Laptop display is small at boot up, but it looks fine in windows

[imported_stev]

Summary for those who hate reading
I want to find out how to reset or flash the bios of my Dell Latitude C610 laptop in an attempt to fix a problem I've been having.

The long version is below...


I was trying to get the TV out port on my Dell Latitude C610 laptop to work. I noticed that the display driver was a generic driver so I upgraded it to the proper one on Dell's website. From then on, when I boot up, the entirety of the bios screen and the windows loading screen shows up small with a 3-inch black border around it. Once it reaches the windows welcome screen, it displays in full screen.

Here's where it gets interesting. When I did a disk scan on the hard drive, I found bad sectors. Since it was still under warranty, I got them to replace the hard drive. Before I sent it to them, I wiped the hard drive. The problem still persisted. In my mind, this eliminates the drivers as a problem. The fact that it works perfectly fine within windows seems to eliminate hardware such as the LCD or the motherboard. My best guess right now is that it's somehow bios-related, but I can't get any support on how to remove the CMOS battery (if there is one) and it won't let me flash the bios because I already have the newest version.

Anyone know how to solve this problem?

 

[imported_stev]

bump

 

[Pciber]

It is most likely a BIOS setting. Look for something like "LCD stretch".

Your monitor is likely choosing to display only the center pixels during windows boot, because that is the resolution that the windows boot screen is.

 

[imported_stev]

Originally posted by: Pciber
It is most likely a BIOS setting. Look for something like "LCD stretch".

Your monitor is likely choosing to display only the center pixels during windows boot, because that is the resolution that the windows boot screen is.

I don't see a setting having anything to do with the LCD. I've also tried alt-F, which supposedly resets the bios settings to default.

 

[HannibalX]

I used to have a C600 (basically the same as a 610). You have to hit the Function key and one of the F keys (try them all) to make the LCD expand.

 

[imported_stev]

Originally posted by: Trinitron
I used to have a C600 (basically the same as a 610). You have to hit the Function key and one of the F keys (try them all) to make the LCD expand.

YOU ROCK!!! It was Fn + F7! You have to hit it after the initial bios screen, but before windows loads. I knew it was software-related. Dell told me I'd have to get the thing serviced. Thank you so much for the help. :beer: