Settings change when I dial-up to AOL

Dragonmist · #1 09-29-2004, 03:09 PM

I have XP Pro, and for my sins, AOL Dial-Up.
I have my screen resolution set at 800 X 600 and 32 bit colour. Since yesterday am, every time I go on-line, the settings alter to 640 X 480 and 8 bit colour. If I wait for about 15 minutes the problem resolves itself, [Time I can't spare] or go into CP>Display>Settings and reset to 800 X 600, the colour quality resets itself. The Windows start up and PC off-line is fine.
Why is it doing this & is there a cure? [Short of kicking it round the garden , and binning it]. I have spent about 18 hours out of 36 trawling the web, trying to find an answer.
This Grandma has had to learn the hard way in the past 2 years.
I have run antivirus, Trojan checks, Spybot, A2, Stinger, and all clear.
Any suggestions gratefully received.

vidster · #2 09-29-2004, 07:07 PM

Have you tried ad-aware, it will pick up spyware that some others may miss.
You could always do a system restore and take the system back 2 or 3 days.
You could also try running sfc /scannow to check the system.

Dragonmist · #3 09-30-2004, 03:14 AM

Hi Vidster. I've run Ad-Aware, Spybot, Trojan removers, Anti-vrus on-line and own, System Restore back for several Restore Pts. Even Disk Health Check. All looks rosey. No virii, trojans, malware. I have so far spent 26 hours out of 48 running round in circles on Google. Can't find anything. Looks like a missing Dll? It takes up to 15 minutes to correct itself, and every so often blips back to 640 X 480 and 8 Bit for no apparent reason. I even did a clean re-install of AOL in case it was a corrupt file in AOL . No joy.

madtown04 · #4 09-30-2004, 08:12 AM

You may want to try and uninstall/reinstall your video driver.

Note the type of adapter that your PC has, then download the lastest driver from the manufactures website.

In the display properties > settings > advanced > Adapter tab. Unistall whatever is there, reboot, install the downloaded driver.

good luck.

Dragonmist · #5 09-30-2004, 09:10 AM

Thanks Madtown. Will give it a whirl. This PC was built locally by a Father /son partnership, who vamoosed before the customers could catch up with them. A regular Friday Night job. All cheap carp packed in a nice tower.

Dragonmist · #6 10-02-2004, 05:11 AM

Hi. Sorry for the delay in replying, but I've still got part of the problem. The Screen Resolution no longer changes from 800 X 600, but the colour still flicks to 8 Bit when I go on-line.
It has the appearance of early Windows 95, with the oval mop-bucket shaped recycle bin, and the picture is very grainy. Ugh!!!
The monitor is quite an old one so getting a driver to match it is difficult.
Now has anyone got any ideas on how to stop the colour quality from changeing? It does change back to 32 bit after 10-15 minutes, but I have to snatch time on-line as and when I can, and I don't have time to wait for it to settle.
Again I can reset it to 32 Bit in "Settings" but it tends to jump back to 8 bit again 2 or 3 times. Apart from the aggravation factor of keeping re-setting it, the 8 Bit is really awful on the eyes. Thanks for helping me sort the first half of the problem. Dragon

LooseChippings · #7 10-02-2004, 05:24 AM

Dragonmist

can you post your full system spec please?

What happens if you set your resolution to 640 x 480 and the colour depth to 16 bit .........

Does the colour depth drop to 8 bit?

Dragonmist · #8 10-02-2004, 06:38 AM

Hi Loose chippings. If I set it to 16 it still drops to 8.
How do I get the full system spec. you want? I'm a self taught Grandma, and have only had the PC for 2 years, so I suppose it's the sort of time things start to go wrong. I couldn't find anything on Google, or any Forum Archives to match this stinker.
The last [and only major] problem required a re format job and I don't really want to go there again if I can help it. Dragon

LooseChippings · #9 10-02-2004, 10:03 AM

Download and run Belarc Advisor, it will give you a comprehensive list of your hardware setup.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Dragonmist · #10 10-02-2004, 10:31 AM

Hi Loose chippings. The only thing it comes up with is a Search assistant fix, which it says nedds redoing. However this was done in June when my grandson fouled up, and has been working fine since the fix. I can't put it all on here as this only supports 1,000 characters. I'll try to edit the useful bits. Dragon
Back in five.

Dragonmist · #11 10-02-2004, 10:36 AM

This is the main stuff. I don't think the rest is relevant.
Operating System System Model
Windows XP Professional (build 2600) Asset Tag: 0123ABC
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
900 megahertz AMD Duron
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
64 kilobyte secondary memory cache Bus Clock: 66 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 062710 07/15/97
Drives Memory Modules c,d
40.01 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
34.23 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
E-IDE CD-ROM 56X/AKH
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]
ST340810A [Hard drive] (40.02 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 5FB54LBV, rev 3.39, SMART Status: Healthy 240 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot '0' has 128 MB
Slot '1' has 128 MB

Slot '2' is Empty
Slot '3' is Empty

LooseChippings · #12 10-02-2004, 01:05 PM

Also need info for your Main Board (Motherboard) and Graphics Adaptor.

Dragonmist · #13 10-02-2004, 01:56 PM

Hi Loose Chippings. The stupid thing, after keeping to the 800 X 600 all day is now back to 640 X 480 when I dial-up as well as the 8 Bit colour.. You don't know anyone near Windsor, who could empty the trash and fill a nice tower up with decent stuff?

Right. Under Adapter in Display Settings it says :-
Adapter Type SiS 630 / 730
Chip Type SiS 730
DAC Type SiS
Memory size 16MB
Adapter String SiS compatible
BIOS Information 2.00.50
Now tell me that's the wrong one and I'll kick this thing in the bin.
We didn't have PC's when I was young enough to learn about it easily.
I should know where to find out where the info on the Motherboard is, but can't find it.
Dragon, who is fast losing any confidence in ever sorting out this monstrosity of a Friday Night Job.

bookworm · #14 10-02-2004, 06:06 PM

On Belarc look under System Model or Main Circuit Board, these will show the Board and the Bios. That's the information that LooseChippings needs to know.

Dragonmist · #15 10-02-2004, 06:12 PM

Hi Bookworm. Thanks for the help. I feel such a numpty when things go wrong. I think this is what you are after............
**********************************************
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
900 megahertz AMD Duron
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
64 kilobyte secondary memory cache Bus Clock: 66 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 062710 07/15/97
***********************************************
..... though it's all Greek to me. Dragon