Cats and (short) Cuts

Hi everyone,
Yes, there is a connection between cold weather, a cat and my messed up display. Knowing that my cats loves to sit on my laptop keyboard (Compaq Presario running on Windows XP) I kept him on the balcony. Until my daughter let him in when I was not there. Anyway, apparently he has used some funny (and for the time being irreversible) keyboard shortcut/s to mess up my display.

Problem:
In some programmes (not all) the display changed to smaller. Example: we were just playing civilization (basically a game on a world map). Before the part of the world map you were playing on was comfortably medium sized. Now it is HUGE ? even towns are barely visible. Another example: my start menu changed size. I can make it small and big (see solutions tried below), but NOT like it was before (which was in the middle between small and big).

Solutions tried:
1. Control panel - display. Nothing works (changed resolution).
2. right-click desktop - properties (basically the same, but I tried anyway)
3. system restore; didn't work
4. control panel - accessibility- monitor, no result
5. control panel- display- troubleshooter --> does not work (I mean the troubleshooter does not open at all)
6. help and support centre does not open either
7. Fn and F2 keys for help does not open

In my opinion, there is only one solution left: find that bloody keyboard shortcut and reverse what my cat has done. Does anyone have an idea how to solve my problem?
Thanks in advance.

 

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I dunno what the cat did, but it no doubt likes the heat coming from your laptop. I would suggest one of the following:

- Not keeping the laptop on all the time. This will eliminate the heat coming from it, thereby not attracting the cat. However, the cat may be used to laying on it out of habit, so this solution may not work.
- Creating some sort of replacement heat source for the cat. If it has a more comfy place to lay, it will lay there and not on your keyboard.
- Putting the laptop somewhere unaccesable to the cat.
- Closing the lid of your laptop. The cat may still lay on it, but at least you will eliminate the possibility that the cat presses keys by accident.
- Shock therapy. Create a strong electric field around the laptop so the cat will get a nice jolt every time it goes near.

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I'll address only the cat part:

Just don't blame the cat!

Either your cat loves your laptop, or the place where the laptop is. It's more likely that he finds the spot so appealing.
In which case, protect your laptop, or move it elsewhere.
Cats have their spots where they love to be -- and that's it.

 

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Lord help me if a laptop is ever left open in my house. It's as if the cats
know exactly where the power button is and exactly how long to press it.

 

The cat might have triggered Windows notorious Accessibility feature, it's usually triggered by holding something like shift down for 5 seconds can't remember exactly, however I can attempt to tell you how to turn it off (or uninstall it)

Make sure you have your Windows disk ready if you haven't an OEM install (Where it gets files from the drive)

The Accessibility feature is installed usually by default with a windows system unless you customize your settings, usual way to remove it is to go to your "Control Panel", then "Add/Remove Programs" in XP there should be "Add/Remove Components". (Win98/ME I think is similar but you might have to look around to find it)

Look for the Entry of Accessibility and untick it, it should then uninstall it.

Otherwise you will have to attempt to alter how the Accessibility Feature functions, like disabling its keyboard shortcuts.

I'm sure now you know what the problem is you'll be able to find out alot of information on how to deal with it.

 

Thanks stryder, but that I tried already (solution nb. 4). It was something else (just in case someone experiences the same problem): I thought that, yes, he must have triggered some bloody shortcut, but which? Because the screen images were so small I thought that he probably had hit the "-" button. So I went back to the programme that was on when it happened and tried "+" in all possible combinations. It was "+" and "c" that brought my screen back to normal. Phew!

 

I know sparkle managed to resolve their issue, however somebody I know had a similar problem with their laptop however rather than their display being moved to larger than normal, it was made as small as a PDA.

It meant that if you could login to XP (which you couldn't since you couldn't navigate any more than approx 320 pixels across and 180 pixels down from the top left corner, since thats all the screen would show), you wouldn't be able to navigate any windows to change any options.

It was possible to press F8 during bootup and then select Safe Mode which in turn allowed the Systems Restore to take the system back a few restore locations, however as soon as it correct, it slipped straight back into the 320 x 180 pixel screen blownup to the size of the laptops screen.

In the end it turned out that the only way to fix it was a NVIDIA Display link in the mouse dropdown that you could get from right clicking the desktop. I managed to find a Display resolution slide bar that occured in the 320 x 180 range and put the display back correctly.

I'm still not 100% sure what the guy had done to it, what he had pressed. However he had just installed the game "Breed" and explained that he had picked a 24bit version of his resolution (or so he thought).

I'll have to look to see if there is some way of copying a config file thats connected to resolution to speed up a fix process in the future.

 

hi sparkle

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i think your cat is a hacker :bugeye:

it is probably a virus.

0 > pull out the powercable from the mainsystem.
1 > open the case of your PC.
2 > find the CMOS settings in the motherboard-book (jumpersettings).
3 > remove the jumper(s) for a cold start.
4 > put back the powerplug.
5 > start the machine only with a new keyboard attached.
6 > meanwhile, trash the old keyboard.
7 > stop the machine.
8 > put on the jumpers again.
9 > close the case(without the cat inside offcourse)
10 > attach all devices again.
11 > pet the cat.
12 > start the machine.

conclusion > or it will work again or it is installable again. or you have to go to the police with the total system including trashed keyboard and make a case of it and buy a mac. worst case > remove HD and use Norton Disk Docter for repair to recover files or go to an expert.

regards,

loki