Display Properties: Effects Tab missing

Presario305 · 16th February 2004

I recently restored my Presario 305 Win98 (first edition) to its factory original condition, i.e. used the manufacturer's system CD to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS and OEM software. This machine has suffered display problems in the past which I was able to correct by using the settings in the "Effects" tab of the "Display Properties" applet. All was working well after the clean restore, and I noted what the settings were in the "Effects" tab, just in case I needed to change them back after removing or installing applications. I then uninstalled some of the OEM software, installed MS Office, updated Internet Explorer and Outlook Express over the web, then installed Norton System Works 2003 with Norton Antivirus 2003, rebooting after each. Upon rebooting after the Norton install, the system hung with the display showing only colored stripes. I went into Safe Mode, read the NAV Readme file to see if it contained any clues (which I know I should have done before I even performed the install!!!), and it did, indeed, mention some video driver conflict issues, recommending that you make sure you have the latest video drivers. So I uninstalled NAV, which allowed the machine to start in normal mode, updated my video driver, and reinstalled NAV. All appeared to be fine upon reboot, except that many of my icon colors were obviously out of whack. So I went to adjust the "Show Icons Using All Possible Colors" setting in the "Display Properties>Effects" tab, and that tab was gone! I cannot pinpoint when it disappeared during all the uninstall/installs, but I am confident that correcting a registry value or a .ini setting will bring it back again. I did remove/reinstall my video driver again after the problem surfaced, but that didn't help. The Microsoft KB only cites one instance of this problem, and it has to do with Win95 font smoothing being on the machine. This machine has never even seen Win95. Any ideas?

**markp62** · 17th February 2004

Try using the System File Checker's [Sfc.Exe] "Extract one file from installation disk" option to replace the C:\Windows\System\Desk.CPL file. This is the Display Properties file and may have been corrupted.

Presario305 · 17th February 2004

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I'm not having much success specifying where SFC should extract the file from. I've tried Windows>Options>CABS and an actual Win98 install CD, but SFC keeps reporting it can't find the file. Could you point me to the right place?

goddez1 · 17th February 2004

Could try this command from the startbutton run line:

control.exe desk.cpl Display,@Effects

If your effects tab is functioning this will bring it up.

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desk.cpl is called Deskw95.cpl on the CD. You have to extract it and rename it.

Try the WIN98_28.CAB or the Win98_25.cab (I'm not sure if these are the only cab numbers for ALL versions of Win98xx).
In any case perhaps sfc will have better luck finding the file if you use the correct name.

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Is your video adapter a "Diamond" something or other?:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=217752

Presario305 · 17th February 2004

Thank, Ann. I ran the control.exe desk.cpl Display,@Effects command. Although it did bring up the display properties window, the effects tab was still missing. So I extracted Deskw95.cpl from the WIN98_28.CAB, renamed my old desk.cpl desk.old, then renamed Deskw95.cpl desk.cpl in my system folder. Still no effects tab, even after a reboot. I'm about ready to give up looking for it! TweakUI has allowed me to correct my icon anomalies, so the immediate need for effects adjustment is gone. By the way, the video adapter is an ATI Rage LT PRO PCI, not anything with Diamond in the name. If you can think of something else to try, I'm all for trying, but if I have to completely reinstall Win98 to get the effects tab back, I'll live without it. Thanks for all y'all's help.