Can't change display settings

Hi. My pc will not let me change the settings, which is driving me crazy. I
need my pixels set at 800x600, from 640x480. I know HOW to do this, but after
re-starting, it just reverts to the 640. This happened about a week ago.
Please don't suggest system restore, because hasn't been working for some
time either. When I try to restore, it freezes up, then states that no
changes were made to my pc. No $#@! Furthermore, I cannot create a restore
point. Any suggestions, especially about changing the settings?? Thanks in
advance for any help.

Mike
Sun Dec 04 14:12:28 CST 2005

Two suggestions. Fix system restore as it is a good way of resolving such
problems. You problem is quite possibly the result of not having
installed the 290700 hotfix or alternatively that you installed it and
then reinstalled Win Me over itself and thus restored the original broken
version of smgr.dll. You can do this by downloading and installing the
290700 patch from the link found at KB290700 - "Checkpoints that you
create after September 8, 2001 do not restore your computer"
(http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=290700).

Turning to your main problem. Your problem is probably one of display
drivers. First try booting to Safe Mode, opening the Device Manager,
(System Properties | Device Manager) and delete all entries in the section
Display Adapters and then reboot back into Normal Mode and let Win Me
redetect your hardware and reinstall your video drivers. Once complete
you should be able to alter the resolution and colour depth to meet your
requirements. If this still doesn't work go to your graphic card
manufacturer's web site and download updated Win Me compatible drivers for
your graphics card and then install them. The web site should give
details of how to do this.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


mrscadillac <mrscadillac@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi. My pc will not let me change the settings, which is driving me
> crazy. I need my pixels set at 800x600, from 640x480. I know HOW to
> do this, but after re-starting, it just reverts to the 640. This
> happened about a week ago. Please don't suggest system restore,
> because hasn't been working for some time either. When I try to
> restore, it freezes up, then states that no changes were made to my
> pc. No $#@! Furthermore, I cannot create a restore point. Any
> suggestions, especially about changing the settings?? Thanks in
> advance for any help.

mrscadillac
Sun Dec 04 14:21:02 CST 2005



Thank you Mike, I will try this immediately.

mrscadillac
Sun Dec 04 15:08:02 CST 2005


Thank you soooo much. I've got a normal screen again!! My boys are very
excited and we are all greatful. I did follow your instructions pertaining to
the system restore, but a message appeared. "Rstrui has caused an error in
Kernel32.dll" I have no idea what this means!! Thank you again, you've been
VERY helpful.

Mike
Sun Dec 04 17:55:48 CST 2005

That's good news - that you've got your preferred screen settings back but
not so good about the system restore error.

I've seen a few others report the same error message when using system
restore and am not certain as to what causes it. I'd start by be
resetting system restore, clearing down the restore archive and then
starting over and see if that helps. Disable System Restore (System
Properties | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and check
"Disable System Restore" and then immediately reboot. Now repeat the
procedure but this time uncheck "Disable System Restore" remembering again
to immediately reboot. Interestingly but not necessarily of much help I
can't help but note that a number of the reports of the error you are
seeing were also experiencing video problems like yourself. Please let us
know how you get on.

Cheers,
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


mrscadillac <mrscadillac@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Thank you soooo much. I've got a normal screen again!! My boys are
> very excited and we are all greatful. I did follow your instructions
> pertaining to the system restore, but a message appeared. "Rstrui has
> caused an error in Kernel32.dll" I have no idea what this means!!
> Thank you again, you've been VERY helpful.

mrscadillac
Wed Dec 07 14:39:02 CST 2005



"Mike M" wrote:

> That's good news - that you've got your preferred screen settings back but
> not so good about the system restore error.
>
> I've seen a few others report the same error message when using system
> restore and am not certain as to what causes it. I'd start by be
> resetting system restore, clearing down the restore archive and then
> starting over and see if that helps. Disable System Restore (System
> Properties | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and check
> "Disable System Restore" and then immediately reboot. Now repeat the
> procedure but this time uncheck "Disable System Restore" remembering again
> to immediately reboot. Interestingly but not necessarily of much help I
> can't help but note that a number of the reports of the error you are
> seeing were also experiencing video problems like yourself. Please let us
> know how you get on.
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Mike Maltby
> mike.maltby@gmail.com
>
>
> mrscadillac <mrscadillac@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Thank you soooo much. I've got a normal screen again!! My boys are
> > very excited and we are all greatful. I did follow your instructions
> > pertaining to the system restore, but a message appeared. "Rstrui has
> > caused an error in Kernel32.dll" I have no idea what this means!!
> > Thank you again, you've been VERY helpful.
>
>

mrscadillac
Wed Dec 07 14:43:05 CST 2005

Hi again. My system restore appears to be fine now, and checkpoints have been
created. Thanks again for your help. Since it's obvious that you know what
you're doing, do you have any idea how I can restore my Volume Control, which
will not open anymore? It's not a big deal to me, but my boys like to have
sound when they're playing games.

