Display problems

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I just installed XP pro on my PC which was running XP home, I used the CD to reformat and partition the drive rather than an upgrade. It seems my graphics adapter is what it should be but my sizes are incorrect, when I set it to 1024x768 - which it was on XP home it doesnt appear correct. The text size is small(although this text appears larger) and the red box icon in the top right of each window is huge. Any ideas most appreciated?

 

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Did you let XP pick up the gfx adapter drivers itself, or do you have the driver disk for it ? In the past I've had experiences where XP is, whats the word....cr4p at some hardware detection (in my most recent case, my modem).


If poss, MrNice - use the CD that came with the gfx card, or at least download the most up to date version from the manufacturer's website.

HTH

 

It seems it had something to do with the fact I still had a boot path in Boot.ini for the XP home setup, after removing that line it all appears as it should.

 

WEIRD - when you formatted, did you delete the previous partition with XP Home on it, then recreate a new one ? Thats strange that you should have a "legacy" boot.ini entry on your new, clean install ...

 

I used the full XP pro installation CD, set the BIOS to boot from CD (XP home still fully installed at this point) and from the CD menus I deleted the 2 partions I had, set-up a new partition NTFS and reformatted it, done the full format and then done the full installation. I noticed on the reboot I was asked the O/S choice and was suprised XP Home was there, if I selected it an error appeared. I then ran MSconfig and checked the Boot.INI file and removed the path. Any ideas? seems ok now though

 

Sounds like the original XP Home install is still there, and misbehaving. To be honest, I would have deleted the Home partition, then created a new one (which would be C; by default), then chosen the full format (NTFS) option, and installed Pro on that.

I guess (if you can be bothered) the best option right now would be to re-run the install and make sure you do it cleanly, leaving NO traces of previous versions.

Just MHO as always, tho

 

id pick up a copy of a program that will completely erase the data on a drive. these programs boot from cd and will overwrite every cluster several times. its good for a secure format (mainly for companies which sell their pc's on when they are finished with them). this would ensure that home is completely wiped!

Fergal

 

Fair point Fergal, but isn't that using a sledgehammer to crack a nut in this case ?

 

i dunno, its quite a cheap program to pick up i believe. its worth having in case you ever have clients who would benefit from it, and it ensures that there is no errant data left on the system before a clean install!

Fergal

 

Is it just me or does this sound like a red herring? How can a line in the boot.ini which as far as I am aware only points the boot up sequence to the disk/partition that contains THE OS that you want to load, mess up the display settings Even if it still does have XP home lurking around somewhere, it should not have this effect.

I think that re-booting or re-configuring the display properties has fixed the issue and that the line in the boot.ini was not the cause but I am all ears if someone has come across this behavior before.

What do you guys think?

Pete