Dell laptop, display issues

[tamman]

The problem with the display is this:

I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 and I took it apart to clean. When I put it back together, everything seemed to be working with the exception of the display. The video card outputs, but it only uses a fraction of the display when it shows the computer startup sequences, boot selector screen, dos mode, etc... Nothing on my display is cut off, instead, it just shows what it would normally but at a reduced size and centered in the middle of the screen. ( Kind of like when you pick a wallpaper in windows and you can pick either center or stretch --- my computer is just centering the screen and not stretching ).


The funny thing is. When I get into windows, it begins to use the whole display again. Before I took the notebook apart, it used to always use the full screen whether or not I was in windows.

I have checked the bios but have found no such setting.


Can someone please advise as to how to fix this? Or any thoughts?


Thanks!

 

[Crimson]

There is a setting.. its the FN key and one of the numbers.. I forget which.. Try them all before it boots into Windows..

 

[vshah]

theres a setting in the bios called "video expansion" that controls this on my dell laptop...make sure you're pressing
"Alt-P" to cycle through every page in the bios. video expansion should be enabled

good luck,

-Vivan

 

[tamman]

Thanks a lot. The problem is now fixed. It was one of those function keys.

 

[bacillus]

Originally posted by: tamman
Thanks a lot. The problem is now fixed. It was one of those function keys.

Fn+F7 I suspect!