My screen automatically changes brightness depending the color of the background.

Question

I have noticed for a few weeks now that my screen automatically changes brightness sometimes, but I only recently found out that it was when the color of the background changes. For example, the background becomes darker and the colors on my screen seem to become more vibrant and bright with a dark background, and then the background becomes lighter and the colors become darker and less vibrant on a white background. I understand that this is to compensate for the change in backgrounds, but the change is hard to look at and only makes my eyes uncomfortable. I much rather prefer it to stay normal like how it is with a white background. This only happens when I am on battery power, not when I am plugged in. I've already turned off the feature in my settings that automatically changes the brightness depending on the lighting in my room, but this issue still occurs. Is there anything I can do?

Answer 1

I was able to figure out the issue. I downloaded the Intel Graphics Command Center from the Microsoft Store, opened the "System" tab, opened the "Power" tab, and turned off "Display Power Savings". I immediately noticed the fix, and after multiple trials and tests, I can confirm that it works. I'm glad I was able to figure it out, hopefully this post can help anyone else with the same issue. Thanks for the help, Greg.

Answer 2

Hi Adrian -

I'm glad to hear that turning off Display Power saving settings still works, and that you found an app to apply it! Nice work.

Let me know if there's anything else.

Answer 3

Is this a store bought PC or did you build it? If store bought go to the Manufacturer's Support Downloads web page to download and install the latest display driver, as well as all other drivers including BIOS, chipset, sound, USB3, network, etc.

If you built it go to the Motherboard maker's site to download and install all available drivers. If you installed a video card go to that manufacturer's site to install the card driver.

These solutions are a bit old but still worth trying since they match the unusual problem:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

https://superuser.com/questions/743915/screen-b...

https://superuser.com/questions/1117665/windows...

https://superuser.com/questions/540335/laptop-m...

https://itectec.com/superuser/laptop-monitor-br...

Also try disabling Auto Brightness in the Settings > System > Display.

Turn off 'Change brightness automatically when lighting changes'

Restart PC,

Intel cards have software that has a Display Power Saving Technology.

See https://community.intel.com/t5/Graphics/Disable...

Answer 4

Hi, thanks for the suggestions, but I'm still experiencing the same problem. I downloaded the Intel update utility and installed all of the updates it showed me, and for a while, it worked. However, when I opened my laptop later after it was sleeping, my screen started doing the same thing. Then I tried accessing the Device Manager tab and updating my driver and restarting my laptop, but the same thing kept happening. Lastly, I tried uninstalling the driver and restarting my laptop to reinstall it, but I'm still having issues. Is there anything else I can do?

Answer 5

Hi Adrian. I'm Greg, awarded MVP for eleven years, Volunteer Moderator, and Independent Advisor here to help you until this is resolved.

1. The Display driver is so important here that merely updating it is sometimes not enough. So let's try everything possible to get it working correctly:

First make sure you have updated the Display driver from the PC or Display adapter maker's Support Downloads web page for your exact model number, HP Serial Number or Dell Service Tag - from the sticker on the PC.

While there check also for newer chipset, BIOS/UEFI firmware (very important), network, sound, USB3 and other drivers, comparing to the ones presently installed in Device Manager reached by right clicking the Start Menu.

If this doesn't give you the latest or ideal driver for what you need, compare it to the driver offered by the Intel driver update Utility here: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/...

or the Nvidia Update utility here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=e...

or the AMD autodect utility here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/P...

For Display issues one fix that is working is to Roll back or Uninstall the Driver on the Display Device > Driver tab, restart PC to reinstall driver.

You can also try older drivers in Device Manager > Display device > Driver tab > Update Driver > Browse > Let Me Pick.

Then you will know you've tried everything in addition to Windows Update drivers.

Adjust the screen resolution until it fits and looks best at Settings > System > Display.

2. You can reset the theme by setting a new Theme from Settings > Personalization > Themes or from the many spectacular free Themes you can download from the Store to that Themes panel to choose from: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/collectio...

To get color back on the task bar, start menu and window frames after Version 1903 turned the Light theme dull grey follow this guide:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

To get the spectacular scenic backgrounds back on the Lock screen when the PC first starts up, go into Settings > Personalization > Lock Screen and set the drop down menu to Windows Spotlight.

If you want the Fun Facts you can hover the mouse over on the Lock Screen or click to go to info pages about the scenes, change dropdown temporarilty to Picture, tick the box to Get fun facts, then change it back to Windows Spotlight.

More about personalizing by customizing appearance here:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-customize-lo...

https://www.howtogeek.com/225893/how-to-persona...

To save a Windows 10 custom Theme so you can reapply it when Updates or Version mess it up, see here:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/41564-save-...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. If you will wait to choose if I solved your problem, I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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