System Color (depth) weirdness

I really need an expert to solve this one!
Some colors in my system have been defaulted to using less color depth. It looks as it they were only 8 bit or something.
The strange thing is, this happens to some icons, in some applications, but it is certainly not consistent.
I've done my research, read thru the forums.
- I've tried obviously making sure my display's color is set to millions. tried changing it even to 256. still no difference.
- I've tried with the settings on the Universal Access (System Preferences)
- I've also tried creating another account, but it still happens...
I'm assuming that this must be related to the amount of memory used for icons in the windowing subsystem, but cannot figure oout how to change it....
Intel MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Could be a hardware malfunction. Maybe you should take that MacBook to an Apple store and have it checked out.

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Adobe Reader changes system color depth settings to 256 colors

I am writing here for a friend who has a Windows 7 system and Adobe Reader in version 9.4
Each time he opens Adobe Reader the system settings for color depth are changed to 256 colors, which makes PDF documents barely readable. It is possible to change the color depth back to normal in the system settings, but each restart of Adobe Reader switches the system again to 256 colors.
Does anyone here have a clue how to stop this behaviour of Adobe Reader?
My friend has tried to remove Adobe Reader and reinstall it, but the problem remains.
Since I am a Mac user my Windows abilities are very limited and I am very grateful for any help.
Thanks a lot,
macvet

Could be a hardware malfunction. Maybe you should take that MacBook to an Apple store and have it checked out.

Weird Low Color Depth & Discoloration in ACR (HELP ME PLEASE)

I can't figure out this problem for the life of me! I have been editing pictures from my D90 in ACR for quite some time now. I have recently upgraded to a new computer and now I am experiencing a very strange problem.
   Instead of getting nice smooth gradients like usual, I am seeing severe (color?) banding. The image looks pasty and smudged. Also green appears in rings or bands -- seeming to replace some other specific color. I am out at work right now, but I'll post a picture as soon as I get back. The greenish tint usually apears around areas of high contrast. I'm guessing it's something to do with color depth; but I could be terribly wrong.
   Usually, right off the bat, the pictures in ACR will look pretty much fine. There may be a little bit of it but it's harder to notice. But as soon as you begin to use the Exposer slider, it's hard not to notice it. It's gets increasingly worse as the picture becomes more and more low key.
Right now I'm Working with: (it's the short list, I'm at work)
-Windows 7 64x
-PS CS5 with the lastest ACR
-A BRIDGE
-MSI GTX460 (Latest drivers)
-D90 - Shooting in Raw
   As far as ACR settings, I have it set to open pictures in 16bit. The VGA is set to run the computer at 32bit. What is it I'm doing wrong?
VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE:
   I have had ACR open pictures perfectly on this exact same tower. I recently reinstalled the OS and that's when the problems began. I don't know if that helps.
   A VERY BIG THANK YOU!! --in advance...I'm really stumped.
--Masa

The differences you're seeing are between color-managed applications (e.g., Windows photo viewer) and those that are not (e.g., Internet Explorer).
You say you have the correct monitor profiles installed, but some profiles are just bad - the one you have tied to your monitor is bad. Hard to believe but it happens. Did this profile come with the monitor?
Try setting the monitor profile to sRGB to see if the problem is resolved.
If it is, you can either keep sRGB as your monitor profile, try to find another one online that matches the monitor, or (as noted above) get a color calibration/profiling device and make a new profile specifically for your system.
-Noel

