Problems with display settings on new computer/old hard disk

Grateful for some help here please.
OH’s computer packed in yesterday. He took it to our local computer nerds shop and they told him the motherboard has gone. So he has bought their cheapest computer - basic HP Pavilion into which they have put his old hard disk.
He’s just setting everything up and he’s using his existing BenQ24 11 monitor.
At the moment he cannot get the display to set up properly, so the stuff he has on his desktop has disappeared to the left of the screen. He’s struggling to find where / what settings to change to bring everything back into view. At the moment all he has is attractive wallpaper of the northern lights.
Grateful for any suggestions as to what he needs to do. Thanks as always. Sue

You don’t say what version of Windows is being used. I assume it just has a basic graphics card or just uses the processor graphics?
Try right-clicking on the desktop. There should be an option Graphics Properties and there should be a setting there which can be altered? It is difficult to help more without knowing what options are available there.

Thanks Elsie he’s got windows 10. We don’t have “graphics properties” as an option but “display settings” and that only allows you to increase the display size, not decrease it.

What does he get clicking Graphics Properties?

He can install the specific drivers for that display from XL2411 Software - Support | BenQ US

there is also a link to the manuals

Interestingly the computer says he’s got the right drivers.

He’s changed the monitor to an older / smaller / squarer Sony and everything is visible. He’s put up with it now as at least he can get at his emails etc.

Is the screen resolution in the settings correct for the BenQ monitor?

Do the BenQ drivers have any settings to centre the screen?

Has he played with the physical buttons on the monitor to adjust the position of the visible screen?

Thanks Elsie. Just had supper and heading off to watch pre-recorded TV. I’ll tell him all this and report back tomorrow. He won’t do anything more tonight. Car and computer broken down on the same day, so all a bit stressful. Thanks Again.

If all the desktop items have migrated to the far left of the screen, that is caused by the new machi e booting up for the first time with a lower screen resolution than the old machine had. When that happens, because of the smaller size of desktop, some icons will be off the edge of the screen. Windows fixes this by just moving all items to the far left of the screen. You need to reset the screen resolution on the new machine to be the same as the old one. Then you need to manually move all items back to where they were.

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What version of Windows is this ?. In most versions, you can right-click on an empty piece of the desktop and select ‘display properties’ to change the resolution. When you change resolution, a box will pop up asking if you are happy with the new setting. If you don’t click anything, it will time out after 10s and revert to the previous resolution. This is done so that if you select a resolution not supported by the monitor, and you get a blank screen, you can just do nothing for 10s and your old resolution will be restored.

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Thanks @anon37731102 and @hairbear for your thoughts. I’ve forwarded them on to him.

He’s managing with the small square screen at present but I am out at lunchtime so he will take the opportunity to try my monitor, which is also a large landscape one, and see how that works.

I’ll let you know how he gets on.

Thanks Hairbear. That’s pretty much what he’s discovered and had to do. He reckons it’s because the cheap computer does not have an Intel chip and so the graphics are different. He is not offered the same dimensions as intel had. So he’s done a work around by reducing stuff in size (like his excel spreadsheets) and then bringing in the sides. Fortunately the computer seems to have remembered and kept the settings. As you said, he had to physically move the icons across - he could just see the edge of them so he was able to grab them.

Thanks to both you and @anon37731102 for your help/suggestions.