Thinkpads Forum

this past weekend, prior to rebooting, the screen resolution was the highest possible.

I then rebooted because I needed to, and since then the screen got stuck at 600x480 and 4 bit color... and when I try to change it, it sticks at the lowest settings.

When I went into the BIOS and re-set things to "manufacturer default", booting will only get past the splash screen for Windows XP... then there is a flicker on the BSOD, with an indication of a memory error... and then it reboots... to the "windows did not shut down properly" screen, and regardless of what I try (Safe Mode, Last known working settings, boot normally) it does the same thing.

Does anyone have any advice?

I'm suspecting at this point I may need to get a new laptop... since this one is 4 years old.

Try using a Linux Live CD to see if it boots normally. That should tell you whether it's a software or hardware issue. I'd say if it gets to the splash screen and can boot to last know configuration, a software issues seems more likely. Maybe rolling back to when worked via system restore could help. You could try testing the memory too, only if to rule it out.