Dell forum: Laptop starts up with only 75% of the screen width used

The OS is Win Vista.

I have set the option you said to put my Laptop to sleep when the lid is closed.

However, the problem does not occur while closing or opening the lid on running system. It occurs when the Laptop is booted from a shut-off stage. Even the initial BIOS screen (which shows the Dell logo and a progress bar below) consumes partial screen width.

As there is no OS intervention at this stage as it has still not been loaded, I presume the problem is NOT with the OS, but either with the hardware or the BIOS.

Regarding gyroscopic remarks, it was a wild guess (considering they are used to monitor the orientation of space-crafts with respect to a reference point). I have no idea whether (and frankly believe they are not) present in these Lappis. Had they been present, the Lappis should have costed a bomb.

I would check that the next time the problem occurs.

But a more fundamental problem is why this happens when the Laptop was shut down normally last time.

Osprey4 said:
"The screen size should not be changing when shutting down unless you're using an external monitor or projector"

I am also confused. Laptop shuts down normally, the next time, it causes the issue. However, I will have a look at the Display Drivers upgrade.

I've fixed too many of these. The CLUE was this statement -> "Now, whenever it happens, I tilt the Laptop's screen (to approximately 130-140 degree angle to the horizontal). Then it boot it up and it starts up fine."

That's a well known connection, cable problem but many owners don't want to replace parts so you have to leave them to stew and figure it out that a new cable or more needs replacing. The bad news is that such parts may not be available and you might have to replace the entire LCD and top cover.
Bob