display is consistently far too bright

[NancyS]

I haven't even figured out if this is hardware or software, but my favorite photos look ugly and my eyes are worn out from reading the text.

symptom: display is consistently far too bright even with its hardware control is at the darkest setting, and it's fuzzy to varying degrees (it changes randomly) at all settings of font smoothing. Probably coincidentally, my months old DVD-RW needs to be cleaned every few burns. Other than that everything is working flawlessly.

things we've done:

1. started up from 10.3 on a separate drive, OS9, the Tiger installation CD, and in safe mode - no change
2. changed the battery & reset cuda; reset the NVRAM - no change
3. removed unnecessary peripherals and 3rd party system preferences - no change
4. tried 2 other monitors - no change
5. tried another graphics card - no change (to the brightness/contrast)
6. the program "Gamma Control" will increase the contrast and black level to %150, which makes things legible but still too bright
​

What should we do next? I don't want to take it for repair if it's a software issue or a user installable part.

Thanks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

System Profile

Mac OS X version 10.4.9

Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G4
Machine Model: PowerMac3,5
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 933 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 2 MB
Memory: 1.25 GB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.3.3f2

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D:
Firmware Revision: 1.17
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Vendor Supported)
Profile Path: /Library/DiscRecording/DeviceProfiles/PatchBurn-pioneerdvdrwdvr110d.drprofile

FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec

NVIDIA GeForce4 MX:
Chipset Model: GeForce4 MX
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 64 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0171
Revision ID: 0x00a3
ROM Revision: 1091
Displays:
CPD-E440:
Resolution: 1280 x 960 @ 90 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported

DIMM0/J21:
Size: 256 MB
Type: SDRAM
Speed: PC133-333
Status: OK
DIMM1/J22:
Size: 512 MB
Type: SDRAM
Speed: PC133-333
Status: OK
DIMM2/J23:
Size: 512 MB
Type: SDRAM
Speed: PC133-333
Status: OK

AlchemyTV:

 

[fryke]

Have you checked the colour calibration profile in the "Displays" preference pane?

 

[NancyS]

Have you checked the colour calibration profile in the "Displays" preference pane?

Of course! On the first test, to set the brightness so that you can barely see the oval, I can't get the brightness low enough.

 

[Michel PM]

There's a freeware app by Charcoal design called Shades that controls the brightness of your screen without altering any of your screens normal settings or color managed settings. Maybe this would help your situation.

http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades

I feel my LCD screen is too bright in the evenings, I use this app to adjust the screen brightness as it does not interfere with any color managed settings I have set to my screen or changes to my standard settings made in display settings preference panel.
Give it a try and see if it helps