Re: Games are only being show in half screen

Hi snakevin,

That's fantastic news! Thanks for posting back with the results. :-)

snakevin Wrote:
=================
| Hey, Finally!! I got it all figured out and got my new driver. Thanks for
| all the help, Kevin
|
| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|
|| Hi snakevin,
||
|| Here are a few ways to identify which video card you have
|| installed on your computer.
||
|| 1. Click Start / Run / type: dxdiag
|| Click the Display Tab
|| Look under Device for the name and manufacturer
||
|| 2. Click Start / (Settings) Control Panel
|| Click Display
|| Click the Settings Tab
|| Click the Advanced... button
|| Click the Adapter Tab
||
|| 3. Click Start / Run / type: msinfo32
|| Click on the + Components
|| Click on Display to see the name on the right
||
|| 4. Use Belarc to see indentify your Video, Chipset and Motherboard:
|| http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1385.html
||
|| 5. Get the information from the manufactures website (or store)
||
|| 6. Check your owners manual or bill of sale for that laptop.
||
|| --
|| Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
|| Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||
|| Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site: www.msce.mvps.org
|| MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|| _________________________________________________________
||
||
|| snakevin Wrote:
|| =================
||| hey, yet another roadblock....when trying to identify the make and model of
||| my card, the manufacturer and location both say "unknown." I am unsure of
||| any other way to obtain this info. Any ideas? Thanks again, Kevin
|||
||| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|||
|||| Hi snakevin,
||||
|||| Visit the HP/Compaq site to update your video and system drivers...
||||
|||| Updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues. Here's some
|||| simple abc's to always keep in mind. a. Shut off download accelerators,
|||| firewalls and antivirus programs when downloading or installing updates;
|||| b. Check for game patches: www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a
|||| c. Make sure you meet the game's minimum video and system requirements.
||||
|||| Before you update your drivers, I recommend that you update DirectX
|||| from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx
||||
|||| Here are the steps I recommend you use to update your driver:
||||
|||| 1. To identify the make and model of your card, right click your
|||| Desktop, choose Properties / Settings / Advanced / Adapter.
||||
|||| 2. Download the latest video driver for your card online, using
|||| http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html#drivers
|||| to find the website to download from. I also have advanced
|||| video driver and direct X troubleshooting steps on that page.
||||
|||| 3. Save the .exe driver (or extract the zip file) to a folder
|||| in My Documents named after the driver version number.
||||
|||| 4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
|||| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
||||
|||| 5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
|||| Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
|||| the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.
||||
|||| 6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
|||| previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.
||||
|||| 7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
|||| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
||||
|||| 8. If the driver is NOT a (.exe)program file, GO TO step 11.
||||
|||| 9. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
|||| "Cancel" and Double click the driver program to begin installation.
|||| * Even if not prompted, doubleclick the driver and install it.
||||
|||| 10. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
|||| choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.
|||| That's it! Scroll down to the Troubleshooter if you have problems.
||||
|||| 11. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
|||| "Install from a list or specific location", click the "Browse" button,
|||| browse to the My documents folder where you saved the driver,
|||| and finally click on one of the driver files to begin installation.
||||
|||| ** If you are not prompted, or if the driver was updated automatically:
|||| Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware Device Manager
|||| expand +Display Adapters / right click on the adapter, pick "Update Driver"
|||| to start the Update Wizard, choose the "Install from a list..." option:
|||| Browse to My Documents\ folder with the driver in it
|||| Click OK and click Next to begin the update.
||||
|||| 12. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
|||| choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.
|||| That's it! Try the advice in the Troubleshooter if you have problems.
||||
|||| TROUBLESHOOTING:
||||
|||| Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
|||| Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
|||| If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
|||| your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per
|||| my website: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11
||||
|||| Your program might not support dual monitors, or "dual head" video cards
|||| You can disable the extra video output in your display properties control
|||| panel. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced.
||||
|||| Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
|||| and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
|||| motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
|||| your Video card. These steps are listed at: http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
||||
|||| Perhaps the old Video drivers did not completely uninstall. If that's the
|||| case, use these utility to completely uninstall the drivers and go to step
|||| 7:
|||| nvidia: http://content.guru3d.com/index.php?page=detonatorrip&menu=0
|||| or for all cards including nvidia use: http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
||||
|||| The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
|||| (Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
|||| If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
|||| experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:
||||
|||| BETA Drivers: http://download.guru3d.com/
|||| OMEGA Drivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net
||||
|||| There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them! :-)
||||
|||| Cheers, Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User
|||| Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||||
|||| Visit my MSN Zone.com and Gaming Help Site: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits
|||| MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|||| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|||| _________________________________________________________
||||
||||
||||
|||| snakevin Wrote:
|||| =================
||||| Hey, I tried fn+t and have not had any success yet. I also looked through
||||| the manual and found nothing to help me out. When I tried to enter full
||||| screen mode in one of the game that I was able to before I get the message:
||||| "Direct Draw: Error setting display mode." Any ideas? Thanks, Kevin
|||||
||||| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|||||
|||||| Hi snakevin,
||||||
|||||| Try Fn+T on your Compaq laptop! :-)
||||||
|||||| --
|||||| Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
|||||| Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||||||
|||||| Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site: www.msce.mvps.org
|||||| MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|||||| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|||||| _________________________________________________________
||||||
|||||| snakevin Wrote:
|||||| =================
||||||| Hey, I have a compaq laptop. Just curious if I should go into BIOS [and if
||||||| so what to look for] or when I should try the fn+t. Thanks for the help,
||||||| Kevin
|||||||
||||||| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|||||||
|||||||| Hi snakevin,
||||||||
|||||||| Is your computer a laptop model?
||||||||
|||||||| Check your manual and see if they list instructions there as to
|||||||| which BIOS setting or keyboard Fn key you can use to setup
|||||||| "Fit to Screen" video mode. That's a common laptop feature.
||||||||
|||||||| Examples:
|||||||| Fn+T works for some HP / Compaq's
|||||||| Fn+F7 works for some DELL's
||||||||
|||||||| --
|||||||| Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
|||||||| Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||||||||
|||||||| Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site: www.msce.mvps.org
|||||||| MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|||||||| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|||||||| _________________________________________________________
||||||||
||||||||
|||||||| snakevin Wrote:
|||||||| =================
||||||||| Recently I had to upgrade my operating system and games that I had previously
||||||||| run which used to show up in full screen now only show up in a screen about
||||||||| half the size of full screen. I have tinkered with all of the game options
||||||||| and since it happens to all of them now, I am assuming I have a setting on my
||||||||| computer that is restricting the size now. Any ideas? Thanks, Kevin


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