Mike
Wed Dec 07 14:53:44 CST 2005

mrscadillac <mrscadillac@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi again. My system restore appears to be fine now, and checkpoints
> have been created. Thanks again for your help. Since it's obvious
> that you know what you're doing, do you have any idea how I can
> restore my Volume Control, which will not open anymore? It's not a
> big deal to me, but my boys like to have sound when they're playing
> games.

That's good news about system restore. Did you do anything other than
possibly reboot?

Volume Control.
Two suggestions for now.
1) Control Panel | Sounds & Multimedia. Check that "Show volume control
on the taskbar" which is found on the General tab is still checked. If
not, check, then click Apply and then OK.
If that doesn't work then,
2) Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs | Windows Setup | Multimedia -
Details, and check that "Volume Control" is checked at the bottom of the
list. If not, check, OK, Apply and then OK out and reboot. If it is
checked, uncheck, OK and then Apply and OK out. Reboot and now add back
"Volume Control" by checking the entry, and then click OK, Apply and
finally OK and once again reboot.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com

mrscadillac
Wed Dec 07 16:03:01 CST 2005


The first suggestion did not work through sounds and media...volume was
checked but not highlighted so I couldn't do anything anyway. So I tried
suggestion #2, rebooted, then went in again to re-check volume, but got this
message...
"sndvol32.cnt not found" and it's requesting a windows me disk (which I
never received with my computer) to continue. Can I use the emergency boot
disk?

mrscadillac
Wed Dec 07 16:08:02 CST 2005


Oh, and tried out the system restore thinking my volume may come back. It
started, and within a few seconds, the pc turned off without finishing the
restoration. When pc came back on, System Restore said no changes were made
to my computer at this time. Weird. That's the same message I've previously
been getting whenever I've tried SR. Oh well. It might just be time for a new
system altogether, huh? lol

Mike
Wed Dec 07 16:25:34 CST 2005

When asked for the Win Me CD browse to the folder containing the Win Me
cab files which is either going to be C:\Windows\Options\Cabs or
C:\Windows\Options\Install, probably in your case Windows\Options\Cabs.
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


mrscadillac <mrscadillac@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> The first suggestion did not work through sounds and media...volume
> was checked but not highlighted so I couldn't do anything anyway. So
> I tried suggestion #2, rebooted, then went in again to re-check
> volume, but got this message...
> "sndvol32.cnt not found" and it's requesting a windows me disk (which
> I never received with my computer) to continue. Can I use the
> emergency boot disk?

Mike
Wed Dec 07 16:27:58 CST 2005

A failure to restore to a previously created checkpoint is often a sign
that the 290700 patch for system restore wasn't installed when the
checkpoint to which you were trying to return was created. If that is the
case the checkpoint is useless.

What is the version of the file smgr.dll in the windows\system folder?
You can check this by locating this file in Windows Explorer, selecting,
right clicking and choosing Properties and then clicking the Version tab.
If not 4.90.0.3003 then that could be the cause of the problem and you
need to download and install the 290700 patch for system restore. The
easiest way to do this is from the link in the associated KB article
(KB290700 - "Checkpoints that you create after September 8, 2001 do not
restore your computer" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=290700).

It is also possible that at one stage you did install this patch but have
subsequently reinstalled Win Me over itself using the Win Me CD. Doing
this causes the original, broken, version of smgr.dll to be reinstalled.
If this problem is a result of your having reinstalled Win Me over itself
may I recommend you to download and use the Belarc Advisor
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) which will help you in
identifying which other patches may also need to be reinstalled.

Finally you may want to give system restore the once over by carrying out
the following quick test.
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore you PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com


mrscadillac <mrscadillac@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Oh, and tried out the system restore thinking my volume may come
> back. It started, and within a few seconds, the pc turned off without
> finishing the restoration. When pc came back on, System Restore said
> no changes were made to my computer at this time. Weird. That's the
> same message I've previously been getting whenever I've tried SR. Oh
> well. It might just be time for a new system altogether, huh? lol