The other day I was trying to install a computer game for my son and the game only works on 256 color setting. I made the change and my flat screen monitor went blank with the exception of saying out of range. I hooked up the old monitor and set it back to 16 color. The colors are still all jacked up and the text and icons are all really big. What the heck can I do to fix the thing. I'm running Windows Me. I've tried for 2 days and am just frustrated with the whole darned thing.

 

The size of your icons is due to your resolution.

EIther right click a blank spot on your desktop or click start-->controlpanel-->display.

Should be a settings tab. You are probably at 640x480. Sliding the bar to the right will fix the resolution. You can also increase your color depth by selecting a higher number of colors from the list.

The game probably requires 640x480 and your flat screen probably won't support that resolution or refresh rate.

Jim

 

I've tried that. Every time I slide the marker to change the resolution, it automatically changes the colors option to go back to the 256 setting. If I try to cahange it back to 16 colors or high color 16 bit, it changes the resolution back to 640 x 480. My wallpaper and everything is all hosed up. Anymore ideas? Thanks.

 

Anything Flagged in Device manager ? Maybe download new video card drivers

 

That's why I don't install games on my computers anymore...too damn quirky. Buy an Xbox, gamecube, or PS2 for your son.

As for your problem, uninstall the game. If everything is still jacked up, load windows from the backup file from the day before you installed the game...if that' option is available with ME.

BTW, Windows ME sucks.

 

Another thing. What is the game and what are it's system requirements? Does your computer meet the requirements? What kind of video card do you have?

 

It sounds like there is a conflict with the game and your video card drivers...To correct it right click my computer, click on the device manager tab and click on your video card and select properties click the update drivers button and follow the wizrad. If that does not do it then do the same for the monitor. If you would still like to try and play the game you will need to Check the games and your video cards makers sites for patches or known issues and check the video cards website for updates while your there...
But in general I would agree with Dirty T... I don't play pc games anymore because it causes to many problems! Even if you buy an Alienware gaming PC for $2 or $3k just for a desent model, you will have a great PC with great tech support but you will still have issues with gaming software. For the average user it's just not worth the time money and energy to play games on a PC beyond solitair or mines etc.

Even though game consoles only have 200mhz procesors on average which is probabley almost 1/4 the speed of the average pc's most people have now and less than an 1/8 of the speed that is available on some shelf models PC's. They do not have an extensive operating system like windows either!

Also I agree with Dirty T, get rid of Millinium ASAP! If you dont want to go to XP then use 98se any thing is much better and more relaibe than Millinium. Millinium is the unfinished version of 2000. At the time of it's release people were expecting it and the demand forced microsoft to put it out before it was really ready to be unleashed upon us! Hopefully we learned from our mistake and we won't rush the release of microsofts "Long Horn" that I believe is due out this year. If it's not ready I for one do not want it out atleast until it is!

 

One of two things is your problem. (And yes spend the 100 for XP and get rid of ME)


1. Your drivers are corrupted. Download and reinstall.

2. Your monitor has been changed(setting, not physically) to something that doesn't support your settings.

If you need more detailed help, see if you can take some screen shots of the display properties and the device manager (anything with warnings) and email them to me....

vader716<AT> gmail.com

 

I just wanted to say thank you for all the input I got about this problem. I appreciate all of your help. I haven't had time to get online for the past day or 2. I dont know what happened but it seems to have fixed itself. I haven't touched this machine for 2 days and when I came to look at it today, all is working fine. What happened? I dont know. But Jimmy cracked corn and I dont care. When I looked at it today I had more resolution options when I looked at it and the wallpaper wasn't all distorted. I changed the resolution and it was back to normal. Thank god and those of you that tried to help me.

 

"Best Quote Ever"

 

format c:\ /u/v/s

good as new