Dark screen after upgrading from XP to Windows 7

[Peter J]

I have smoothly upgraded my XP version to Windows 7 Prof on my Acer Travelmate. Only one problem popped up: my screen is very now very dark. It is hardly possible to read it. Some specifications: the notebook is equipped with a 2GHz Centrino processor and a Nvidia Geforce Go 6600 card. The device driver for the Nvidia card is from 2006; trying to update the driver via the device manager says that it is up to date?
The screen was always very bright under Windows XP so the screen itself is OK.
Any suggestion what could be done would be appreciated.
Peter

 

[Peter J]

Adding to the previous post: In the meantime I was able to update the old driver with a newer one from NVidia but with no positive result on the brightness of the screen: it is still by far not so bright as before under Windows XP.

 

[gbhall]

Right-click on the screen, and there is normally a 'Nvidia control panel' to select. Failing that, open control panel (start button, click on control panel), and try the Nvidia control application from there, or Device manager, open display adapters, double-click the Nvidia card and see if any problem is reported.
I cannot guess what the problem might be, so basically, you need to check everything, such as double check the video cable and plugs, try a second display, check your monitor on a second PC.
Start the PC in safe mode - any difference?
One remote possibility is you have had MS supply it's own Nvida driver rather than the correct actual nvidia driver, and installing an Nvidia driver did not uninstall the wrong driver first. In my experience, MS drivers dont work well at all.
I seem to remember some similar problem many months ago on my own Win 7 pro PC, where the brightness somehow got stuck on a very low level. I cannot recall how I fixed it, it may well have been uninstalling a MS driver and installing a 'proper' Nvidia driver. Or it might have been some faulty 'power saving' setting. Sorry I cannot remember.

 

[Peter J]

Thanks for your answer.
As you have read I already replaced the old video card driver with a (proper?)NVidia driver but without success. The device manager reports no problems.

Speccy gives:

Operating System
MS Windows 7 32-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Pentium M 760
Dothan 90nm Technology
RAM
1.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 265MHz (4-4-4-12)
Motherboard
Acer Dunlin (uFCPGA)
Graphics
Generic Non-PnP Monitor (1400x1050@1Hz)
64MB Standard VGA Graphics Adapter (Acer Incorporated [ALI])
Hard Drives
98GB Seagate ST9100822A ATA Device (PATA) 37 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4080N ATA Device
Audio
Realtek AC'97 Audio

Graphics
Monitor
Name Generic Non-PnP Monitor on Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Current Resolution 1400x1050 pixels
Work Resolution 1400x1010 pixels
State enabled, primary, VgaCompatible
Monitor Width 1400
Monitor Height 1050
Monitor BPP 16 bits per pixel
Monitor Frequency 1 Hz
Device \\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0

GeForce Go 6600
GPU NV43M
Device ID 10DE-0148
Revision A3
Subvendor Acer Incorporated [ALI] (1025)
Current Performance Level Level 3
Current GPU Clock 375 MHz
Current Memory Clock 600 MHz
Technology 110 nm
Die Size 150 nmІ
Transistors 143 M
Release Date 2004
DirectX Support 9.0c
DirectX Shader Model 3.0
OpenGL Support 2.0
Bus Interface PCI Express x16
Driver nvlddmkm.sys
Driver version 7.15.11.7967
ForceWare version 179.67
BIOS Version 5.43.02.64.17
ROPs 4
Shaders Vertex 8/Pixel 8
Memory 64 MB
Bus Width 128 Bit
Count of performance levels : 3
Level 1 - "Default"
GPU Clock 100 MHz
Memory Clock 220 MHz
Level 2 - "2D Desktop"
GPU Clock 200 MHz
Memory Clock 400 MHz
Level 3 - "3D Applications"
GPU Clock 375 MHz
Memory Clock 600 MHz

Motherboard
Manufacturer Acer
Model Dunlin
Chipset Vendor Intel
Chipset Model i915PM/GM
Chipset Revision 03
Southbridge Vendor Intel
Southbridge Model 82801FBM (ICH6-M)
Southbridge Revision 04
BIOS
Brand Acer
Version V2.50
Date 06/13/2006

 

[gbhall]

The first thing is to establish if there is now a hardware fault of any description, or are we just dealing with a Windows driver problem?
What about safe mode? Is there any difference?
Can you try the external VGA port into a separate monitor?
Do you have the ability to create and boot from a small Linux distribution, e.g. puppy linux. That will demonstrate the hardware response to an entirely different set of drivers.
As a final resort, does the Acer site have drivers for your specific hardware, and for Win 7 32-bit? If so, they would be more likely to work than any others.
Can you return to XP ? Many people still love XP (I was one until I realised I could make 7 look and work very like XP by using 'Classic shell'). The FUD being spread by MS regarding end of support for XP is not necessarily a cause to stop using XP. Some anti-virus vendors for instance, are promising continued support for at least another two-three years. If you avoid dangerous sites and don't have anything important like financial data, banking details etc on the laptop, there would not be an imperative to change.

Good advice here http://lifehacker.com/what-should-I-do-with-my-old-windows-xp-laptop-493108508 Be sure to read all the contributions - something might chime with you.

 

[Peter J]

I am glad to tell that I found the solution for my problem. Therefor I only had to read the manual!!! So once more it is proven: Read the F*** manual first.
With the keys FN + -> it is easy to adjust the screen luminosity. Shame on me.