I have an IBM T22 laptop computer that I bought used on ebay. It
came with Windows XP Professional installed.

When I first bought it, it worked perfectly, but now, every time the
computer starts, I get a large black rectangle on the screen. It is
about 1.25 inches tall and 1.75 inches wide. The rectangle is
usually on top of all other windows but not always.

The only way I have found to get rid of the rectangle is to change
either the screen resolution or the color depth and then change them
back.

Does anyone know what could be causing this and what I can do about
it? Thank you in advance for all replies.
--
I am TERRIBLY cruel to my cat. I actually cut off the ends
of his toes. It's just the hard, dead, part that grows back,
but still. I do it just because he sticks them in me or
scratches the furniture, or me.

"Daniel Prince" <neutrino1@ca.rr.com> wrote in message
news:pfsv33dd2v4hgbek6bushu537fsh1qn5j5@4ax.com...
>I have an IBM T22 laptop computer that I bought used on ebay. It
> came with Windows XP Professional installed.
>
> When I first bought it, it worked perfectly, but now, every time the
> computer starts, I get a large black rectangle on the screen. It is
> about 1.25 inches tall and 1.75 inches wide. The rectangle is
> usually on top of all other windows but not always.
>
> The only way I have found to get rid of the rectangle is to change
> either the screen resolution or the color depth and then change them
> back.
>
> Does anyone know what could be causing this and what I can do about
> it? Thank you in advance for all replies.

My first reaction is to check that you have the latest graphics drivers
installed.

It sounds to me as though a window is opened on your display and then closed
again, but the graphics driver somehow thinks that the window is still there
and keeps the window (or background) behind it occluded.

Changing the resolution forces the graphics driver to rebuild the display.