Operating Systems and Eye Pain

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BlueRiver

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Jun 17, 2017
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I have an unsolved problem for years. But now it became critical, and I have to ask for your help, if you can help me with this strange problem, of course. The problem there is:
Few years ago I changed my WinXP sp2 to WinXP sp3, and when I started to use it I had an eye pain, but when a month ago I installed Win7 and started to use it I had to take many breaks because I suffered from pain in my eyes too. And now I have to change my old OS to a new one, Win7 and I can't do it because I can't use it. When I installed Win7 I also installed my motherboard drivers, and videocard Radeon driver, but it didn't help. I have no idea where the problem is. When I install my disc with WinXP sp2, my eyes are resting. The whole interface is different. I can read books the whole day, when I install Win7 I can't work even 1 hour. I have a headache, I feel sick and have eye pain. So where is the problem? Is there something with my monitor? Or I have to change a videocard? I have suspicions, that my old monitor accepts only old OS. Am I right? Please, I know it sounds nuts. I haven't seen such problem in internet. But I want you to help me understand, because I need to use Win7. All people use it and I can't because of the difference in displaying between these operating systems.

My monitor is Samsung SyncMaster 795df, videocard Ati Radeon 5400 hd series. Motherboard Asus p5kpl-am in/roem/si
 
If you are prone to eye strain. You should not still be using a CRT monitor.
 
I know I will change as quickly as I have such opportunity. But monitors are so expensive in my place. I can't afford to buy I new one now. And aslo I'm scared of it. Because I fear that I will have more problems with my eyes using lcd monitors. I don't know how my eyes will react to it.

But I don't understand one thing. Why when I use WinXP sp2 I don't have eyes pain, and when (on the same monitor) I use Win7 my eyes start to pain? That's my main question.

Also interesting that when I watch movies I don't have such problems.
 
Have you tried adjusting the default font? There are quite a few fonts out there which I absolutely hate. There are others which I don't care for but my eyes get used to.

Also doublecheck the refresh rate your monitor is running at. If it's running at 60hz that could very well be the issue. I need at least 75hz on a CRT to avoid eyestrain issues.

I'm also an oddball that LCDs gave me eyestrain. It has taken a lot of years for me to finally get used to them.
 
Only advice I would offer is consult an eye doctor in your area, and do it fast, explain your situation, explain what causes the pain, what it feels like, when it happens, etc, and hopefully there might be some reasons for why you're having such difficulties with using computer displays of various kinds. Changing out OSes ain't gonna help it I'm confident enough saying, changing out hardware won't either, there could be something going on literally with your eyes themselves that needs to be addressed and that kind of help isn't something you're going to get on an Internet forum. :p
 
Travolta said:
Probably the refresh rate of that CRT monitor is too low, the flickering will cause eye strain and headaches. Try setting the refresh rate to 75Hz or higher, if possible.
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I was extremely sensitive to CRT flickering and I hated situations where I had to work with someone elses screen that was set to 60hz refresh. The OPs eye strain must come from changing refresh rate, nothing else explains such a change between OS installs.

You should always use the highest possible refresh rate on a CRT. I personally would buy a second hand cheap LCD if I couldn't afford a proper one, just to get rid of the flickering.
Remember that even LCDs can flicker especially if they're not set to the maximum brightness. Many LCDs use PWM (pulse width modulation) to dim the backlight and this flicker can be almost as bad as a CRT.
 
yep your issue is not really a win 7 issue per say (or it shouldn't be)....what your going thru is very common for just about anybody using refresh rate set to low on a crt display....this thread is like going thru the way back machine cause we all used to deal with this before we retired our crt displays (15 years ago?)...My last crt i used to run at 100hz or something close to it. If for some reason i forgot to set the refresh rate correctly my eyes would need breaks way more often. Your probly just not installing the correct display and gpu drivers if you cant get it set above 60.
 
It could also be cleartype settings. See if you can borrow other computers and see if other computers with different monitors help.
 
