Resolution doesn't stick 2

[goombawaho]

A friend has a Dell Inspiron 8600 with an Nvidia geforce fx5200. For ONLY one user account on the computer, if you set the display to 1024x768 it stays for a minute or so and then reverts to something really small. The other user account doesn't do this.

I'm stumped. I already updated the video bios and driver from the Dell web site. Any ideas????

All the accounts have admin privileges. I did remove a bunch of spyware from the computer, but the owner said the problem was there BEFORE the spyware issues.

 

[vanka25]

The screen resolution is a system-wide setting - it should stay the same across all user accounts; try setting the correct resolution in another account and then log onto the one you were having trouble with. If that doesn't help, since you said this was the only account with this problem try recreating the account.

 

[goombawaho]

It's not a system wide setting (apparently) because USER1 has a resolution of 1024x768 and if you immediately LOG OFF of USER1 and then login as USER2, USER2 has a way smaller resolution setting.

Need MOAR suggestions.

 

[vacunita]

Correct, Resolution is set in user by user basis. That is each user can have its own resolution set.

With that said and since you mention it only happens to a particular user, then maybe the profile has suffered some corruption and cannot correctly store the resolution values.

Perhaps recreating the profile, or creating a completely new profile may fix the issue.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[goombawaho]

That's kind of crappy if that's the answer because it's an unskilled user that has the problem - difficult for him to fix. Barring any other brilliant ideas, that's what I'll have to tell him though. Thanks.

Vanka25 - be careful what you're saying. If you're not 100% sure, don't post it. Or at least preface your statement with "I believe" or "I think". You can really cause people problems by posting inaccurate statements.

 

[vacunita]

Maybe a long shot but, Since you mention its an inexperienced user, are we sure he is clicking on the "Keep these settings" button after setting it?

If not the resolution will revert to whatever it was.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[goombawaho]

No, I was at the computer yesterday and changed the resolution myself. And then I saw the machine revert back to the previous resolution. Bizarre. Never seen that before UNLESS of course somebody did what you showed in the screen shot in your post.

What I meant was "this is an inexperienced user and he will not be able to delete and re-create his profile" as someone has suggested. He would have to pay me to come back.

 

[vanka25]

It's not a system wide setting (apparently) because USER1 has a resolution of 1024x768 and if you immediately LOG OFF of USER1 and then login as USER2, USER2 has a way smaller resolution setting.

This indicates that something is wrong with or in the user profile itself since the resolution changes as soon as you log on. Try my second suggestion on recreating the user profile. If you don't want to do anything this drastic see if there are any programs or utilities that are loading on startup in this profile that may be affecting the video resolution.

Correct, Resolution is set in user by user basis. That is each user can have its own resolution set.

I would very much like to see a reference that explains how this is true. This goes against all my years of experience working with Windows. The "hard-wired" behavior of Windows is that the last saved resolution is used for all users of the computer. In fact I urge you to google windows resolution per user and you will see that there are many people who would like to get around this "limitation" of Windows. Some have written utilities to get this functionality.

Vanka25 - be careful what you're saying. If you're not 100% sure, don't post it. Or at least preface your statement with "I believe" or "I think". You can really cause people problems by posting inaccurate statements.

I myself would hate to receive incorrect information so I do not purposefully post it either. If I am even a bit unsure I will verify the information before posting. If I cannot verify, I will either not post or preface it with "I believe". Also, it would have taken you 5 seconds to google and check whether vacunita or I was correct; then you wouldn't just be taking one person's word for it and posting inaccurate statements.

 

[vanka25]

I would like to add that versions of Windows based on the 9x kernel (95, 98, ME) did have this functionality, but versions on the NT kernel (2000, XP, Vista) don't. You didn't mention which version of Windows you were running and I assumed that you were running XP.

 

[cdogg]

goombawaho,
I would caution you to avoid flaming others in this forum, especially when they are just trying to help. I also wouldn't base your statement off of one particular situation. For every rule there is an exception.

In this case, vanka25 is absolutely correct in saying that Windows on its own does not have the ability to configure a different resolution for each user profile that logs in. However, third-party utilities can try to work around with limited success. Perhaps the Nvidia utility has the feature?

What you likely witnessed was a corrupt driver install, which causes Windows to try to correct the resolution during login. It will often default back to 800x600 in the process. Now if it's only happening in one profile, I would triple-check that. It's possible that uninstalling the video driver and reinstalling it from the profile having trouble would do the trick. Recreating the profile would probably work too and wouldn't take much longer to do.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

I didn't consider that flaming. I guess it depends on which forum you're in.

There was another utility loaded (nvidia perhaps) that I did notice on the taskbar. It might be a piece of the puzzle. I did update to the latest driver, so hopefully that was a good thing and it would have installed the latest nvidia control panel as well.

Did we ever decide whether (in Windows XP) different users can have different resolutions. I guess I could test it myself right here, but I don't want to scramble all my desktop icons.

 

[BadBigBen]

I guess I could test it myself right here, but I don't want to scramble all my desktop icons.

No need, I have... and yes, it is GLOBAL...

What you likely witnessed was a corrupt driver install, which causes Windows to try to correct the resolution during login. It will often default back to 800x600 in the process.

Yep, had that happen to me, especially over VGA, when windows cannot read the correct EDID from the monitor... what fixed this was an update of the nVidia drivers and the correct monitor INF file (monitor was a 19" WXGA+)...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[vacunita]

I'm sorry. I've worked with Windows for 12+ years and the functionality was there as you pointed out in previous kernels. It never occurred to me it had been removed for XP.

As far as I knew it was there. Now that I have tested this I see it is not the case.

For that I apologize.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[goombawaho]

Sooooooooooooooo. If resolution is a global setting in XP, it must be a third party utility (Dell or Nvidia) that is allowing a different user to have a different resolution upon login to that user profile every time they login.

Would I be correct in my assumption from all the brains helping me out??

 

[cdogg]

Yes and no. The answer is yes in most situations. However, as I stated before there are rare exceptions such as a corrupt driver installation which can cause the setting to "bounce back" to XP's default of 800x600.

Why don't we move away from the theoretical and actually apply some of the suggestions mentioned? I would try uninstalling the video driver first, rebooting, and reinstalling it under the profile having issues. If that doesn't work, then I would try recreating the profile by renaming the old one (to keep as a backup). The next time you log on with the same ID, Windows will create a new one. If that fixes it, simply move over what you need from the old one except "ntuser.dat" which likely contains the problem.

I know you said the user was technically challenged, so if that's an issue you may need to make another trip on-site or use remote assistance (remote desktop if he has XP Pro).


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

I think we're in the realm of theoretical application of technology here - not actual application. In other words, the guy isn't going to have me over just to fix that issue (and pay for it).

I'm just trying to get it straight in my head for the NEXT time if I ever see something like this again. So, we won't be trying or applying your ideas, at least not unless I get a phone call and he says he can't live with it.

Thanks for all your replies.

 

[cdogg]

Considering there are several here with 10+ years of Windows experience that rarely see issues like that (if at all), I doubt you'll have to worry much!

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah - I've been doing Windows stuff since approx. 1996 and it's the first one I've seen. You see the craziest stuff going out in the field.

Stars coming.....