Display Problems

Hi everyone, I have a major problem that I need assistance with.
I was deleting some files off my computer and was prompted to restart. Once I did so, my computer colors were all distorted. The Default windows color, like the original wall paper etc. were fine, everything else, like my AOL and Sims games became dotty and not legible. I couldn't play Sims because it said my colors needed to be at 256 or higher, then my AOL 9.0 said it's main index file was damaged. My icons became huge and I resorted to 8.0, which I'm on right now.The colors are horrible and the windows are very big...basically everthing has gone haywire. I got some advice, and all of them consist of being a video driver problem. I went to my display settings, and my only options are 2 and 16 colors. I keep hearing that it's supposed to be at 32 bit color. Please can anyone help me...it's windows 98. The tower is an asus 52x max. The computer driver is set at standard VGA. If you can advise me on what detailed steps I need to take, please by all means do so. This computer is important for my school work, and I have no money to take it in for repair. Thanks for taking time to read this.

 

Find out what you video card is. Use a program like everest or similar to find out if you have to.

Once know see if you have the driver on a disk somewhere. If not do a search & download the driver for '98.

Then go into your device manager, find the video card, right click/properties & uninstall it.

Reboot & then load the new driver.

If it is easier, post the make of the video card here.

 

Hey, well the thing is that this computer was given to me as a gift. So I don't have any of the original cd's or drives. As for the video driver, it says it's at standard VGA. It says vga.drv and display at /0000. Then it has a bunch of things like numbers of memory range and stuff. That's all it says. If I do have to reinstall driver, where do I have to go? Thanks for your reply.

 

It also says I'm using a generic video driver. To Install the one from the manufacturer, when I check it in direct x conflict problems. Hope this is helpful.

 

vga.drv is just the standard window driver that installs by default so you have an image on the screen. It's not the correct driver, just a fail-safe when you have nothing else.

As you don't know what's inside your PC, get yourself Everest Home Edition, which is free software that will tell you exactly what's inside and where to get the drivers.

http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en

 

Hey I downloaded the software and checked it out. It says I have the stanard vga still. How do I find out where to go to download the driver? This is where I get lost at...Thanks.

 

Just making sure so you get the right driver>

Open Everest then go to Display/PCI / AGP Video. What does it say in the box on the right for "Video Adapter".