Unable to change the screen resolution in windows 7

Question

I left my Windows 7 laptop on over night. It hibernated and when I started it back up I noticed that the screen settings where wrong. I use an external screen normally, but both with or without that connected it was messed up. Details:

• If I go to the control panel and try to change the screen resolution - nothing happens (button appears not to work)
• If I right click on the desktop and try to personalize the screen I get the error:

Windows cannot find ''. Make sure you typed the name correctly and try again

Any suggestions on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Answer 2

Right-click on desktop background, Screen Resolution: Select the desired screenresolution.

Answer 3

Some laptops have a key combination like Function+F8 that toggles the external display, and if you have an ATI or NVidia icon in the system tray you could try changing the resolution there. Either of those might kick something loose and allow you to carry on without rebooting.