Community Newsletter: Q&A: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties
- 5/25/06 5:00 PM
Wolfie2k5...You made my day!
by pattersson - 6/2/06 12:23 PM In reply to: Er.. Autoexec.bat..? by Wolfie2k5I haven't laughed so hard in years. Your reply caught me off guard...
PS...we've nothing...zero...nada from Alan S. of Melbourne, Australia.
Did he get the problem fixed? Did anything work? Is he still around anymore? Helloooo Alan...are you there?
Frankly, I think it's ridiculous to attempt to solve a problem when there is so little information given.
I think I know what happened to Alan
by gbear1970 - 7/9/06 8:26 PM In reply to: Wolfie2k5...You made my day! by patterssonHe probably bought a new HP and his system was showing the beginning signs of a total harddrive failure. He is probably waiting for some techie in India to find the right place in the manual to read to him that he has to contact an authorized dealer to get it replaced. Now he will pay labor charges even if it is still under warranty. Despite having owned various computers over the last 20 years and never witnessed this before, HP assures me that it is not at all unusual to have 3 harddrives fail in the first 8 months of ownership.
Poor Alan is probably reloading all his programs. Me? I dug out my old laptop. Apparently the computer industry thinks that as long as you have backed up your data (I had), reloading and resetting everything is no big deal.
We may hear from Alan in another month or so. 
Windows
by iltcm! - 5/10/08 4:41 PM In reply to: Er.. Autoexec.bat..? by Wolfie2k5Better idea
Don't try and fix it. Get a mac.
msconfig
by Titanium_Skull - 5/26/06 3:10 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Have you installed sny new programs or been to any websites that require active x control install. You can always check to see if there are any programs that load up and run in the back ground that should or should not be there. Go to start, then click run and type "msconfig" when the window opens up, on the right side is a tab that says startup. On the left side is a column with a check box, to the right of the box is a program name or abbriviation. Do a print screen or write down each one and the go to "http://www.processlibrary.com" and type in the name or abbriviation. the web site will tell you if it is legit and its status as necissary or not. It will let you know if you have a malicious program running in the back ground that is conflicting with you system. when you Identify those that are unwanted process, then just uncheck the box next to it and reboot. If you make a mistake and it is a process that is required for one or more of you approved programs then go back to msconfig and put a check mark back in the box. only uncheck those that are fore sure identified as an unfreindly process. If it is identified as an MicroSoft process or one for your known programs then it is ok.
I have had times when a problem comes up that cant be easily answered, but getting to know a little of the background operation of your system helps. also cleaning out the temp internet files helps, every now and then you get stuck with one that antivirus and spyware cleaning programs dont always see. so take the basic maintinance steps listed by other posts and check back with windows updates to see if there are any new bug fix's you might have missed.
Hope this can help, it might or might not help with this issue but it will help with a better understanding on how to control and identify some other issues with your system as they come up.
Best wishes.
Robert
Display Properties
by aintnorainbowdorothy - 5/26/06 6:19 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Had this problem with IE. I do a lot of Beta work, not just for MSFT, but other companies also. I have quite a lot of Intel, Sun and so forth Beta's on the hard drive of my primary computer. I drove myself crazy trying to figure why IE would have a problem every few weeks and disappear when I used it seperately. Turned out to be a Javascript I was doing some Beta work on. If you have Betas (1 or 2) or are doing any Alpha work, then that could easily be the problem. I simply told Sun about the problem, they sent a hotfix and IE is living happily ever after.
computer reverting to original settings
by rscovil - 5/26/06 7:28 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Alan I had an identical problem after installing panda internet security. The moment I uninstalled it the problem disappeared it may be a setting in security I know that's what i found Just try disabling your av and fire walls
Good Luck Alan
Use a Linux Live CD!
by clintbrot - 5/26/06 8:59 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Linux will fix all your windows headaches for free and it's safe, secure, stable.
