lines on screen

[Guest beaver]

My Windows 98 will start up in the safe mode okay but if I want it to start

in normal mode with start up screen is full of red and green vertical lines

with some white at the bottom and blue at the top. What is causing this?

How can I fix it?

[Guest Tim Slattery]

Re: lines on screen

 

beaver <beaver@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>My Windows 98 will start up in the safe mode okay but if I want it to start

>in normal mode with start up screen is full of red and green vertical lines

>with some white at the bottom and blue at the top. What is causing this?

>How can I fix it?

 

I would suspect your video driver. Safe Mode puts your video in the

most generic possible mode: 800x600 with -- umm, I'm not sure how many

colors, but relatively low color depth. When you boot normally, you're

(most likely) going to tell your video driver to use a higher

resolution and color depth.

 

So your first step would the web site of the maker of the computer or

video array, and see if you can find a more recent video driver for

Win98. That may not be easy, since nobody is really interested in

writing drivers for Win98 today.

 

--

Tim Slattery

MS MVP(Shell/User)

Slattery_T@bls.gov

http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

[Guest MEB]

Re: lines on screen

 

 

"beaver" <beaver@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:5D2C4FD2-3BC2-4B13-9AEE-D0DC5A9300E7@microsoft.com...

| My Windows 98 will start up in the safe mode okay but if I want it to

start

| in normal mode with start up screen is full of red and green vertical

lines

| with some white at the bottom and blue at the top. What is causing this?

| How can I fix it?

 

Could be a few things.

 

1. A common issue which causes this problem is video driver corruption. Safe

Mode uses the "fall back" default generic monitor NOT the video

manufacturer's driver [unless it was replaced by the manufacturer]. The fix

is to download the driver for the adapter, uninstall the old, and

re-install.

This MAY, however, leave residual problems associated with old or

conflicting registry settings OR old video driver files which might still be

referenced within the registry. If this occurs, then careful review of the

registry and installation INFs might be needed to correct the problem.

 

2. IF you have installed any other adapters recently OR the system is old,

you may be experiencing issues related to corrosion of the contacts leaving

just the on board/chip VESA. Resolution and GUI are affected. Older systems

[really any computer] tend to need a yearly cleanup. The Gold plating on the

contacts degrades, OR the other types degrade at a faster rate. To test this

and correct, MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW ESD [Electro-static discharge routines]

and disconnect power to the computer. Clean all adapter "fingers" with a

pencil erasure, and the slots with a DAMP cloth with de-natured alcohol.

 

3. There are a few other potential causes, such as connection cable, monitor

"burn out", and some others. After trying the above, then further testing

might be needed should there still be issues.

 

4. IF this is a laptop OR LCD display, then there may be other issues. Here,

a common user is limited to correction of the driver, and testing chipset/on

board adapter with test tools.

 

--

MEB

http://peoplescounsel.org

a Peoples' counsel

_ _

~~

[Guest Franc Zabkar]

Re: lines on screen

 

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008 08:20:01 -0700, beaver

<beaver@discussions.microsoft.com> put finger to keyboard and

composed:

>My Windows 98 will start up in the safe mode okay but if I want it to start

>in normal mode with start up screen is full of red and green vertical lines

>with some white at the bottom and blue at the top. What is causing this?

>How can I fix it?

 

It could be a RAM fault on your video card that shows up at higher

resolutions. It could also be a timing issue, in which case you could

experiment with lower refresh rates, if your eyes can stand it.

 

- Franc Zabkar

--

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

[Guest Dan]

Re: lines on screen

 

Tim, for your information, the most generic on my system in Windows 98 Second

Edition is 640x480 resolution mode with usually 256 colors but I have even

managed to get the colors down to just 16 colors. I just thought I would let

you know this is the most generic video I have been able to get within

Windows 98 Second Edition. It would not surprise me if some of my older disk

operating system games have even lower resolution than that but this is the

lowest resolution and color display I have had with just the generic VGA

driver and using manipulation on my part as well.

 

"Tim Slattery" wrote:

> beaver <beaver@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>

> >My Windows 98 will start up in the safe mode okay but if I want it to start

> >in normal mode with start up screen is full of red and green vertical lines

> >with some white at the bottom and blue at the top. What is causing this?

> >How can I fix it?

>

> I would suspect your video driver. Safe Mode puts your video in the

> most generic possible mode: 800x600 with -- umm, I'm not sure how many

> colors, but relatively low color depth. When you boot normally, you're

> (most likely) going to tell your video driver to use a higher

> resolution and color depth.

>

> So your first step would the web site of the maker of the computer or

> video array, and see if you can find a more recent video driver for

> Win98. That may not be easy, since nobody is really interested in

> writing drivers for Win98 today.

>

> --

> Tim Slattery

> MS MVP(Shell/User)

> Slattery_T@bls.gov

> http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

>

[Guest Ben Myers]

Re: lines on screen

 

"beaver" <beaver@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:5D2C4FD2-3BC2-4B13-9AEE-D0DC5A9300E7@microsoft.com...

> My Windows 98 will start up in the safe mode okay but if I want it to start

> in normal mode with start up screen is full of red and green vertical lines

> with some white at the bottom and blue at the top. What is causing this?

> How can I fix it?

 

Back up your registry, then start the computer in Safe mode, go to

"Control Panel", "System", "Device Manager", double-click "Display

Adapters" and remove the existing display adapter. Then restart

normally and let Windows redetect the hardware. If this doesn't help,

start the computer in "Command Prompt", type the following three lines

and the manufacturer and model of the display adapter should appear

on the right side of the screen. Please note that the characters in line

2 are zeroes.

 

debug

dc000:0 14f

Q

 

Ben