Intel 945 Graphics, Windows 8.1 and low resolution error

After upgraded my micro server, I moved to upgrade my Netbook.  This time things are much smoother with the exception of the 945 Graphics in my Netbook.


It seems the default driver from Microsoft's repository does not support the down scaling option, which is needed if you want to run Modern App with vertical resolution less than 720 pixel.  If I enable this option, my screen will just go blank.  To fix this problem, I needed to go to safe mode, and remove the drive.


The solution to the problem is simple (sort of).  Use the driver from Intel instead.  The driver works on my netbook is the Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Windows* 7(exe)


https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?lang=eng&DwnldID=18223


After installed the driver, I can turn on the down scaling option by hacking the registry with regedit.exe. The key should you look for is Display1_DownScalingSupported. Simply change the value from 0 to 1. Restart the machine. The low resolution message is history!


Edit: It is important to disable automatic drivers installation, otherwise, all hard work may get overthrown! The instructions on how to stop Windows automatically installing drivers can be found at.  It is for Windows 7, but it is applicable to Windows 8.1


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2500967

N54L and Windows 8.1

I spent whole last night wrestling with Windows 8.1 and my micro server.  it hangs at the restart after the installation.  The first thing came to my mind was the RAID setup I had, so I reinstalled my server with custom RAID driver again.  Unfortunately, the same thing happened.


Cut the long story short, at the end I found out it is actually the BIOS and the Broadcom NIC caused my problem!  As soon as I updated my bios to the latest version 2013.10.01, everything just works!


http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=5336618&spf_p.tpst=swdMain&spf_p.prp_swdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%253D%257CswItem%253DMTX_57720d956df94dfcbaa0e28256%257CswEnvOID%253D4168%257CitemLocale%253D%257CswLang%253D%257Cmode%253D%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken