computer with a mind of its own

I have a 2000 etower 366i pc which has developed a mind of its own since this afternoon. I can't change the color resolution to 286. My only choice is 16 bit and I can't change the pixels either. Unfortunately this problem is making it very difficult to read anything on the monitor (everything is fuzzy or doesn't display completely). When I go to Display Properties; Settings; Display: this statement appears: (Unknown Monitor) on (Unknown Device). Has my motherboard (or whatever) suffered a stroke or is the problem something that can be repaired at home? Thanks to anyone who answers.

 

Not sure if that particular brand/model has on-board video or separate card, but one thing to try would be to uninstall the video card and monitor and reboot. Let Windows re-find the devices and the problem may fix itself. Go to Control Panel, System, Device Manager tab. Expand "Monitors", click on whatever it shows, and hit "remove". Do same for video card. If prompted to restart computer, say no until you have both monitor and video card removed, then restart. Make sure you have your Windows disk or video card disk in case it asks you for them to find the drivers.

 

Is the correct video card diplayed? sounds like the system thinks there is a standard vga cad installed. You may need to reload the drivers for the video card, or remove it from system devices and reinstall it from scratch. If the video card is corect try installing the monitor you have. (again in system devices.)

Brian

 

I agree with the_tow_guy on re-installing video components.
I have a question-- Are you using an old monitor that cannot display more than 256 colors (VGA)? Prices are cheap now, replace that paper-weight.

Another option would be to purchase inexpensive PCI video card (IF you have open PCI slot) to replace the on-board vid.

BlueCanary25

PS,,, Just thought. Do you have another PC to swap monitors with, so as to test if problem is monitor vs. video?