Please Help me...

[secondvijai007]

Hi!
I have an old Dell Inspiron Laptop, about 4-5 years old. I still use it to do basic word processing, listening to music, etc. Well a couple of days ago, the fan started making quite some noise, more that normal at least. Seeing as how i hadnt cleaned it in forever, i though that the inside, especially the fans, might be dusty...
Well i opened it up the otherday, and there was, some dust, but not much. I cleaned it out and put it back together. when i turned it back on, for some reason, the entire window (The start up screen) appeared very small in the middle of the screen. I can see the entire desktop, but its very small for some reason. Also the the touchpad/mouse (dont know the correct term..) seems to be a little off... Could someone please tell me whats wrong with it and how to fix it? Thanks a lot

 

[fbrdphreak]

Only guess I have is that you might've screwed with the LCD connection somehow, but generally that either works or it doesn't.

When you right-click on the desktop, hit "Properties," and go to the "Settings" tab. What resolution is your screen at right now?

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: secondvijai007
Hi!
I have an old Dell Inspiron Laptop, about 4-5 years old. I still use it to do basic word processing, listening to music, etc. Well a couple of days ago, the fan started making quite some noise, more that normal at least. Seeing as how i hadnt cleaned it in forever, i though that the inside, especially the fans, might be dusty...
Well i opened it up the otherday, and there was, some dust, but not much. I cleaned it out and put it back together. when i turned it back on, for some reason, the entire window (The start up screen) appeared very small in the middle of the screen. I can see the entire desktop, but its very small for some reason. Also the the touchpad/mouse (dont know the correct term..) seems to be a little off... Could someone please tell me whats wrong with it and how to fix it? Thanks a lot

try pressing FN+F7

This is the funtion for the font key. It will adjust the size of screen and kill the black border. Post if that helps.... if not I'll try and come up with something else.

 

[secondvijai007]

Oh wow! that worked. I never knew you could do that... thanks mparr1708! Thank you fbrdphreak too, for your help. I just have one more problem... the mouse pad still doesnt seem to work... but i can still use another mouse via ps/2 to connect and use it. If you guys could help me with that, that'd be great. If not, thanks a bunch for helping me fix this monitor problem. I was totally freaked out by that. THANKS!

 

[mparr1708]

Originally posted by: secondvijai007
Oh wow! that worked. I never knew you could do that... thanks mparr1708! Thank you fbrdphreak too, for your help. I just have one more problem... the mouse pad still doesnt seem to work... but i can still use another mouse via ps/2 to connect and use it. If you guys could help me with that, that'd be great. If not, thanks a bunch for helping me fix this monitor problem. I was totally freaked out by that. THANKS!

My guess is you didn?t get something seated correctly when you put it back together. If it were me I would retrace my steps. Take everything apart that you took apart before and look for any loose cables or anything you forgot to reconnect. Also go to Dell's website and download there service manual. If you have another computer it?s very handy to be looking at the manual while you are working on the laptop. A lot of laptops are built differently and the manual will help you identify the quirky things the manufacture has done to make the laptop there own. Good luck!

 

[secondvijai007]

Alright. I will try that. I'll keep you posted. Thanks!