Really Strange problem

Need input......

from WinCustomize Forums
O.K. I just noticed something happening, and at first I thought I was going crazy. It's quite difficult to describe, so bear with me.......

If I open two windows side by side on my desktop and put them near the top of the screen, they are both the same colour and contrast. Obviously, you might say. However, If I then grab one of those windows and slowly move it towards the bottom of the screen, it gets lighter and lighter the further I move it down, until if I drag it all the way down so that the titlebar is just above the taskbar, the two windows look COMPLETELY different.

This also means that, although I made a taskbar from the same graphic that I used for the titlebar, the taskbar is about 20 shades lighter than a maximized window!.

Now, I recently got a new monitor, (a few days after Christmas) but I'm sure I had noticed the same thing on my old CRT monitor. BUT, I recently got a new graphics card too, just before I switched monitors. It's an Nvidia G-Force 6200.

Could the graphics card be responsible for this problem? Have any of you heard of this problem before, and if so, was it graphics card related? Any light you guys can shed on this would be a great help as it's starting to drive me insane now, and I can't judge the colors of my skins anymore.

Thanks in advance guys!........ Bryan. B[]
9,728 views 23 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, it wasn't my big bass speaker behind the monitor that was causing it, so we can rule out magnetic interference....... Any suggestions?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sounds kinda cool looking to be honest. I had a similar effect once but that was because my CRT monitor finally bit the dust... Have you taken any screenshots? They might appear correctly, and that might help rule out some problems.
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Tell ya what, BoXXi, I think it has something to do with atmospherics & altitude... now you wouldn't happen to be living below sea level, would ya??? :LOL:
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Question i have why do you think it's strange,it's a pc what else do you expect ,yeah really helpful ain't i ;p

Surely it can't be the NEW graphics card as it happened on the old crt without it,assuming i read your post right,will it still do it if you use the old g/card but on the new monitor.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If it's an LCD monitor then its probably normal. LCD monitor's illumination depend on the angle to the human eye. Since most monitors tilt back there is a visual difference in appearance at the top of the monitors from the bottom. Darker at top and lighter at bottom. I have my monitor with the top portion at about eye level, slightly tilted back and I also have this same perceptual difference. Change my viewing angle and the perception of lighter and darker changes. At least that's what I've noticed.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If it's an LCD monitor then its probably normal
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I agree BigDog. I have an LCD monitor, and the same things happen with me. I don't worry about it, though...it's just the tilt of the monitor.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A LCDenterist (opposed to a geocentrist or heliocentrist) would say that the monitor is static and we all tilt around it . . . same effect in any case.

However. . . Boxxi said that the same thing happened with his previous CRT . . would that have the same effect? I am thinkign not.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
BUT, I recently got a new graphics card too, just before I switched monitors. It's an Nvidia G-Force 6200.
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Boxxi said that the same thing happened with his previous CRT
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would that have the same effect?
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Difficult to say, not very possible they are the same. Since both graphics card and monitor were recently changed, whatever was happening with his old setup is not likely the same as his new setup. I do know there is a certain amount of this visual effect with all LCD screens.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'll chip in with an agreement on it being just one of those things with an LCD monitor. Mine does the same thing, gradually gets darker near the top. You do get used to it after a while. It becomes normal. Just remember when you are creating graphics to keep them about middle of the screen.

Try looking at your screen from different heights. You'll have true color at whatever point on the screen is direct line of sight. As Mindless Puppet said, take a screenshot and have a good look. That'll set your mind at ease if nothing else.

As for the old CRT.. Could have been age causing it to go darker at the top. I've seen them do some weird things.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Just remember when you are creating graphics to keep them about middle of the screen.
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Yup...exactly!
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Boxxi, I bought and returned two monitors because of JUST this reason...most newer LCD monitors are just not made very well.. you should not have to look straight on at a monitor to see it the way it should look, it should look the same at the top or bottom of the screen, left or right.

I finally bought a monitor by a company called SOYO it has zero gradient.. doesnt matter what angle I look at it, is a 24' LCD and I got a steal on it at 299$. It's a SOYO Topaz S

I urge anyone buying a new LCD to consider SOYO as a name brand.. its an EXCELLENT monitor, no gradients, no dead pixels...possibly my favorite purchase..ever.

