Color Quality Changes to 8 bit when Outlook 2003 opens (me too!)

[Guest]

This is the same problem mentioned in a post from 1/26/06 by Pat Willener.
My display also changes from 16 or 32 bit color to 8 bit color. The screen
blanks for about 3 seconds then displays incorrectly. Sometime a few seconds
later, it reverts back to 16 or 32 bit color. I downloaded the most current
Dell video drivers, and removed Adobe Reader v6.0.2 without improvement as
was suggested in the earlier post. MS Word and Excel load normally, only
Outlook causes this perplexing problem.

Specs:
Dell Optiplex SX-260
2.66GHz P4
512GB Ram
Intel 845 G/GL Integrated Video
Windows XP Pro SP2
Outlook 2003 SP2

Thanks for your help.

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Pat Willener]

This is very puzzling. I have exactly the same configuration as you do,
but I am not experiencing any problem. Could it be that you have
disabled the page file? Or that it is way too small? (My page file is
1152MB).

What is the driver version of your display adapter? (Mine is
6.14.10.4342, dated 2005/06/21 - I believe I downloaded it directly from
Intel).

 

[Guest]

I was not experiencing any problems before this and it worked fine last week.
No changes were made to the system prior to the problem. I am using the
most current Intel video driver V6.14.10.4342. I am not sure about the page
file size... Why would this affect the video display?... maybe shared video
using the system RAM? It mostly blinks back to normal after Outlook opens.

 

[Pat Willener]

My gut feeling is that it is some kind of memory problem - real memory,
or virtual memory (page file). Can you check your page file size:
right-click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance, click
Settings, tab Advanced -> Virtual memory. It should be at least double
of your RAM.

 

[BillM]

See http://www.msoutlook.info/question/334 for a solution that worked for my wife who nhad the same problem! Somehow, a check box called "run in 256 colors" has been
turned on under "Compatability Mode". Turning it off instantly cleared the problem.

If you belong to other support forums, please propagate this answer. It took weeks of searching until I hit the exact right google search:

Google: Vista 8-bit color Outlook 2003 Problem

Bill Malthouse

UserId: BillM