XP startup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Turner
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Turner

I have a question I am running Windows XP home edition and when I turn my
computer on it starts up normally and all the icon and the backdrop are fine
then it blacks out on me for about 5 seconds and when it comes back the
resolution has changed from 32 bits to 8. I then go to the control panel and
change it back to 32 I press apply but it looks like the default is 8. How
do I get the default to be always 32bits.

I have a viewsonic 17 inch monitor VE175b

Jim
 
I suspect that your video card is not capable of displaying at the
resolution and color depth you've requested (not both at the same time,
anyway). Although your monitor may be able to handle, say, 1600 x 1200 @
32bit, your video card may not, due to memory limitations of the card (e.g.,
64MB). In that case, the video card only has one option. Assuming it does
support 1600 x 1200 (using this example), it drops the color depth (say,
32bit down to 8bit) so you can at least keep using the same screen
resolution (1600 x 1200). Remember, screen resolution * color depth =
required video card memory.

There are only two means to correct this, a) drop the screen resolution so
more of video card memory can be used to render more colors, or b) get a new
video card w/ more memory (and presumably, supports the full range of
resolutions and color depth provided by your monitor, or at least those that
interest you).

HTH

Jim
 
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