J4yst3r

Hey all,

I'm pretty much a computer noob, as well as a noob here, so apologies in a advance for any vague descriptions. xD


Ok, so I recently reinstalled Windows XP on my HP Pavilion zv6000 laptop because the memory was completely full. Also, my graphics card is an ATI Mobility Xpress Radeon 200.

I did this successfully on the most part. Everything was gone, with a bit of help I got my internet running again, it all seemed good.

The problem was the resolution. Icons, particularly the ones in the bottom right, such as volume control are larger and not at all sharp. Which I thought was odd since its not always been like that.

After installing a driver or two from the HP site, I ran out of ideas. So my last plan was to go to Device Manager, click Display Adapters, and uninstall my graphic card.

Once I'd restarted, I installed the driver again. After rebboting once more, things seemed great. Next time I turned on though, it was all back to what it was before the uninstall/reinstall.

I've tried this a few times since but can't get the effects to stay permanent. This is where I hope you guys can step on. Either tell me how to do what I'm doing correctly, or just tell me I'm being an idiot and there is such an obvious way of doing things, lol.


Thanks anyone who can help. (:

wrench97

Did you install the motherboard drivers?
There is more to your model number should be on the bottom of your laptop here is the HP list you have to have the correct model to get the correct drivers> http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...289&taskId=135

J4yst3r

Well the bottom of my laptop says "Product: HP Pavilion zv6000", so using that list on the HP site I'd assume it's a 'HP Pavilion zv6000 Notebook PC'.

That's the one I clicked to get the driver I've been using up till now. What would I do to install the motherboard? Would I need to find a disk I had or would there be one on that site?

Barziani

you can find drivers on the producer`s site. but i think your problem is a virus. try installing some antivirus software and give it a full scan. some viruses cand affect your windows appearance untill you get rid of it and reinstall windows, that`s why when you make things work on your notebook, it comes back the way it was....hope this will help...

J4yst3r

Well I ran AVG Free, got 0 virus/threat results. I was really hoping there were no alerts because one of the reasons I reinstalled Windows was that I suspected a virus.

Though I didn't really expect to find one since I had the problem before I'd even got my wireless up and running. Thanks anyway, though.


And I'll look through the rest of those drivers on the HP site. Should I just install everything?

wrench97

If windows needed them they would be on the HP site, Try installing the video driver from vga mode by tapping F8 and selecting Vga mode from the menu on boot, disabling any anti virus/ malware software first.

J4yst3r

I tried to do that, I pressed F8 at boot and got the BIOS. I found the graphics part which said "UMA", but it wouldn't let me select it. I assume that's what I was going for?

wrench97

No after the bois just before windows loads it's a mode in windows like Safe Mode.

J4yst3r

Okay, I managed to get VGA mode going, and I installed the driver, but no change.

This is my desktop, with the Display window open in case that helps. The red highlights are some of what don't look right to me, and the green is the driver I was using. Not sure if you can tell what that is just by looking at that though. xD

Hopefully this can give you a clearer idea of what I meant if you were unsure. (:

wrench97

It looks like the driver installed you have the ATI Icon at the bottom and 1280x800 with 32 bit color,
Are the Icons just larger then they were?

J4yst3r

Pretty much, yeah. Though also, the font is slightly different, and the edges of the tray icons just look more blurred.

This is what my desktop looks like after doing that unistall/reinstall like I mentioned earlier. I haven't changed anything like window sizes or resolution, just what I said in my first post.

Hopefully that makes it a bit easier to understand. (:

wrench97

Lets try this On an empty part of the task bar right click and select properties, In the window that opens click on customize, in the next window click on the small icon radio button, then on OK then on Apply in the first window.

Does that look better?

J4yst3r

Nope, sorry. Everything's the same, just the Start icons are really small.

wrench97

Right click on a blank part of the screen select Properties, then Settings, Then the Advanced button, On the General Tab you should see the DPI settings if it is set to 96dpi then select custom settings from the list and set it to 75% hit apply then OK
if it's higher then 96dpi set it to 96dpi hit apply then OK

Are we getting closer?

J4yst3r

O. M. G.

You fixed it. =DDD

I loooooove you.

In a manly, thankful kind of way. Obviously. xD



Seriously, though, thanks loads.

wrench97

Glad to hear you have it fixed:)