Pc displays "out of range"

out of range just means the monitor can't determine what signal if any that it's getting.

broken pins or the video connector are one cause of this, or just a bad cable.

does any of the on screen display stuff work? If so, I'd check the cable or try it on another computer or the computer with another monitor.

Change the monitor settings while in safe mode, or try another monitor. It is trying to drive the monitor at a non supported resolution.

Try what Michael said and change the video mode while in safe mode.

If it doesn't help: From the same menu where you select "Safe Mode", select "Enable VGA Mode" instead. The system will boot normally, but with the resolution set to 640x480.

Once at the desktop, change the video mode to something like 1024x768, then reboot normally.

I suggest following the above steps, but, while it is running in VGA mode go online and determine the native resolution of the monitor and set the resolution to that.

After that, go to Control Panel / User Accounts and Family Safety and make a few changes.

1. Create a standard user account for the kids; no need to password protect it. Also set appropriate Parental Controls.
2. Pasword protect your user account to avoid this happening again.

PlainBill

I would add to give the kids a gold-talking-to, and maybe no allowance or take away some privileges so they learn a lesson.

Better still, call up Bill Gates and give HIM a talking-to. There's no excuse for supposedly mature software to misbehave so badly.

Wouldn't that be the same as "hide modes that this monitor cannot display'? That way you can't select an incompatible mode in the first place. Sound like the OP thinks his monitor can do a resolution that in fact is wrong since he could get video on it in safe mode..

G=B2

There is a EEPROM in most SVGA monitors that have a list of supported resolutions. There is nothing to hide, as long as the computer can read that chip. It uses the old hard wired resolution ID lines from the original VGA specification. HTH else would the computer know the supported resolutions, if the monitor didn't tell it?

THAT is why I suggested plugging in a different monitor, to force the PC to update the list of available resolutions. If there is still a problem, there may be a problem with the video card in that it is unable to see the EEPROM. If they have used other monitors in the past, someone may have selected an old monitor, but most likely it's malware that set it to an unusable resolution to disable the computer.

Granted, Windows 7 still has plenty of flaws, but this particular incident is not the software's fault. It is possible to set a display resolution a monitor does not support. Contrary to popular opinion, many monitors do NOT correctly report their capabilities.

Whe a user changes the display resolution, they are forced to approve the change. If they somehow accept an unsupported resolution, Win7 has the feature in the boot menu that permits dropping to a low resolution. And it is quite likely that many users don't know how to get to the boot menu, so I can't criticize the OP for know knowing how to recover. I DO blame one of the early responders for saying the monitor or video card was defective.

PlainBill

My monitor (which is about 10 years old) came with a file, that when installed, informs the OS as to its capabilities. If you select the monitor from the drop-down list when configuring the display, you can't set up it outside its range.

Very nice for you, but irrelevant. My monitor (purchased 'dead' and repaired) did not come with such a file, and it is not available on the manufacturer's website. I have within 50' of me two TV/monitors that report nothing but 'generic VGA monitor' when connected to a computer.

PlainBill