Need help with display settings

Grandson installed war game on his pc os xp.worked fine for 2 days.Now screen looks like its in safe mode.setting is in 4 bit,and I cant change it to 16 or 32 bit.window pops up to do it automatically,but doesn't work.Tried to uninstall game,but it wont allow me error 5001.Thanks for any help.

 

Have you changed any video card drivers?

Additionally, did the game install any DirextX?

I'm assuming you went to properties and settings and tried that way.

 

No we didn't change any card drivers and I don't know about the direct x. He installed the game.Like I said if it makes a dif it worked for 2 days.Yes went to properties and could'nt change it.Thanks sosaiso

 

Can you get into your video card settings? Normally you right click an empty area of you desktop, then click properties, etc etc. if it's a nvidia or ati card then download a 3d utility like rivatuner which will discover problems and let you maximize the video. If all else fails look for registry fixes, or restore your PC or an old registry.

Maybe the game turned on your motherboard video chip, which is designed for diagnosing. Maybe the game burned up your video card. That happens a lot because cards are asking for so much power that the normal PC can't keep up. But, there are some pretty decent and inexpensive cards these days (as well as the one I just paid US $539.99 for) Plus you might have a card in an old PC.

You could also uninstall the card and then reinstall it.

Any of these paths should get you going . Pick the easiest one first.

 

He has nvidia geforce 2 mx mx 400-with yellow(!)exclamation mark.Is there anything i can try.I'm afraid to uninstall it,because I don't know how to reinstall it Can i download rivatuner on my pc and install it on his? He is not connected to internet.I tried system restore if that is what you meant.

 

I'd stay away from restore for now. Uninstalling and reinstalling might cause less problems. I recently restored my computer when tinkering with my video card and it caused me a lot of headache.

As for uninstalling and reinstalling, this might help a bit:
http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_4.html
[Very detailed instructions. Follow carefully.]

As for the yellow exclamation mark, does it give any sort of error message?

And reinstalling the video card happens automatically, so no need to worry there. You just have to dl the latest drivers off Nvidia after a reboot, install, and reboot again. Though, I would follow the cleaning advice in the site above. Just in case.

 

Thanks again sosaiso. It looks like game was to big for card,and I think card is shot.Can't follow your suggestion cause pc is not on line.No error message with exclamation point.

 

Ah. Sorry to hear that.

I'd guess you should plug the monitor into the default mobo output slot, until you get yourself a new card.

Newegg.com might give you some good deals.

 

Thanks sosaiso,will let you know how I make out.Reading the box game came in they specified excelarator.