Upgraded from 8800 Ultra to GTX 260...desktop color quality looks terrible now

S

SocceRich20

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Messages
2,512
Title says it all. Upgraded from a 8800 Ultra to a GTX 260. I'm running a Westinghouse 24" via HDMI. Prior to upgrading the video card, my desktop colors, sharpness, and quality were great. Now, with the GTX 260, the colors look grey, washed out, and fuzzy. I've messed around with both the monitor's color and display settings as well as the nVidia control panel, and can't get it to look sharp and clean again. "Image Sharpening" is greyed out in my nVidia control panel. When I uninstall the nVidia drivers completely and use the Windows Vista drivers, the color is great. I've tried four different releases of nVidia drivers, and I get the same washed out blurry image with all of them.
 
I'm guessing you have it set to the monitors native resolution, and have the color set to 32bit?

Also did you install drivers after installing?

Did you use a driver cleaner between card installs?
 
I noticed washed out color and overall bad picture with the HDMI port on my old 9800GX2. My friends ATI 3870 looked tons better. Might be a driver issue. Maybe Nvidia can sort it out before the next card release. I have my doubts anymore. In the meantime, can you use DVI or VGA connection? I have a Sony 55" Bravia SXRD and am using DVI to VGA and it looks crystal clear on my 7600GT. Need a new video card.
 
The GTX 260 has two DVI ports. My monitor uses an HDMI port instead of a DVI port. I am using a cable that has a DVI connector on one end (connects to video card), and an HDMI port on the other end (connects to monitor). Color was fine before installing GTX 260. Color also seems fine in bootup and Windows Vista welcome screen, but as soon as I get my desktop I have a split second of good color, then it "snaps" to the shittiness.
 
Sounds like you've got some application (Adobe?) loading a bad color profile or something.

Also check the nvidia control panel for a 'color format' setting. On my 42" Westy I get two color choices, RGB and YcYbR or something like that - and changing that setting results in washed out colors and increased brightness with less contrast.

I believe it should be set at RGB, but leaving it this way may require you to re-adjust your settings in the monitor's OSD. Nvidia changed something in the 177.x drivers and I remember having to re-adjust everything.
 
Check drivers, clean out all old ones, reinstall with the new.
 
talking just gamming performance, was it worth it? how much better is it?
 
I had this issue with my 24" Gateway and older nVidia drivers on a 8800 GTX. Have you tried fiddling with the flat panel scaling options? I remember it would be clear if I set it to "display's built-in scaling" but everything else made the colors look like crap.
 
Is this a dual-link DVI issue? Are you running a resolution that requires dual-link DVI? How does a DVI -> HDMI adapter handle dual-link DVI requirements? Have you tried other DVI -> HDMI adapters?
 
Flat panel scaling is set to "displays built-in" and it is greyed out. It's also not the cable, things look great when I remove the nVidia drivers.
 
This is driving me crazy, the picture looks like absolute shit with the latest nVidia drivers, but if I uninstall the drivers and let Windows use generic drivers, the picture is great. WTF
 
In the nVidia control panel, you will find the option to use Advanced View under View, enable that. Then at the bottom in the task window, you will see the "Change the signal or HD format" option, try changing the singal to "DVI-HDTV over DVI" and "non-HDTV Format", click apply. Also, you can try disabling all nVidia start up applications and services in msconfig.
 
SR20,

Your graphics card is recognizing your monitor as an HDTV. One option is to edit your video drivers from recognizing HDTV formats. You can also edit your registry. I had similar issues with an LG monitor.
 
I have advanced options enabled, and it doesn't show DVI as an option, it shows HDMI. I'll try messing around with it.
 
Update: Yes, the VGA connection looks better than the digital connection at the moment. I can't figure out how to disable the shittiness on the digital side. I've unchecked "Treat as HDTV" but that's about all I could find.
 
You'll have to modify your drivers to make them aware the HDMI device you have plugged in is a monitor and not a TV.

