Hi, I keep getting this VGA Mode Not Supported message on the LCD monitor whenever it tries to go into Windows. I have read up on this online and it seems to be a problem with the refresh rate. The problem is that I can't boot into Safe Mode to change the refresh rate to a lower setting because it either freezes or also shows that VGA Mode message again.

This is a Compaq that I'm fixing for someone and they just have the 5 recovery discs that came with it. I tried putting the first one in and selected to do the format and recover option. It goes through the recovery progress and then just shows the same VGA Mode message once again. It never asks for the second recovery disc even.

Is there any way I can go around this and change the refresh rate somehow?

I'm sure the LCD monitor itself is good as I connected it to a laptop and also could boot into the BIOS settings.

Thanks in advance.

what about connecting another monitor to the computer ?

yeah for u to change the refresh rate u can put on another monitor
maybe ur friends or neighbours
and lower ur refresh rate settings from from tht monitor..
and then connect your LCD monitor

i guess this should solve ur problem...

Yeah, I had to take it home with me because they don't have another spare monitor that I could use to test it with.

After playing around with the recovery disc at their house, it corrupted the OS somehow already. I actually have another question for this. If I use the recovery CD and choose the option to wipe out everything first before doing the restore, why does the LCD monitor show that VGA Mode message again after the first disc is done? Shouldn't Windows be wiped out already at that point and the resolution or refresh rate settings be reset?

I did the install on my old 15" monitor and it didn't give me any problems. The recovery went without a hitch. After disc 1, I inserted disc #2 to begin the Windows installation (very similar to the normal Windows XP install screen).

So, any idea why it wouldn't work on the LCD monitor? My guess is that recovery disc #1 should have already wiped out Windows XP as I couldn't get the machine to bootup from my house once I brought it over. Had to do the recovery/repair from the beginning again.

VGA modes are old VESA standard video modes that are supported as legacy modes on most graphics cards. In general, on modern graphics cards, they have variable refresh rates so as not to cause problems with monitors that can't handle the lower refresh rates frequently associated with VGA modes. Sometimes, graphics cards do not adjust the refresh rate for the monitor, and this can cause problems of minimum refresh rate being exceeded. The LCD monitor possibly has a very strict minimum refresh rate, and thus cannot handle the VGA mode on its standard refresh rate as sent by the graphics card.

~Viz

I found out the problem. After returning the computer back to the owner in working order, I installed everything back for them. I asked the guy how they go online and he said his daughter will set it up. I said ok and let her do it. Then I noticed that she wanted to change the resolution. The second she changed it to 640x480, the whole thing just collapsed. Back to the VGA Mode error. I had to boot into Safe Mode and tried to set it back to the higher resolution, but (as I guessed), it's running at minimal settings.

I memorized the order of the settings there in the display settings and booted back into Normal Mode. Then with the keyboard only, navigated through all those settings to change the resolution back to 800x600. Everything is working great now

I asked her why she wanted to put it on 640x480 and she said she didn't want the icons to be so big. Told her it's actually going to make it bigger by setting it at a lower resolution. Upped it to 1024x768

Windows has a setting that restricts the list of resolutions to only those the monitor can handle. You may want to see if that setting is enabled to prevent that from happening again.

~Viz

Thanks Viz. Tried searching for more information on this online but couldn't find more details on it. I won't be going back to his house (aunt's friend), but this is a good thing to keep in mind for next time if I see this problem again

You may also want to install the drivers for the monitor, so it won't happen again.

xboxrulz

LCD monitors and catastrophic failures
VGA Mode Not Supported Message On Monitor

When a system that is "older" and especially those with on board graphics, not of the AGP variety are combined with the newer flat screen monitors (LCD) they will often cause this problem. Usually you CAN see the BIOS setup screen, and this is confusing since you think it can handle the mode that it is running in, VGA, at the time, and it can.

The problem comes, especially if you're using those stupid recovery disks rather than installing a fresh copy of Windows on a bare hard disk, because many of the LCD flat panel monitrs rely on drivers loaded by windows to run. Most don't come with their own drivers anymore, which is OK, but if you're trying to "reload" a system from recovery, or the "ground up," you're going to have problems with SOME of them. The reason is because the recovery disks load monitor drivers (or don't) for the monitor that originally came with the system.

This is because, as vizskywalker stated, the minimum refresh rates, and other issues as well, are not handled appropriately by the bare minimum drivers loaded by the recovery disks... You WILl get an "unsupported mode" error with a lot of these flat panels. Ido Computer repair for a living and I keep an old CRT monitor in my shop for just such a problem.

For future reference, hook up an old style CRT monitor and reload widows (SP2 is not necessary at this point) and also see if newer drivers are available for the specific LCD you have. Once a good basic load of Windows is achieved, go to CONTROL PANEL>SYSTEM>HARDWARE>DEVICE MANAGER, then click on the [+] next to the "monitors" and find the CRT and go ACTION>UNINSTALL. SHut down the system and switch monitors. When Windows reboots, it should load the LCD drivers and be fine from there.

-JoeBop