Correcting Problems with Display

The display doesn't work correctly.

  1. Restart the computer, and then press F8 when the Starting Windows 95 message appears.
  2. Choose Safe Mode, which uses the standard VGA (640x480x16-color) driver.

    If this resolves the display problem, then the display driver is probably involved. Try replacing the driver with a newer version, or reinstall the driver from the original disks. (See "Correcting Problems with Display" earlier in this chapter.)

Tip

Problems can result when Windows 95 incorrectly assumes that a display adapter can support certain functionality. If this occurs, the side effects might be anything from small display irregularities to system lockup.

To determine whether any performance problems might be related to the display adapter, you can progressively disable enhanced display functionality using the System option in Control Panel. On the Performance tab, click the Graphics button, and then use the slider to select new settings. For information, see Chapter 17, "Performance Tuning."

A display error occurs at a specific display resolution.

If your computer has problems with the display, determine whether the problems persist when you use lower screen resolutions and different color palettes with the display driver.

To see if the display error changes with resolution

  1. In the Display option in Control Panel, click the Settings tab.
  2. In the Color Palette box, click the box that displays available resolutions.
  3. If the selection is other than 16-color, select 16-color.
  4. Click the Apply button. Then shut down and restart the computer.
  5. Retest the condition that was causing the display error. If the error does not recur, you might want to temporarily operate at a lower resolution until you can upgrade the display driver to a version that functions without error.
A display driver fails to work.

If the display driver fails (and changing resolutions doesn't resolve it), you should check or replace the current display driver.

To check the display drivers

  1. In Device Manager, click the plus sign next to Display Adapters.
  2. Double-click the specific display adapter shown (for example, Cirrus Logic).
  3. In the properties dialog box, click the Driver tab.
  4. Click each file shown in the Driver Files box. The File Version appears in the File Details box, if available (some vendor's display drivers might not contain version information).
  5. Check displayed file versions for compatibility. Windows 95 display driver files have version numbers starting at 4.00 or higher.
  6. If you have an incompatible driver, you can reinstall the original driver from the Windows 95 disks, or get new drivers from the Microsoft Download Service (MSDL) as described in Appendix J, "Windows 95 Resource Directory." If Microsoft drivers do not support the display adapter, contact the display-adapter vendor for updated drivers.

To check where the driver is loading from

If this entry is specified, the display entries in SYSTEM.INI are ignored, and the display drivers are loaded from the Registry. If the entry specifies any driver other than PNPDRVR.DRV, the display drivers are loaded from SYSTEM.INI.

The display adapter is not recognized.

If Windows 95 does not recognize the display adapter, try using the basic VGA drivers (a generic 640x480, 16-color driver). If you have a vendor-supplied driver disk for the display adapter, you can install the OEM drivers. If the drivers do not support Windows 95, some advanced display features are disabled.

Errors occur when initializing the display adapter.

If an error occurs during display adapter initialization, the computer stops responding. To restart the computer, press CTRL+ALT+DEL.

This problem might occur if you are using a video accelerator card and you change the display from the default setting (640x480, 16 colors) to 1024x768, 256 colors in the Display properties dialog box. Although Windows 95 might accept the changes, the error still results. The Super VGA (SVGA) driver (1024x768) included with Windows 95 is designed for nonaccelerated SVGA display adapters only. To correct this problem, change the display driver back to the default VGA setting.

To change your display driver back to VGA

  1. Restart the computer, press F8 when you see the Starting Window 95 message, and then choose Safe Mode.
  2. In the Display option in Control Panel, click the Settings tab.
  3. Click the Change Display Type button, and then click the Change button for the Adapter Type.
  4. Click Show all Devices, click Generic Display Drivers, and then click OK. When asked whether to use the current driver or a new driver, click Current.

If you want to use a high-resolution display driver with Windows 95, consult your display adapter manufacturer for the proper driver to use.

A Windows 3.1 display driver doesn't support advanced features.

Windows 95 cannot support some display features when a Windows 3.1-compatible driver is being used. If you are using a Windows 3.x compatible display driver with Windows 95, some advanced features (such as dynamic resolution changes, font smoothing, and automatic fallback to VGA) will not work.

Some Windows 3.1 drivers require the screen resolution to be specified in the [boot.description] section of the SYSTEM.INI.

Motion is jerky during multimedia playback.