Hi everyone,,I have a Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop and I loaded a game called Need for Speed Underground.It played fine using the full screen.Then I loaded Grand theft auto Sin City game and it played in a little window with the rest of laptop screen blacked out.I didnt think anything of it as I thought that was how that game appeared.Then I played Need for speed and now it appeared in a small window.I then uninstalled Grand theft auto and Need for speed still played in a small window.I then uninstalled Need for speed and reinstalled it.It now runs in a big screen but not the whole screen like when I first installed it.I tried messing with the game options and also changed laptop screen resolutions and nothing seems to work.Im satisfied how need for speed plays and have no interest in reinstalling Grand theft auto as it was a silly game but I am just perplexed about the problem.My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 9100 2.8ghz and 1024 ram running WinXP home.Thanx and take care.

From a Microsoft web page: If an older application gives you trouble when running Windows XP, you can set the compatibility properties manually so that the program runs in a different mode, such as Windows 95, or in a different display or resolution setting. To set the compatibility properties for a program: 1. Right-click the executable or the program shortcut to the executable, and then click Properties. 2. Select the Run this program in compatibility mode check box. 3. From the list, select an operating system that the program runs in comfortably. 4. If necessary, also change the display settings and/or resolution, or disable the Windows XP visual themes. Run the program again when you?re finished changing the settings. Adjust the compatibility settings again if the program is still not running smoothly: a program that's unhappy on Windows 2000 may flourish on Windows 98. --------------------- How to Troubleshoot Program Compatibility Issues in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;285909

You have to be careful with some of these games. The more expensive ones will set your adapters up for what they need and then return them when finished. The cheap ones however do not reset anything after they are done. I've taken a blow torch to more than a few of these games because I got sick of manually resetting everything when done.

Thanx for the quick replys.I tried the compatibility setting to no avail but as I said the game ran full screen on my XP laptop when I first installed it.I forgot to say I have also installed Two new games and they play in small windows.As far as changing adapters while they play I think that happens and the screen resolution does change back when I leave games.I play the games on my new Dell PC and they play full screen fine.Oh well I'll eventually figure it out.Thanx for your help.

I updated driver for my ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 card in my laptop and that didnt help.Like I say the games play full size on my pc so that darn Grand Theft Auto- Vice city changed some setting in my laptop!!I will look at some of my pc settings to see if something jumps out.Thanx!

I have a Dell 9100 as well, didn't notice I hadn't put the plug in, so I was playing a game on battery power. Needless to say, it got critically low, and auto-hibernated. I plugged it back in, came out of hibernate, and restarted my game - was in a small screen. I have the ATI 9700 128 MB card, FYI. I hunted for a solution, then found it: Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced, then the Displays tab, then click on Panel, which is the only one that should be on. There should be an option at the bottom called "Scale image"; I checked this, and I'm back to playing in full screen. Yay!