Display Settings..

  • Thread starter Thread starter JD
  • Start date Start date
J

JD

My video ATI video card will let me save a certain screen brightness and
contrast but every time I start XP I have to select the saved setting,
the screen is very bright.

I ran the number 30 reg file (Windows XP Doesn't Save User Settings)
from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm but it didn't help
with my problem.

I have the latest drivers for my video card and monitor by windows update.
 
Don't use Windows Update to download and install Video Card driver updates
as they have been known to cause problems.
Always get the drivers from the Video Card's manufacturer's site.

JS
 
I had the problem before Windows updated the drivers when I was using
the manufacturer's drivers.

Any other suggestions?
 
Windows doesnt update drivers unless you select this option, which is a
v.bad idea.
Completely remove your ATI drivers and install an earlier version from vid
card site
 
My video ATI video card will let me save a certain screen brightness
and contrast but every time I start XP I have to select the saved
setting, the screen is very bright.

I ran the number 30 reg file (Windows XP Doesn't Save User Settings)
from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm but it didn't help
with my problem.

I have the latest drivers for my video card and monitor by windows
update.
Click to expand...

As others have said....MS supplied video driver are un-desirable.

But, how often do you adjust the brightness/contrast ?

If only when you log on because the settings weren't saved, have you
considered leaving the PC at the defaults and adjusting the monitor
brightness/contrast using the buttons on the front of the monitor, instead
of doing it in Display proterties ?

Regards,

DanS
 
As others have said....MS supplied video driver are un-desirable.

But, how often do you adjust the brightness/contrast ?

If only when you log on because the settings weren't saved, have you
considered leaving the PC at the defaults and adjusting the monitor
brightness/contrast using the buttons on the front of the monitor, instead
of doing it in Display proterties ?

Regards,

DanS
Click to expand...

When I look at the video drivers, they're actually supplied by ATI or at
least thats what it says. I have a VisionTek Xtasy 9200SE video card and
on their website the updated driver file is 64 MB and I'm not sure if
I want that because it doesn't mention the ATI control panel which is
what I use to control the monitor brightness. Also, it appears that AMD
has purchased ATI since I was redirected to the AMD web page for some
ATI drivers.

I'm using a 19" flat panel monitor and it is too bright for me so I
adjust the brightness to my liking using the ATI control panel because I
can save different profiles and then have another brightness setting
(another profile) for when I do photography since I don't want my
pictures to be too light when other people look at them.

If I can't fix the driver problem then I can do some other adjustments
to the monitor but I like my current system.
 
Drivers supplied by winupdate are very often 'cut down' drivers from the
manu, ie they are similar to the default drivers loaded in win, and as such
will not have the full feature set that drivers direct from the manu
feature.
MS update has been known to supply corrupt drivers and drivers in which the
version # differs from the manu version #
I no longer use ATI but I reccollect that their drivers now include their
control utilities, that used to be a seperate download.
It is also possible that the drivers may be corupted, in that the various
dll's included may not have updated correctly and as such some may be still
the earlier version.
The only way to be sure is to completely remove all ATI drivers, you may
have to use a third party utility to do this, then start with a completely
fresh driver install from ATI site.
 
Actually, the new drivers work better than the older drivers. The
original ATI drivers kind of hung and the new drivers don't do that.
I'll take a look at the latest drivers. The driver offered on the
VisionTek webpage didn't mention the ATI control panel and that's why
I'm hesitant to update to them.
 
Why are you consulting a third party web page?
If its a laptop, then laptop manu, if its a desktop then ATI site
 
Are you by chance using a Samsung 19" LCD display?
Some were advertized as having a high brightness or high contrast display.
These models generally need to be adjusted with either (and /or) the display
controls or a Samsung utility before you start using the video card control
panel to adjust such things.
If you don't do this the display will be very bright until the settings in
the display control panel can take over. Usually, there is a way to
associate settings in the display control panel with a application, be the
default settings, or available from a menu in the display control panel. A
gotcha is that the display control panel and the video driver may become
mismatched. The cure is usually to use safe mode and the builtin windows
generic driver while you are uninstalling the card specific display control
panel and driver, and then installing the correct version.

"My video ATI video card will let me save a certain screen brightness and
contrast but every time I start XP I have to select the saved setting,
the screen is very bright."
 
The monitor is a LG 19" LCD and there is no Samsung type "utility" as
far as I can tell.

Nobody seems to read that my current drivers are working good. I found
newer drivers but they no longer use the ATI control panel, it has been
replaced with a different control panel that I don't like the look of.

I've taken a few days off the XP computer but I think I can manually set
the monitor to a starting brightness and contrast and then use the ATI
control panel to make my other adjustments when I need them.

Or I can create a custom desktop theme? I'll still looking into that.
 
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