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[robinsteele]

Anyone know how to change display settings when in safe mode.I dont know if the crappy display is a standard windows thing,but its irritating.
My display is in 4-bit settings and theres no option to change to 32-bit,and the screen resolution is stuck at 480 odd.Has everyone else got to put up with dragging windows to get to the x to close things

[exo]

Hi, safe mode is often used for diagnostic purposes and as such it only loads very basic drivers.
As it does not load your graphics card drivers, you are only shown a basic VGA setting. This setting can't be changed changed until Windows loads normally.

Using keyboard keys will often help navigating the screen display whilst in safe mode.

More information here. You may wish to try enabling VGA mode to see if it makes any difference to your display.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222

[mr_chris]

"Safe Mode" is just that... it's only use should be to diagnose problems that are preventing Windows from starting in normal mode. I agree there are a couple of dialogs that are difficult to see the whole thing (Display properties being one of them!).

As exo has explained... because of its purpose, safe mode loads the most basic set of drivers it can get away with in order to give windows the best chance of actually starting up.

Perhaps a question to you should be - how come you need to be in safe mode - is there a problem preventing your PC starting up properly in normal mode?

[robinsteele]

hi mr.chris
I was using safe mode for routine maintenance.I dont know why a window is like 120 % of its
normal size,maybe it would display stuff ok if i had a 19 " monitor,as i only have a 15" one and
its difficult to see information and close boxes with the basic drivers.

Another irritating thing was how my pc was not accepting an operating system.I have 2x xp pro discs
and 1 x xp sp2 disc and the only way to get anything on my pc was to use the "recovery disc" i made
when i bought the pc.I was getting messages during install about missing operating files,albeit
different ones for each disc,never the same one twice.

Thank heavens i had that recovery disc,it reinstalled partitions also

[exo]

hi mr.chris
I was using safe mode for routine maintenance.I dont know why a window is like 120 % of its
normal size,maybe it would display stuff ok if i had a 19 " monitor,as i only have a 15" one and
its difficult to see information and close boxes with the basic drivers.

I think you are still missing the point for safe mode.
Safe mode does not load your graphics card driver so you are unable to change the settings.
In safe mode, Windows uses a default driver setting which gives a display in 640 x 480, 16 colour mode.
Not as usable as the normal display settings but does allow some problem solving.

Why do you wish to do general maintenance in safe mode?

[Floydoid]

I agree with Exo, normally you would use safe mode only for getting rid of something particularly stubborn, like a nastie, or a file that refuses to delete under normal circumstances.

[mr_chris]

Yeah - as I said in my reply above about Safe Mode:

It's only use should be to diagnose problems that are preventing Windows from starting in normal mode.

[robinsteele]

Yeah - as I said in my reply above about Safe Mode:

It's only use should be to diagnose problems that are preventing Windows from starting in normal mode.

That is true,but advice is to remove viruses etc in safe mode.Ive had terrible trouble with system volume info files
and thought it best to sort it out in safe mode.My view is why should windows have such a crappy display in safe mode,especially if theres nothing wrong with anyones graphics in the first place.
Also bear in mind that in some peoples minds,graphics/display means everything to them,as why would anyone
use/buy a monitor above 15",or splash out on a "fancy" graphics card.

[Floydoid]

I guess windows safe mode is 640x480 because that's the native res that the system BIOS uses during bootup... to get anything different you need graphics drivers installed, and seeing that safe mode is the bare minimum of windows, it doesn't bother with sound or graphics drivers, along with various other bits, which I suppose makes troubleshooting more straightforward.

[robinsteele]

I guess windows safe mode is 640x480 because that's the native res that the system BIOS uses during bootup... to get anything different you need graphics drivers installed, and seeing that safe mode is the bare minimum of windows, it doesn't bother with sound or graphics drivers, along with various other bits, which I suppose makes troubleshooting more straightforward.

i know what its for mike,but the graphics etc are shocking.it wouldnt take much for ms too improve
graphics facility in safe mode.it offers you networking etc,not everyones on a network,but everyone will
be looking at a computer monitor surely,thats my point m8.

[Floydoid]

I tend to agree, the minimum resolution should be 1024x768 these days... the fact that you get 640x480 during boot up is probably more due to historical reasons than anything else.

[DEADLY-TDG-]

looks ok for me, i have powerful graphics card, but going into safe mode doesn't bother me, looks shabby, but why you need it too look nice?

[Pwiggler]

........ think this thread has turned into a wind-up ......

[robinsteele]

looks ok for me, i have powerful graphics card, but going into safe mode doesn't bother me, looks shabby, but why you need it too look nice?

why do you need a powerful graphics card,i have a basic one,seems to display pictures on the monitor,very
strange that is.maybe i should buy a super dooper one,wonder if it will do my washing and ironing,if it does
ill take it out for a meal and see wot develops from there..............

[Floydoid]

why do you need a powerful graphics card,

Maybe they're a gamer.