HALF LIFE 2 changes my DESKSTOP resolution after restart of PC

My specs:

Intel Quad
4GB ram dual
Palit 9800GT ddr3 256bit 1GB
Vista ultimate x64

My default LCD Resolution is 1680x1050
When I run Half life 2 or source any games which has a 1024x768 as my default resolution the game ran perfectly.,then I exited...the DEsktop res is still 1680x1050

BUT

when i restarted my PC
the resolution changes to 1024x768 when LOGON screen appeared (the screen resolution is from the game itself)

it seems that vista is not changing it back when I exit the game (this is in the registry, I think)


Drivers updated
Bios updated
TMM disabled
Base video UNCHECKED (this is by default)
System restore

I've followed All the suggested options to fix the problem in all other forums including this one.. ALL HAD FAILED

The only thing left is the registry......

Please help me solve this... thousand of people are experiencing this...specially those with laptops...mostly GAMERS
No issues on XP sp2 32Bit only on Vista

i've just solved my own problem D

disabled the NVIDIA display driver service

Thanks for posting the fix.

i dont think disabling the nvidia display driver service is going to do you much good, tbh, you need the service for your games to run, im surprised you didnt get blue screens when you disabled the service, but i bet your screen resolution would be that of what you use in safe mode no?

yes, no blue screen..

some say that this service does nothing at all or useless.
others say it has something to do with refresh rate

I think it's for when you make changes in the Nvidia Control Panel e.g. if I was to disable this service, and then enable/disable SLI, it would tell me I need to restart my computer, whereas with the service enabled, I don't need to restart the system.