Display-Color-Depth

Hi there.
After an application-crash (After Effects) and cold restart my monitor-color-depth suddenly switched from millions of colors to maybe several hundreds of colors. I've tried cleaning the caches, throwing out preferences-files (out of library) and also resetting the color-depth by using third-party-applications. Still not working. I suppose it's some kind of problem in one of the preferences-files in the library, but I don't know which one.
The "About This Mac" section shows that the monitor would show some "Millios Of Colors".
As I can not work like this I made a new user-account. In the new user-account everything runs smoothly but for sure I would like to use my old user-account with all my settings and preferences instead of switching to a total blank one that I have to modify again to fit my needs. Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong or how to succesfully force the display to display millions-of-colors again?
When I log into my old user-account the display first shows normally, then switches to "hundreds-of-colors" after a split-second. Is there any way to slow down this process and monitor which preference-file the computer is loading in exactly this moment?
Also weird: when I connect to my old user account via remote access / screensharing (vnc://...) then the display looks normal from the remote computer.
Any ideas would be welcome. Don't know what else to do...
Cheers, Aeiou

What does it say if you go to About This Mac -> More Info -> Graphics & Displays -> Pixel Depth
1: Try resetting the PRAM.
2: Go to System Preferences -> Displays -> Color -> Select another profile or calibrate
3: Go to System Preferences -> Universal Access -> Slide the Contrast bar all the way to the left
Might end up just being a plist to snag though.

AMD FireGL GPU + Creative Cloud app = Color Depth & other Issues

Hello, I am writing this post to help anyone who may have ran into the same issues I am seeing with my AMD FireGL graphics adapter when using the Adobe Creative Cloud app on a windows 7 PC.
I ran into a problem installing and setting up the Creative Cloud app on my new workstation that has an AMD FireGL graphics processor.
First off, the system is new (dell precision m4800, with an AMD FireGL V M5100 GPU), and has all the most current drivers and updates available.. that is to say, this is not a hardware issue.
The system operates just fine outside of the Creative Cloud app, but when I installed and attempted to login to Creative Cloud for access to download Illustrator, etc., the Creative Cloud app would open up and then only display a blank white page. No graphics, no data, just white.
When I got stuck at this point I called Adobe support and spoke to a rep who had seen the issue before. The rep worked around the blank white page in CC by loading the windows device manager and manually disabling the AMD FireGL GPU device to re-install and login to the Creative Cloud app.   This temporarily forced windows to use the default/dummy VGA graphics driver supplied with windows.   With windows using the dummy 256-color vga driver we were able to get the creative cloud app running and get me logged in to install my design software. HOORAY!--or so I thought....
At this point I assumed the issue was resolved, but I found that there was a new issue popping up every time I rebooted my system. Windows would load and log me in using the 32bit color depth setting, but as soon as the Adobe Creative Cloud app started up, my color mode would switch to 256 colors... D`oh!
Obviously I don't want to run at only 256 colors, and neither should you! Adobe, why does my color depth change to 256 colors every time the Creative Cloud app is loaded?
If you want to temporarily reset the color depth to 32bit, you can go to Control Panel -> Display -> Adjust Resolution -> Advanced Settings -> Monitor Tab -> & select "True Color (32bit)" from the Colors drop-down menu. Using this method will allow Adobe Creative Cloud app to continue running 24/7, however this is only a temporary fix, which will need to be applied every time the system is rebooted, or any time a user logs off then back in.. Frankly, its a bit of a PITA, so why bother?
The permanent fix is simple.. go to Start -> & do a Search for "msconfig".   Once found, run the msconfig utility and switch to the "Startup" tab, where you will be presented with a list of boot time startup items. Find the one labeled "Adobe Creative Cloud" and disable it by removing the check mark from the corresponding check box.   Then click OK. You will be warned that a restart may be required.. go ahead and re-start.   This time, when the system boots, Adobe Creative Cloud will not load, and your color depth will remain at 32bit. YAY!
If need be you can always load up Creative Cloud manually from the start menu if you need it, but it will knock your color depth back to 256 colors. Thus far i have had zero issues using adobe photoshop or illustrator without first loading the Creative Cloud app, so it isn't required. If i need updates or need to access other features within the Creative Cloud app i can, but it doesnt need to run 24/7 to use other adobe apps.
The short explanation is that Adobe is failing to fully and properly support the AMD FireGL graphics platform. The adobe rep i spoke to essentially said the same thing, but made certain to blame the graphics device and not adobe software--sure thing boss.   The truth is that the FireGL and its varients have been on the market as long or longer than the nvidia products that are supported fully by adobe.
It is clear that Adobe has made a choice not to fully support AMD Workstation graphics (FireGL) since not only is the Creative Cloud app broken and causing problems, but also no graphics acceleration features work in any of my installed adobe apps.. I basically get a message saying "please us a supported graphics processor". Seriously, how is FireGL not "Supported"?
I am not an AMD or FireGL fanboy.. Frankly I cant stand AMD graphics adapters and I genuinely prefer nVidia on my personal systems. At home, my 5 year old $100 nVidia gaming card is fully supported in all the adobe apps..
At work, however, I have no choice what hardware is provided to me and this lack of FireGL support has negatively impacted my productivity more than once. Admittedly, nvidia has much more market share than AMD in the workstation graphics realm, but that does not mean adobe should just ignore AMD completely!
Hopefully this post will shed some light on issues with Adobe Creative Cloud app and FireGL graphics cards that others may be experiencing.
Good Luck!

Minor correction... I called my GPU the FireGL, which is the old market name.. The current, proper market name is FirePro.. same line, just new branding after AMD purchased ATI.

Color depth

What is color depth of macbook and is it possible to change it? from 32 to 16bit. if so does it improve system performance?

Hi dog,
apple macbook (at system preference) doesn't offer that 16 - 24 - 32 bit depth, but it offer 256 - thousands - millions color.
I think it might make the gpu task easier, but I doubt you will notice the improvement.
Better get more memory to improve your overall system and the gpu shared memory as well.
Good Luck.

Color depth adjustment -- running OS 9

Dear All,
OK. This is all about running a special image processing software under OS 9. It requires 256 colors (yes written in 90's). I used to be able to do this with the control panel -- Monitors, which allows me to select among a number of resolutions and color depths. This includes my last laptop -- an iBook G3.
Now that I moved to TiBook G4, I thought I am able to do this too. But, it won't allow me! The only color depth is millions and resolution is 1280x854. Strangely, when I boot it into OS 10.4.11, I CAN switch among the several color depths and resolutions, including 256 colors!
Why is it that I can change the color depth when boot into 10.4.11, but not able to change it when boot into OS 9.2.2? Is there something missing in my OS 9 system folder?
I hate to return back to run in classic now that I am able to boot in OS 9...

Hi again, ycchen. See my last post in your other recent thread here, in which I suggested that there might be limitations on the capabilities of your copied OS 9.2.2. I suspect that this is one of them, and that it's because you don't have the right OS 9 driver for your Powerbook's video "card" (which isn't actually a separate card, but video circuitry soldered to the logic board). OS X includes drivers for all Apple's video processors, but a standard OS 9 installation on any given Mac includes only the driver for that machine's video processor. The OS 9 installer disc identifies the processor and installs only the right driver for it. Your installation of OS 9 for the iBook contained only the driver for the iBook's video processor, and not the one for the Tibook's.
My own 1GHz Tibook contains a bootable OS 9.2.2 installed from the Tibook's original Install/Restore DVD, and my OS 9 Monitors control panel looks like this:
http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr300/ewweber/Picture1.jpg

Solaris 10 - Changing default screen color depth

Hello,
I just upgraded a Sun Blade from Solaris 8 to 10. I have a rather old image display application (ftp://east.la.asu.edu/pub/software/pw-5.23.tar.gz) that is absolutely essential for my work, and it will not run under Solaris 10, either on the CDE or jave/gnome desktops.
The executable for this application was compiled using gcc on Solaris 8, and ran fine on Solaris 8 CDE (v1.4.3?) with the "Most colors for applications" color setting in Desktop Color prefs. With that setup, the application allocated 216 colors when starting up, which was sufficient. If the application could not allocate enough colors, it would use its own private color map, which caused window "flashing," but that was OK.
Under Solaris 10 CDE (v1.6.3) and gnome, the application cannot allocate enough colors, and cannot even start with its own color map.
I re-complied the application on Solaris 10 using Sun Studio 11, and the same problem occurs with the new executable.
I think that the problem may be related to default color depth. Right now, with xwininfo, my Solaris 10 CDE xterms are 24-bit true color. Unfortunately, I think that I may need to set my default color depth to 8-bit pseudocolor for the application to run. How can I change the default color depth of the CDE and gnome desktops to pseudocolor? I know that the application works on HP-UX CDE with the default depth as pseudocolor.
I cannot remember if I had somehow changed the settings for color depth on Solaris 8 to get the application to run. I do know that the xwininfo results for a Firefox browser window running on my Solaris 8 CDE desktop was 24-bit true color. I hope very much that this will be the case if I change my default depth to 8-bit on Solaris 10.
Any help that anyone can provide would be GREATLY appreciated. I am dead in the water without this imaging application. I am a member of the Sun Developer Network, and I don't know if I should post this message somewhere on the Developer Forums. Please let me know if I should.
Thank you in advance!!!!!

Hi,
In my first post there is a link to the code I am talking about. The code is public and available. It was created by Noel Gorelick at ASU. It is based on having an 8-bit Xserver running. There are few users of this code, but I completely agree with you that a new generation of unix-based imaging code needs to be developed that is system and Xserver independent. Optimal code should detect screen depth and open windows with desired color depth automatically, without "flashing.". That way, it could even run under Gnome, which allocates all but 18 8-bit colors for the desktop. Under CDE, the code allocates 224 colors for itself, which is great. The above code will create its own colormap if it cannot allocate enough colors, but there is flashing in that case. Have at it if you wish.
Best regards,
Sparcmaster

[Solvedish] Can color depth be changed in X with no xorg.conf file?

I have a laptop that's working perfectly with no xorg.conf file except for the color depth is at 16 and I want it at 24. Can color depth be changed in X with no xorg.conf file? (I already tried the amazing three line xorg.conf file to no avail.)
Last edited by skottish (2008-03-09 03:15:11)

Won't work on a running X session, and has the same effect as the aforementioned xorg.conf file if run before starting X.
I may just have to make a new xorg.conf file. The last one decided it hated some upgrade I made and started wreaking havoc all over my system. Crashes and lockups and flickers galore!
--EDIT--
It turns out that the xf86-video-intel driver was my problem all along. I reverted to the i810 driver and my xorg file works again (it has more than three lines).
Last edited by skottish (2008-03-09 03:16:45)

Color depth wont apply

hey , i got a fresh install of arch linux and installed Xorg and LXDE and KDEMOD in both of LXDE and KDEMOD the color depth not seems to apply , im using the nvidia-173xx drivers and i see this : http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5051/200 … 0x1024.png
how can i fix this problem so my screen will show sharp ? (tried Defaultdepth and nvidia-xconfig) also i know its not hardware problem.
xorg.conf :
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder63) Mon Mar 2 12:45:55 PST 2009
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "xtrap"
Load "dbe"
Load "glx"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Proview"
HorizSync 30.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 60.0 - 75.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "NV34 [GeForce FX 5500]"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce FX 5500"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "1280x1024 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Last edited by liorc666 (2009-04-04 22:20:14)

Hello jonashly,
What make / model computer are you using?
What operating system?
Sounds like a possible video card driver issue, have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling new drivers?
If I have helped you in any way click the Kudos button to say Thanks.
The community works together, click Accept as Solution on the post that solves your issue for other members of the community to benefit from the solution.
- Friendship is magical.

Color Depth choices removed?

Just installed Snow Leopard (surprise!) and am having an issue with the display.
Some older games which ran flawlessly under 10.5.x are now no longer working. Just a black screen when it launches, with full audio and keyboard interaction possible.
I suspect that 10.6 is not allowing the game to change the color depth to 256 color mode. I noticed that "Thousands" is no longer an option, either.
How can we get 256 color mode back?

Hello jonashly,
What make / model computer are you using?
What operating system?
Sounds like a possible video card driver issue, have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling new drivers?
If I have helped you in any way click the Kudos button to say Thanks.
The community works together, click Accept as Solution on the post that solves your issue for other members of the community to benefit from the solution.
- Friendship is magical.

Can't Bomgar in since upgrade - Screen sharing ... disabled ..unknown display color depth

Since upgrading multiple customer systems to Mountain Lion, I am no longer able to use Screen Sharing in Bomgar. The following message appears: Screen Sharing has been disabled by the customer client. [Uknown display color depth: 0]
The only brief workaround is to tell someone on the other end to manually change the display setting to Scaling instead of Best for built-in-display will allow a one-time access as that setting immediately reverts back to Best for built-in-display. Dumbing it down might make it persist, but that isnt' feasible.
Bomgar support is closed over the weekend. I contacted Apple, and they said that there is no way to make the setting persist. That rep also didn't know of any terminal command that could be used to set the Display Resolution to Scaled either.
If there were a terminal command to set it to Scaled, that would help much because the Command Shell option in Bomgar does work, and I am able to launch a terminal.
I also tried to see if there were any settings I could manipulate in Screen Sharing in OS X, but there were none. I am getting the same result with Screen Sharing enabled or not enabled.
Anyone else experiencing this?

I'm sure you've tried reading https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57084
and http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Configuring
and I'm sure you've done
aticonfig --initial
I had to use https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AT … leshooting, specifically the part about disabling EXAPixmaps to make my card work.
What model is your ATI card? that would help. A LOT of ATI cards were dropped from proprietary support with the Catalyst driver.

Help!!! How do I get the bit color depth the user has his screen set to?

Help!!! How do I get the bit color depth the user has his screen set to?
Thank you.

i'm not sure if it's what you 're looking for but it worked for me:
GraphicsEnvironment ge = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
GraphicsDevice[] gs = ge.getScreenDevices();
for(int i=0;i<gs.length;i++){ //length is 1 (= i have only one screen? )
GraphicsDevice g=gs[ i ];
int nBits=g.getDisplayMode().getBitDepth(); //method getDisplayMode() only in jdk1.4 , i think
System.out.println( nBits+"");
output is 32 if i set my screen color to 32bits, 24 if...24, ...

How do I change Imac OS 10.7 color depth?

Im using an Imac with Mac OS 10.7.3. I am trying to use a Citrix to open some files but I get the error message that display is configured for 65536 colors and is not supported. I need to us 24 or 32 bit color. I cannot figure out how to make this change. Under system preferences>Display I see nothing that allows me to change depth to those levels.

Got to Displays icon in menu bar. When click on it I see the following. (see image below). Still can't find where to choose color depth.

Did iSight change my color depth?

I just installed an iSight camera and shortly after, I realized that my monitor's color depth had downgraded somehow.
For instance, the flat greys on the left and right of a Safari window toolbar come out like greyish teals; and skin tones in photographs and video appear posterized and flat due to the lack of colors.
I've checked my display settings in System Preferences: the colors are still set to "Millions". I even tried unplugging the iSight... still nothing.
any thoughts? Was it a Quicktime or OS update?

Installing iSight did not change my display's color. I do not know anything you listed that might have caused your color shift.
I apply all updates to QuickTime and Mac OS and have never had such a problem. Do you use an update process such as How I Update My Mac OS X?
Have you recently performed your regular Mac OS X maintenance? If not, do so now. That may restore your settings.
Have you (or someone else who has access to your Mac or your Monitor) changed any monitor settings? You do not say what monitor you use. Perhaps it has external adjustments that may have been bumped out of adjustment?
You might also want to check your System Preferences > Displays > Color settings to see if it has been changed by someone.
If none of these things help you, try a search in Mac mini Discussions for "display color" (without the quotation marks) and see some of the suggestions there. The Mac mini users who post there may have better suggestions for you than I do.

System Color (depth) weirdness

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