A neighbour has asked me for some help. He has an old Windows98SE box that he is planning to give to someone to use for email.

He started to remove all programs that wouldn't be needed. When he tried to remove Microsoft Encarta it said to change to 256 colours. When he tried to do this it showed only 16 colours. Thinking he had removed something essential he decided to reinstall Windows98.

He still gets the same instruction to change to 256 colours, which isn't available. I've also found that it is limited to 640X480 pixels. The system shows that he has a plug and play monitor of unknown type on a VGA adapter.

So it seems he is getting the VGA default of 640X480 Pixels and 16 colours.

He believes that he did used to be able to get 256 colours, as he was able to use Encarta. Additionally, the colours are very poor, especially when using Internet Explorer.

He has a Logix LGX151 15 inch CRT monitor manufactured by LG Electronics. After a lot of hunting we found the driver for this monitor and installed it. However the system still shows that he is using the Plug and Play monitor.

Question is, what to do? I think it would probably be best to format the disk and re-install Windows98 from scratch. Would this mean that the monitor be recognised as able to support 256 colours?

Would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

Martin

Monitors don't really require drivers. There are a few monitors with "so-called drivers" which enable special features of the monitor. It's the display adapter drivers that you need to affect the video resolution.

" ...he decided to reinstall Windows98" It's the "standard VGA" (640X480) 16 colours which has been loaded or reverted to.

If this is a proprietary machine (ie; Brand Name - Gateway, Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Lenovo, Compaq, etc.) please post the make and exact model number. Also post any Service Tag number if applicable.

If it isn't a proprietary machine, have him/her download, install, and run Everest Home Edition on this machine. (Clean FreeWare) Once it's finished loading and running, look under Computer, Summary, Display, or under Display, PCI/AGP Video. This will tell you what display adapter/chip you have. (Video Adapter and 3D Accelerator.) Post that information.

Also look under MOTHERBOARD and post what is listed for the Motherboard (make/model) and the Chipset description.

Dan, thanks. It isn't a proprietary machine. I'll get the info you asked for over the next couple of days.

OK, got it.

For PCI/AGP Video:
ATI Rage 128 GL AGP (with a graphic of a monitor to the left of it)
ATI Rage 128 GL (with a graphic of what looks like an X in a circle to the left of it)

For Motherboard:
Motherboard name = QDI BrillianX IS (didn't seem to be a model number)
Motherboard chipset = i440BX.

Thanks again
Martin (and also from my neighbour, Brian)

Here's the chipset driver;
http://www.intel.com/design/software/drive...infinst_enu.htm
(Extract all files into an empty folder and run SETUP.)

And the Display drivers;
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/98me/legacy-98me.html
(The top one, "Display Driver Bundle" under Rage 128/Rage 128 PRO


Install the chipset drivers first, then install the display drivers.

Post back with your results and any further questions.

Dan, thank you very much. We now have the 256 colours back, and screen resolution of 800X600.
We really appreciate your help.
We have decided to do a clean install of Windows98. We'll be following the 'rebuilding Windows98' topic by Angoid and I dare say we will have some questions. ...
Regards
Martin and Brian

You're welcome, and good luck.