Thinkpads Forum

In Display Settings, I changed from 16-bit color to 32-bit. When I re-booted desktop icons appeared over-sized and cursor movement stopped. When re-booting, request for password appears and everything works normal up to seeing the desktop appear. Tried booting using F8 and F11 - many times - to no avail. Tried using arrow keys to reach Display Setting to no avail. How can I open in Safe Mode?????

Edit: Forgot to mention I have no recovery disk - - -

Admin note: Moved from X1xx forum

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

I moved your post from the X1xx forum as that is for the newer systems. From your description of the model number (1161) and the fact you are running Windows ME, my guess is that you have an i1200 system. That's considered a "legacy" Thinkpad.

I've never run WinME but it should access Safe Mode by pressing (repeatedly) the F8 key when booting. If you're not able to get to Safe Mode that way but are able to boot Windows and launch the Display Setting window but not able to "grab" it with the mouse pointer, then the trick to moving the window with just the arrows keys is this:

- with the focus on the Display Setting window...
- press the Alt key and hold it down...
- then tap the space bar...
- then release the Alt key...
- then press/release the M key...
- then use the arrow keys to move the window into view

Most likely what happened is that when you changed to the 32-bit color mode, the screen resolution changed to VGA (640x480).

edit: Changed the instructions to use an Alt-Spacebar sequence (instead of separate keypresses of Alt and space).

Good afternoon Ray -

Many thanks for the means to move the cursor. However, one more step is required: After moving the cursor over the "Settings (extreme right-tab)," pressing Enter does not activate this tab. It should be noted both left and right-click buttons do not work, thus the only thing I can hit is the Enter key. If you have another keyboard goodie to help me reach the 16-bit button, please advise.

Yoroshiku -

Generally speaking, you should be able to hit the "tab" key to move between all of the options. If you land on a checkbox, pressing the space key should check/un-check the selection.