Re: Monitor driver
- From: "Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:17:21 -0500
Mike Hussey wrote:
Our agency has a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop running Windows XP Pro SP3
that is having some monitor problems. Ever since I have connected
a projector to it the monitor has intermittantly been using the
resolution of 1024x768 and becoming darkened (very dark but
readable) despite the brightness being set to 100%. The monitor is
WXGA and should have a resolution of 1280x800 and obviously should
be much brighter. When I am having the problem, I have checked the
Device Manager and there are three monitors listed and all three
are named "Digital Flat Panel (1024x786)." I uninstall all of
these monitors in Device Manager, reboot the machine, and they all
reappear again and the resolution is still 1024x768 and the screen
is darkened. With no rhyme or reason it will suddenly go back to
the correct resolution and brightness after a reboot. Not every
reboot, just whenever it choses. Sometimes the 1024x768 and
darkened screen will last for days despite many reboots. Since it
is not my computer, I have not had the opportunity to go into
Device Manager to see what the monitor is named and how many are
listed when it is working properly. In Windows Display Settings,
two monitors are listed; 1. Digital Flat Panel (1024x768) on Mobile
Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family,
2. (Default Monitor) on Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family.
The (Default Monitor) allows many more resolution options. How do
I get rid of the Digital Flat Panel (1024x768) monitor driver and
get it changed to (Default Monitor) so that I can get this user
back to a brighter and easier to read screen? Thanks for any
assistance.
Shenan Stanley wrote:
Download and install the latest video card driver and utility from
the manufacturer of said video card.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2800&lang=eng
It's a laptop - two possible outputs usually - therefor you are
*not* going to get rid of the second monitor capability. ;-)
If downloading/installing the latest driver from the graphics
chipset manufacturer (above) does not remedy the issue - consider
it (as you indicated with your post in this group_) an actual
hardware failure and contact Dell to have it looked at and the
proper parts replaced. It *really* sounds hardware related (
intermittent issue? Drivers, unless they have a conflict with
something you only use occassionally, rarely cause intermittent
issues. ;-) )
You can test further as well - just create and boot from a BartPE or
Ultimate Windows Boot CD. Does the screen exhibit the same
symptoms?
Paul wrote:
What about the possibility it is just "bad karma" in the registry ?
The problem with reinstalling drivers, is the registry may not get
corrected in the process. Whatever bad settings may have been
stored in the registry, the driver reinstallation isn't likely to
remove them. (I've heard of people trying that, in cases where the
display resolution setting, was higher than the monitor could handle, and
the driver reinstall
in safe mode wouldn't fix it.)
Attacking the problem, from the registry, is probably the way to
fix it. But who knows those registry hives in enough detail, to
give an absolutely correct recipe for deletion, so they won't continue to
cause problems ?
(A teaser link... Not a solution.)
http://forums.entechtaiwan.com/index.php?topic=6788.0
Part of the problem could be due to the extent to which the display
devices properly support Plug and Play. A projector probably
doesn't have an EDID. I don't know if there is a guarantee
that every laptop LCD panel properly registers itself. If
every device had an EDID, then there would be reduced odds
of screwed up settings in the registry.
This tool is free, and can print the EDID to the screen.
It might give some idea, as to whether the LCD panel of
the laptop, has information to offer.
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/moninfo.shtm
Shenan Stanley wrote:
Thus the test I gave...
"You can test further as well - just create and boot from a BartPE
or Ultimate Windows Boot CD. Does the screen exhibit the same
symptoms?"
If booting from a clean Windows XP install (essentially) exhibits
the same symptoms... Then it is likely a hardware issue. If not -
the software could still be a concern.
And installing the latest driver could clear up a software issue
safely as well.
Paul wrote:
Maybe I didn't get my point across very well. I see
three problem piles...
1) Broken hardware. Symptoms are the result of hardware
that is not functioning correctly.
2) Broken driver. Issue is isolated to the driver.
Problem magically disappears when a newer driver is installed.
Or, a corrupted file is removed, due to the uninstallation of
the previous driver, properly cleaning up after itself.
3) Registry entry, or a settings file, still sitting in the
system, contains context information that will prevent
the problem from being fixed. This is the problem I
was referring to, where the user can reinstall drivers
"till the cows come home", and the symptoms persist.
I can give an example of (3).
*******
I had two sound devices. When the second sound device was added
to the system, it added a necessary registry entry for itself.
The second device was removed at a later date (as its installation
was an experiment). The uninstallation did not remove the
registry entry it added.
When the first device was selected as the sound device, the
Mixer control panel would disappear and not be usable.
Now, it wouldn't matter how many times I reinstalled either
device (I tried that). A registry entry the second package added,
prevented the first package from running correctly. The first
package, on seeing the registry entry, thought the second package
mixer was being used.
I managed to fix this myself, by using Sysinternals tools,
and seeing the Mixer application of the first device,
reading a particular registry entry. Once I found the particular
registry entry, I removed it manually. And voila, I have
a working mixer.
*******
So I'm suggesting, that there could be a registry problem,
that won't be corrected by reinstalling the graphics driver.
You got it across fine.
I gave a way to test for a software issue vs. a hardware issue that requires
little more than creating and booting from a CD.
A registry issue *is* a software issue and I did say that installing the
latest driver could (not will, could, might, maybe, etc) fix the issue. If
they boot with the BartPE/UBCD and don't have the problem - it's likely
software and could be what you say, could be fixed in the manner i say,
could require an SFC/SCANNNOW, could require a repair installation, could
require combing the registry or could require a clean installation to fix
(depending on level of knowledge on the end-user's part, what their time is
worth to them, etc.)
So - I still say their best bet is to find out if it is hardware or
software. Your 2 & 3 are both software issues - so there are two
possibilities. You can eliminate one or the other with my test.
Boot with the CD mentioned, does it work? If so - it's possibly a hardware
issue. If not, it's probably a hardware issue (there is NO shared registry
entries, drivers, etc when you boot to the BartPE/UBCD...)
--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
.
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