1. Start the installation of the latest Nvidia drivers and cancel out once the files are extracted
2. Open nv_disp.inf. By default for the current drivers this is in C:\NVIDIA\WinVista\169.25
3. In the [nv_SoftwareDeviceSettings] section add the following:

CODE
HKR,, OverrideEdidFlags0, %REG_BINARY%, 5c,85,80,51,00,00,FF,FF,04,00,00,00,7E,01,00

4. Uninstall your current drivers and reboot
5. Install the modified drivers by running the previously extracted setup.exe. By default for the current drivers this is in C:\NVIDIA\WinVista\169.25. You'll get a warning about the driver not being signed because of the modified inf. Just click OK and procede to install them.


By the way, this fix comes from these two threads:

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=413572&mpage=1&key=&#413983
This thread had the step by step instructions. However it includes the LG code (which doesn't work with your Westinghouse monitor).

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=294136&mpage=1&key=&#305623
This has the code you need for the Westinghouse L2410 monitor.
 
Seemed to work, until I noticed I don't have an NV control panel or anything. It's basically treating it as if the Windows drivers are being used. As a result, it doesn't recognize the card itself, and performance is equivalent to no drivers at all.
 
RGB levels for a computer are 0-255, for an HDTV, they are 16-235 IIRC. I think they're set to 16-235 on your machine..
 
Bingo - same problem here with my new GTX260 through the HDMI on my Westy L2410NM

Found Ravynmagi's solution on the nvidia forums:

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=58483&view=findpost&p=330319

Haven't tried it yet, will soon. I'm assuming my westy EDID is 00 5C 85 80 51 based on the EDID byte viewer attached... Also attached a pic of the screen quality....

image11.jpg


image12.jpg


BB
 
ah screw it - just used the spare analog passthru. Bypasses the L2410NM blackout problem too by bypassing HDMI. Seems to work fine.

BB
 
Right click on your desktop. Go to settings and hit the advanced tab. Then check "color management". What is the name of color profile that your desktop is using? If there is a profile with your monitor's model number on it remove it and use sRBG as your default.
 
It's not color management that is the problem, search out LG problem iwth GTX 260 on this forum and follow the instructions. It requires you to figure out the EDID of the screen and basically you need to tell the drivers to not treat your screen like a HDTV.

I noticed for the WHQL drivers I didn't have to do the driver edit, but for beta drivers I do.
 
WHQL drivers? Which ones? I DL'd the latest WHQL and still had the issue. Not that its a big deal - I apparently can't tell the difference between an ATI3870 HDMI connection and a GTX260 Analog connection on my desktop. Haven't gamed on it yet though, too damn busy.

BB
 
AHHH FINALLY a solution. I have the same problem on my GTX 260 and L2410NM also! They really ought to document this somewhere.
 
erkzh said:
AHHH FINALLY a solution. I have the same problem on my GTX 260 and L2410NM also! They really ought to document this somewhere.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of Nvidia bugs that they ought to document. than heaven for H as we can get answers here to questions that would not otherwise be answered.
 
I know you have talked a lot about what you have the graphics card set at. But what does it detect your monitor as? Do you need to load a specific driver for it? Some show up and a PNP monitor and work great. Others require that after you change graphics cards, that you reload the driver for the monitor.
 
I join the gtx 260 color problem team :mad: I use a 32" TV instead of monitor, everything is fine until the driver is installed. The same washed out grayish colors. I can't find the file and fix it. Please help.
 
mecho_gruh said:
I join the gtx 260 color problem team :mad: I use a 32" TV instead of monitor, everything is fine until the driver is installed. The same washed out grayish colors. I can't find the file and fix it. Please help.
Click to expand...

Which TV?
 
Could be mistaken, but shouldn't the driver be able to recognize the EDID from the monitors like this to allow their native resolutions? making it a driver issue?
 
MadHatter said:
Could be mistaken, but shouldn't the driver be able to recognize the EDID from the monitors like this to allow their native resolutions? making it a driver issue?
Click to expand...

So now the driver should be responsible for picking up the slack for every hardware vendor who doesn't follow the spec?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top