1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

1600X900 resolution letterboxed instead of filling entire screen

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by moleculo, Apr 14, 2013.

  1. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    i have a GEFORCE 7200 GS screen card from NVIDIA which i never had any problems with before. windows (xp) alerted me of an update for it so i installed it but all it did is take out all the settings options from when i first installed the cd drivers. so i reinstalled the original drivers (overwriting the new ones) and now my chosen screen resolution of 1600X900 pixels is displayed "letterboxed" and "shrinked" with black bars from both the sides and top and bottom. as if i'm watching a letterboxed 4:3 video on a 16:9 screen which is not the case.
    tried adjusting the resolution again to both lower and higher, most do fill the entire screen but not 1600X900.
    my screen is Philips 228C3LSB (LED).

    any help will be appreciated.
     
  2. attar

    attar Senior member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2005
    Messages:
    11,147
    Likes Received:
    41
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Have you tried a system restore point that preceded the problem.
     
  3. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    don't think the restore point is saved...

    i'm thinking of removing all things nvidia through "add/remove programs" for a clean install of the drivers. but i'm afraid that will also not work or cause even more problems. hoping there's a less "drastic" solution.
     
  4. attar

    attar Senior member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2005
    Messages:
    11,147
    Likes Received:
    41
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Doesn't XP create one every 24 hours?
     
  5. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    attar you were right, a system restore to 2 days ago solved the problem (then i also needed to deny the same update that caused it all but that i already knew how to do).
    i don't think system restore ever worked for me before but i'm glad this time it did.

    much obliged :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2013
  6. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    well system restore solved the resolution issue but brought 2 other weird issues that i don't know how to deal with:

    1. now screensaver does not function anymore. it's set to start after 15 minutes of inactivity and power off the screen after 20. the preview works fine but it still just won't start.

    2. pages scroll up on their own and zoom in randomly. happens in both web pages and documents when i hit ctrl for other purposes. for example i hit ctrl+arrow to advance through words and all of a sudden the page zoomes in to 190% view and i have to manually zoom back out. also the mouse pointer changes positions by itself. needless to say it's also happening right now as i'm typing this message.

    didn't have any of those issues before that cursed update. and everything else seem to work ok.
    i don't believe it's malware but rather something got scrambled in some system files.
    but now what do i do?
    i really hope i won't have to format and re-install everything over this.
     
  7. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
  8. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    i was happy with my current screen settings and never wanted to update the screen card to begin with, just didn't think it would cause any problems. now if i update for all i know it could again screw up the resolution and also won't fix those new issues which i believe are now more windows-related.
    so thank you but i'm also looking for windows-related suggestions.
     
  9. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    i learned not to use windows updates for videocards & sometimes soundcards as it usually screws up the video or is the wrong driver for the sound.
     
  10. scorpNZ

    scorpNZ Active member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2005
    Messages:
    4,261
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    78
    even nvidia's own updates can bork the system i don't find it amusing to say the least,best thing to do at this point assuming you've gone thru both windows display settings & nvidia control panel to reset to how you want it,use add/remove dump the lot but not before creating a backup image(not a hard drive clone)of c with a cloning software as well as creating a boot-able restore disk, i'm pretty sure you can just install the driver from the install disk without the nvidia software control panel crap,try it & set windows display from windows control panel if all goes well you can then install nvidia control panel & tinker some more.
     
  11. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    as i said the resolution display is no longer the problem, but now after system restore new weird behavior of random page zoom and scrolling up randomly, and screensaver no longer working at all.
    i just removed all my nvidia drivers completely (through add/remove) and re-installed them - and those issues are still not solved.

    i'm on the verge of formatting drive c and re-installing windows which i really do not want to do but i can't seem to find any other solution.

    appreciate both of you replying though.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2013
  12. moleculo

    moleculo Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2005
    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    **UPDATE**
    i was getting ready to call a technician to try and fix those issues and reformat if he can't. then there were a few windows automatic updates, after which those issues finally went away (eventhough none were screencard related). no more random zooming and scrolling, and screensaver is back.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2013
  13. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    good.
     

Share This Page