OT,Computer question

[Old Ford Mechanic]

Hello all,I have a question about a computer that i have.Its running windows98 software.I use it as a record keeper in the shop and also a lot of my tractor pictures and records are stored on it.I accquired a new computer sometime ago and most everything was transferred to it so,i am not concerned about losing files ect.However i still use the 98 system quite a bit when i need to.Recently after a few days away i discoverd that the power source to the computer had been interupted at some point.After the reboot everything worked fine except the screen saver image had lost its resolution quality.I went into the my pictures folder and discovered that they also were snowy and grainey looking.Also any images brought up on the screen now have that low quality appearance.My question is,does anyone know what is wrong with the computer and what to do to repair this problem?Thanks.

 

[Ol Gray A]

You probably had a power surge that has damaged your monitor. I have had this happen before.

 

[rhouston]

Right click on the desktop do properties. Go to the settings tab and change the number of colors to 16 million or higher if available. You are currently using 256 or less colors and that will change how they look. If you cannot change it to something above 256 colors then you will need to reinstall the Video card drivers.

 

[souNdguy]

I agree with rhouston.. check your video display properties.

soundguy

 

[Howard H.]

An easy test to see if it is your monitor or Windows is just switch monitors. If the snowiness stays, it is a problem in Windows.

If you could adjust your screen resolution (right-click on the desktop and go into properties), check and make sure the color quality is set to at least 16 bit or so.

If it lets you make the change, that will probably cure it.

If you can't set it to a higher color quality, something probably blew the driver out in Windows for your video card and it reverted back to a generic VGA format. If that's the case, you'll need to reinstall the video driver for that adapter...

Howard

 

[Dan-IA]

Yep. 256 colors looks pretty bad. So does 16 colors (not to be confused with 16-bit color-16bit color looks pretty good I think.)

If your computer rebooted and ended up in Safe Mode, often the color depth will be reduced just because you were in Safe Mode. I don't like it either.

Time to go hop back on the planter!

 

[onefarmer]

Everything Howard H said, plus it could be the video card also.