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Custom colour profiles and Intel graphics chipsets

idata
Employee
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Hi,

Generally, I am very happy with the performance of my Intel integrated graphics hardware (I nave an Acer laptop with Win7-64). However, there is one huge problem, which is causing me to consider abandoning Intel graphics hardware altogether. The problem is one of colour accuracy and stability.

I do a lot of photography, and need to adjust (calibrate) the colours diasplayed on my monitor. I do this using a specialist calibration tool and software, that creates a custom profile to be loaded by the graphics driver.

After calibrating, everything looks as it should. However, during a reboot, the custom profile loads (you can see the changes), but seconds later it all goes back to the default settings of the intel driver!!! This is crazy, since it means that it is impossible to do any kind of meaningful colour-dependent work on systems with this chipset. I have tried using the colour management facility in the driver, but it is less than useless.

I have read some other posts here, regarding colour management issues, and none of them have been addressed in any satisfactory way.

Am I to assume, that Intel are of the view that anyone who needs colour accuracy and stability should look elsewhere? Is there something we can disable, that will allow us to use corrected colour profiles in systems with Intel integrated chipsets?

I am using the latest driver available for my chipset (Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family).

I have no such problems on my AMD / ATI PC; the colour calibrations are accepted and loaded properly every time.

Please could someone shed some light on this; it is extremely frustrating. I like the laptop, but I am loosing belief in the Intel graphics.

Many thanks and regards,

Jeremy

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6 Replies
idata
Employee
2,429 Views

Hello,

In order to help you properly, we need to know the Intel driver version you are using,

Thanks,

Dago

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idata
Employee
2,430 Views

Hi Dago,

Thanks for the reply.

The driver version is 8.15.10.1892. It is the latest driver version availablle from Acer's website. I have tried uninstalling, re-downloading and reinstalling, but the behaviour is the same. The Intel online driver version utility recognised my driver as an OEM customised version, and reccommended not to use the Intel standard driver available on the site.

I have read an Intel knowledgebase article: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-031887.htm http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-031887.htm, which suggests that the Intel integrated graphics defaults override any custom settings made by the operating system, or third party software. Others seem to experience similar issues here: http://communities.intel.com/message/126036 http://communities.intel.com/message/126036

Basically, what I want to do, is to use a calibrated custom profile. It works perfectly on my PC, which has an ATI graphics chip, as well as previous PCs. On this Intel-based laptop, whenever I create a calibrated profile, it works until a reboot. On boot, I see the profile load and the monitor gamma corrects. Seconds later, the colours revert to the default (incorrect) gamma. The consequence of this, is that colours are wildly inaccurate, especially in applications (Photoshop / Lightroom) which use colour management.

This is my first Intel integrated computer, and the first time I have difficulties with colour management. Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Jeremy

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idata
Employee
2,429 Views

If you just had setting the brightness, contrast, gamma on the Intel control panel and after reboot, would it change to default setting ?

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idata
Employee
2,429 Views

Hi rainy,

Sorry for the delay replying, I have found this site impossibly slow and unuseable at times.

If I adjust the settings on the Intel control panel, the new setting survive a reboot. However, if I change any settings outside of the Intel controls, the settings appear to be overridden by the Intel driver.

I have disabled igfxpers.exe, which has enabled me to keep my calibrated settings.

Many thanks,

Jeremy.

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idata
Employee
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I used to have the same problem. You need to do two things to get your custom color profiles going in Win 7 with Intel chipsets. First: if you haven't done so already, go into color management (just type it into the search field on the start menu), add your profile in the 'Devices' tab if it isn't there already and then 'Set as default'. Under the 'Advanced' tab click 'Change System defaults' and a new color management window will pop up. Go into the 'advanced' tab again and tick 'Use Windows display calibration'. For some reason the intel drivers will still override Windows tho so you'll also need to disable igfxpers.exe in the startup (use msconfig or CCleaner to change it).

The last one is a bit of a hack (haven't experienced any ill effects tho), but until intel decides to fix their product it's the only way to do it right now, at least to my knowledge.

idata
Employee
2,430 Views

Hi EarX,

Thanks for the reply. I have done as you suggested, and diabled igfxpers.exe from starting.

This has stopped the intel driver dominating colour management, which is something it does not do well. Interestingly, although things are certainly much better now, my colour calibrations are still not as effective as on my non-Intel graphics pc.

Perhaps Intel chipsets are just not suitable for any colour sensitive applications. Perhaps Intel could issue a driver update, that would allow users to choose to turn off the Intel colour management facility? Or, perhaps to enable it to be used with 3rd-party calibration hardware?

Many thanks for your help. I now have colour stability and more accuracy than before.

Regards,

Jeremy.

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