Dimming Screen

[swillfly]

I can duplicate this problem in Internet Explorer. I browse to any webpage -mostly white background pages with a scrollbar. As I scroll down at various points the screen dims then readjusts and becomes noticably brighter. Also dims sporadically on the desktop with nothing running occasionally. I noticed it occasionally occurs while I'm playing Oblivion. Mostly annoying esp. while browsing websites. Moving mouse pointer changes nothing to dimness unless I'm scrolling/clicking or holding down mouse button.

While using the vertical scrollbar you see on the rightside of this very website I notice that at certain specific points the background is white.. then it becomes gray as a continue to scroll down. Really weird.

Is this due to some graphics setting within Catalyst or Win7 that I'm unaware of?

I'd really appreciate any helpful insight into why this is occurring and what I can do about it. Cheers!

My specs:
Win7 Ult. 64bit - Radeon HD 5770 Hawk - Dell ST2410 1600x900

Driver Packaging Version 8.723-100406a-098769C-ATI
Catalyst™ Version 10.4
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.1016
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0743
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.9756
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2010.0406.2133.36843

 

[blanketyblank]

sounds more like a monitor problem than anything. Maybe one of the capacitors is going so it's sending insufficient power to the backlight. Try it on a different monitor if you have one or can borrow one.

 

[busydude]

This may even be due to the energy modes on your monitor. Check if there are any energy modes active. They have dynamic dimming and ambient sensors which change the brightness automatically.

 

[swillfly]

sounds more like a monitor problem than anything. Maybe one of the capacitors is going so it's sending insufficient power to the backlight. Try it on a different monitor if you have one or can borrow one.

Doh! You're absolutely right! I was fooling around with my new monitor and noticed that there are various color settings and I vaguely recall setting it to "Gaming" instead of "Standard" Preset mode. After I set it back to Standard everything appears normal (bright) without the annoying various gray-shifts that would occur on white or brighter screens.

I was going nuts wondering what was causing this. Turns out I caused it by initially setting it for Gaming because that's what I do on it. But the sporadic dimness even showed up in-game so I don't know why any alternate color modes are even included if they fluctuate contrast. Ah well. My dumb. And Dell's.

 

[386DX]

The setting you want to disable is "Dynamic Contrast" that is what causes the change in brightness. Its a useless "feature" and is only included to artificially inflate the contrast ratio numbers in the specs.

 

[Lonyo]

The setting you want to disable is "Dynamic Contrast" that is what causes the change in brightness. Its a useless "feature" and is only included to artificially inflate the contrast ratio numbers in the specs.

What he said.
Somewhere in the monitor OSD will be such an option, as it's a monitor setting, so either futz around or check the help files/internet for your specific monitor.
Whenever you spot something saying Dynamic Contrast, turn it off.