# Monitor screen just went light on me!



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

I was on my computer (on AOL), and all of a sudden my screen went really light on me. Any idea how to return it to the brightly-colored normal screen? It's so hard to read anything right now. It seems like all the icons and wording are on there---they're just awfully light. I just have pastel colors on now. I have an HP monitor that's about 5 years old. Any ideas on what I can try?


----------



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

One thing I did about a half hour before the screen went dim on me. On AOL's news page, it said how to make the fonts bigger on the screen, and that was to hit the control key and the plus sign key at the same time. I tried that, but it didn't work. It also said to hit the control key and the scroll thing on the mouse. I tried that, but that didn't work either. And then this happens. Any ideas? The monitor is an HP vs17 model.


----------



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

When pressing the CONTROL key and the PLUS SIGN didn't work, AOL said to try these other steps, which I did. It said to right-click the desktop, click on Properties, click on Settings. And then it says to "Drag the monitor icons to match the physical arrangement of your monitor." There are 2 boxes there. I might have dragged them wrong. Does anyone know what the "Screen Resolution" or the "Color Quality" should be? I might have done something wrong on this screen.


----------



## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Check the connections & make sure they are all secure
If connections were not moved then it is probably the video card going or the monitor
If you have another PC try the monitor on the other PC


----------



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

Is it normal for a video card to go out after 5 years? 

If I bought another monitor, will any HP monitor do? Or any monitor?


----------



## brandonriffel (May 22, 2010)

Video cards, or any other parts, can go bad at random. If you do a google search for your specific model number and the phrase video or graphics, you might find others with the same problem.

And you can get any monitor to replace it, if the monitor is the problem. I'd suggest looking on Craigslist and just pick up a replacement used one cheap!


----------



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

Yes, I think I will just try to find a cheap replacement monitor to fix my problem. Trying to read this light type is very hard on the eyes. But, I'm guessing that I just did something wrong (by pressing the wrong key, moving the wrong "1" "2" box in the Appearances screen) when I was trying to increase the size of the font. Or maybe I pressed the wrong buttons on the side of the monitor and I altered the Contrast or Brightness that way. When the monitor is in sleep mode or when it's moving from screen to screen, it now has a gray background, instead of the normal blue background that it had. I wish I could figure out what the resolution should be on this specific monitor.


----------



## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

What OS are you running ?
Standard for a 17" monitor is 800x600, but most can do multiple sizes

Did you check the connections ?


----------



## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Can you adjust the brightness and contrast on the monitor downwards to make up for this?

I suggest at least 1024 x 768 for resolution unless you find that too small to read or unless the monitor won't accept that.

The gray instead of blue background could be due to accidental selection of a different color scheme or style.


----------



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

I think OS stands for Operating System, right? If so, I'm not sure what mine is. I bought this computer in December 2005, if that is of any help. Can you tell me how I can find that out so I can answer your question.

Yes, I've checked the connections. Everything seems to be plugged in tight.

And I hope I've explained my problem correctly. After I did those steps following AOL's directions, I'm sure I did something wrong in the process. My monitor is now light---but maybe "dim" is a better word. Like, for instance, you know that scroll bar along the right side of a screen? I can't see it. And many of the links I can't read either.

Sure, it might be a video card or something could have gone out. But, because I was fooling around with those steps just before it happened, I'm guessing that it has to be something that I did.

Can someone try these steps on their computer to see what it shows for them?

Right-click on your desktop
Select "Properties"
Select "Settings"
Can you tell me what your Screen Resolution is set at?
Can you tell me what your Color Quality is set at?
And inside that gray box, what do those 2 boxes labeled 1 and 2 look like? That's where I think I ran into a problem, by my doing something wrong when I dragged that "1 box" over.


----------



## proofer (Jan 20, 2008)

I just now noticed something weird. To clarify: everything is still light. But upon closer inspection, everything is lighter the closer it gets to the bottom of the screen. Say I have a full page of text. The top half is darker than the bottom half. And if I scroll down and bring that really-light bottom-half text to the top of the screen, it does get a little darker. What the heck is causing that?


----------

