How to fix grainy display in Windows 7?

April 12, 2012 5:45 AM

Suddenly text and logos look very grainy on my Windows 7 computer.

It looks as if the contrast has been turned up too high, or as if ClearType had been turned off (all graphics look grainy, but text looks the worst). This happened while I was away from the computer (and no one else has access to it).

Things that I have tried:
-Reboot the computer
-Adjust ClearType settings
-Update video card driver
-Adjust display resolution
-Adjust color calibration
(However, my monitor doesn't have a setting to adjust contrast)
-Use the auto-adjust button on my monitor
-Made sure I was using 32-bit color

I would post a screenshot if I could, but when I take a screenshot, it displays just fine on my other laptop.
This has happened once before, but I have no idea how I fixed it.

Any ideas?

posted by Jeanne to computers & internet (3 answers total)

Hmm. I just booted into Ubuntu and the problem persists. Must be a hardware problem?
posted by Jeanne at 5:48 AM on April 12, 2012

I reset my monitor and it's fine now.

I'm really embarrassed.

However, never let it be said that I didn't try a whole heck of a lot of things. Marking this resolved.
posted by Jeanne at 5:51 AM on April 12, 2012 [3 favorites]

That's weird. Do you use VGA to connect the monitor to the computer?
posted by The Lamplighter at 11:41 AM on April 12, 2012