# I don't know how to change the brightness on my computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325 "2006-04-19T17:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/1 "2006-04-19T17:17:59Z")
About a year ago I had XP reinstalled and a new motherboard put in on my computer. It used to be that if I wanted to change the brightness of my display I’d just go into control panel then display then I’d find the brightness software in there so I could set it. However that is gone now that everything is reinstalled and I don’t know how to change it. Changing the brightness manually on the monitor doesn’t work the same, I have a game that is really dim and I need to change the software brightness display settings to do that as manually changing them on the monitor doesn’t work as well. Is there some universal way to get to the brightness controls in the software? I have a GeForce 2 Titanium, the help section isn’t helping any either. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/2 "2006-04-19T17:20:28Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I don’t know how to change the brightness on my computer. Try a higher wattage bulb in the light fixture. 😃 sorry ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/3 "2006-04-19T17:21:58Z")
Do you have the [latest driver from NVidia](http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_84.21.html)? IIRC, they install some custom tabs in the Display Manager that might do what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/4 "2006-04-19T17:38:09Z")
What do you get when you right click on the desktop and select “properties” then “settings” and then “advanced”. You should have some tabs in that window that may or may not perform the task you request. Tell us what you see. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/5 "2006-04-19T17:41:56Z")
I think I used to get that in the old computer, now I just have a bunch of tabs that don’t give me that ability. The tabs are General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot & Color manager. I think I may need new drivers but I can’t find any that work. That site Nanoda gave me didn’t work, and neither did this site [http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/LEADTEK/LEADTEK-GeForce2-Ti-Titanium-5303.shtml](http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/LEADTEK/LEADTEK-GeForce2-Ti-Titanium-5303.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/6 "2006-04-19T18:03:12Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > I think I used to get that in the old computer, now I just have a bunch of tabs that don’t give me that ability. The tabs are General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot & Color manager. > > I think I may need new drivers but I can’t find any that work. That site Nanoda gave me didn’t work, and neither did this site [http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/LEADTEK/LEADTEK-GeForce2-Ti-Titanium-5303.shtml](http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/LEADTEK/LEADTEK-GeForce2-Ti-Titanium-5303.shtml) Just go to www.nividia. com and go to the downlaod page wesley. The expanded driver set (vs the built in XP version you have now) should have brightness & gamma etc adjusters. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/7 "2006-04-19T20:46:30Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Just go to www.nividia. com and go to the downlaod page wesley. The expanded driver set (vs the built in XP version you have now) should have brightness & gamma etc adjusters. Thats what Nanoda recommended though. Over here [http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp](http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp) I pick Graphics Driver - Geforce and TNT2 - windows XP/2000 but it doesn’t seem to work. It downloads and then I get an error message when it tries to install. ---
**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/8 "2006-04-20T01:21:36Z")
What is the exact error message? Try uninstalling your current video drivers before installing the new ones. If uninstalling the drivers manually doesn’t work, try the utility [DriverCleaner](http://www.drivercleaner.net). There’s a version that’s free to use. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/9 "2006-04-20T01:56:47Z")
Something about how none of the software downloaded was compatible with my hardware. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-change-the-brightness-on-my-computer/353325/10 "2006-04-20T02:05:16Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Something about how none of the software downloaded was compatible with my hardware. I had something similar happen when I tried to upgrade my nVidia drivers. The problem was that the video card I had was no longer supported. nVidia has only a single driver which it supposed to work for all current boards. Once I got a new board, the driver worked just as promised. However, if the TNT is still a supported card I’m not sure what the problem might be. Bob