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General discussion

Dark screen (NOT BLACK) after driver update

Mar 27, 2011 4:41AM PDT

Good morning, I have a Gateway GZ7108TV all in one computer. I have always liked the sharpness of the display. Yesterday I gota message while loading FS2004 that my graphics driver needed to be updated, so went to Intel, downloaded the update, installed it, and when rebooted I got a drak screen, not black, but everything was so dark it is very hard to see.
Gateway GZ7108TV
Intel core2 duo CPU T5250 @1.50GHz
2GB Memory
32 bit op
Intel express 965 chipset graphics

Discussion is locked

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I looked up the Gateway GZ7108TV
Mar 27, 2011 5:12AM PDT

and I can't decide what it is, a laptop with a separate screen, or a thin Desktop with a monitor, or what.

I just wonder if the screen/monitor has it's own brightness and contrast controls.

When you turn the system on and it goes through the normal BIOS test checks before loading windows, can you still see the messages on the screen, or is the screen too dark even there?

If the screen does not have its own controls then your options are;

1] Load into Windows and look for any options to adjust screen brightness, or

2] A System Restore back to before you updated the graphics, or

3] If you cannot find your way around in the dark, reboot into Safe Mode, and try a system restore from there.

Mark

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gateway all in one
Mar 27, 2011 5:28AM PDT

Hi Mark,
It is Gateway's response to Apple, the Display and hardware are in one case and has a separate keyboard.
I wish there was a way to include attachments as I took pictures of the problem.
I will tell you that I am quite the computer illiterate, but I did try to adjust the brightness within the graphics card and the slightest move makes it too bright. The screen does have its own controls but they appear not to move either way.

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That says
Mar 27, 2011 5:52AM PDT

That says to me that it's an issue with that specific driver revision. So I'd go into the device manager and roll back the change. And if by some chance this driver update came via Windows Update, be sure to keep this experience in mind as to why you NEVER accept driver updates from Windows Update.