Screen size bug - maybe limewire, maybe not

[roscoman]

I am experiencing a very odd problem. Sometimes when I open an application the screen stretches horizontally to about twice the normal width and gets out of alignment with the mouse cursor. The result is that half of the display is off to the right of the screen.

This happens seemingly randomly - the only pattern is that limewire is open whenever it happens. The only way to fix it is to shut down open applications one by one until it flicks back to normal (again, no pattern to which one will make it revert). When it does happen, it is very difficult to find anything out but I can tell that my desktop resolution does not change.

Has anyone heard of this before? Is it Limewire or is that just a coincidence? It only started happening when I got broadband a few days ago.

I have:
AMD Athlon 2100+
XFX GeforceFX 5900XT running omega drivers
Windows XP Pro


Many thanks for help
Ross

[murasame]

Your PC seems recent enough, but how old is your monitor (is it a flat screen?)?

[Lord of the Rings]

If this happens, go to your system monitor settings to see if they've changed at all. If they have, report back & tell us the specifics.

[roscoman]

The monitor is about two years old and is a CRT. I have been using it without any problems since I got it. Something else of relevance - I took a screen dump last time it happened and the problem shows up on that. I guess that says something about where in the pipeline the problem is.

When I say that my desktop resolution does not change I mean that as far as windows is concerned, it hasn't changed; obviously in reality it has. I am not sure exactly what you mean by system monitor settings - do you mean the device manager in the control panel? That will be very hard to check out when the error strikes but I'll try!

Cheers for your help.
Ross

[Lord of the Rings]

It only started happening when I got broadband a few days ago.

That doesn't sound good & is definitely suspicious. Did you configure LW with your broadband? How are your uplds & dwnlds going, are they as they should be with improvements? (I wonder if there's a clash b/w your graphics card & modem.)

If the monitor returns to normal then my suggestion about monitor settings is probably irrelevant - I just thought it might have been worth checking out.

[roscoman]

I've found a more consistent pattern. It only happens when I am actually downloading using Limewire (there are no problems with the connection - up to 70KB/sec).

Usually it happens when I try to open a movie file (any type), but it has happened with just Outlook Express. The temporary fix (which works every time) is to simply disconnect Limewire when I want to open a new application. It does seem like a conflict between the graphics card and the modem since Limewire can safely be open, just not downloading. I will try (when I work out how!) to roll back my graphics drivers from the omega ones to the latest nVidia ones and see if that helps.

Although the fix isn't ideal, I can live with it. If anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them.

Thanks for the help
Ross