And exactly HOW does this fix his problem?
by Wolfie2k5 - 6/1/06 12:52 PM In reply to: Use a Linux Live CD! by clintbrot<sigh>
Yet another Linux fanboi heard from.
So. Clint, I take it that's your answer to all computer related problems..?
Dear Alan,
by sathismaddy - 5/26/06 9:22 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had the same problem with my display properties. I stumbled on to the answer. I deleted my Norton Internet Security and Spy Sweeper which was installed at the time I bought my computer. Instead I went online and downloaded Windows Live ONe-Care and AVG. My computer has done well ever sense. Hope this helps.
W.S. North Carolina
Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties
by Owl - 5/26/06 10:24 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A friend of mine had a simlar problem in Windows 98 and it turned out to be a bad hard drive cable, so before you spend a lot of time on software be sure your hard drive is working ok.
Seurity Setting or NTUSER.DAT is corrupted
by dschermerhorn1 - 5/26/06 11:20 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Each user account has a profile generated under Documents and Settings using the account name and associated with a security ID (SID). every time the SID is corrupted a new profile is created for the same account name during logon.
In this case there could be two problems:
1. Windows Security is corrupted - solution is to repair windows and reinstall service pack 2
2. Virus attack causing NTUSER.DAT and/or ntuser.ini to reset - solution is to scan your system in safe mode and clear system restore and internet temporary files.
If does not work then run a physical scan disk on your hard disk and look for possible bad sectors that is causing the NTUSER.DAT and/or ntuser.ini got corrupted.
Disiplay Problems
by markrus - 5/27/06 6:51 AM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The easiest solution is to go to PC Mag and get WinTidy. After installation and restarting Windows 98,XP etc. you should not have any subsequent problems. I have used it for several yrs and never had further problems..
Good Luck\
JHL
In Response To XP Display Properties Messing up
by 57jecain - 5/27/06 2:42 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Usually The display will not freak Out Unless Three things occured...
1. You are low on Memory
2. Your Display Driver is corrupt
3. (in Rare Cases) System files in XP are corrupt.
what I would do is free up memory by uninstalling un needed programs,re-install your display driver,and then instruct XP to repair itself (you Do that By uninstalling service pack 2 first,then insert your Windows XP operating system disk and instructing it to repair the partition).
Reverting custom desktop
by mattallica422 - 5/27/06 4:56 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I read alot of interesting stuff in these replys. I found that all I had to do was make sure that my display setting was windows classic (modified) and it stayed. Might be real simple and very uneducated, but it worked for me.
I think an application is a likely culprit
by mijcar - 5/27/06 10:02 PM In reply to: 5/26/06 Help! Windows XP keeps reverting my display properties by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you were experiencing this problem with every reboot, I would guess that it was a hardware issue. Windows will allow you to reset display properties then refuse to take those properties if it doesn't have the proper drivers. But this you learn immediately with a reboot. I have even seen Windows keep a certain setting until reboot, which says that Windows knows how to handle the display, but just won't do it.
The fix I have found for these issues is to track down both display and adaptor drivers, even do some googling on these to find out if others using the same components have the same problem.
But I have digressed. From your post, it appears that this happens irregularly, not at each reboot. If this is so, then the problem is likely to be app related. I had the same problem with a piece of educational software that insisted on changing the display parameters in order to run. In theory, it was supposed to revert to the previous settings. In practice it didn't. I believe this lack of proper functionality was the result of multitasking this software with another standard application. Too much demands on the system.
A question to ask yourself is whether or not this happens after you have used a certain application. This is not as easy as it sounds. I don't mean that it happens 100% of the time after you have run a certain application because that would become obvious pretty quickly. I mean that it happens only after you have run a certain application, but not necessarily every time. You would have to heighten your awareness of the tasks you were engaged in prior to the reversion, make a list of possible culprits, then see if you can whittle this list down over time.
Good luck.
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