Blurry/Grainy Display 1

[thestampdad]

Hope you can help. I was "playing" with the screen resolution.

Was 1024 by 768 pixles
tried 1152 by 864 pixels used it for awhile
went back to 1024 by 768 pixles after a few hours

Now screen is not sharp but grainy
My wallpaper is very grainy and some programs don't display correctly anymore (Ad-Aware).

Here is what I have found on my machine...

Windows 2000

Dell D1025TM on Intel Corporation 810 Graphics Controller Hub

Driver Files:
C:\WINNT\system32\DRIVERS\i81xnt5.sys
C:\WINNT\system32\i81xdnt5.dll

File version: 5.11.01.0133.3-NT5 Eng. Sample 03:01AM

Monitor: Dell D1025TM
Refresh Frequency: 75 Hertz

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Dave.

 

[paparazi]

What screen????? more info, obviously this screen has a list of displayable resolutions and refresh rates (refere to it's manual)

If it is a TFT screen then the answer is simple:
TFT screens need to be set to their maximum default resolution for the image to be sharp.
This is normally 1024 X 1280 on most 17 and 19inch screens.

Also do not set refresh rate too high, TFT's typcally have fairly low refresh rates when compared to CRT's.

Start with 60mhz and don't be too worried about flicker, TFT's behave/look completely different than CRT's at these settings.

Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[thestampdad]

Thanks Martin.

Sorry, the screen is 16" diagonally. It is a Dell Trintron so I believe it is a CRT.

I know nothing about this stuff and I have no manuals to refer to.

I have tried all of the refresh frequencies (60, 70, 75, 85)with no improvement.

All I did was switch between 1024 by 768 pixles
tried 1152 by 864 pixels used it for awhile
went back to 1024 by 768 pixles after a few hours.

Now my wallpaper is grainy. I have also noticed that as I close applications and the desktop appears some pixels goes red for a moment and then grainy again.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks again,

Dave.

 

[Nelviticus]

At any point when you were experimenting with different resolutions and refresh rates did you try one that your monitor couldn't handle? If so, the screen would have gone black for about 15 seconds before Windows switched back to the previous setting.

It's theoretically possible to damage your monitor by using settings that it can't handle, particularly refresh rates that are too high. Windows will generally stop you from choosing settings that the monitor can't handle but it's possible to turn this protection off. Also some older monitors don't give Windows enough information for it to know what's safe and what's not.

If you have access to another monitor, try that one. If you get a clear picture on that then you know that your original monitor is damaged. If you get the same problem then it's your PC: try system restore to a point before you started changing things.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[thestampdad]

Hi Nelviticus,

Thank you. I did not try any settings that the monitor could not handle. I only had the options show which refresh rates could be handled and never ran across the black screen.

As you suggested, I plugged the monitor into my laptop and the resolution was perfect. So it appears that the monitor is fine.

I am running Windows 2000 and cannot find anything on how to restore my system back to a few days ago before I was having problems. I checked the internet but XP seems to be the only platform you can restore?

Can you instruct me on how to restore Windows 2000 or point me to a site that has instructions?

Thanks for taking the time to help me.

Dave.

 

[Nelviticus]

D'oh, I forgot that 2000 doesn't have System Restore. Here's what I'd try:

- Visit the Dell web site and download the latest drivers (even if they're the same version as yours)
- Uninstall your graphics controller via Device Manager
- Install the drivers you've downloaded.

That should at least repair your driver installation. From your description of the problem though it sounds more like something has gone wrong with the graphics hardware, but that's just my guess and I can't think how a hardware fault would have happened just by changing settings unless it was on its way out anyway. A sure way to tell is to try another monitor on your 'broken' PC.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[thestampdad]

Hi Nelviticus,

I uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled as you suggested. Unfortunately it had no effect. I will try to borrow a monitor to determine if it is the monitor or PC.

Thanks for helping,

Dave.

 

[thestampdad]

Hi Nelviticus,

I was finally able to fix my problem. I opened a program that said "This program functions at a higher colour setting". Then it hit me, I checked my Colours and it was set for "256 Colours" once I changed it to "High Colour 16 Bit" all was back to normal. It seems that when changing the resolution the Colours setting also changes which I did not notice.

Thanks again for your help.

Dave.