Impermanent Screen Resolution

[Sebastian42]

Acer Aspire 2000 (Cl32) runs WinXP/Pro/Sp3 and can be set to display in its native resolution of 1280 x 800 from its ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 video card. However, when it reboots, it reverts to 640 x 480, and often blames an absent or corrupt video driver. My remedy is to UNinstall the video driver from Device Manager and reboot, but I'd like to have native resolution without going through this 'readjustment' at every reboot. On the rare occasions that I can access the ATI Control Panel, Schemes in the Display tab, is empty. If I select 'Default Single Display' from the offered options, the SAVE button is greyed out. Any suggestions as to how I can get the native resolution to 'stick' ?

 

[qubit]

This looks like possible registry corruption, as a driver shouldn't die on a reboot.

Try using a driver cleaner and reinstalling the latest version of the driver. Also make sure that XP is fully patched, not just SP3 and see how it goes.

 

[Sebastian42]

This looks like possible registry corruption, as a driver shouldn't die on a reboot.

Try using a driver cleaner and reinstalling the latest version of the driver. Also make sure that XP is fully patched, not just SP3 and see how it goes.

I have downloaded 'Driver-Sweeper' and will see what it can do. All XP updates have been installed.

 

[Tallencor]

Would also try cleaning your registry after uninstalling your driver with sweeper. Both in safe mode and delete any left over files before the fresh install.

 

[Sebastian42]

Would also try cleaning your registry after uninstalling your driver with sweeper. Both in safe mode and delete any left over files before the fresh install.

Bad news - 'running' the DriverSweeper results in 'a device attached to the system is not functioning'.
Since you mentioned the Registry, I must tell you that I have done some very extensive search-and-deletes in the Registry to eradicate all traces of the original 'owner' of the system as well as of unwanted programs, so a registry error is quite possible. There are numerous Registry cleaners, and I have avoided using them, (on advice from techies). So what Registry Cleaner would you recommend ? Incidentally, after originally uninstalling the video driver, I also tried to clean 'manually' the Registry of all keys (?) that mentioned ATI, Mobility and Radeon before re-installing the driver.

 

[Tallencor]

That may be the issue as you may have removed an entry that the os depended on for recognition. I have had similar issues in the past when doing this prior to using display driver uninstallers. Issues with stability and program hangs abundant. Just from deleting on board video entries by mistake. The method I mentioned works for me with my dedicated card as prior to cleaning the registry with (Pc tools) Registry mechanic I would get random install errors.
I personally have not had issues with this one and to be honest I have been using it for quite some time. Thought maybe your pc had a reg entry telling the os or on board vid to display at that resolution. So if you are not sure by all means don't try it as it is not free anyways.
Have you tried installing your latest monitor drivers? What about latest motherboard drivers from oem? And worst case backup and clean os install (ugh last resort).

 

[Sebastian42]

As one of the many suggestion I've followed, I uninstalled the driver by means of its own uninstaller software, instead of from Device Manager. On reboot, I was able to set it to 1204 x 786, 32bit colour, and it kept returning to that resolution after multiple reboots. The PROBLEM seems to be solved, even though Device Manager shows the Video controller with a '?' Thanks for your interest.

 

[Mussels]

i've dealt with this one before, and all i can suggest is using alternate video drivers and possibly a fresh install of windows. sounds like some kind of corruption.\


edit: with the post above mine, you have no graphics driver installed - performance will be very poor, and things like youtube may not work at all. try and find an updated driver from the AMD website and install that.

 

[Sebastian42]

i've dealt with this one before, and all i can suggest is using alternate video drivers and possibly a fresh install of windows. sounds like some kind of corruption.\


edit: with the post above mine, you have no graphics driver installed - performance will be very poor, and things like youtube may not work at all. try and find an updated driver from the AMD website and install that.

I'm very confused about that as I have tested Youtube and the display is perfect.