Miniature Screen Problem- Me O/S

I am using an Inspiron 8000 as a pure, solitaire game machine. I download games to a separate computer, put them on disc and then run them in the 8000. I do so only from quality, verified sources. I had been doing this for two years+, running the games regularly and with no problems.
In April of 2007 I had a power outage and when I brought the computer back up the screen was miniaturized ~800x600 pixels. After several fruitless Dell chats the opinion was that I had a damaged HD and needed a new one. So I opted for a brand new Western Digital HD with 6.0 GB. This fixed the problem. It worked fine for several months and in October of 2007 I shut the machine down.
When I reopened it yesterday the miniature screen (~800x600) was back. In properties I have 1600x1200 pixels chosen but that does not appear to be what I have in reality. The batteries (I have two in it) were dead or as near as possible to dead. They are currently charging and are at 70+ and 82+ at the moment. This seems to be related to a loss of power to the HD, but that makes very little sense to me.
I have done a complete re-install of the Me O/S to no avail.

My local "computer repair" people say they have never seen the problem before. Goody.

ANY HELP OUT THERE?? Thank You....

 

First Welcome to NBR Forums Mate :wink:

Video Resolution changing due HD problem :rolleyes2: try updating you device driver for GFX Card

 

what? Windows ME?

 

Thanks for the welcome.

Q1: How do I go about updating my device driver for the GFX card? What the hey is the GFX card anyway? I have re-installed the entire O/S and the NVIDIA GeForce2 Go CDs. I believe the drivers were/are DirectX....

Q2: Yes. Windows Me.

Q3: Is it possible/probable that the (virtually brand new and hardly used) HD was somehow damaged with the loss of power it suffered while the computer was powered down for 14 months, causing this diminution of the screen size?

 

I dont think its possible for a HD to get damaged because of that :rolleyes2:

and for the Video Driver hmm i don't know try Nvidia.com bro as your OS is pretty Old

 

Don't I know it. Thanks for the help.

 

did you try putting Windows XP on it mate ?? Why still ME ?

 

Yep. It's pretty old. Went to NVIDIA.com. My "GeForce2 Go" is no longer supported or even recognized, nor is there an email address to ask about support.

As for Windows XP or any other O/S....

I only use this computer for playing about three or four games. SPWW2, SPMBT, SPWAW, Panzer General 2 and maybe Steel Panthers -3. It does not go online. It does nothing but play and that not for 14 months.

I had the same problem come up in April of 2007 after a power surge/loss and after excessive diddling with DELL operatives went out and got a brand new HD installed. Then it worked perfectly for five months until I shut it down.

Now it has down-sized again.

So I do not have the slightest need for any fancier/newer O/S or anything more than this little machine came with in the first place. Heck, I'd use 98 or 95 if I thought it would help. I'd like to completely wipe it, then try a re-install but I lost the directions to wipe the hard drive and re-format it and can no longer find them online. Perhaps I'll look harder.

 

I see the reason why you don't wan't to change OS, but what if ME is the problem?
If you have a chance to try it with Windows 2000 or XP then do it, maybe it helps.

Have you tried updating BIOS?

I've seen laptops acting strange without battery and CMOS battery before.
Personally I'd do this when the computer have been shut down for a long time:
Make sure the battery is attached, and that you charge it for a long time before booting.
I'm not really sure it'll help but you can try. As for now it won't help, but maybe next time it's been off for a long time, and used to work before that

 

How do I update BIOS?

 

First you have to make sure that your BIOS version is older than A23.
Then you download from here, and follow the instructions.

Good luck!!

 

page for related downloads

just download the bios update file, run it. it will ask you to insert a blank floppy disk.
after it makes the bios update disk, restart the computer with the disk inserted and if it boots from the floppy, it will update for you.

latest bios revision is A23


also on the page are the latest dell graphics drivers which you can also update.

 

Try Support.dell.com or this site

http://www.bay-wolf.com/flashbios.htm

 

When I re-install the Windows Me, from the disk, the window is properly sized. At least it fills the screen and the font is correct.

My "background" also properly fills the screen.

I have gone in to DOS. Done the DOS partition thing>DOS prompt> fdisk > 3.- delete partition or Logical DOS drive, > 1. Delete Primary DOS partition> (Partition C: 1 Status- A , Type- PRI DOS, Volume Label- (blank), Mbytes- 76317, System- FAT32, Usage-100%) >> WARNING: Data in the deleted Primary DOS Patition will be lost. What primary partition do you want to delete..? [1] HOWEVER when I hit enter at this point I get "Could not change partitions, because the disk could not be locked."

DIAGNOSTICS disk:
Finished- DELLDIAG
Application D:\DDIAGS\DELLDIAG.EXE hasw.dell.com) caused an exception: Access violationvice Tag: 83XZN01
EAX=00000127h EBX=00000000h ECX=00000008h EDX=00000000h
ESI=000002D8h EDI=0005DC78h EBP=0005DC54htialization
DS=0127h Es=0014h FS=0117h GS=0017h EFLAGS=00010206h
CS:EIP=000Fh:00012F94h SS:ESP=0017h:0005DC34h

Because my BIOS is stuck in stasis on page 1 I cannot boot directly from my diagnostics disk.