Windows 7 all of the sudden looks horrible

[Segenum]

Ok, so I have been trying to research this problem for awhile without any possible explanation other that windows 7 sucks and I need to buy windows 8.

I have a custom built PC with a decent graphics card hooked up to my 40" Bravia (as I have always done).

The problem is that all of the sudden, everything looks like crap. All of the icons, all images, and pretty much almost all text looks horribly distorted as if you were to zoom in too far, or were playing a small video and expanded it extremely large.

The odd thing is that not everything looks bad. For example, when I play PC games they look flawless as they usually do, however when (as an example) looking at the icon of the game on the windows 7 desktop it looks horribly pixelated.

it's a very confusing and perplexing issue that I have no Idea where to start with. I don't know how long this has gone on because I recently moved and it took me awhile to set everything up.

Has anyone heard of anything like this? I know I've come accross windows 8 forums and have heard something along the lines of DPI settings needing to be changed, however I don't have 8 I have 7...

Here are my specs:

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1
Intel Quad Core i5-3570k
16gb of DDR3 crucial/core can't remember which but nice and fast
Nvidia GeForce GTX750 Ti (HDMI connection)
500gb SSD to boot
1TB for storage
Realtek HD audio card

Connection to Sony Bravia TV is HDMI and and optical for audio

All Nvidia drivers are up to date, all Windows drivers up to date.
However, there are two drivers that didn't up date through windows for my NVIDIA card. On pics.




image hosting no sign up



It is hard to tell from the pictures, but it's just so maddening because I don't know how to describe it. I feel the only way is to physically show on the monitor. However, I know it's not the monitor because you can still see the problems in the screen captures.

if anyone knows what I'm rambling about I'd really appreciate any info on what this actually is.

Thanks

Ian

 

[bgunner]

Sounds like you have either set an improper resolution , GPU driver is not installed /working properly, You have the Icon size set to large or you have the DPI setting way to high. Yes the DPI setting will do the same no matter what OS.

1. be sure you have set the resolution to what the TV requires/recommeded.
2. Be sure you installed the proper GPU driver from Nvidia's web site. " http://www.geforce.com/drivers " this is where you need to get your drivers from.
3. Right click on the desktop and select view, make sure you are not using the large Icon setting.
4. control panel/display/custom DPI settings - be sure this is set to 100 and not over. This will set you back to stock settings.

 

[Segenum]

bgunner,

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

Unfortunately:

1.) TV is set at it's native 1920x1080 resolution. I can confirm this as this is the TVs native resolution and the computer OS as well as the Nvidia software picks up the TV as 1080p and reccomends at that setting.

2.) I have installed the most up to date driver through Nvidia's site (that you've given me). However, nothing changed after the update to the most recent and I had the second to most recent one anyway.

3.) I am not on the large icon setting.

4.) Custom DPI settings are set at exactly 100%.

I was referencing the windows 8 DPI setting problem, as people had the almost exact problems and issues as I was having, however they were talking about 8, not 7. Thus, the fix they gave I could not do and I have seen no forum topics similar to mine regarding any fixes for 7..

Thanks again

 

[bgunner]

OK I am out of ideas as the reasons I gave are the most common for your issue. Sorry I can not be more help on this situation. Maybe someone else will see your thread and have more ideas.

Oh Spoke to soon. Have you tried to change your windows theme? It is a long shot but an easy idea to try.

 

[Segenum]

Yeah, I gave that a shot as well. No luck! It's one of those things that I'm sure I'll have to get lucky on.

Thanks for the help though.

 

[bgunner]

After looking at your screen shots I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at as I do not see any major distortions or pixilated areas.

 

[Segenum]

Here is another shot, hopefully it's a little easier to tell.




If you view 2x, you'll see the poor contrasting between the actual Image pandora is displaying and their GUI.

 

[bgunner]

Humm I will need to ponder this for a few But i will say this for now, It is strange it is just that section ( the album covers ) and no where else in that screen shot. Yes I see what you are talking about now but this is not going to be fixed by a simple setting at this point. I will get back to you if I can come up with an idea on this besides the fact the web page shows that box at a lesser detail quality.

 

[Segenum]

Thanks for your interest and devotion b.

Another interesting point, I was playing SWTOR and decided to make a new character. As such, an FMV usually plays before hand. I watched the video and it was EXTREMELY degraded and pixelated.

However, I said before gameplay is almost flawless and set on the highest settings.

It seems to me the problems are restricted to actual stand-alone images, media such as videos, and icons or windows images.

I hate these sorts of problems!

Unfortunately, my lack of expertise with anything above XP and my rustyness with fiddling around with OS and troubleshooting in general make me at the mercy of do-gooders. Boy I miss XP!

 

[Segenum]

Bump. Anyone possibly have any troubleshooting tips or ideas?

Thanks

Ian