Really bothers me that companies are pawning off these monitors with on screen gradients to people.. its getting to where people expect it to be that way when it doesn't have to be.  :( 
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've never thought about it. I guess like everyone else I accepted gradients as a given with LCD screens :SURPRISED:

Thanks John :HOT:
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I urge anyone buying a new LCD to consider SOYO as a name brand.. its an EXCELLENT monitor, no gradients, no dead pixels...possibly my favorite purchase..ever.

Really bothers me that companies are pawning off these monitors with on screen gradients to people.. its getting to where people expect it to be that way when it doesn't have to be.
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Wish I knew that before I bought my Samsung (sometime in october), thing drives me nuts. And I don't care what a hundred some studies say, my CRT didn't cause half the eye this LCD does... kinda pointless buying a 22 inch monitor when you can only use the middle 6 inches.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
just be VERY cautious when buying an LCD... hope everyone reads this, no need to get ripped off or settle for less.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Aha, I remember now... you're on the Yorkshire Moors!! So it is an atmospheric/altitude thing and gravity. Yep, your screen gets lighter at the top cos of the thinner air.. and darker at the bottom cos of gravity being stronger up there with all that dense granite.

Now how can you argue with logic like that??? :d

Seems to me then, you got 2 choices! Get and work in one of those pressurised chambers or move to someplace not so far above sea level. ;p


There again, you've not wearing those specs with the graduating tint... have ya??? :LOL:
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Although this might seem like an odd suggestion, have you checked to make sure there are no window masks in effect in WindowBlinds?  Y'know that vista gloss bit... I cant remember what OS you're running, but it might be part of the issue, if you're starting from the default skin (or another skin with the overlay).  Is the taskbar darker than the titlebar you're comparing it to, or are both light at the bottom?
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hey guys..... After much testing with various video cards etc, it has been decided that the monitor is actually faulty. It has also developed a very bad flicker too.
I have contacted the vendors and they are shipping a new one out to me next week.

Gonna have to go back to my old CRT for a few days........ that should be fun!

Interestingly, I put my old graphics card back in while testing the monitor (it's an Nvidia GeForce4 MX with 64Mb's of RAM, and there is absolutely no difference in quality, picture or performance when compared to my NEW graphics card which is an Nvidia GeForce 6200 with 256Mb's of RAM. Looks like I wasted my money there! I really thought everything would be much better with a new Graphics card. Should I have expected a marked difference with the new card? or are we just getting ripped off by the card manufacturers telling us we need this new super duper feature, when in fact it doesn't do much at all.

I'm going to keep the old card in, and just increase system RAM, at least I might notice some difference for my money!!

Thanks for all your help and input, I really appreciate it. (Especially Yrag for all the help via email!!) B[]
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
...............Anyone want to buy a a virtually unused Nvidia GeForce 6200 card with 256Mb Ram? it's an AGP card. Offers welcome.  ;) 
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Looks like I wasted my money there!
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Anyone want to buy a a virtually unused Nvidia GeForce 6200 card with 256Mb Ram? it's an AGP card. Offers welcome.
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You make it so tempting, Bryan. You obviously aren't a used car salesman ;p
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
hahaha..... just kidding..... it will be on E-bay tomorrow.  :SURPRISED: 
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Offers welcome.
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I'll give yer a quid for the graduating tinted specs.

Got the opposite problem so could wear 'em upside down. :LOL:
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hi Boxxi, just thought I'd kick in my new info. I just got a brand new graphics card, a much improved one, and I still have this same visual perception on my display. So, in my case a new graphics card didn't change that. If I remember right, I also have the same monitor as you have, the Samsung SyncMaster 2232BW. It's a good performer, 2 ms response time and a 3000:1 contrast ratio, excellent specs and at Christmas I thought it was the best value for me and still do. I'm thinking this variation in visual perception, more saturated and darker at the top versus middle and bottom is fairly common with LCD monitors, or did the new one they shipped you eliminate that problem.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No BigDog..... The new monitor they sent me is the same, just nowhere near as bad as the other one, which DID have a fault. My monitor is a Hewlett Packard and the quality and design are superb. I guess we all have to live with this quirk of LCD monitors, but it's a shame we do. B[]