Hi,
I'm having trouble with the screen in safe mode, its fuzzy and i can't read anything. I can make out the blue background and the windows logo sort of. I can go in fine in normal mode since I set the diplay to 600 and 800, 32. I think it's because I have an old monitor. Any ideas? I'm on XP. I need to get in to safe mode to run anti virus software. cheers.

It may mean your monitor need a Degauss

How to Degauss a Computer Monitor

Degaussing a computer monitor clears electromagnetic build-up from the screen. Although it is hardly ever necessary, degaussing can sometimes slightly improve picture quality.
Steps

1. Simply turn the monitor off and turn it back on. Most modern monitors degauss themselves automatically each time they are powered on. When the monitor is turned on, you should hear a distinctive "dwoing" sound. If you hear no sound when you turn the unit on, it may not degauss itself automatically. If that is the case, proceed to the next step.

2. Locate the menu button on the front of the monitor.

3. Bring up the on-screen menu, locate the degauss option, and select it. You should now hear the degaussing noise, and the screen will probably display a brief burst of colour.

Hi
cheers for your comments, however I can't find a menu button for the monitor, I just have 6 dials at the bottom for brightness, contrast, stretching and moving the picture (its an old monitor!). And the screen is clear and trouble fre in normal mode. When I turn in off an on it does appear to make the noise you suggest. I think it must be another problem.
I read somewhere on the internet that in safe mode the computer stops using the ususal video drivers that it uses in normal mode. Could this be part of the problem? I also read that safe mode would revert to the most basic pixels etc so it would work on even the worst monitors. I feel like its a simple problem that I'm just missing somehow.
Any more suggestions?
Cheers.

From the Safe Mode option screen try: "Enable VGA Mode".

• Safe Mode (SAFEBOOT_OPTION=Minimal): This option uses a minimal set of device drivers and services to start Windows.

• Enable VGA Mode: This option starts Windows in 640 x 480 mode by using the current video driver (not Vga.sys). This mode is useful if the display is configured for a setting that the monitor cannot display.

Note Safe mode and Safe mode with Networking load the Vga.sys driver instead.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/en-us

Thanks,
going into safe mode using VGA worked fine. Is there anyway to change it from here so that I can go into safe mode without VGA or is this just as good for running virus checkers? Cheers.

The only difference is VGA is using your graphics driver whereas Safe Mode proper uses Vga.sys

There should be no difference to virus scans.

Not sure if manually setting your resolution to 640 x 480 would have the same effect but you could try.

Thanks for you help, now i just have a nasty virus to kill.
Cheers.

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