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Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... huh?

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:33 am
by Thenior
Hey everyone,

Running a GTS 250 card. I had a Samsung P2350 as my primary, looks great, really vivid colors.

I just bought a Samsung P2450. When I plug it in, it makes my P2350 (the original) go dim. I tried tweaking the nVidia drivers a bit, but they didn't seem to do the trick.

I unplugged the new P2450, and bam, the original got bright again.

Nothing in the actual Monitor settings changed (it's still at 100% brightness).

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:53 am
by Foil
I'm guessing the port you're plugging the new one into is the primary, and the OS is just popping the desktop over to that one.

Have you gone into display settings, and told it to "Extend the desktop"?

[Edit: Just re-read your post... when you say "go dim", you're talking about brightness, not the displayed image?]

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:56 am
by Thenior
Yes, the brightness itself goes down.

Just a note, I am using dual DVI outputs.

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:04 pm
by Thenior
You know what - I think the new screen is just way brighter. I'm doing some driver updates, but it seems odd that the same model of monitor, only 1" bigger, would be so much brighter.

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:04 pm
by snoopy
Thenior wrote:You know what - I think the new screen is just way brighter. I'm doing some driver updates, but it seems odd that the same model of monitor, only 1" bigger, would be so much brighter.

That should be easy to test, if you can get help- turn the new monitor so you can't see it, and then have your friend plug/unplug it while you watch the first one.

If it really is happening, I'd check the power supply and make sure you're not overloading your strip/UPS.

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:20 pm
by Isaac
snoopy wrote:I'd check the power supply and make sure you're not overloading your strip/UPS.
x2!

While you're doing this, keep smelling around for melting plastic! Don't leave it on and unattended until you solve this.

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:44 pm
by Krom
New monitors also frequently ship with the brightness set at or near maximum (because when people are looking at display models set up in stores, the brighter ones sell better).

Re: Just attached second monitor, made my first go dim... hu

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:56 pm
by MD-2389
When you turn it on, set the brightness/contrast to 50%, and set the color temperature to the same temp of your other monitor. Then take a little time to calibrate it. Rinse and repeat for your other monitor. When running multiple monitors, you want the picture to look as close as possible to the same.

Like Krom said, by default they come in "ZOMG SO BRIGHT IT BURNS YOUR RETINAS!" demo mode, to get you to notice it. Give it a proper calibration, and you'll be fine.