Changed settings now cannot see screen

Hello,
I have a Dell Inspiron 2600 (old, I know) with a new hard drive (yay!). I was just fooling with the screen settings and monitor type settings and restarted the computer, and now I cannot see the screen after the initial windows turns on (no log-in screen or after). I have tried to plug in a different screen but it shows the same thing as the laptop screen. It seems to turn on regularly-I can hear all the sounds of programs starting up-but the setting I changed made something (the driver? or perhaps the monitor?) automatic. It's impossible to do anything besides fiddle with the initial set-up because the screen is black and I can't access anything on it. Is there any way I can get my screen back without starting from scratch? Or am I just out of luck on this one Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

hi,
i tried both--neither works. thanks for the suggestions though. i've also tried to "enable vga" under the F8 boot options and that didn't work either.

i think i went into the advanced settings in display properties under the color quality settings, and then from there clicked on the monitor tab and then possibly changed something under the property settings there to "automatic ". i was having problems with the color quality and started fiddling with things i don't understand.

 

yeah, i'm thinking at this point that's what i'll end up doing...at least i didn't have anything irreplacable on there thanks for trying though, i appreciate it.

 

Based on your description, Arie already gave you the correct fix. Lets just go into a little more detailed "how to ". Boot into safe mode by tapping F8 at startup. Once in safe mode, right click on an open spot on your desktop and click on properties, then select settings. Go to advanced mode and then to the monitor tab and set your monitor to 60 Hz. Save your settings and reboot.