New computer with Win XP old monitor: distorted screen

Situation..New computer with Windows XP pre installed but still have old monitor. When I boot and view, the screen is distorted and not like it was on the Win98. The video driver is preinstalled and I tried to set the screen area settings and was not able to. Screen area defaults to 1064/760 but if I reduce it to 800x600 like it was on the Win98 it really messes thing up. In the 1064x760 setting all my sites come out small and not the normal size.
Can anyone help?

 

Try lowering the refresh rate at various resolutions and maybe playing with the number of colors.

This is a hardware issue rather than OS related so I'm moving the thread to the hardware section in case the above don't fix things and you need tech help.

 

Try setting the resolution to 800x600 and then in the same window, click the advanced button>monitor. Put a checkmark in the box where it says hide modes this monitor cannot display and then try the various refresh rates it shows. Often choosing a different refresh rate will fix this type of problem. Only one catch here though. The lower the number the harder things are on the eyes. A refresh rate of 70 Hz or above suits me just fine. Anything lower flickers so bad I can't stand to look at it for very long. If this works, you'll have to be the judge as to what's acceptable.

Edit:
Guess you beat me to it Newt. I'll have to try to be quicker next time.

 

I would suggest you go to monitor manufacturer's website and see if they have drivers available for your model.

If there are no WinXP drivers, Win2000 drivers may work.

Matt
PS If you come across any problems, boot into Safe Mode and remove/uninstall the drivers in Device Manager.