resolution problem with external monitor

I have a Dell 22" monitor that I connect to my Dell XPS M1210. When I unplug it and plug back in, all my icons change. Does anyone know what I need to do to make sure that my desktop settings stay the same every time I reconnect my monitor?

Thanks a lot

 

I suggest buying a new laptop that comes with a 22" screen.

 

Ummm...???

Anyway, to the OP: how exactly do the icons "change." Change locations or positions? Change resolutions? Any or all of the above, so something I'm not asking about? Details!!! More details!

 

Sorry, it's changing locations.

Basically, let's say I organize them to fit my 22" screen.

When I unplug the monitor, and plug it in again, it changes the icons location.

God this is hard to explain. I'm just going to do screen shots, my english owns me.

Sorry.

 

hah... and of course when i need to recreate the scenario, it won't happen...

 

shhhhh. please be quiet tommy boy.

 

Ignore this "advise".

 

so anyone have a solution? thanks

 

whats the native resolution on your M1210 display?

whats the native resolution of the external 22" monitor you're connecting it to?

I used to have the same problem on old presario running xp, I downloaded a program off the internet that saved the location of the desktop icons so when it gets messed up it restores them to their original position.

 

Very funny tommy5 this seems to be the ultimate solution to all screen problems... Are there any 22" laptops that exist out there? I know that the biggest ones are the m2010 from dell (20").

 

wella, do you remember that program? what is it called?

my m1210's native is 1280x800 while my extended monitor is 1680x1050.

i would really love to know about that program. thanks a lot wella.

 

Sirius GTO I think the problem is the difference in resolutions on each of the displays. 1280 x 800 is obviosly lower resolution (therefore lower screen area/estate) than ur external monitor, so when you arrange the icons on the external 1680 x 1050 display and you disconnect it, ur computer tries to fit all the icons to ur laptop's lower resolution so it messes up the icons....

the program that I used with my old presario with ATI card was ATI Hydravision:

http://ati.amd.com/products/Hydravision/index.html

Its a nice little program is light on resources and does alot of useful things like saving desktop icons and multidesktop support, besides its offered by ATI so it fully supports ATI video cards.

Keep in mind that I used it with windows XP and not vista, I am not sure if ATI released a version for vista yet, nothing is mentioned on the website regarding that matter.

You can also google for other programs, just use "save desktop icons" as your search string and you'll get tons of results and programs that support that....

hope that helps

cheers

 

crap! does anyone know if there is a program like this for Nvidia? and for vista? thanks a lot for your time wella.

 

i just installed a program, but it only saves one setting. oh well. Beggers can't be choosers. lol

 

This is normal Windows behavior. The only solution I can think of is keep all your icons on the notebook lcd or use the Auto-Arrange option.

 

Wow, this was a topic I had questions about. I am planning on purchasing my first notebook shortly (possibly a M1210), and want to be able to connect it to both a 22" WS & 19" 4:3 monitor (not at the same time). Will the notebook use the external monitors' native resolutions by default, or will I have to manually adjust the resolution to match the screen I'm using?

 

Dual screen setup will run in independent mode just fine. The hardware will try and detect the optimal resolution, but if not you can tweak it manually under the Display tab (XP).

 

that's not a problem. Auto Adjust usually is sucessful in using native resolution of the 22" which is 1680X1050