I have an HP pavilion 500 desktop which is several years old. I was running XP until it crashed due to registry errors. I recently installed Windows 7 32-bit, and since, haven't been able to view pictures (they're grainy and missing color). I have a black border around all of my windows and although the minimize/maximize and close buttons work you cannot see them. Iam usinga 19" Philipsmodeaflat-panel LCD (model# PFL5402D/27) with a VGA cable. Don't know what graphics card I have but it shouldn't matter because it was working fine with the XP operating system. I've checked my drivers to make sure they're up to date. I tried to change the resolution in the settings but it won't allow me. It's set to generic non-PnP with a resolution of 800x600. When I click the drop down menu it doesn't list any other options/resolutions. When I'm in Yahoo messenger the screen constantly flashes and the page often shuts down but I guess that's a seperate issue. Please help.

You need to install the video driver for your system.

Hi,it appears there could be two causes for your problem:1) Your graphics card driver is not correct for your system. "Don't know what graphics card I have but it shouldn't matter because it was working fine with the XP operating system. I've checked my drivers to make sure they're up to date." Two invalid reasons. That your video card worked on XP (based on a completely different driver model), isn't of interest. Even the "up to date" reasoning doesn't help much. Some recent drivers couldn't work, either. You must try different solutions. Usually (but without guarantee) drivers provided by Windows Update should work, even if there are newer ones from the manufacturer. - Using wrong drivers very often results in the loss of scaling you are observing (getting stuck with "generic" 800x600 or even 640x480).2) Your monitor might not be recognized well. Check if in "Device Manager" the monitor is listed as your model, or only as a generic flat-panel monitor. If the latter is the case, you need drivers for your monitor, too.Please report back.Mobile AMD64 3000+, VIA Apollo K8T800 chipset, 1 G RAM, ATIRadeonMobility 9700, 20x DVDRW, C:XPSP3 (55G),D:WIN7 (25G),F:DATA (250G)

I had a strong feeling that I just had to install the right driver[s] to resolve my issue, but my problem is how. How do I know which driver is the right one and where do I download it from? Should I go to the Philips website and see if they have a driver download application? Do I need to know the manufacturer of my video/graphics card and go to their website? Forgive me for sounding ignorant. I've never had to deal with this sort of problem so it is not my strong suit.

Thanks bubba but might you be able to tell me how? Please elaborate.

Which Pavilion 500 is it? 500a, 500b, etc. With that info you can look on the HP website for the right video driver but it's entirely possible there is no Windows 7 (or Vista) driver for that system. Is the video on board (attached to the system board) or a PC1/AGB add-on card?Rich

Please follow Ztruker's advice and post EXACT model of computer you have , then you can look on HP's site to find a driver, and we know what graphics card you have by looking at the model's specs.JoelbX's favorite threads | Space | ----- | Email me | 'Gadget' programsHelp me build a new PC

As far as I can tell it's just a Pavilion 500. The sticker on the side says SYSTEM#: P6318A. Went to HP site. You're right; no driver updates available for this PC when running Windows 7. It's not an add on card so it must be on the board. I was thinking about installing an add on card that has HDMI since I'm using a PHILIPS flat-panel LCD. Any advice on that? Thank you all.

As far as I can tell it's just a Pavilion 500. The sticker on the side says SYSTEM#: P6318A. According to HP's site, when that # is entered, this is the comp (HP Pavilion 520n Desktop PC (US/CAN) ) specs : Model number P6318A Base processor and speed Celeron 1.3 GHz Chipset Intel (R) 810e Memory Component Attributes RAM (standard) 512 MB (2x256) Speed PC100 Type SDRAM DIMM Slots Two Hard drive 60 GB CD-RW drive 16x8x40x DVD-Drive 16x Diskette drive 1.44 MB (3.5-inch) Fax/data modem Cheetah 2 V.90 Modem Video graphics Integrated into Chipset, No AGP Slot Sound/audio AC97 Audio Network 10/100BT Integrated on Motherboard External ports Port type Quantity USB Four (two front and two back) Serial Two (one front and one back) Parallel One PS2 Keyboard One PS2 Mouse One Expansion slots (total) Slot type Quantity PCI Three DIMM Two Drive bays (total) Bay type Quantity 5.25-inch CD external Two 3.5-inch HDD, internal One 3.5-inch FDD, external One 3.5-inch (other) One Speakers Polk Audio F stereo speakers (left and right) Other Internal Speaker Cable Keyboard/mouse HP One Touch Internet Keyboard PS/2 Scroller Mouse Supported operating systems (OS/NOS) Microsoft (R) Windows XP Home Edition Software Build ID/BIOS Software Build ID 21NAbBCDE3 Went to HP site. You're right; no driver updates available for this PC when running Windows 7. It's not an add on card so it must be on the board. I was thinking about installing an add on card that has HDMI since I'm using a PHILIPS flat-panel LCD. Any advice on that? Thank you all. Yep,, that graphics card chipset never had Vista or win7 drivers made for it, in order to run Aero (fancy transparency and other effects) you need a graphics card upgrade, however the specs also said the board does not have a AGP slot, so a graphics card upgrade is virtually impossible. You can install the XP driver in compatibility mode though, that will fix the graphics and allow you to change screen resolutions, but any multimedia stuff that uses graphics (aka videos, youtube) will not play correctly with XP drivers. (Help me build a new PC ) JoelbX's favorite threads | Computer tips | ----- | Email me | 'Gadget' programs

Thanks Joel, Okay, so at this point it looks like I'm never gonna get the graphics working 100% with this OS. I have a WindowsXP Professional disk that I bought. Turns out it's an "upgrade" disk. It won't let me install it without "verifying the original version of the operating system". It wants me to insert the original XP disk which I do not have. If I contact Microsoft will theybe able to verifymy original operating system? What info will they need? Even then, will I be able to install XPpro with just this upgrade disk? What if I tried to install the XPpro upgrade disk while running Windows 7?

Thanks Joel, Okay, so at this point it looks like I'm never gonna get the graphics working 100% with this OS. I have a WindowsXP Professional disk that I bought. Turns out it's an "upgrade" disk. It won't let me install it without "verifying the original version of the operating system". It wants me to insert the original XP disk which I do not have. If I contact Microsoft will theybe able to verifymy original operating system? What info will they need? Even then, will I be able to install XPpro with just this upgrade disk? What if I tried to install the XPpro upgrade disk while running Windows 7? You can fix the graphics by using the XP driver in compatibility mode for XP on win7, no need to downgrade back to XP. The XP installer might be asking for a previous OS than XP, eg 98, but you can't downgrade from win7 to XP without clean installing - which means reinstalling all programs and drivers, and restoring your documents from a backup. I would just stick with win7 and use the XP graphics drivers. (Help me build a new PC)JoelbX's favorite threads | Computer tips | ----- | Email me | 'Gadget' programs