Laptop TFT ... garbled letters

Help please, if you can.

The problem: My laptop screen, the letters are legible, but fuzzy, rather
than crisp as they were before I upgraded to Windows 98SE. Images also are
not crisp. How do I fix this? My laptop is an Everex StepNote SK (233mHz
Pentium with MMX and a 13.3” TFT XGA screen)

History:
I recently upgraded to Windows 98SE for additional function, such as
using the USB port with a memory stick, and Adobe Reader 6 (rather than
5.05). I started with a clean slate -- I reformatted my C: partition
(leaving my D: and E: partitions of programs and data alone) -- then
installed Windows 98SE, virtually all its updates, Office 97, Adobe 6, other
stuff, and the video driver srvga95.exe. The video driver improved my
display, from 16 colors to 16-bit, and gave me resolution options, but the
letters are fuzzy (though legible) and all the images are fuzzy. Before this,
the screen was crisp and clear. I do not have the original install diskettes
-- the srvga95.exe driver is from www.driverguide.com.
I used srvga95.exe before, when a couple years ago I had to rebuild
the laptop from scratch (with Windows 9 after the harddrive died. The
driver restored crispness back then. Now it won’t.

I suspect the driver may not be right for 98SE, but there may be other
problems or incorrect settings. I have tried some other drivers from
www.driverguide.com, but none have fixed the problem I have. I get the same
result. Anyone out there that could offer some suggestions?

I suspect that my Everex machine is nearly identical to some other
manufacturer’s 233mHz Pentium/MMX laptop, and if I knew who that was, I could
probaby get drivers and support from that manufacturer. Everex,
unfortunately, does not have any support pages.

* * * * * * * *
Here is some additional information, in case it helps ...

Excerpts from the Owner's Manual.

From the "Introducing the Computer" paragraph.
"Standard features include a powerful Pentium processor, fast PCI-bus VGA
graphics, a high performance disk drive ..." (p.2)

From the "Features of the Computer" section.
"A PCI-bus video accelerator driving a color LCD display panel with a wide
viewing area for high resolution VGA compatibility."(p.3)

From the "Using the Video System" page. (p.39)
o To install the VGA driver for Windows 95, follow the steps below.
- Insert the NM2160 VGA driver utility diskette into Drive A:
- Click on "Control Panel -> Add New hardware -> Display Adapters.
- Click "Have Disk" and select "NeoMagic MagicGraph 128ZV"
to change the driver.
- Follow instructions on the screen to complete the installation
process.

There are no instructions for installing the driver under Windows 98 (or
98SE) because the laptop shipped before 98 and 98SE were out.

Other information about the laptop:
A sticker on the Laptop by the display screen says "TFT XGA"

My current Video Settings (from Display -> Settings -> Advanced) are the
following:
o From Display adapter tab, installed is:
NeoMagic MagicGraph 128ZV

o From the Monitor tab, installed is:
Laptop Display Panel (1024 x 768)

buffalo rider wrote:
> Everex, unfortunately, does not have any support pages.

http://www.everex.com/support/support.htm

--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.net/
http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm


"buffalo rider" <buffalorider.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1E913263-8E70-44D7-8839-631BB3E7FB8E@microsoft.com...
> Help please, if you can.
>
> The problem: My laptop screen, the letters are legible, but fuzzy, rather
> than crisp as they were before I upgraded to Windows 98SE. Images also are
> not crisp. How do I fix this? My laptop is an Everex StepNote SK (233mHz
> Pentium with MMX and a 13.3” TFT XGA screen)
>
> History:
> I recently upgraded to Windows 98SE for additional function, such as
> using the USB port with a memory stick, and Adobe Reader 6 (rather than
> 5.05). I started with a clean slate -- I reformatted my C: partition
> (leaving my D: and E: partitions of programs and data alone) -- then
> installed Windows 98SE, virtually all its updates, Office 97, Adobe 6, other
> stuff, and the video driver srvga95.exe. The video driver improved my
> display, from 16 colors to 16-bit, and gave me resolution options, but the
> letters are fuzzy (though legible) and all the images are fuzzy. Before this,
> the screen was crisp and clear. I do not have the original install diskettes
> -- the srvga95.exe driver is from www.driverguide.com.
> I used srvga95.exe before, when a couple years ago I had to rebuild
> the laptop from scratch (with Windows 9 after the harddrive died. The
> driver restored crispness back then. Now it won’t.
>
> I suspect the driver may not be right for 98SE, but there may be other
> problems or incorrect settings. I have tried some other drivers from
> www.driverguide.com, but none have fixed the problem I have. I get the same
> result. Anyone out there that could offer some suggestions?
>
> I suspect that my Everex machine is nearly identical to some other
> manufacturer’s 233mHz Pentium/MMX laptop, and if I knew who that was, I could
> probaby get drivers and support from that manufacturer. Everex,
> unfortunately, does not have any support pages.
>
> * * * * * * * *
> Here is some additional information, in case it helps ...
>
> Excerpts from the Owner's Manual.
>
> From the "Introducing the Computer" paragraph.
> "Standard features include a powerful Pentium processor, fast PCI-bus VGA
> graphics, a high performance disk drive ..." (p.2)
>
> From the "Features of the Computer" section.
> "A PCI-bus video accelerator driving a color LCD display panel with a wide
> viewing area for high resolution VGA compatibility."(p.3)
>
> From the "Using the Video System" page. (p.39)
> o To install the VGA driver for Windows 95, follow the steps below.
> - Insert the NM2160 VGA driver utility diskette into Drive A:
> - Click on "Control Panel -> Add New hardware -> Display Adapters.
> - Click "Have Disk" and select "NeoMagic MagicGraph 128ZV"
> to change the driver.
> - Follow instructions on the screen to complete the installation
> process.
>
> There are no instructions for installing the driver under Windows 98 (or
> 98SE) because the laptop shipped before 98 and 98SE were out.
>
> Other information about the laptop:
> A sticker on the Laptop by the display screen says "TFT XGA"
>
> My current Video Settings (from Display -> Settings -> Advanced) are the
> following:
> o From Display adapter tab, installed is:
> NeoMagic MagicGraph 128ZV
>
> o From the Monitor tab, installed is:
> Laptop Display Panel (1024 x 768)
>