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Hi, I’m new here and could really use some help, please. Thanks for reading my post and thanks in advance for any input you can offer.
I upgraded my three 27″ 2K monitors to three 27″ 4K Dell P2715Q monitors and they look amazing. I’ve never seen 4K before and now I’m hooked.
The problem I’m having is that I get a “failed to load the calibration” message on 1 monitor (#3) using my Spyder5 and DisplayCAL 3.5.3. I have never downloaded or installed the Spyder software.
I went through the process of reading comments from here and elsewhere that seemed to make sense, so I made different selections in the dialog box than the default selections. Now I get the failure message on monitors #1 and #3. Only #2 (center) still shows a successful load of the calibration.
My system consists of: Asus Z170a mobo, i7-6700K liquid-cooled (OC to 4.6 GHz), 32 GB DDR4, GTX 1060 6GB air-cooled, and various other accessories that probably don’t affect anything. Oh, yeah, the 3 Dell 4K monitors and a Spyder 5, but you knew that already, right? đ The temps are monitored by CAM and show the CPU at just under 30C and the GPU at just over 30C, so I doubt that temps are an issue.
I use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC subscription version, which includes Photoshop, but I don’t hardly ever use PS. Photography is a hobby, so when it’s time to view the images, they need to be displayed with the most accurate colors possible. The 3 monitors are displaying slightly different color variations, enough that I can tell with just my eyes. I made 3 copies of an image and opened each one on a separate monitor, and only the center one looks right. The other two seem to be too green for me. See attached image.
I admit that I barely know what I’m doing and feel that the comments by others to change the settings seemed to be intelligent, so I tried them. It’s not working and I don’t know what to do. I’m willing to listen, to try your suggestions, and to report back what happens in an effort to not only cure my issue, but also to help others who may come along and read this.
Hi,
The problem Iâm having is that I get a âfailed to load the calibrationâ message on 1 monitor (#3) using my Spyder5 and DisplayCAL 3.5.3. I have never downloaded or installed the Spyder software.
please be specific about the exact wording of the error message and where as well as when it occurs.
Photography is a hobby, so when itâs time to view the images, they need to be displayed with the most accurate colors possible
Which program do you use to view images?
Images of both messages, success and failure, are attached. They appear shortly after booting the computer, which is what I did to be able to see them again and capture them for you.
The app called Photos is what I employed to review the 3 copies, and it appears to be included with Windows 10. I have attached an image of that as well so you can see how it displays the image. It was taken on monitor #3 and displays the image off-color.
When I view images I almost always use Adobe Lightroom Classic CC after having imported them to my computer. It is the subscription version that replaced Lightroom 5 on disc. I place the main window on my center monitor and the second image on my left monitor. Image attached. “Photos” app was convenient because it would let me show a copy of the same image on all 3 monitors at the same time, something LR can’t do.
If you need further input, please ask. And thank you very much for your time and attention!
Images of both messages, success and failure, are attached.
It seems these didn’t go through.
The app called Photos is what I employed to review the 3 copies, and it appears to be included with Windows 10.
The Windows “photos” app ignores the display profile.
Images of both messages, success and failure, are attached.
It seems these didnât go through.
I had to edit the reply and load them one at a time.
The app called Photos is what I employed to review the 3 copies, and it appears to be included with Windows 10.
The Windows âphotosâ app ignores the display profile.
I thought the GPU is what controls the displays, so shouldn’t anything displayed be passing through the GPU and, therefore, the profile will be applied? (Told ya I don’t know beans about how all this works!)
I had to edit the reply and load them one at a time.
These messages come from the Spyder software, not DisplayCAL. It is usually not a good idea to have calibration loaders from different vendors active at the same time, so you should remove those.
I thought the GPU is what controls the displays
Only the calibration (whitepoint and gray balance) is applied via the graphics card. Color management is application specific (most applications are not color managed).
I had to edit the reply and load them one at a time.
These messages come from the Spyder software, not DisplayCAL. It is usually not a good idea to have calibration loaders from different vendors active at the same time, so you should remove those.
I was not aware that I installed the Spyder software at all. I checked my installed apps and “Spyder5Express” is there. Should I uninstall it? Is that what the USB needs to drive the device, or did it somehow sneak itself in and install itself?
I thought the GPU is what controls the displays
Only the calibration (whitepoint and gray balance) is applied via the graphics card. Color management is application specific (most applications are not color managed).
I’m not sure I completely understand that “whitepoint and gray balance” don’t include color management. I was (and still am, though less-so now) under the impression that calibrating my monitors causes the GPU to apply those adjustments to the monitors, no matter what is displayed on them. Please elaborate, as it seems my assumption is misguided and I’d like to have an accurate appraisal of what is affecting what. (If you have the time and energy, that is, and if it even applies to the topic.)
I just checked the Preferences in LR and Camera Raw was not ticked to Use Graphics Card. I just ticked that box and did not get an error message like when I had my GTX 680.
