# PC colour problem - palettes? Graphics card?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 29, 2002, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068 "2002-08-29T09:42:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/1 "2002-08-29T09:42:24Z")
Morning.
Just lately my PC colour schemes have gone, well, strange. Some of the colours in the palette (especially greys) are shot through with odd blotches of purple, as if the shades of the colour aren’t displaying properly – it results in odd little purple ‘tidemarks’ in my desktop background and any photograph-quality images on my local machine and on the web. When I change my display settings to 16-bit colour the problem disappears, but my icons are reduced to ugly little images (to be expected when using 16-bit colour, I suppose). When I use 32-bit or 64-bit colour the icons are displayed in full glorious colour and quality but the ‘tidemarks’ reappear.
My PC was quite happy displaying 64-bit colour previously, and I haven’t done anything that seems likely to have messed things around. The only change I’ve made recently was to install an XP editor for changing default icons, but I’ve already uninstalled this and reset the icons back to system defaults.
Any ideas? Is my graphics card to blame? (I’ve tried getting new drivers, but the model is unsupported now and the only available drivers are from unsigned third parties and I’m hesitant to risk making matters worse). A problem with the system palettes?
**Tech details** : Celeron (Pentium-II equivalent) PC, Windows XP Pro, 6.4Gb hard disk, 64Mb RAM, Diamond Monster Fusion AGP graphics card. No problems with viruses, adware, spyware etc, recently defragmented too.
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### Author:  [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/2 "2002-08-29T10:23:01Z")
Yep well, I’m no expert either but I’m just going to say I’d have thought the same thing. Actually, I’s also have considered that the monitor itself maybe on the way out - you don’t mention those details.
Hopefully someone will be along shortly…
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/3 "2002-08-29T12:10:58Z")
I now vaguely recall having this problem once before when the PC was running Windows 98, but it seemed to fix itself somehow (this was a long time ago). It could be a hardware fault but this previous encounter seems to contradict that idea.
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/4 "2002-08-29T14:13:07Z")
Um…_64_ bit color…? That doesn’t sound quite right. The highest I’ve heard of coming from professional grade cards is that 48 is pretty much the max…
Try going to advanced options and set the monitor to a different refresh rate–perhaps that will clear up some of the problems.
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### Author:  [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/5 "2002-08-29T14:35:12Z")
Same thing I was thinking **slortar**. Your PC should be running like molasses at 64-bit color (which I’m pretty sure the Diamond Monster Fusion doesn’t go to), especially with only 64 MB RAM. Perhaps you were talking about 24-bit color.
Go with what **slortar** said, and while you’re in there you might check the monitor settings under Advanced (erm, I’m in Win98 right now so I’m not sure if that’s the right spot) and see if there are any color profiles set up for your monitor.
You did try degaussing, right?
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### Author:  [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/6 "2002-08-29T14:56:59Z")
And if you haven’t already checked, a loose cable connection could easily explain this exact behavior…
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/7 "2002-08-29T18:25:46Z")
Bugger, I meant 16, 24 and 32-bit. That’ll teach me to post without checking the settings first. I’ve tried degaussing, I’ve tightened the cables and I don’t have any colour profiles at all – thanks for the suggestions so far, but nothing has worked yet.
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### Author:  [@AZCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AZCowboy)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/8 "2002-08-29T18:35:21Z")
Do you, by chance, have another monitor you could test, to see if the trouble is NOT the monitor?
And vice versa, do you have another computer, such that you could connect your monitor and verify that the trouble isn’t the monitor?
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-colour-problem-palettes-graphics-card/126068/9 "2002-08-29T21:46:44Z")
Unfortunately not. Money for repairs and tinkering is a little non-existent at present and my nearest friends with PCs are still too far away (and without cars). I’ll keep playing around with the various memory and display settings.