Video Frustrations

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Hey guys...

I've been having difficulty with brightness and video for some time now. I've maxed out the brightness on my monitor and I've managed to lighten up my desktop and desktop applications, but there are still some things that stay awfully dark, such as games (when I start up a fullscreen game, the gamma resets to the same level as it was before I tweaked it for desktop applications) and DVDs (I have tried the overlay control, but my computer crashes as soon as I change anything). The games are simply too dark to play and have no feature in them to change how bright they are (or console commands etc.).

I am using an NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 and I have some knowledge of computers and hardware, but this one leaves me stumped. Overall, I am very pleased with this card, but these problems are quite frusterating (I'm sure other people have dealt with this problem before too) and I would appreciate any advice or help.

Thanks in advance,

Mike
 
I want to think it might be a problem with the monitor, but I'm leaning more toward the video card, possibly the drivers. You said you were getting crashes, this leans toward drivers. If it were simply the monitor dying it wouldn't cause a crash I wouldn't think. Try updating your display drivers, or if you recently did, roll them back. There is always the possibility that it is the video card itself, it could simply be a bad card, or if you've tweaked it, something could have gone wrong or the fan may have gone bad and mucked up the chip.

I would try the drivers though, that sounds like the most likely cause.
 
I have tried the overlay control, but my computer crashes as soon as I change anything
Sounds like drivers I'm willing to bet that if you download the newest video drivers from http://www.nvidia.com , your crashing problem will be fixed. It also may be linked to your brightness problem.

I don't know about yours, but my monitor (in particular) requires me to set the color for each and every refresh rate and resolution.

When you play a game and it is dark, adjust the monitor controls again to the way you want them. Mine for example, has a color profile in the OSD (on screen display). It has Color-1, Color-2 and Color-3. My personal favorite is Color-3 since I've edited that one to meet my visual requirements, so I use this for all of my resolutions.

For example, when I startup Diablo II, it's running at 640x480 and 60hz. These are settings I never use for my desktop, so when the game switched to 640/x480, I had to adjust the monitor brightness etc.. for the first time. To do this, I had to start the game and go into my monitor's OSD and choose "Color-3" for this resolution. I've never had to do that since because my monitor remembers my last color profile for each resolution.

Another easy way to do it, is to probably edit the default color setting, so it shows up on all resolutions.


If this doesn't apply to you or simply doesn't work, then I suggest getting the newest drivers for your card. Overlay and gaming modes often have their own brightness and contrast settings via the video drivers. You may be able to set these in Display Properties (right click on desktop and choose "properties)/ Settings / Advanced and then look for tabs relevent to your video card.

Keep in mind, your monitor uses a different color profile for each resolution and refresh rate. So if your desktop looks fine at 1024x768@85hz, but your game looks funny in 1024x786, it is because of your refresh rate and you'll also need to choose a color profile for that particular refresh rate too while you are playing the game. Once you do this, you should never have to do it again.
 
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