Graphic problem

I have problem, but I don't know exactly what it is. I will try to explain.

I just bought a new laptop (amilo m1425, ati radeon 9700 128 MB, DirectX 9.0c). I did a new installation of Windows XP Pro (since it came with XP home), then installed all the drivers on the CD except for the graphic card driver since I wanted to install the newest Catalyst driver. I also had the latest Omega driver so I decided to try it first to see if there was any big difference. The installation was without problems but after the installation I noticed that all the images (wallpaper, JPEGs I downloaded from the internet, etc) are... strange.
I don't know exactly how to describe them. It is as if they are in 256 colours or less, but I checked display properties and the colours are set on 32bit colours. The images are not smooth; I can see the pixels wich are about 2x2mm. It is as if I zoomed in on the images but they are the original size. It is the same when I surf the Internet, all the images are pixeled and also certain text on the internet is a little garbled.

I was just wondering if someone maybe knows what is causing this, since it is quite frustrating.

I know the best thing is to install the Ati driver and that is what I am currently trying to do, but I am having a problem (mentioned on Ati's homepage) installing the driver, probably conflicting with the Omega driver. I have downloaded Driver Cleaner and will try to install the Ati driver later today. Anyway this is another problem that will hopefully be solved today.

 

Ok. I managed to install the Ati driver, but I had to use the Fujitsu version of the driver. Ati says that certain companies like HP, COMPAQ, etc. (and apparently also Fujitsu) who use built in ati cards don't allow you too use ATI's catalyst driver. One has to use the notebook manufacturer's driver.

By the way is there anyway to work around this so that one can install the catalyst driver?

Now back to my original and more critical problem. I installed the driver and nothing changed, so I installed the whole system again and only installed the fujitsu driver this time, but I still have the same problem, but this time I noticed something else. JPEG and GIF images have obvious quality loss (blurry around the edges), but BMP images are perfect.
I find this strange and therefore I feel there some setting or something that I am missing.
So does anyone know what might be wrong?

I hope someone can help me before this monologue becomes too long.

 

Search the forums for "Omega Drivers" or "Catalyst Mod". I use the stock Arima driver on my machine but a lot of people swear by the Omega's. The Restore cd or dvd probably also has the driver you need.

First PC = Vic-20, 8" 128KB Home-Brew Floppy Drive ... Current Rig = eMachines m6805 ... Quantum Leap?

 

Thanks, but I have tried both the omega driver and the fujitsu ati driver.

 

OK. The problem is solved [ ], at last.
The problem was that I was using bluetooth to connect to my mobile phone which then connected to the internet, but I changed to ADSL and the problem was solved! So I started to investigate and soon found out that, in order to speed up the Internet connection the information (Jpegs, gifs, text, etc.) where compressed somewhere along the way and therefore the quality of the images was degraded.

:: Amilo M1425 : P-M Dothan 1.6GHz : ATI Radeon 9700 128MB : 15.4" Screen : 512 MB RAM 333 : 80GB HD 4200 : DVD+/-RW Double Layer : Windows XP Pro SP1 ::