03-12-2010, 06:23 PM

I allowed someone to use my macbook (OS 10.4) and they wanted to use a wireless mouse rather than the mousepad. I let them put the mouse in, and a minute later they showed me that the screen had gone into flourescent tones. I unplugged the mouse (in retrospect I see that it's a microsoft mouse, <insert mac-superiority-complex here>) and I reset the computer to see if there would be a change.

When the computer turns on to my login page the screen appears as it should. However, when it goes to my desktop everything looks like it's been put into photoshop with contrast put on all the way up. I checked the settings and it's at millions of colors and the display size is normal. But everything looks flourescent. Programs still open, but nothing displays correctly once I log in. It looks like the microsofts do when they go into that mode when something's wrong (I can't remember what it's called).

I tried taking a screenshot of it on my mac, but when I loaded the photos over onto the computer I'm currently using they appeared normal. What can I do to fix it? I have graphic work I have to finish on my mac and I'm freaking out just a tad... Any imput would be greatly appreciated!

03-12-2010, 06:47 PM

Gone into fluorescent tones... Can you take a picture of it with a cell phone or something? The only thing I can think is that the colors got inverted. You can use Control + Option + Command + 8 to reverse it again. Try that and see if it fixes it. If that only makes things weirder do it again.

03-12-2010, 07:18 PM

I tried the flourescent trick with no success.

This is a picture of the "agave" desktop that comes standard with the computer. Here's what it looks like with the screen malfunctioning.

03-12-2010, 07:24 PM

It really looks... ah... I don't know.

03-12-2010, 09:32 PM

Go into "universal access" in your system settings and see if the contrast hasn't been adjusted all funky. That's my guess ...

03-12-2010, 10:20 PM

I'm thinking Chas_M has the right idea at this point - I hadn't even thought about the universal access, I went into it and majorly changed the contrast setting and my screen had this weird washed out flourescenty type look.

The only other things I could imagine are (assuming that it's not the contrast setting):
Your color profile is messed up (check displays - color button, check what display profile is selected and try selecting a different one)
Perhaps a hardware issue (I hope not as this would be a pain)

Have you also tried hooking an external monitor to the laptop to see if the colorization issue follows to the external monitor as well?