Dark monitor

[gregebowman]

Ok, I don't know if it's the age of my monitor (over 11 years old), or something else. There are some games that appear overly dark on my monitor. I've got the contrast or brightness button turned as light as it will go, and the screen is still too dark on some stuff. That's why I've never been able to play Orion II, and a few other games. Also, my dvd's are playing too dark also. Is there a software file or something that I can twitch to adjust the darkness of my screen?

[NTJedi]

The average monitor or any electronic computer piece has a lifespan ranging between 3 and 5 years. If your monitor is 11 years old and your have the contrast/brightness maxed out while still having darkness... then its time to take it in the backyard and shoot it from behind to put it out of its misery.

Buy yourself a present and purchase a monitor of 21 or 22 inches. You'll be able to see your games more clearly which is probably better for your eyes since the other monitor is probably only 15 inches or smaller.

The only other possible variable for the darkness would be if your graphics card is having problems.

[Fyron]

Try increasing your graphics card's gamma setting (generally in the Nvidia or ATI control panel). Exactly how to do this changes as frequently as they change the GUIs for the drivers, so you'll want to Google for the procedure.

...or any electronic computer piece has a lifespan ranging between 3 and 5 years...
Silicon doesn't wear out...

[NTJedi]

...or any electronic computer piece has a lifespan ranging between 3 and 5 years...
Silicon doesn't wear out...

Silicon is a nonmetallic element and by itself is not an electronic computer piece.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

And computers and monitors do indeed wear out.

[Fyron]

...or any electronic computer piece has a lifespan ranging between 3 and 5 years...
Silicon doesn't wear out...

Silicon is a nonmetallic element and by itself is not an electronic computer piece.
Extrapolation leads to: Being composed of doped silicon circuits, the vast majority of "electronic computer pieces" do not wear out (especially not in 3-5 years)...

Your assertion is overly general and quite misleading to the public. The only components that wear out are those with moving parts, like fans and hard drives, or those with destructive chemical structure, like NAND flash cells.

[Xrati]

Electronic components do not "wear out" :sick: , they "age." :sorry:

Most electronic failures are caused by component failure due to aging, caused by the hot/cold temperature conditions.

[NTJedi]

Extrapolation leads to: Being composed of doped silicon circuits, the vast majority of "electronic computer pieces" do not wear out (especially not in 3-5 years)...

Your assertion is overly general and quite misleading to the public. The only components that wear out are those with moving parts, like fans and hard drives, or those with destructive chemical structure, like NAND flash cells.

Your belief in computer stability is misleading, it's not just moving parts which "wear out" as you phrase it.

Just do a simple google search and you'll see many many topics and threads listing the lifespan of todays computers. Naturally some pieces will last longer yet much depends on the manufacturer and type of device. Heck, one of my many monitors is also very old(7_years), but it's clearly not running like it was 5 years ago thus not used.

Now you may disagree with someone such as myself who has actually works and plays with computer software and hardware, but this would just turn into a long forum debate... if you wish to devote such time. Also this discussion you're starting is leaning off the main topic which is helping this individual with his monitor.

[Fyron]

Ah, an appeal to authority. Classic argument-winning tactic there.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Wow, Fyron, your argument of 'It doesn't happen!' is really pulling out all the stops.

What are you appealing to? Your constant need to argue? Give it a rest already.

[Fyron]

In 1 post?

[gregebowman]

Well, thanks for the input. As I've stated somewhere else, I'll be getting a laptop in teh near future. Hopefully I won't have this problem. But that raises another question. There was a thread awhile back stating that someone was having problems with Vista and SEV. If there is an actual problem, how do I resolve it?

[Fyron]

SE5 runs ok on Vista, but performance tends to be worse than XP on the same machine due to the DX8 abstraction layer it has to go through.