display resolution and huge windows

I apologise as this is rather long winded but you need a complete
pictiure of my situation if you are going to be able to help/advise me
or point me to someone more appropriate


Fonts in general became unacceptably large on windows XP re-instal,
AND
those grey windows [do they have a name?] that come up, for example
when installing a program, are so long that I cannot see the accept ,
ok, or cancel buttons. They have no scroll bar and cannot be resized
by dragging so I cannot install the programs that I have come to rely
on.

I recently re-installed windows XP home with all service packs and
other updates.
I re-installed the display driver [for Via XM400] and the chip driver,
from drivers supplied by VIA Arena. My monitor is Optronix OP-158BS.
The information on the monitor tab says the driver provider for the
plug and play monitor is microsoft version 5.1.2001.0 but it also says
that no driver files are required or loaded for this device. The
adapter tab says the correct driver is loaded. I tried update driver
and it did not report a problem but it still says no driver files are
required or loaded for this device

Fonts in general became unacceptably large on windows re-instal, AND
those grey windows [do they have a name?] that come up, for example
when installing a program, are so long that I cannot see the accept ,
ok, or cancel buttons. They have no scroll bar and cannot be resized
by dragging so I cannot install the programs that I have come to rely
on.

I reset the display resolution from the default of 640x 480 to 1024 x
768 which mostly solves the font problem but not the huge grey window
problem.

I have to reset the display resolution every start-up as I cannot find
how to save the default resolution. The microsoft help page suggests
that a screen will come up asking if I want keep it, but no such
screen comes up [except once, when I clicked on yes. It did not help.]

I tried resetting in safe mode, and in VGA enable mode , to no avail.

Do I need to alter the registry? If so how?, but I do not understand
what to do or how to do it, and am very nervous of registry editing.

I tried setting DPI to 75%, and restart normally.
It saved the 75% setting through switch off, but unfortunately the
screen
is then too blurred to be useful. I reset it to 100%,
and reset resolution to 1024 x768.
The 100% was retained through switch off but not the resolution.

On the display, adapter tab 'List all modes' looks relevant
as it has several
different resolutions eg
1280 by 1024, true color (32 bit), 60 hertz
1280 by 1024, true color (32 bit), 75 hertz
640 by 480, 16 colors, default refresh
800 by 600, 16 colors, default refresh

I tried double clicking on the resolution I favour, but it did not
change the default.

Any advice appreciated, both on saving resulution and on these huge
grey windows.

PS I have a lots of rubbish on an old FATS disk and my copy of
Microsoft Office and presumabley Windows 95 files. I asked the re-
install to reformat the C drive but it refused. It was used with a
different display, running windows 95. Could this be relevant?
My boot.ini file says
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"
---------------------------------------------
I do not know which disc contains the boot.ini file , as I cannot find
it.

XP and all my own files etc are installed on the D: drive. C: is the
old FATS drive for Windows NT, so I do not understand how the boot.ini
finds where to boot from. Before re-installing, XP was on the E: drive
and my FATS drive was the C drive.? The CD reader is the E-drive. I
cannot remember what it was before re-installing.

A further confusion:
When I tried to update drivers for the display, [see above] the browse
window wanted to look in the E drive-which is now the CD reader.
Before re-installing, XP was on the E drive.

As you can see, I am thoroughly confused, but I do know that I need to
solve the problem of these huge windows that are preventing me from
installing my usual programs, and I would like to avoid having to
reset display resolution at every restart. I turn off the computer
when it is not in use.

Margaret, how did you reinstall WinXP? Did you do a Repair Install or
formatted and did a clean install? Are you in a dual boot
of Win95 and WinXP? If so, that's why the system did not allow for
formatting the C: Usually WinXP provides the driver for
your Monitor. Is it an old 15" CRT ?

I installed from a Windows XP home service pack 1 disk supplied by
Microsoft. It was clean install. I seem to be still in dual boot
although I do no want to be. [I was when I bought the computer a few
years ago as I was concerned whether I had successfully backed up all
I needed from my Windows95 system. How do I stop it dual booting. ? Do
I need to re-install XP again, and perhaps hang about while it does
the job? Might this solve my huge fonts and windows problem as well as
FATS?

I clicked on
news:0c7cc075-8098-4839-
a243-3b9b2df433d5@18g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
but is says the selected message could not be found. Was it a link to
useful info?


I did a clean install of windows XP home from CD from Microsoft then
downloaded microsoft updates. I do still seem to have dual start-up
of windows 95 and XP, but I do not want it , [ I used to have both
when I bought the system several years ago].
How do I get rid of dual start up?

[If I copy microsoft Office from my FATS disk to NFTS will it still
work. I have lost the installation disk.?]

