is this normal?

[eshort]

Dell M50 notebook: PIV-m 1.6/40gbhdd/nvida quadro4go videocard(64 mb ram)/512 system ram/winxp-home sp2.

If i reduce screen resolution below 1600X1200: the screen image shrinks..the more i reduce resolution, the more the screen image size shrinks....at 800X600: only about 1/4 of the 15" screen is full!

I want to run lower (than 1600X1200)

Is this (shrinking screen size as resolution is lowered) normal for this comput/videocard.

comput gives notice that "screen designed to be set at 1600-1200..if lower, u may see fuzzy images etc".

have never seen this phenomenon on any other notebook.

wonder if mine is defective---or---is this a normal situation for this comput/videocard combo..

tx

[Masaki 7-11]

Perfectly normal, resolution is how many pixels are shown at one time, so if you have lower resolution, you'll have less pixels displayed and therefore a smaller image.

[eshort]

glad to hear that--interesting as i have "played" with many other notebooks (PIVs; centrinos; single an dual core etc) ..which did fill screen completely at lower resolutions..maybe it's the particular videocard in this machine?

I have reduced vision and was hoping i cld drop resolution while retaining full screen image size

oh well----comput otherwise works fine (touchpad a bit sluggish, despite attempts to alter via "mouse settings in dev manager)

screen is 15" "ultra" "xsvga"

tx

[Masaki 7-11]

Are you saying that you have black portions on your screen when you lower resolutions? When you lower resolutions it's supposed to feel like you are zooming in on the screen, but still have your whole screen filled.

[liambl]

I remember a lot of older LCD's would shrink the image into the top left corner when the resolution is below the native. I must say though, 1600x1200 is a huge resolution for a 15 inch screen, my 15" notebook's native resolution is 1280x800, yet if i reduce the resolution to 800x600 for example the image still fills the screen but is horribly large and quite blurry.

[Masaki 7-11]

I wouldn't bother to change the resolution below native unless I was using an external display device, or I was gaming.

[Brothersoft]

Maybe your can customize the resolution in advanced video card configuration.

[thefultonhow]

There should be an option in the BIOS for something like "screen expansion." It's probably off right now; if you turn it on, the image will fill the screen at lower resolutions.

[eshort]

when i lower resolution to less than 1600- which200: there r black areas around the image..which progressively increase as resolution lowered further..

wonder if it's the driver for the videocard

there r no setup bios settings to adjust video card.

i dont see videocard settings to expand screen image size as resolution lowered.

tx

[eshort]

good news...

did driver update-and-problem solved!!!

just got this comput-(used-)--no restore discs included..sender supposedly did fresh install of win xp et al--but--obviously no driver updating(i dont see usb-2 listed in usb section of "system")

at 1280-1000 (and lower): screen fully occupied )no black around screen image)..but print gets fuzzy=normal.

will leave at the 128-.. resolution.

tx for all help

ps--anyone know whr i can purchase set of restore discs for this dell C840 "M50" notebook?

[glc]

Dell does not use restore discs - they use a generic XP CD locked to a Dell bios. Drivers and utilities are provided on a Dell Resource CD, but you can download everything that's on the CD.

If it was manufactured in the last 3 or so years, unless the drive has been repartitioned it has Symantec Restore - a complete image of the system as delivered on a hidden partition. It's accessed by pressing Ctrl+F11 at startup. Dells with this system will show 3 partitions in Disk Management - a small (around 32mb) hidden EISA partition with diagnostics, a main NTFS partition, and a 4 or 5 gb FAT32 hidden partition, this is the recovery. Diagnostic partition is accessed with F12 at startup.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by eshort sender supposedly did fresh install of win xp et al--but--obviously no driver updating(i dont see usb-2 listed in usb section of "system")

It's too old to have USB 2.0 ports.

[eshort]

the notebook is a pent 4-mobile(1.8)--built in early 2002.

thot usb 2.0 was present then?

the ctl+F11 at startup does nothing--windows loads normally.

if no inbuilt usb 2.0, ill hv to purchase a pcimcia adapter..

my gateway 200arc (notebook) has the usb 2.0 and it's the same vintage as the dell.

tx

[glc]

The Latitude C840 has USB 2.0. You need service packs to enable it, baseline XP does not support USB 2.0.

[thefultonhow]

Interesting -- I thought the Pentium-M was the first mobile chip to come with USB 2.0. I know the T30 I was using for work did not have USB 2.0, and that was approximately the same vintage.

But yes, try installing SP2, and that will tell you for sure.