Win 98 Screen Resolution & Colours

After major problems with my old PC, I recently reinstalled Windows 98. All is well, except that the display is stuck on 16 colour and 640x480 resolution. I have tried changing the display settings to 256 colour and 800x600, and the PC restarts Windows OK, but when it restarts, the display is still on 16 colour and 640x480 resolution. I have reinstalled the monitor driver from the manufacturer's CD, but the problem remains. Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks.

Alistair

 

Was it a clean install ( on a formated diak ) or an overtop repair install ?

Unless I missed them I see no mention of installing any Video drivers.

That won't do the job


BillyBob

 

BillyBob

It was an over-the-top reinstall. I assumed that the video drivers would not be affected, or would be picked up by the plug and play process. How do I reinstall them - I'm not sure that I have a separate disk for the video card? It all came preinstalled when I bought the PC many years ago.

Alistair

 

I can't speak for yours, but mine came loaded on my System Restoration CD.
If you got 1 of those with yours, try putting it in the CD-Rom, & let it spin up. It should give you a list of the things that are on there for reinstallation. Mine has the video card drivers, as well as the modem drivers, & other things.

 

I have had it work both ways. Sometimes they held and other times they didn't.

But are we discussing an OEM machine here. Such as a DELL, HP, or Compaq ?

I know nuttin about them. I have always built my own.

I have my Windows Setup files and ALL other drivers on a separate partition of the HD. In 98SE anyway. In XP it is just the drivers I have on the HD.

Also before you did the re-install did you shut down any Anti Virus and
Firewall ?

Also did you boot from a Floppy or CD to do the install ? Doing the reinstall from Windows can cause problems.

BillyBob

 

It's a 1997 machine, put together by a supplier here in New Zealand. Naturally, the supplier doesn't now exist. I have no manufacturer's CD, but I looked through the Windows 98 CD and found a display driver with the same reference as what was already installed, and reinstalled it. Problem resolved! I don't know why that driver was affected by the reinstall, but at least the PC is back to normal.

Many thanks to BillyBob and Metalpunk for assistance.

Alistair

 

Thanks for the good news.

BillyBob

 

You Bet !