Should I uninstall it?
Yes.
Is that what the USB needs to drive the device
No, when used with DisplayCAL, the Spyder needs to use the ArgyllCMS driver.
I was (and still am, though less-so now) under the impression that calibrating my monitors causes the GPU to apply those adjustments to the monitors
The difference between calibration and profiling (and how they are used together) is explained in the documentation.
I just checked the Preferences in LR and Camera Raw was not ticked to Use Graphics Card.
This is a performance option, not a calibration or color management related option.
On your advice I uninstalled the Spyder5Express software and rebooted. I now get no messages of profiles succeeding or failing to load. It appears that monitors #1 and #3 still do not have a profile affecting them.
Should I now attempt to recalibrate, or do I need to do something else beforehand, such as reset my manual “eyeball” adjustments to the 2 monitors to make 3 identical images appear as similar as possible to the one that is being displayed properly?
If so, should I just reset all 3 and then run the app, selecting “Start Measurement” and adjusting them like before?
I think I now understand the difference in using the GPU to enhance performance of LR while not affecting the color. Thank you.
If you already have profiles for your monitors, you can just assign them using the DisplayCAL profile loader tray application.
I used the Profile Loader Launcher to load (or reload) all 3. I don’t notice any perceived differences in any of the three monitors. Should I choose a different DisplayCAL app to do it?
Should I reset the manual settings I’ve made on all 3 monitors?
Should I recalibrate all 3? If so, I’ve been using the Start Measurement feature to adjust the RGB and Brightness as close to the center as possible. Should I continue to do that? Are there any settings that you would recommend I use or not use when calibrating?
And again, thank you very much for your quick replies and your patience with me!
After some input from a friend who suggested that I swap the cables (DP at GPU to mDP at each monitor), that’s when it became apparent that the profiles are not the issue.
Using the image with the field of mustard, I adjusted monitor #1 and #3 by lowering the green channel on each until they matched #2 as closely as I could manage.
Then I swapped the cables going to #2 and #3 to be sure the issue wasn’t the cables themselves. The cable on port #2 and monitor #2 was moved to port #3 and monitor #3, and the cable for #3 was completely moved to #2. The images stayed the same.
When I swapped the cables on ports 2 and 3, the image on #2 gained green, and #3 lost as much.
So, it appears that on 2 of the ports, the GPU is not sending an image that is properly color-calibrated. Manually adjusting the 2 affected monitors (#1 and #3) gives me a temporary solution, but not one that I’m happy with.
If not shared previously, the GTX 1060 6GB has 5 outputs: DVI, HDMI, and three DP. I’m using identical DP-to-mDP cables (same brand, same length). The 1060 is made by PNY and is their “XLR8” version. Again, I’m not sure knowing this helps.
If I learn more, I’ll return and share it.
Monitor adjustments can only get you so far (usually, they are only employed to set the whitepoint). You should create profiles for all three monitors. Note that color managed applications may not offer multi-monitor support, in which case only the primary display will be color managed.
I’ve been busy trying to figure this out and have tried a number of different things, starting with what was suggested here and ending with what I have done up to this point. I’m not completely done but I have finally gotten to a much better arrangement with these 3 monitors and their colors.
In review, DisplayCal 3.5.3 at first would calibrate only 2 of my 4K monitors, then eventually only one. At your suggestion, I uninstalled the Spyder5 software that I actually did not realize was installed and working. That got rid of the pop-up messages during the boot-up process, but didn’t seem to change what was happening. It merely stopped letting me know the status as far as Spyder5 was concerned. As discussed above, swapping the cables proved that the cables themselves were not the issue. Instead, the issue resided at the GPU itself since the signal being sent by the different ports caused the colors to change to a large degree when the cables were swapped.
Speaking with another person who owns a 4K monitor and who is also a co-founder of a local camera club, he suggested starting over from scratch. So that’s what I did to the best of my ability.
I uninstalled DisplayCal 3.5.3, removed the calibrations from the folder where I had saved them, reset all three monitors to factory settings, and rebooted the machine. The colors were kinda similar but different enough that they still needed attention. So I downloaded and installed the Spyder5 Express software. After running it and letting it calibrate all three monitors, all of them are now as identical as I can detect with my eyes, but still just a bit on the green side. However, the two things I see as improvements are:
- All 3 monitors are calibrated and all applications are affected,
- The colors on all 3 monitors are evenly matched, even if a bit greenish.
I can say that DisplayCal did not work favorably in my situation, however there is no way that I can say that it won’t work for others. It may need further development to be able to handle all implementations of 4K monitors, but for now I’m satisfied with using the Spyder5 software since it succeeded in giving me evenly balanced colors. I also appreciate those pop-up messages during boot-up that let me know the calibration is being applied. They’re visible for only a few seconds, but they’re reassuring nonetheless. If a new version becomes available that addresses this situation I would be willing to try it again.
Thank you very much for your attention and efforts in trying to help me with my issue!
