Only Have 16 Colors

[*MULONG]

Posted: 17 Nov 2002 02:49 am

AFTER I DOWNLOADED SOMETHING IN WINDOWS UPDATE,
MY DISPLAY ONLY DOES 16 COLORS. AND EVERYTIME I CHANGE THE COLOR DISPLAY IT GETS ME TO SAFE MODE THEN TO REPAIR BUT IT DOES NOT DO ANYTHING OR TAKES ME TO LIKE GOING BACK TO SOME PAST DATES TO GET BACK THE OLD PROG. BUT IT DOES NOT DO ANYTHING TO FIX MY COLOR.
PLEASE HELP....

[*dkerr]

Posted: 17 Nov 2002 12:23 pm

What was exact update you downloaded from the windows update site ? What is your operating system ?

2 things that you can do...

1. re-install your video card driver.
2. uninstall the update if you can find it in add/remove problems in the control panel.

Both of these can be done in safe mode if necessary.

Both of these will likely require a reboot to take effect. and may have to adjust your # of colors in DISPLAY /control panel after doing this.

Your windows update may have updated a file that is not 100% compatable with your video card , or with the current video driver, and updating to the most recent released video card driver may have been needed prior to doing the selected windows update.

Some operating systems will allow you restore the registry back to a previous time, lets say a time prior to your update, however this may not correct an overwritten file that the update did doing its install.

You can get the video card driver from the manufacturers site if you don't have it, however in safe mode the system may not load the network drivers required to get onto the internet. But you can if necessary put up with the less than desirable 16 color mode just to be able to boot normally and get on the internet to get the proper video card driver.

One last thing you can check, goto
settings / control panel / system
click on DEVICE MANAGER tab
now to left of where it says DISPLAY ADAPTER
click on the + to expand that selection

It should have listed the name of your video card driver
If there is an ! or a ? beside it , the driver is not working properly
a problem with the driver or a conflict exists with another device rather that be hardware or software.

[*MULONG]

Posted: 19 Nov 2002 07:56 am

MY PC IS DELL DIMENSION 8100. AND I DOWLOADED THE INTERNET EXPLORER 6PT. SOMETHING.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE VIDIO CARD? I TRIED TO DELETE THE ONE I DOWNLOADED UNDER ADD/REMOVE PROB. BUT STILL NO CHANGES. AND IF I'M IN SAFE MODE I CAN'T USE MY MOUSE.. SO I JUST DO CTRL+ESC TO GET TO PLACES. THEN I WENT TO DEVICE
MANAGER ETC ECT BUT NOTHING HAPPEND. NOW, MY PC DOES NOT COME ON UNLESS I GET TO SAFE MODE OR ELSE IT WILL COME OFF AUTOMATICALLY.
ANYMORE IDEAS? PLEASE HELP

[*dkerr]

Posted: 19 Nov 2002 12:48 pm

DELL DIMENSION 8100

Intel® Pentium® 4 processors | 1.4GHz and 1.5GHz processor speeds | 32K non-blocking internal L1 cache | 256K on-die Advanced Transfer L2 Cache | 400MHz system bus speed | Intel 850 chipset | Includes MMX technology | Motherboard with integrated networking | Memory: Non-ECC and ECC RDRAM architecture | 64MB, 128MB and 256MB PC800 | 128MB minimum RAM | 1024MB maximum RAM | 4 RIMM slots on motherboard (user upgradeable)

another set of specs I found...

Model first available: November 20, 2000
• Processor manufacturer and model: Intel Pentium 4
• Processor clock speed: 1.5GHz
• System memory installed: 128MB
• Rated hard disk capacity: 40GB
• System memory speed and type: 400MHz ECC RDRAM
• Monitor size and type: 18 in. CRT
• Graphics memory amount and chipset: 64MB nVidia GeForce 2
• Warranty on parts/labor: 3 years/1 year

That is the specs I found, now back to your problem.

serial or ps 2 standard mouses , I beleive in a lot of cases work in all modes including safe mode, special mouses that require a special driver to work properly , will not work in safe mode because the special driver does not get loaded.

This looks like a fairly new computer, look thru all the cd's that came with the computer , see if you can find the cd fro the video card, if it has the card as mentioned in the specs above then it could be labelled "nVidia GeForce 2" it could also be named differently or a different video card is in the computer then it could be called something different, look for anything that mentioned video card drivers or display drivers, display adapters, or anything close to that.

Place that cd in the cd drive, go to settings/control panel/system/device manager tab/
click the + to expand the selection "display adapters",
write down the name of anything listed under that selection which should be the name of your video card, lightlight the video card/display adapter name, delete this.

Now reboot, the computer should now find new hardware , when it finds new hardware "display adapter /video card" let it search for the best driver , make sure it also searches the cd rom where your video card driver cd is. It should install the drivers and ask for a reboot.

Let us know what happens.

[*MULONG]

Posted: 20 Nov 2002 07:30 am

DKERRRRR..I GOT VIRUSSS !!!
I SPOKE W/ ONE OF THE DELL'S HELP PERSONS AND I GOT D SAME
ADVICES LIKE URS.
MY PC IS IN 16 COLORS BEC. FOR SOME KIND OF PROTECTION
(safe mode). SO I GUESS , 16 COLORS IS NOT REALLY THE PROB.
WE TRIED TO FIX IT YESTERDAY , WE PUT ALL THE CD'S IN THE WORLD BUT NADA ! SO, I GUESS I'LL GO FOR WARRANTY THEN.
THANX FOR PUTTING THE OTHER SPECS, WARRANTY CAME IN TO MY MIND.
DO U THINK MY PRINTER,SCANNER AND CAMERA CAN GET AFFECTED, TOO?
THANX ANYWAYS...ILL KEEP U UP TO DATE ABOUT MY PC.
NEXT TIME THEN ...THANX AGAIN

[*dkerr]

Posted: 20 Nov 2002 10:56 am

I doubt that you will have any problems with your printer / scanner / or camera, once the computer problems are solved. Depending on the virsus it can mess up the drivers for camera/scanenr / printer on the computer itself but not the hardware.

Once solved I would consider having a good antivirus software installed , there are several out there, I use norton antivirus but there are others, and it must always be keep up to date, most will provide a year of free updates when you buy the antivirus software, and then they charge an annual subscription fee.

The worst case senereo here is that the hard drive gets reformated and then a total re-install of the operating system and applications. A major inconvience and about 1/2 day work doing it.

A good antivirus software may be able to rid the computer of any virusus on it and bring it back up.

Let us know what happens.

[*MULONG]

Posted: 21 Nov 2002 02:28 am

PROBLEM GOT FIXED !! BUT I HAVE TO RE INSTALL EVERYTHING.
SO, MY PC IS BACK TO LIKE BRAND NEW. TOO BAD I LOST THE PICTURES OF MY CHILDREN. I SHOULD HAVE KEPT IT IN THE DISK.
WELL, I GOT THEIR MEMORIES IN MY MIND ANYWAY.
YEP ! SAME ADVISE...GET AN UNTIVIRUS THIS TIME, THEY PREFER
NORTON.
HEY, THANX FOR EVERYTHING MY FRIEND....TILL NEXT !!