Okay, I need some help with a monitor issue (update: solved!!! :-) )

I have an old Lenovo Windows7 PC that used to be a generic office machine, but I've upgraded with a decent video card and an SSD so it actually runs fairly decently.

I was using a 32" HDTV as a monitor (HDMI cable) until my kid saved his money and built his own gaming rig last year. Part of that was he bought a crazy super-duper-high definition monitor.

So the TV went into the attic and both computers were on the new monitor. We simply switched inputs depending on which computer was being used. I think I increased my screen resolution somewhat to take advantage of the higher resolution.

Now a couple of few weeks ago he packs up his entire system, including the monitor, and stays at a friend's house nearby. Not wanting to go drag the old TV down from the attic, I hook up an old 24" monitor that used to belong to my parents.

Now I have a problem: the computer won't display on the 24" monitor.

It boots okay, and after the BIOS startupscreen comes and goes I see the " (C) Microsoft Corporation" with the green loading bar for a few seconds. Then the graphics card must do... something..., and the display goes blank. It starts looking for inputs and eventually goes into power-saving mode.

I"m using the same HDMI cable as I was on the 32" TV and the fancy monitor; I have an HDMI-to-VGA adapter on it for the 24" monitor.

Now, if I do a Safe Mode boot, the monitor will work at 800x600 resolution. So obviously the setup works.

What I THINK is happening is that the graphics card is switching to a higher resolution than the monitor can handle. But I can't figure out how to change the screen resolution in "normal" mode while I'm in Safe Mode.

I did try doing the "press F8 during boot" to bring up the advanced boot option screen and tried the "low-resolution" boot mode (640x480) but that still runs into the same problem.

Any idea? I found one site on the Microsoft Support website that talked about changing values in the registry but I couldn't find the exact key that was listed. Maybe it was for Windows 8 or something.


*** Update ***

It's wonderful how being forced to write out and explain something makes you understand it better. So I didn't fix the problem but I managed to bypass it, I think. Damn thing is still booting up!

I went into the BIOS and changed the graphics card from the new one to the crappy built-in VGA card. Then I unplugged the HDMI cable and plugged the old card into the monitor with a regular VGA cable.

Now I can use the computer, but it's running noticably slower.

Hmph, the icon layout looks the same as it did on the bigger monitor, like it's the same resolution.

Also forgot to note that it was working the weekend before last, on the 24" monitor.