new vid card,old moniter

I gave my mom my old computer for x mas it is a p2 300 with 256 ram 64mb ati rage fury maxx video,running win 98.
when i was getting it all ready for her i had the resolution set to
1024x768
she lives in a different city so i cant really help her except from phone and she has an old moniter,how old i dont know but it is color not monochrome(are those still around lol)
anyways,when she boots up it almost gets to the end where the color i have set for the background shows up then all there is is a solid line across the screen and everything is frozen.

It boots up fine in safe mode.

I think the video card does not support the old moniter or the resolution on the card is set too high for the moniter.

Is there a way to reduce the screen resolution on the vid card in safe mode?

I told her she may have to borrow a moniter from someone,boot up and change the resolution.
Or buy a new moniter(ya right)
what do you guys think?
The computer worked perfectly the day before she got it and it was delivered to her from a friend whom i know didnt drop it or anything like that.

P.S when she was in safe mode i got her to check in device manager and it showed no problems any where.

Thanks in advance
Tony

 

You just change the resolution in safe mode the same way you would normally and restart. If it already says "640x480" then change it, change it back, and Apply.
However, the problem is more likely the refresh rate if it's not the video card driver. Since you're sure the driver's OK based on "it worked yesterday" fire up in safe mode and, in Display Properties, go to the Settings tab, click on the [advanced] button, click on the Monitor tab, and set it to "Adapter default" or something low like 60 Hz.
Even an older monitor should be able to handle 1024x768 (unless it has vacuume tubes instead of transistors) but older monitors are really pissy about refresh rates. Newer monitors just shut themselves off to protect themselves if you exceed their abilities, but old ones are kinda stupid.
Good luck!