system should work fine with a generic monitor
driver, but it needs the correct adapter driver. Do Start / Run / MSConfig
and make sure Normal Startup is selected. Choose Advanced and make sure VGA
640x480x16 is NOT selected. Do Start / Settings / Control Panel / Display /
Settings / Advanced / Adapter and note the adapter description. If this is
some type of generic VGA driver, or if it doesn't exactly match the adapter
installed in your machine, then you need to find and install the video
adapter drivers specific to your particular hardware. These should be
available at the video adapter card manufacturer's www site, or if the video
adapter is integrated into the motherboard then it should be available at
the motherboard manufacturer's www site. You may have been provided with a
CD as part of your system deal - in that case the drivers should be on that
CD. If you have upgraded your video adapter since you bought the machine
then the upgrade should have included a CD that would have the drivers on
it.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (DTS)
"allyson" wrote in message
...
i just inherited a compaq presario pentium3 running
win98se. apparently there's a problem with the monitor i
hooked it up to--it's at 16 color and 640x480. when i try
to change it, i am told 1)i must restart [which i never
had to do with previous computer, and this one i set
to 'change without restarting, but it still says i must
restart] and 2)when i do restart, i get a message that
there is a problem with my adapter [i forget exact
wording, but i think you know the one]. i downloaded an
updated driver, but it only worked correctly once--now i
keep getting the 16 color and 640x480. i am a computard
and have no idea what to do. it can't be that the monitor
is incompatible--the pc it was used with previously was
very similar, though a different make. what can i do???
in addition, every time i try and personalize the colors
of the title bars, etc. after 'applying' and 'okaying',
they revert right back to the same default ones. the only
thing that remains as i changed is the font. i am going
nuts!! also, all of a sudden, in oe, in my inbox, the
message list shows all unread message subjects in bold
text--and i never changed to this as i have no idea how.
what the heck is going on???

thank you so much--this is driving me nuts.
regards,
allyson

thank you so much, jeff--though what you suggested is what
i originally did--i updated the driver, it worked once and
then reverted back. however, i did it again [updated the
vid adapter driver], and so far, it's working fine--i've
rebooted twice and it's still fine. the only reason i
thought it might be a monitor prob is the fact that it
only worked once and then at reboot it went right back to
the original problem, i started to wonder... i must have
done SOMETHING wrong...

thanks again!!! thanks a million!!
allyson

-----Original Message-----
It's not the monitor driver that's causing the problem -
it's the video
adapter card driver. Your system should work fine with a
generic monitor
driver, but it needs the correct adapter driver. Do
Start / Run / MSConfig
and make sure Normal Startup is selected. Choose Advanced
and make sure VGA
640x480x16 is NOT selected. Do Start / Settings / Control
Panel / Display /
Settings / Advanced / Adapter and note the adapter
description. If this is
some type of generic VGA driver, or if it doesn't exactly
match the adapter
installed in your machine, then you need to find and
install the video
adapter drivers specific to your particular hardware.
These should be
available at the video adapter card manufacturer's www
site, or if the video
adapter is integrated into the motherboard then it should
be available at
the motherboard manufacturer's www site. You may have
been provided with a
CD as part of your system deal - in that case the drivers
should be on that
CD. If you have upgraded your video adapter since you
bought the machine
then the upgrade should have included a CD that would
have the drivers on
it.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (DTS)

My fingers are crossed ;-)
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (DTS)
"allyson" wrote in message
...
thank you so much, jeff--though what you suggested is what
i originally did--i updated the driver, it worked once and
then reverted back. however, i did it again [updated the
vid adapter driver], and so far, it's working fine--i've
rebooted twice and it's still fine. the only reason i
thought it might be a monitor prob is the fact that it
only worked once and then at reboot it went right back to
the original problem, i started to wonder... i must have
done SOMETHING wrong...

thanks again!!! thanks a million!!
allyson