Dark Screen on nx8220

Just got my nx8220 and only area of disappointment is the screen, which seems to lack contrast and be incapable of giving a clean white. Connecting to an external flat screen monitor shows a significant difference - eg icons are clearly legible on the monitor but I'm squinting to see the laptop ones.

It's slightly brighter on mains than battery, but even then, and turning up the brightness, gives a somewhat dingy picture. Changing resolution does nothing to improve matters.

There are a couple of isolated comments in non-related postings about this but before getting in touch with HP I wondered if anyone else had had similar problems and what HP had done about it.

Gordon

 

I don't know how common this is, but I'd send it back. As to brightness, you should get the exact same on battery and AC when set to max.

 

Smithgor,

First off, I'd like to congratulate you on your new purchase!

But in regards to your post and your PM to me, I hope I can shed some light to the problem.

With my LCD, I also had a similar problem with the dim/uneven screen brightness and the shimmer/muddy look when a pure white background is shown. My problem with the LCD was resolved when I got my entire unit replaced, not just the LCD (for other reasons). The LCD that came with the new unit seemed to be made from a different manufacturer (Samsung I believe). The problem no longer existed after that.

With your LCD, you could have a similar brand of LCD as my old unit (not sure the brand). But even though, it should'nt be THAT grainy or dim to the point you have to squint to see anything properly.

It's possible your resolution is not set to the native resolution (either 1280x800 for WXGA LCD or 1680x1050 for WSXGA+ LCD) depending on the one you have. This will make your fonts a lot more grainy as it's stretching the fonts to fit the screen. Try adjusting the resolution to the native resolution and see if it helps.

Regarding the dimness of the screen, I need to ask if you've checked the Ambient Light Sensor, is it on or off? The Ambient Light Sensor is switched on/off by using the Fn+F11 keys. It will auto adjust the brightness of the LCD depending on how brightly light your room/office/envirnment is. The darker it is, the dimmer the screen and vice versa.

Try turning the sensor on (Fn+F11), max out the brightness (Fn+F10) and then turn the sensor off (Fn+F11) and try maxing out the brightness again (Fn+F10). You may be asking yourself, why is this guy having me do this twice? Well, there seems to be 4 levels of brightness you can set, 2 levels with the sensor off (min & max with all the grades in between) and 2 levels with the sensor on. If that's confusing, I'll try to explain it a bit better.

With the sensor off, you have a scale of 10-5 (bright-dim). You drop the brightness all the way down to 5 and then turn the sensor on. You effectively now have another scale from 5-1 (previous dim level - even dimmer). You can now drop the screen brightness all the way down to 1 (mainly for really dark rooms). Not only does this drop the brightness down, but it even reduces the overall power consumption of the unit (at least it does in my unit with the updated BIOS and different LCD).

Also, if you're comparing the fonts on your LCD to an external LCD, that may not be a 100% fair test. The external LCD must also have a similar resolution otherwise the test will be skewed. It's possible you're not used to the WSXGA+ resolution and maybe need something a little larger/lower. As screen resolutions are completely user preference, you may not be comfortable with this resolution.

If you are comfortable with the resolution, then you may want to contact HP and have them replace the LCD with a Samsung brand to see if this helps. If dark patches appear on the screen, then that's a problem (mine also have dark patches) and should be addressed.

From your PM, you asked:

Well, The only things I've done on my system was to reload the OS from scratch, load the drivers (chipset, wifi & video card) from the original manufacturer's websites (as much as I could) and updated the BIOS. Other than that, the systems is pretty much the same as when I bought it. I have not upgraded the ram, HDD or anything else.

Give the suggestions a try and see what happens. If the LCD is actually really bad, then I'd recommend getting it replaced. Let me know what happens.

-Vb-

 

Many thanks, Venombite for taking the time to give such a comprehensive answer.

I'd got the native resolution and the automatic light sensor sussed but had not picked up on the 2nd level of adjustment. That's brought the screen right up in brightness and I can put the reading glasses and flashlight away!!

Have done as you suggested and loaded the up to date Bios and drivers and fresh copy of the OS so the thing flies now and there are no conflicts between the installed stuff and my full Norton anti-virus software.

One in the eye for HP - they were ready to race round and collect it. Glad I waited for you to reply on the forum.

Will post a 'gold star' against your name - Sincere thanks once again for the help.

 

Smithgor,

You're welcome. It's good to see that the problem was just with the settings rather than you having one of the bad LCD's.

This is probably one of the less known "features" that HP provides on this unit. The only problem is HP doesn't seem to provide a lot of detailed info on this feature other than which keys to turn it on/off.

Let me know if you need any more help on the nx8220, and thanks for the "Gold Star".

-Vb-