need help with displays and monitor on Windows XP

[nOOb1022]

Thanks for taking the time to help consider my problem all of you forum jumpers I am relatively new to computers and so when I reinstalled windows Xp home edition on a Dell OptiPlex Gxa (if that means anything to you) and when I finally got everything straightened up my display was only 640 x 480 pixels which means that I am unable to play games on my computer but I thought just simply switching it would help but when I switch to 600 by 800 the display goes off the screen so I cant see my taskbar, then I cant get back to 640 by 480 so I have been using system restore to return it, if you know how to fix this please drp me a reply it gets very frusterating :-? it also says I have the default monitor which isnt true, I have a NEC multiSyncXV17+ monitor, once again any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

                                                                                         Jase

[GX1_Man]

What video adapter is in there? (Look in the BIOS to see.) Compare that to what is shown in Windows. (Right click on desktop and choose Properties. It is in the same place where you change the resolution under Adapter. Dell does not list an XP driver for the GXa so it may just be making a closest guess at the display resolution, etc.

It seems like they used the RagePro chip on all of these Optiplex models, but I thinkit was only a 2 meg. video memory model. That will affect the possibilities a lot.  Later Optiplexes (the GX1) with a 4 meg. chip have no problem with XP.

You may want a different video card (PCI is your only choice, and it will automatically disable the onboard) if you plan to use this machine. It cannot be state of the art, obviously, as that chassis either has a 145 or 200w power supply, depending on the chassis.

That was a nice NEC monitor in it's day, but it seems that it had it's own .INF file required for full effect.
 
Do you have a different monitor to check on this machine, and then check this monitor on another machine?

So we'll wait for a reply to these issues.

[nOOb1022]

What video adapter is in there? (Look in the BIOS to see.) Compare that to what is shown in Windows. (Right click on desktop and choose Properties. It is in the same place where you change the resolution under Adapter. Dell does not list an XP driver for the GXa so it may just be making a closest guess at the display resolution, etc.

It seems like they used the RagePro chip on all of these Optiplex models, but I thinkit was only a 2 meg. video memory model. That will affect the possibilities a lot.  Later Optiplexes (the GX1) with a 4 meg. chip have no problem with XP.

You may want a different video card (PCI is your only choice, and it will automatically disable the onboard) if you plan to use this machine. It cannot be state of the art, obviously, as that chassis either has a 145 or 200w power supply, depending on the chassis.

That was a nice NEC monitor in it's day, but it seems that it had it's own .INF file required for full effect.
 
Do you have a different monitor to check on this machine, and then check this monitor on another machine?

So we'll wait for a reply to these issues.

Thank you very much for your help so far, I switched monitors whith the one on the computer I am currently using ( another Dell Optiplex) and its monitor is a View Sonic 17 GA and it gave me the same problem, I also noticed that on startup the screen says everything it normally should but after a breif pause (8-10 seconds) a message pops up that says Diskette Drive 1 seek failure, would this cause my display problem?  I checked Windows under the advanced section in settings and it says all the adapter information is unavailable, and when I click porperties under the adapter tab it says Vga save but everything else in unknown although it says it is working properly
 thanks for your help

[GX1_Man]

The Drive failure message is limited to the floppy drive, and may be caused  by old dead drive, dirty read/write head, bad cable or bad connection. If it doesn't work, try unplugging and replugging everything it to the drive and the motherboard  If you use it a lot, it is time to replace. There is no connecttion to the monitor issue.

If the video adapter is only shown as VGA only, then you need to install the correct driver.

Here is what you need:

http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=45154

You need to register but it is quick, painless and free.

I have an Optiplex (GX1) with an older Viewsonic E773  and it works fine. After you install the drivere you need to adjust the resolution to however you want.