Apparently Im A Idiot

[Walker Boh]

Like the title says, Im a idiot. I got my new Dell Insprion with a Nvidia 8600 and I have it connected to my TV through a DVI-to-HDMI cable. The picture is fine but the icons on the left side is mostly off the screen and you can only see the top of the taskbar. I tried changing the resolution on my computer and I've tried changing my T.V. from 16:9 to 4:3 but nothing helps. Any ideas?

UPDATE: I found out I need to use "Overscan Shift" from the GPU's control panel. For some stupid reason mine didn't have it, so I tried the driver disk that came with the computer and tried to install the new driver. It said it would have to uninstall the old one and would restart the computer. The computer then froze, so I held the power button until it shut off. Now all I can see are pink/green/black boxes on the screen from the get go. I don't even have the chance to hit F8. Since waffleimages is being dumb I used my myspace page to host the picture I took of the screen: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=66556199&albumID=0&imageID=14646123

[Heretic Monkey]

The thread title is superfluous.... :P

Not really, my roommate had a similar problem. It took him a really long time to figure out why the aspect ratios weren't syncing up correctly. The problem you're having with the boxes just seems to be a simple driver error. Can you boot up with the system discs and try the "restore/repair" option?

[Walker Boh]

I can't do anything. The second the screen comes on, its the green and pink boxes. I don't see anything else.

[Heretic Monkey]

So you don't even have the option to do a complete restore of your O/S? If that's the case, it's more than likely a hardware problem. Try booting your computer up with only the default monitor (not the tv) connected (if you have one).

Have you moved your PC around any recently? The video card might've gotten vibrated/shaken out of place, which needs to be secured. Also just do a basic check to make sure all the connections are in firmly.

Other than that, if you can't boot anything, even the default system files straight from a cd, i'm out of ideas... So you definitely wouldn't be the only idiot...

[Walker Boh]

So you don't even have the option to do a complete restore of your O/S? If that's the case, it's more than likely a hardware problem. Try booting your computer up with only the default monitor (not the tv) connected (if you have one).

No and I tried with the monitor but I got no signal. I had to change the settings to use my TV.

Have you moved your PC around any recently? The video card might've gotten vibrated/shaken out of place, which needs to be secured. Also just do a basic check to make sure all the connections are in firmly.

I moved it very gently and the only thing that refused to stay in was the S-Video cable. That was why I went with my DVI-to-HDMI cable.

Other than that, if you can't boot anything, even the default system files straight from a cd, i'm out of ideas... So you definitely wouldn't be the only idiot...

Woot.

[dr_st]

Can the TV accept a VGA signal? Does your laptop have a VGA out? If so, try that - DVI-to-HDMI are known to be problematic with some TVs.

[Walker Boh]

Its a desktop and no, my TV doesn't accept VGA. I've called Dell and they are sending me a new one.