Darkening screen on G3

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Denis Wright - 19 Nov 2003 00:43 GMT

I use a G3 (266 mHz beige) along with my iMac to run a few bits of SCSI
hardware and to compare how web designs look on one screen compared to
another in different programs.

I have noticed that the screen on the old G3 is darkening slowly but
progressively as time goes by, even though I now have the contrast and
brightness at their highest settings. Is there any software available to
reconfigure the screen so that this ever-darkening process can be
arrested? Or is it just old age catching up with the monitor...??

Denis

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Denis Wright - 20 Nov 2003 10:52 GMT

> I use a G3 (266 mHz beige) along with my iMac to run a few bits of SCSI
> hardware and to compare how web designs look on one screen compared to
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Denis
>

I got an emailed response to this but when I responded via email it
bounced - couldn't see anything wrong with the return address, but it
failed.... Anyway, for the benefit of the sender, who may or may not
have also posted to this group, I responded:

>??? What model of Monitor ???

>If it is a 1710 then recalibrate it

Thanks for the advice. The problem with recalibrating it was that it
asks you to set contrast at max (it's already there! and then adjust
brightness to get the test squares optimised. But the brightness is
already at top so it was impossible. But you did give me a good idea; I
tested the profiles of every other monitor that could be calibrated, and
one of them, quite unrelated to the standard ColorSync Apple monitor
that came with the machine, gave a lot more scope for brightness even if
the colours were a bit strange. That at least means that if brightness
becomes more important than true colour, I have another option. So your
advice wasn't wasted.

Many thanks!

Denis

Thursday, 20 November 2003 9:40 PM

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Geoffrey - 24 Nov 2003 13:23 GMT

> I have noticed that the screen on the old G3 is darkening slowly but
> progressively as time goes by, even though I now have the contrast and
> brightness at their highest settings. Is there any software available to
> reconfigure the screen so that this ever-darkening process can be
> arrested?

No, not really ... monitors have an effective life of approximately five
years.

Whilst it would likely be possible to repair this degradation (you
neglect to specify what make and model of monitor you use - telling us
your computer model is of no help) the costs involved would be greater
than buying a new replacement monitor.

Geoffrey

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Denis Wright - 25 Nov 2003 22:58 GMT

> No, not really ... monitors have an effective life of approximately five
> years.

Thanks for the comment - I appreciate the response. I mentioned in
another posting that I have a work-around for it which seems to be fine
except that the colours are slightly different to what I am used to. Not
something you'd notice if you weren't used to how it was before.

Actually, I am surprised at your comment about the approx. 5 yr
lifespan; I have had quite a few monitors over the years, some a lot
older than that and still working and looking as good as they ever did.
But then you can be lucky as well as unlucky, I guess... And most
computers get pensioned off long before 5 years.

> Whilst it would likely be possible to repair this degradation (you
> neglect to specify what make and model of monitor you use - telling us
> your computer model is of no help) the costs involved would be greater
> than buying a new replacement monitor.

I was thinking of a software solution as I felt sure that some sort of
calibration change should make a difference. The problem was that the
standard calibration tools assumed settings were within a specified
range. They weren't. I'm sure you're right that hardware changes would
not be practicable - there's no guarantee that the old monitor wouldn't
break down in some other way. I was looking for a life-extension
quick-fix and basically I found it through using the one calibration
that was not designed for the monitor (the original Applescan monitor
that the G3s came with when they first came out) but brightened things
up considerably.

Thanks again.

Denis

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Mac Forum / Country Specific / Australian Mac Group / November 2003

Darkening screen on G3