Adjusting screen resolution without having video card drivers

0

My father has an old Windows XP computer.

He asked me to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 8 since windows XP ended releasing updates.

I installed Windows 8, and most of hardware got installed without problems, but some hardware isn't recognized.

I'm having problems with the graphics card: if I open screen resolution preferences, I see that 1024x768 (which is not the best resolution) is selected, but it's grayed out, so I can't choose another resolution for the screen.

That's because I can't install the drivers, there are the XP and Vista versions only, I tried to install them on the PC but the installer says that no compatible graphics card was detected.

Is there a way to install some "generic driver" that will make windows 8 unlock the resolution combo box and allow me to choose a different resolution?

The PC is a HP Compaq nx8220

Harlandraka

Posted 2014-04-12T12:55:08.977

Reputation: 375

I had the same thing when I connected my display to my graphics card after first boot with that display. A reboot with the display on fixed the issue and ever since I can change the resolution. But it might be something else that fixed it, so I'm not listing it as a solution, but rather as something you can try. If it actually works, tell me and I'll write it as a solution so you can accept it. – LPChip – 2014-04-12T13:49:39.270

@LPChip I'm talking about a laptop, so the display is always connected to the graphics card. And unfortunately I tried rebooting multiple times and nothing changed :( – Harlandraka – 2014-04-12T13:53:16.807

Ah, my bad. I have nu clue then. Sorry. – LPChip – 2014-04-12T13:59:00.837

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  • It sounds like it's already using the generic driver, which should probably be a Microsoft SVGA driver. 2. This is what happens when you blindly upgrade a computer without first making sure that the intended OS is supported and that you have drivers for the hardware for the intended OS. As it is, you're probably stuck with it.
    • < – joeqwerty – 2014-04-12T15:43:54.800

    Being an old laptop which doesn't support anything past Windows Vista, I guess you would have better luck with Windows 7. Here you can download the related upgrade advisor tool: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20 "It scans your hardware, devices, and installed programs for known compatibility issues, gives you guidance on how to resolve potential issues found [...]." If you still want to stick with Windows 8.x even if it's not supported at all, you should at least run the official upgrade assistant tool: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=321548

    – and31415 – 2014-04-13T10:58:06.023

    No answers

    Asked: 2014-04-12T12:55:08.977

    Viewed: 2 820 times

    Active: 2016-02-27T22:17:35.620