If I again clean re-install XP Home, will that solve the dual start up
AND the display problem?

I keep trying to reply but it does not get sent?

Margaret, the easiest thing for you to do is another clean install of
WinXP. You will have to insure that the cdrom drive is the
first boot device in the Bios. Usually you can get there by pressing
the delete key on startup.
Go below and follow the pictorial instructions.

In Figure 6-11 show you how to delete, create and format partitions.
Delete both and create just one. Format NTFS.

Thankyou to everyone for the help . The problem is now solved. It
seems it was caused by having a dual boot system, with XP not on the C
but on the D disc. I re-installed again with the old [small disc]
actually disconnected., then reconnected. XP is now on the C disc,
and [so far] all problems are solved. I do not understand why,
but ....

"Margaret" wrote:

>
> I apologise as this is rather long winded but you need a complete
> pictiure of my situation if you are going to be able to help/advise me
> or point me to someone more appropriate
>
>
> Fonts in general became unacceptably large on windows XP re-instal,
> AND
> those grey windows [do they have a name?] that come up, for example
> when installing a program, are so long that I cannot see the accept ,
> ok, or cancel buttons. They have no scroll bar and cannot be resized
> by dragging so I cannot install the programs that I have come to rely
> on.
>
> I recently re-installed windows XP home with all service packs and
> other updates.
> I re-installed the display driver [for Via XM400] and the chip driver,
> from drivers supplied by VIA Arena. My monitor is Optronix OP-158BS.
> The information on the monitor tab says the driver provider for the
> plug and play monitor is microsoft version 5.1.2001.0 but it also says
> that no driver files are required or loaded for this device. The
> adapter tab says the correct driver is loaded. I tried update driver
> and it did not report a problem but it still says no driver files are
> required or loaded for this device
>
> Fonts in general became unacceptably large on windows re-instal, AND
> those grey windows [do they have a name?] that come up, for example
> when installing a program, are so long that I cannot see the accept ,
> ok, or cancel buttons. They have no scroll bar and cannot be resized
> by dragging so I cannot install the programs that I have come to rely
> on.
>
> I reset the display resolution from the default of 640x 480 to 1024 x
> 768 which mostly solves the font problem but not the huge grey window
> problem.
>
> I have to reset the display resolution every start-up as I cannot find
> how to save the default resolution. The microsoft help page suggests
> that a screen will come up asking if I want keep it, but no such
> screen comes up [except once, when I clicked on yes. It did not help.]
>
> I tried resetting in safe mode, and in VGA enable mode , to no avail.
>
> Do I need to alter the registry? If so how?, but I do not understand
> what to do or how to do it, and am very nervous of registry editing.
>
> I tried setting DPI to 75%, and restart normally.
> It saved the 75% setting through switch off, but unfortunately the
> screen
> is then too blurred to be useful. I reset it to 100%,
> and reset resolution to 1024 x768.
> The 100% was retained through switch off but not the resolution.
>
> On the display, adapter tab 'List all modes' looks relevant
> as it has several
> different resolutions eg
> 1280 by 1024, true color (32 bit), 60 hertz
> 1280 by 1024, true color (32 bit), 75 hertz
> 640 by 480, 16 colors, default refresh
> 800 by 600, 16 colors, default refresh
>
> I tried double clicking on the resolution I favour, but it did not
> change the default.
>
> Any advice appreciated, both on saving resulution and on these huge
> grey windows.
>
> PS I have a lots of rubbish on an old FATS disk and my copy of
> Microsoft Office and presumabley Windows 95 files. I asked the re-
> install to reformat the C drive but it refused. It was used with a
> different display, running windows 95. Could this be relevant?
> My boot.ini file says
> [boot loader]
> timeout=30
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOW S
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP
> Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
> C:\="Microsoft Windows"
> ---------------------------------------------
> I do not know which disc contains the boot.ini file , as I cannot find
> it.
>
> XP and all my own files etc are installed on the D: drive. C: is the
> old FATS drive for Windows NT, so I do not understand how the boot.ini
> finds where to boot from. Before re-installing, XP was on the E: drive
> and my FATS drive was the C drive.? The CD reader is the E-drive. I
> cannot remember what it was before re-installing.
>
> A further confusion:
> When I tried to update drivers for the display, [see above] the browse
> window wanted to look in the E drive-which is now the CD reader.
> Before re-installing, XP was on the E drive.
>
> As you can see, I am thoroughly confused, but I do know that I need to
> solve the problem of these huge windows that are preventing me from
> installing my usual programs, and I would like to avoid having to
> reset display resolution at every restart. I turn off the computer
> when it is not in use.
>
> mandywr
>