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Cannot change display settings

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Terilyn

Terilyn

MIS
Nov 3, 2000
11
US
Hello,

I have several computers that are unable to change the display settings, while
other computers with the same (I believe!) setups can. When you try to change
the screen size, the error:

The display control panel is unable to change the display settings. Please check
your display hardware in device manager.

These computers also cannot support anything other than 16 colors.

These are "Default Monitors", using a SiS adapter w/chip type 530Rev A3 or A2. I
have changed them to Plug & Play monitors and updated drivers, but still have the
same problem. Any ideas?

Running Win98 SE on an NT network.

TIA
Terilyn
 
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Thank you for the suggestion. I will give it a try and let you know if that solves the problem.

Thanks again.

Terilyn
 
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Well, I changed it to SVGA as you suggested and downloaded drivers from SiS, but windows informed me that it was already using the most recent drivers and would continue to do so. I then removed the adapter and reinstalled, using the drivers I had downloaded, but the problem still persists.

Any other ideas? TIA

Terilyn
 
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Boot to safe mode.
Go back into device manager, and remove all video adapters and monitors.
Restart, and let windows pick up the SIS card again. You should install the downloaded drivers at this time. After the restart, windows should pick up a PnP monitor. If it doesn't then change the video to a standard SVGA 1024x768 monitor.

Jim
reboot@pcmech.com
Current moderator at
Staff contributor/moderator at
Windows 9x/ME instructor.

Jim's Modems:
 
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Jim,

Followed your advice; installed downloaded drivers. On restart, Windows detected a default monitor again; changed it to the standard svga monitor, but still am unable to change the display settings.

Am really at a loss and quite frustrated at this point, as I have done everything I can think of as well as all of your suggestions! Any other suggestions will of course be gratefully accepted.

BTW, the pcmech site is just wonderful; thanks for steering me to it.

Terilyn
 
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here's a guess.....

The SIS 530 is a chipset that has on-board video, thus it likely shares system memory, and you can control how much memory the built in video has access to use.

Maybe this is set to 1 Meg, and you cant get any higher resolution cause you don't have enough memory alocated to the video section.

Check in the CMOS setup and see how much memory is set aside, increase if needed. You can also tell how much there is by looking at the System properties General page, where the amount of RAM in your PC is listed. It will show what is left after any on-board video, ie 64 Meg installed, 2 Meg for video, Windows will show 62 Megs in your PC.

You will see the on-board video memory allocation during boot up too, but many monitors are not "alive enough" yet for you to see it.

good luck

Ray
 
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Good point Ray! I hadn't considered the SIS to be onboard, but it's highly likely that could be the problem.
Only one thing bugs me; If there were only 1 meg assigned to video, would not she be able to get AT LEAST 256 colors, even at 640x480? Being stuck at 16 colors, and it being unchangeable...hmmm...
It may be time to dig around the MS knowledge base for known issues with SIS video...
Terilyn, you could maybe repost this over at pcmech, there's lots of good people there too, that may be able to help.

Jim
reboot@pcmech.com
Current moderator at
Staff contributor/moderator at
Windows 9x/ME instructor.

Jim's Modems:
 
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Youre right about the 256 colors, I didnt know what resolution she was running at, so I just threw the idea out there, incase she had set it to 1024 or something on a 17 incher.

The drivers for that chipset are really picky too - from memory I seem to recall that the only way to get it working right was with the OEM ones, and you could tell when you were OK because you would get a modified Display Properties window customised with additional settings and branded by the maufacturer

Terilyn, check to see if this is the driver you need:


they seem to be the right ones, good luck!

Ray
 
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