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    Default display tweaks originally done by dell?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by JimBiscuit, Jun 25, 2007.

  1. JimBiscuit

    JimBiscuit Newbie

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    Hi there,
    I have an Inspiron 6400 which I recently reformatted. The only problem I'm encountering is that when the new ATI driver is installed everything is about half the size as it was when I first purchased the laptop. The same thing ocurred in the past when I upgraded just the video driver, so I did a system restore back then.

    Resolution is 1680x1050. Video card is ATI X1400. There must be some tweaks that Dell performs when they initially build the machine to get the display larger. Things such as the taskbar, right-click menu, and hardware device manager are all very small. I contacted Dell and the tech didn't know what tweaks they perform. Adjusting just the DPI makes things appear more normal, but then problems are seen when text isn't completely visible within boxes.

    I've attached an example. You can see that the line "estimated time left" is cut off.

    [​IMG]

    If anybody has any advice, I'd greatly appreciate it.
     
    JimBiscuit, Jun 25, 2007
    #1
  2. usapatriot

    usapatriot Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Did you set the resolution back to 1680 x 1050 after installing the drivers?

    Also set your DPI back to "normal" and reboot your machine.

    And just to make sure you are running Windows XP right?
     
    usapatriot, Jun 25, 2007
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  3. jimmy_simms

    jimmy_simms Notebook Consultant

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    The font seems very strange, try changing your desktop theme, I have seen this before, and it was cause by an uncommon desktop theme being used.

    And 'appearance' tab in your display properties will also be the most likely cause, simply change the font and the font size.
     
    jimmy_simms, Jun 25, 2007
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  4. JimBiscuit

    JimBiscuit Newbie

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    Yes, it is WinXP. The theme is "energy blue (modified)". I reset it to energy blue and it changes to modified when I don't use the default desktop pic.

    I reset the DPI to normal (96) and rebooted. The resolution was still at 1680x1050. Strangely, the icon fonts got smaller, but the taskbar remained the same size, as did the window boxes. Originally the width of the taskbar had shrunk to just over half of it's normal size.

    This pic is blurry, but I'm trying to keep the file size down. I can live with it this way I guess, as it is readable now. The lettering isn't being cut off anymore either. There's a whole lotta space on the screen though.

    [​IMG]

    Thanks for the help guys.
     
    JimBiscuit, Jun 25, 2007
    #4