Calibration not working - Luminance & White Point

[mdavidangst]

Hi - hopefully someone will have some insight for me.
I am having a strange problem with my LCD monitors and calibration.

The monitors are LCD
Samsung 740T
Samsung 740B

Calibration tool - i1 display2
Vista
Geforce 7300 card

The calibration has worked great in the past, i have had the system for about 2 years now.
Recently though, i am experiencing problems with the Luminosity targeting and the White Point manipulation while calibrating.
The Luminosity, when calibrating, cannot be moved above 60? Having no way to reach the 120 target.
When trying to adjust the White Point (when not using Native, as i had in the past) settings, the moving up and down of the RGB seems to do nothing at all to shift the color.

This all results, as you could imagine, as incorrect color. My reds (in CS) have been pumped up, and the dark levels are all too high, but then print out too dark.

Any idea on what the culprit could be?

There are 2 different monitors, and they both exhibit the same problem, so i'm not sure that they are the problem.
(when loading past profiles, it seems to go back to somewhat normal, but not really)

I've taken great care of the puck, so i'm not sure that it could be broken or something?

Any help would be fantastic!!!!
Also, if anyone has a recommendation on a LCD replacement in the $300 to $400 range, feel free to mention...

--
Also ran eye-one diagnostics, (download from the website) and the colormeter passed all the tests.
--

Thanks so much!

[Damo77]

The diagnostic tool is bunkum, ignore it. It passed a puck of mine that proved to be clearly a dud. Yes, they do fail after a while, but it doesn't sound like a puck problem in your case. However, you should use it to calibrate a friend's monitor to see if it works ok on another computer/monitor setup.

You say you've had the system for two years now, but clearly you haven't had Vista for all that time. This isn't a Vista problem, is it? (It almost certainly isn't, I'm just trying to eliminate all possibilities. Vista is damned uncooperative re calibration). Could it possibly be the video card - an updated driver gone bad perhaps?

Has the problem suddenly appeared, or have you noticed it creeping up?

I guess you've got to mix things up to try to pinpoint the problem. Connect one of the monitors to another PC (preferably XP) and see if the problem still exists.

I'm clutching at straws here, but there must be a clue somewhere.

[mdavidangst]

Thanks for the thoughtful ideas Damo

I did actually update the programs and drivers, and then regress them as well, back to 3 drivers ago, (back when it was working fine) and still the same problem.

It did just start at once, instead of creeping.
I was kinda wondering about it being Vista also, (with it being some update)
I think you're right, i need to try it on my neighbors machine next.

Thanks again,

[TommyO]

There is a known variance in Vista, having to do with it not reloading the LUT values into the graphic card on a reboot. I think the only fix is to download an applet that will force the LUT to update on command. I cannot recall where I saw it and I am currently away. So, just do a search for that and see if it may help.

[Damo77]

Here's one: DisplayProfile

I'm using it satisfactorily on my Vista laptop.

I'm not sure it's the solution to this problem, but it's worth trying.

[TommyO]

After getting back home, I remembered the source for this link. It was Doug Nelson, while posting about problems with Microsoft in general.
Read this and see if it sounds familiar. A workaround is included.
Link to ColorWiki about Vista & video card problems.

[mdavidangst]

Thanks Tommy for the link,
(and Damo)

The whole privileges thing is really simple to turn off, did that as soon as i upgraded to it -
And LUT issue, i've never had a problem with- I can always see the profile kick in during boot up, even after a log off/on.

I did however try it on my neighbors machine which interestingly gave me a similar result.
THe Luminance could not go over 60 cd - even with adjusting the software driver controls.

Also tried it on my laptop again, but it did read the luminance at up to 140 cd. But with adjusting of the Brightness, the readings were all over the place.

Then plugged my monitor into the laptop to try that, and again the same issue as on my machine, but the reading this time could not go over 80 cd as the max.


----

I was thinking that maybe it's a combination problem, of my backlights dimming from age,
and the colormeter having problems as well.

This would really suck - to only have 2 years of dependability out of these items.

[pixelzombie]

not to change the subject, but my samsung DVD burner recently stopped working only after 1 year and my samsung tv needed a $300 board and it's barely 2 years old..you can be sure i will avoid that brand in the future...

[Damo77]

Originally Posted by mdavidangst

Recently though, i am experiencing problems with the Luminosity targeting and the White Point manipulation while calibrating.
The Luminosity, when calibrating, cannot be moved above 60? Having no way to reach the 120 target.
When trying to adjust the White Point (when not using Native, as i had in the past) settings, the moving up and down of the RGB seems to do nothing at all to shift the color.

Just to clarify - when you say "seems to do nothing at all" do you mean you visually can't see it doing anything, or the puck doesn't see it doing anything?

Are you saying that even with the brightness setting at maximum, and all of the R G and B guns at maximum, your screen still isn't getting above 60cd/m2? Again, are your eyes only seeing 60, or is it just the puck?

Have you downloaded the very latest version of Eye One Match from the Xrite site? It's 3.6.2, I believe.