0

My laptop frequently plays video as if in very low-color mode. Though the sound remains clear, it looks terrible, showing only a few shades of red, blue, or yellow. (It's even worse than 8-bit color.) The problem doesn't happen consistently, so I'm looking for troubleshooting advice or known solutions.

I use a Dell Latitude D620 laptop with Windows XP, on-board nVidia video chipset, Quicktime, and multiple monitors (laptop screen + VGA-connected LCD). Color problems happen in each application I tried, iTunes, a browser, and the Quicktime standalone player. It doesn't happen right after reboot, so could be from a sleep-wake cycle, or at least being on for an extended period.

Google results suggest reinstalling nVidia drivers, which I've done several times with no change. I have found 2 workarounds.

  1. Reboot, sacrificing significant time and disrupting work
  2. In nVidia control panel, change color to 16-bit, and then back to 32-bit

This happens with all video playback, so it's definitely not one corrupt file. I use workaround #2 consistently, but would love a longer-term solution.

1 Answer 1

0

What applications have you been using immediately prior to experiencing the problem with the video?

It could be that one of your other applications is leaving the display in an "unset" (for want of a better word) state, which is why changing to 16 bit and back to 32 bit colour fixes the problem.

3
  • Interesting about the unset state, thanks. I'll note recent apps next time it happens. Could it extend to Flash video inside a browser? Or does the browser itself manage video settings? Feb 18, 2010 at 21:41
  • @Matthew - I don't see why it couldn't extend to Flash in a browser. I don't think the browser manages the video settings. To display Flash it looks like the browser just creates a blank window and hands that over to Flash (or at least that's my guess).
    – ChrisF
    Feb 18, 2010 at 21:44
  • Switching to 16-bit for daily use seems to have "fixed" the problem, likely for reasons you described. Things look fine in 16-bit, so I'll go with that for now. Apr 22, 2010 at 3:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .