Monitor accident; contrast

You need to read the monitor's "instruction manual" or "operator's manual" which is a printed booklet which you should have received when you got the monitor. The section you need to look at is the one about the "on screen menu". If you got the monitor as part of a complete PC package, it may be with all the other documents and booklets which you should have found in the packaging. You didn't throw them away, did you?

Without knowing the make and model of your monitor, nobody can tell you how to operate the buttons to do what you need.

If you have not got the manual, find out the make and model - it is usually on a label at the back, the same label where the serial number is - and then search on (for example) Google for that monitor's maker's web site. It is quite likely there is an online version of the manual available. You could either view it online or download it and store it on your hard drive or print it out.

Say the monitor was a Superview 17ABC1234, you could type in "Superview 17ABC1234 manual". Often they are in PDF format so you might need Acrobat reader software.

If you find out the make and model, post it here in a reply, and I can try to help you.

Monitor accident
I got the monitor as a Christmas present from my son years ago, and doubt if the instruction manual is still around - but I will definitely look. The monitor is a View Sonic, model No. VA 520. It was one of the early "slim" (LED) models. The buttons I mentioned on the bottom are five - one large on the far right (as one faces the monitor), and four smaller.

Hi Woollcott, well, armed with that information, I went to Viewsonic's web site and found this page where you can request an user's guide in pdf format as I mentioned:

http://www.viewsonic.com/support/userguides.cfm

Unfortunately you have to enter the monitor serial number which is either 10 or 12 digits long, which I do not have!

You could go there directly and get your users guide, or if you want me to interpret the onscreen menu for you, you could give the serial number here.

Most OSDs work in a similar fashion. Pressing one button brings up the menu and then the other buttons enable you to select sub menus and navigate up and down within them, select an option, and then vary that option (eg brightness, contrast) up & down, and finally to quit.

I did a bit of googling for Viewsonic OSD and found a few comments





From VA520 spec sheet



Basically you would press (2) to get the OSD menu going and then the (up) & (down) buttons to navigate to a submenu, then (2) to enter that submenu, then (up) and (down) to navigate within it, then (2) to select an option (brightness, contrast, colour temperature, volume, whatever) then (up) and (down) to vary that setting, then (1) to store the new setting & exit.

there may be a "granny option" like on TV remotes which will just reset the monitor to factory defaults, which may be all you need.

Note the comments above which indicate that Viewsonic don't number the buttons from left to right. button (1) is at one end of the row of 4 small buttons, and button (2) is at the other end.

So if you post your serial number I can tell you what to do, or you could try it yourself with the link above.

Just a small point - these monitors are LCD, not LED as you wrote. I'm no being pedantic, it's just that you will get better search results on the web if you put in the right description.

After all this typing, I'd love to hear how you get on...