Screen sizing problem Inspiron 8000

[Noah Vaile]

I am using an old Inspiron 8000 as a dedicated solitaire game machine. I have a virtually new HD w 76Gb, 512 Ram, 700 P-III, Me O/S. I download games from disks onto it. The disks are good and clean and have no viruses. No internet connection, never any internet connection. The game(s) worked fine for over two years with zero problems. This is the second time I have had this problem. Last time I had to buy a new HD.

Upon restarting after 14 months my batteries (I have two in the machine) were about drained and despite having settings at 1600x1200 the game screen (in fact all of my windows screens) comes up at the 800x600 size, less than 1/4 sized. Last time I had to replace my harddrive. The current HD has less than five months of use on it.

This has only happened (but this is the second time) with this Inspiron 8000. I have a I-3500 that has been shut down longer and comes up just fine.

Can loss of power ruin a HD?