Recovering from Screen Problems

Is your computer display, screen or personal computer monitor suddenly looking funny, distorted, malformed, or odd? Relax: You wont have to go out and buy a new monitor, in most cases. Microsoft has built into their Windows operating systems a method to recover from catastrophic display problems, called Safe Mode. The first step to recover from a display problem is to select the Enable VGA Mode option from the Windows Advanced Options Menu which is shown when you bootup your computer in Safe Mode.

Enable VGA Mode

Microsoft gave you the Enable VGA Mode for fixing messed up displays. It is really not Safe Mode at all. You computer will bootup and load as normal. The only real difference is that your display will have an extremely low screen resolution, and all your desktop icons will look extremely big. In addition, a special balloon message will be displayed in the notification area of your taskbar. For fixing catastrophic display problems, entering Enable VGA mode should be your first choice.

In order to automatically fix your display problems, all that is required is to click on this balloon message, after your computer has finished booting up. This will improve the screen resolution of your computer display, but the end result may not exactly match your prior display settings.

Display Problems

The most common display problem probably occurs as a result of trying to adjust your current display settings. Selecting an invalid display option will often result in extremely rapid, continuous horizontal scrolling, that creates a barely readable blurry display problem with multiple images of the Windows Display Properties dialog box appearing on your screen.

To recover from this type of a display problem, you must first select the Enable VGA Mode option from the Windows Advanced Options Menu which is shown when you bootup your computer in Safe Mode. Once your computer has finished loading, you should again call up the Windows Display Properties dialog box by clicking on the Control Panel and then the Display option. Next, simply reselect your previous display settings. Alternatively, you could simply click on the previously noted special balloon message.

In addition, one or more of your display drivers getting corrupted and possibly your computer monitor itself gradually going bad could be adversely affecting only one display setting. This type of a display problem might appear on your screen as Windows XP suddenly shifting several inches to the right, chopping off entirely the right part of the display. There may also be a sudden change in display colors, such as a very strong purplish tint. Selecting the Enable VGA Mode option and then selecting a different display option will usually correct this type of a display problem.

Display Settings Caveat

Adjusting your computer display is more tricky than most computer users probably realize. There is more to it than just selecting a screen resolution. There is also the factors of Color Quality and Font Sizes or DPI Setting to be taken into consideration.

Enable VGA Mode – Works

By using the Enable VGA Mode option, you will at least be able to go from a totally unusable computer screen to one that will at least let you be productive on your personal computer again, even if your display is no longer perfect.

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