Walter Hutchens’ Blog

While test-driving my new Sony PictureBook, I made what I thought would be a harmless adjustment to the screen resolution. The result was that I had to create a boot-able DOS floppy disk and use it to install an updated system BIOS.

The nettlesome problem arose when I tried adjusting the PictureBook’s screen resolution. The PictureBook has a really small screen– only 9 inches diagonally.

I thought using a smaller font or screen setting would allow me to see more text and icons per centimeter of screen, making it easier to navigate. I right-clicked on the screen display and selected properties, bringing up a Control Panel named Display Properties. There I had some options, all expressed in terms of pixels.

I know how big an inch is, but how big is a pixel? It seems to be a relative amount of space, varying depending on the monitor’s physical size. Thus I’ve never paid much attention to measurements in pixels.

When the Display Properties Control Panel presented me with options for screen dimension in pixels, I just picked a random different setting to see what happened.

Normally, when you try a screen setting and don’t like it, you just go back to the original. But this time when I tried to adjust the screen resolution, two issues collided: 1) Windows is stupid and 2) the PictureBook screen has atypical dimensions.

The PictureBook’s screen is quite rectangular–1024×480 pixels, quite wide in proportion to its height–much more rectangular than most computer screens.

Thus when I tried an alternatives screen setting, the dimensions were wrong. Windows tried to project square screen dimensions onto the very rectangular screen of my PictureBook. Thus only a portion of what Windows was projecting was actually displayed within the screen’s physical boundaries. If I pushed the pointer to the edge of the physical screen, Windows would then scroll the image downwards, revealing parts of a virtual screen that didn’t fit into the physical screen dimensions.

This, ah, was not satisfactory. It made things worse, not better. So I tried to switch back to the original settings. And here Windows behaved in an astoundingly stupid way–it would not allow me to go back to the 1024×480 setting I’d had a moment ago! It simply took that screen setting option away.

I tried the predictable things–clicking on various tabs, looking for some box to check. I tried restarting. Nothing worked.

A Google search (thank God for Google!) revealed I’m not the first to encounter this inanity. I found a description of the problem here and here, and I found the needed software here. Sony keeps a lot of stuff relevant to my model of PictureBook (a PCG-C1VPK) here.

I first tried updating just the display adapter driver. That didn’t solve the problem. So, for the first time in my life, I installed a new BIOS. It sounded intimidating, but actually it was easy.

You just format a DOS boot disk (which does require having a “floppy” disk drive and usable disk–not that common anymore). You then download the new BIOS app from Sony and drag it to the DOS boot disk you created. You then boot with that floppy in the disk drive. It runs a “wizard” and installs the new BIOS. You then reboot normally. Voila, your PictureBook screen is back to normal.

I’m scared to try changing it again!