My first thought is the refresh rate like the others. 7+ being designed for LCDs is probably not recognizing the CRT and defaulting to 60Hz. I used to hack the drivers for my diamondtron to get 120Hz for the physics exploit in quake 3. These days if you don't see any options other than 60Hz if you uncheck "only show supported display modes" you will have to disable driver signing andhack away..
 
One of the reasons I stayed on XP so long was that they changed color scheme for folder look (and files?) on something pale and less readable, hate it till today... About crt's vs lcd's, a good lcd is definitely better than crt, but on some lcd's backlight flickering is even worse than that on crt's so for someone's setup crt actually could be less eye strain than lcd.
 
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akmens said:
One of the reasons I stayed on XP so long was that they changed color scheme for folder look (and files?) on something pale and less readable, hate it till today... About crt's vs lcd's, a good lcd is definitely better than crt, but on some lcd's backlight flickering is even worse than that on crt's so for someone's setup crt actually could be less eye strain than lcd.
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In most cases the backlight flicker goes away when you set the max brightness. Then the backlight stays constantly on. I always check my monitors before buying, I'll never get a monitor with a PWM backlight.
 
Have you tried using LCD monitors? LCDs use sample-and-hold, so you don't get the flickering from CRT monitors. I used to get headaches too, even with a good CRT on 85Hz, and noticed a huge improvement with my first LCD monitor.

You can also try a high refresh monitor. I have a 1440p 27" 144Hz monitor, and I think that is about the sweet spot for size, comfort, legibility of text, etc. It worth checking out, especially if you are using an antique now. Monster upgrade.

As others have mentioned, you may also want to see an eye doctor. I had a friend that got terrible headaches when watching 3D movies and eventually saw a doctor and it turned out she needed glasses. After getting the glasses her headaches went away.

Hope that helps.
 
cybereality said:
Have you tried using LCD monitors? LCDs use sample-and-hold, so you don't get the flickering from CRT monitors. I used to get headaches too, even with a good CRT on 85Hz, and noticed a huge improvement with my first LCD monitor.

You can also try a high refresh monitor. I have a 1440p 27" 144Hz monitor, and I think that is about the sweet spot for size, comfort, legibility of text, etc. It worth checking out, especially if you are using an antique now. Monster upgrade.

As others have mentioned, you may also want to see an eye doctor. I had a friend that got terrible headaches when watching 3D movies and eventually saw a doctor and it turned out she needed glasses. After getting the glasses her headaches went away.

Hope that helps.
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LCDs can flicker badly if they use PWM dimmed backlights. I was surprised to see this also as I was in the understanding that LCDs do not flicker by design. But the dimmed backlight can be a real killer. The dimmer the setting the worse it flickers (if it's PWM, voltage regulated do not have this problem so they're superior).
 
B00nie said:
LCDs can flicker badly if they use PWM dimmed backlights. I was surprised to see this also as I was in the understanding that LCDs do not flicker by design. But the dimmed backlight can be a real killer. The dimmer the setting the worse it flickers (if it's PWM, voltage regulated do not have this problem so they're superior).
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It's a damn good thing my LCD isn't like that considering I have the brightness set at 30% and I like it there. Just for the hell of it I messed with the brightness setting on the monitor the other day and by the time I had it up to 50% I was ready to claw my eyes out because it was way too bright.
 
cybereality said:
Have you tried using LCD monitors? LCDs use sample-and-hold, so you don't get the flickering from CRT monitors. I used to get headaches too, even with a good CRT on 85Hz, and noticed a huge improvement with my first LCD monitor.

You can also try a high refresh monitor. I have a 1440p 27" 144Hz monitor, and I think that is about the sweet spot for size, comfort, legibility of text, etc. It worth checking out, especially if you are using an antique now. Monster upgrade.

As others have mentioned, you may also want to see an eye doctor. I had a friend that got terrible headaches when watching 3D movies and eventually saw a doctor and it turned out she needed glasses. After getting the glasses her headaches went away.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
I fell in love with 1440p too
 
I have a 144hz 1440p gaming monitor too. It sits mostly unused though since I stopped playing. I'm considering to give it to one of my kids.
 
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