Change Acer Aspire one D250 resolution

Question

Is there any way to choose something other than than 1024x600 or 800x600 resolution on a Acer Aspire One D250 netbook (Windows 7 Starter).

A program we use needs at least 1024x768 but it's not available under Screen resolution (some UI elements of said program are otherwise hidden "below" the visible screenspace and unfortunately the app window is not resizable)

On a D250 with Windows XP it was possible to go to Advanced settings -> Monitor and uncheck "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display". Then I was able to select the desired resolution and scroll up and down the screen with the mouse.

In Windows 7 this "Hide modes..." checkbox is gray and not clickable :(

Edit: additional information - Intel 945 graphics driver should be up-to-date - it's version 8.15.10.1912

The monitor, though, is just a "PnP Monitor" according to the Device Manager. Maybe if it had some not-so-generic drivers then the checkbox would become available again?

Thanks

Answer 1

This will work if you are using Windows 7

1. Click start, then type regedit in the searchbox and hit enter.

2. The program should now run. You may encounter the User Account Control window that asks if you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer. You will need to answer yes to proceed.

3. Now you are in the register editor (regedit).

Now click the plus [+] sign next to the folder named HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then [+]SYSTEM then [+]CurrentControlSet then [+]Control then [+]Video then [+] on the first folder that shows up. (Mine is called {DEB039CC-B704-4F53-B43E-9DD4432FA2E9}, but after reading about this "hack" online, the correct folder can in some cases be named something else. so be sure to read the next entry carefully.)

1. Now select folder 0000, if it is the correct folder it should contain about 100 entries. Just scroll down until you find the entry: Display1_DownScalingSupported

2. Now right-click and select modify. Next you just Change the value 0 to 1, make sure that hexadecimal is checked.

Be sure not to mess around with the other values, unless you really know what you are doing. I can confirm that this method works like a charm. By using this with my Acer Aspire One D250 I got these additional screen resolutions: 1024x768 and 1152x864.

Answer 2

I would go to the Acer's website and download the most up to date drivers for your system. Often resolution and other graphics issues can be fixed with changing and/or updating drivers.