Member Avatar for FastComputers

I know I have seen this problem once before, but I am currently seeing it on a dell latitude d600.
During POST and while windows is loading the display is about half its normal size and centered within the viewable area.
It appears this way in any PE environment as well.
But it is full size when the welcome screen appears and normal throughout windows operation.

ANY ideas?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by disuja26

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A concise troubleshooting path that builds on , and without repeating earlier explanations.

  1. Pre-OS vs OS behavior — focus on firmware/hardware first. The boot stages that run before the operating system loads are controlled by firmware and low-level option ROMs; OS video drivers come later, so a change visible during POST/early boot usually points at BIOS/firmware or the panel/cable, not a normal Windows driver change. (learn.microsoft.com)

  2. Quick isolation: attach an external monitor and observe the picture during POST. If the external shows a normal-sized POST and the internal display remains half-sized/centered, the lid wiring or LCD/panel electronics are prime suspects; reseating the LCD ribbon at both ends and inspecting the hinge area is a standard, effective check (power removed and battery disconnected before opening). Several repair guides and community reports show this fixes similar Latitude D6xx symptoms. (ifixit.com)

  3. Driver and firmware controls to check next. The integrated Intel driver historically exposes a “Display Expansion” / scaling option (Full screen / Center desktop / Maintain aspect ratio) that affects how lower pre-OS modes map to the panel; that control lives in the graphics control panel. If the OEM BIOS/firmware exposes an LCD-scaling or “LCD Expansion” setting (common on Latitude models), toggling it is a documented fix for many D6xx machines. (community.intel.com)

  4. When to update firmware or replace parts. If reseating and scaling settings don’t help, check the vendor BIOS/VBIOS versions and follow the OEM procedure to update firmware (use the service-tag download pages and the boot/BIOS flash method described by the vendor). If the symptom is strictly internal and persists across external displays, a panel or cable replacement is the usual final step. Proceed with firmware flashes only with AC power, a charged battery, and OEM instructions. (dell.com)

Recommended sequence: external-monitor pre-boot check → reseat/inspect cable and hinge → check Intel “Display Expansion” / OEM BIOS scaling options → update BIOS/VBIOS if advised by vendor documentation → panel/cable replacement if hardware fault remains.

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Member Avatar for Suspishio

Does it matter except for the sake of knowledge?

Anyway - during POST the CPU uses your Video card BIOS at VGA resolution. During Windows boot, the basic Windows VGA drivers are used unless you inhibit this via a boot.ini switch. After login, your profile resolution using the full video driver functionality is applied.

It may also be that your monitor is forcing a higher resolution during boot (this is unusual in my experience) and so the VGA text appears smaller.

Does that answer your question sufficiently?

Member Avatar for FastComputers

That definately helps. It will at very least give me a good start.

This problem has only been happening for about 3 months. It used to be completely fine.
I am not 100% sure, but I would like to rule out video card bios. The person using this laptop is not very computer savvy and I highly doubt that she could have done any bios upgrade on the video card.
I am however wondering if during a windows update a driver was changed and that affected this. Is that a possibility or does the problem have to be at the bios level?

I am positive that it is not a case of being higher resolution. The display is noticably different then what is not being displayed even with a black background. When the background is blue or other color there is no mistake that the video size is only about half and centered.

And no it does not affect the computer, but it gives the appearance that something is wrong which is what is bothering the user.

Thanks for your help

Member Avatar for mrmoti

Did the user switch monitors?
Happens with all monitors?
Try an old analog VGA display and see if still happens.
The problem may be 1) resolution or 2) refresh rate
If the user installed a 3rd party program to control the video card, and this program set the default of the card on power-on to something over than say VGA 60 Hz, that could cause the problem, then when windows takes command, the resolution and refresh rate change

Member Avatar for FastComputers

This is a laptop. And no 3rd party software to control display.

Thanks

Member Avatar for Suspishio

That definately helps. It will at very least give me a good start.

This problem has only been happening for about 3 months. It used to be completely fine.
I am not 100% sure, but I would like to rule out video card bios. The person using this laptop is not very computer savvy and I highly doubt that she could have done any bios upgrade on the video card.
I am however wondering if during a windows update a driver was changed and that affected this. Is that a possibility or does the problem have to be at the bios level?

I am positive that it is not a case of being higher resolution. The display is noticably different then what is not being displayed even with a black background. When the background is blue or other color there is no mistake that the video size is only about half and centered.

And no it does not affect the computer, but it gives the appearance that something is wrong which is what is bothering the user.

Thanks for your help

Have a read of the attachment. It explains what happens when.

I know you're asking about why it's changed since 3 months ago but it gives us both time to think about it once more.

The thing to tell the lady of the laptop is that if it doesn't beep when booting and the screen shows something and after logging in the screen's fine, then all's well.

BIOS_PCBootProcess[1].pdf (123.4 KB)
Member Avatar for crgibson

I had a Dell Latitude D620 with this problem and the solution was to go in to the system setup (press F2 during post or F12 and then select from the menu) and under video enable "LCD Expansion". On some models I believe that Fn + F7 or F8 will work as well.

Member Avatar for disuja26

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