[19118219]

I am using a Windows Vista laptop, and I face a strange problem. When I run a fullscreen application (like a video game, not Windows Media Player) where the resolution is smaller than my monitor's resolution, it will not stretch the screen, leaving a black rectangle around the screen which I cannot move my mouse pointer to. My monitor is 1280 x 800 widescreen. So if a run a, say, 800 x 600 fullscreen program, the program loads 800 x 600 pixels into the center of my screen and leaves the rest of the screen black. How do I have such applications stretch their screens to the edges of my monitor (like it did on a Windows XP)?

[pillainp]

Go into your monitor's options and change the Scaling Ratio to "Fill".

[19118219]

Thanks for your reply, but I have been trying to find out how to open my monitor's options so I could do that. Could you be more specific?

[DaveA]

Is this "Black border" all around or just to the sides?
If it is just on the sides I would say that it is then the ratio difference.
800 x 600 = 1.333
1280 x 800 = 1.6

[19118219]

800 x 600 was just an example.
Anything that is less than 1280 x 800 appears like a desktop background set to "Center", as opposed to the normal "Stretch".

[Rollin' Rog]

What is the laptop model and have you installed the drivers from the vendor's site for the model?

Sometimes FN keys can affect this -- for example Fn+F7 on some Lenovo models.

[19118219]

It's an Acer Aspire 4920.
I haven't installed the drivers but I doubt that's the cause.
When I first got the computer, the fullscreen worked fine, then it suddenly became what it is now.

[DaveA]

What is your standard res and what is this "Full screen" res while in a game?

[19118219]

Standard = 1280 x 800
Fullscreen = the resolution of whatever game open (mostly those games like CounterStrike, Half-Life, Portal etc.)

The problem is that the game is supposed to stretch its screen to fit my monitor, but it doesn't and simply leaves a black border there.

The black border is a void: when I press print screen, it only prints what is inside the border. As mentioned earlier, I also cannot move my mouse into the border.

Lets say I got a program whose resolution is the size of the red border here:



I want the program to show like this:



Both images represent what is shown on my monitor. How do I do that?

[DaveA]

I would say that you have a REAL driver issue.
Do any of these Games install drivers?

[19118219]

No, none of them have drivers.

Oh by the way, do you know what pillainp is talking about in the 2nd post? It would be a lot simpler. He was quite vague has hasn't posted since.
(pillainp, if you are reading this, please explain)

[DaveA]

No, I have never seen this "Fill" option.

[Rollin' Rog]

Go to Acer's site for the model, get the drivers for display and install them -- you may have lost or corrupted them in some way.

You could also try a "system restore" to a date when they worked. Or if there has been an automatic update of some kind to the drivers -- look for a "rollback" option in the Device Manager for them and try that.

[19118219]

Thanks for all your help, but I just found pillainp's "Fill" button.

Right Click > Graphics Properties > Display Settings > Aspect Ratio Options > Full Screen (No Border)

[DaveA]

Don't have that on my Sony's