# Colour's gone on my laptop! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318 "2004-01-07T23:42:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/1 "2004-01-07T23:42:28Z")
Alright, I have a Compaq Armada 1592DMT laptop, old bulky little bugger who’s had an undue amount of problems all the time. After the viruses and all the were cleared out, we had a good run. But now, it’s stuck on 16 or 8 colours, one of the two. Needless to say, this bites. I’ve tried “everything,” from simply changing it in the options (it blanks like normal, then comes up back set at 16) to attempts to replace the driver, which failed. It also won’t let me set it to straight greyscale, which is bad, because sites like this get a crosshatch on all of the grey, making it headache-inducing to read the text without highlighting it. What could be the problem? ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/2 "2004-01-08T02:12:18Z")
Have you checked your BIOS settings. Laptop displays often have configurable options there. If a bit flips in the CMOS, the hardware won’t let itself assume the now-disallowed settings (this can be useful to conserve RAM) The good news is that simply changing the setting back to the full feature set will fix it. The bad news is that your CMOS battery might be dying, and you may need to reinstall the drive. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/3 "2004-01-08T02:13:53Z")
-er- “reinstall the DRIVER” You see, depending on the driver, it might have seen the limited setting on your recent reinstall, and not installed the full feature set. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/4 "2004-01-08T20:00:32Z")
I hate to sound illiterate, but how would I check the BIOS settings? ---
**Author:** ![Mnem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mnem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnem)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/5 "2004-01-08T20:08:11Z")
It really depends, but if you’re using a Compaq it should be F1 or F10, from what I can remember anyways. Hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/6 "2004-01-08T22:23:38Z")
Unfortunately… it didn’t. Nothing happens with either. ---
**Author:** ![larsenmtl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@larsenmtl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsenmtl)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/7 "2004-01-08T23:23:46Z")
For Compaq BIOS Settings: [http://www.ts-consulting.net/compaq%20bios%20settings.htm](http://www.ts-consulting.net/compaq%20bios%20settings.htm) I don’t believe this to be a BIOS problem, though. You didn’t mention what operating system but windows has a habit of resorting to 16 colors 640x480 display if the Video driver is wrong, not installed or corrupt. Hit compaq’s website and find the correct video driver, reinstall. Larsenmtl ---
**Author:** ![larsenmtl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@larsenmtl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsenmtl)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/8 "2004-01-08T23:27:01Z")
Drivers [http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Armada/us/family/model/895.html](http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Armada/us/family/model/895.html) ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/9 "2004-01-09T01:14:15Z")
Make sure the old driver is **completely** uninstalled including any registry entries. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/10 "2004-01-10T06:18:44Z")
Have I told you guys that I’m now in love with you? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colours-gone-on-my-laptop/223318/11 "2004-01-10T07:06:06Z")
The problem is now not my video driver, but my monitor driver. And I can’t find one. How depressing. I know that this is true, because I can adjust the size of my desktop, but then it just adjusts beyond the size of the monitor (which believes it is always at 800x600). I also think that is is my colour problem as well. I’ll keep searching for the monitor driver, but I’m not hopeful.