Beyond Expert help needed with LaCie vs 7800GT

[ExpertNovice]

I have requested help from eVGA, LaCie, the custom computer builder, and various forums. No one has been able to help at all.

In a nutshell, the LaCie Blue Eye 2 is unable to calibrate (Dell 2005FPW / eVGA GeForce 7800 GT) because it is unable to set the gamma.

Here are the questions I would like to find out:
1. How do I get it to work... ok, this one is too much to ask!
2. Which component might be causing the problem.
3. Has anyone had any success or failure with any calibrator and either the 7800 GT (AGP or PCI), Windows XP Pro, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium MOBO) (The more components that I know works or fails will help.)


My control system (LaCie has no problems with this system):
Dell 2005FPW (physically different monitor)
eVGA nVidia GeForce FX 5500 (AGP)
Windows 2000

New compture (LaCie hates me, er it, er... whatever) ;)
Dell 2005FPW
eVGA nVidia GeForce 7800 GT (PCI)
Windows XP Pro

I can't swap the video cards to test because one is AGP and the other PCI.

I can swap the monitors but I don't think the monitor is actually being adjusted, other than the white point that I am physically setting.

Everything goes well until it is time to set the gamma then LaCie generates an Alert that reads: "The graphic card does not support gamma corrections. Please check the installation or install a different driver."

As for the installation the system says the hardware is operating fine. But, then it always says it is operating fine. The hardware does appear to be working fine in all situations, except for LaCie not being able to change the gamma.

As for the drivers. I have tried the latest beta version and an earlier version that was considered stable. Ie. a 77something vs the more recent 84somethings. Neither helped.

Oh, if this helps. Twice, LaCie was actually able to set the gamma and save a profile. In both cases it was after a system restore and in both cases a second attempt failed. It should also be noted that even after a system restore the usual situation is that LaCie may not set the gamma.

[Carbone]

I am in no a way a Windows expert, so take this for what it's worth (close to nothing.. hehe!)

Seriously, what you are talking about is hardware calibration device from LaCie with which you're trying to calibrate a Dell Monitor, linked to an Nvidia Graphic card. For some reason, the NVidia graphic card is causing difficulty by not relaying the Gamma information to the LaCie hardware.

First, can you, yourself, set the Gamma point of your monitor through the graphic card drivers? Right-click on the desktop, choose Properties, choose settings, advanced.. and locate a tab for that.

If you can, then try this : I would boot your computer in a mode which disables all gizmos (Adobe Gamma, for example, and other little systray icons). MSCONFIG I think is the name of the tool for that, but it's been years since I had to try this. A Windows user would be a better person to help you on this one.

AFter you've successfully temporarily disabled every thing, try to calibrate again. See if this works. Report back if it does or does not work.

Ray

[ExpertNovice]

:D You sound like me, w hich you might pickup on by noting my handle. ;)

All good points. To start, for the heck of it, I put on a different Dell 2005FPW monitor. Of course, it did not help. Before trying to calibrate the only item in the system tray that dealt with video was disabled. (what is left is LAN, volume, card reader, Roxio drag to disk (to be uninstalled), WIndows Security alerts, and sound effects) The HDD was also searched for anything with the name adobe or gamma and found nothing

Before rebooting the original monitor was plugged into a different DVI "port" and another attempt made. Nope.

Looking at msconfig and googling certain entries in the startup tab, I decided to disble nwiz and NvMixer tray but leave NvCPL and NvMcTray. Blue Eye Calibration was also disabled, which will be interesting. Nope.

I then tried to preset the gamma, again. This had been tried a couple of days ago. After setting LaCie was used to test the gamma and the reported value was entered in the calibration screen. This should avoid the gamma from being set. Same error.

I have asked LaCie, if my version of the software for the LaCie Blue Eye 2 is old. The software was purchased one year ago and the 6800's were out. The current video card is a 7800 series. Sure wish I could swap cards to see if it is the card but an AGP card will probably not fit in a PCIE slot. ;)

[Codebreaker]

Unless there's a S/W funny here I would think the problem lies with the Video Card. This is where the Gamma Correction will be applied and maybe the hardware on the card doesn't support this.

A couple of things come to mind. I have a feeling the Lacie Blue Eye 2 is actually the Gretag Macbeth Eye One Display 2 - they look the same - so you could try the Gretag S/W which you can download from their web site. It'll cost you nothing but some time.

Other thing you can try is to plug in a second different type video card on your PCI bus. You might have to go into the BIOS to enable this as your primary video card but it's worth a try to see if it's your video card.

Colin

[ExpertNovice]

I will try to find and download the s/w (swatchbook, I think) and try it. It seems the differences between the two calibrators is that the GretagMacbeth has an ambient light sensor. So, I think you are right that the two should be the same.

Just before purchasing the LaCie I had purchased a Spyder 2 calibrator. PSE3 was bundled with this purchase. :D Unfortunately, the Spyder 2 was too limited in the gamma correction so the LCD monitor was still too bright when looking at the typical black text on blinding-white-light background.

I will hook up the Spyder 2 tonight and try see if it can adjust the gamma.

I have considered requesting, or purchasing, a different video adapter just to find out if it is the adapter. I've also considered sending the adapter AND the LaCie back to the company the system was purchased it from and have them check the card in another system and another card.

This is real frustrating. LCD monitors are simply too bright for my somewhat damaged eyes. The good news is, that the damage is most likely a birth defect and not glaucoma. Regardless, the LCD needs to be toned down for some work. Until that happens, I can't use the monitor for very long.

[ExpertNovice]

Failure is caused (per the error message) because the gamma can't be changed.

Put a Dell 2005 FPW on my old computer and it calibrates successfully using the LaCie Blue Eye 2.

Put that monitor on the new computer and calibration fails.

Put that monitor back on the old computer and calibration fails. Oops.

Reset that monitor to factory defaults, reboot, and calibration still fails.

Once on the new computer (possibly only after being calibrated by the Blue Eye 2 but I'm not going to sacrifice a third monitor for that test) it can't be calibrated by the LaCie Blue Eye 2.

Sounds like the monitor is actually being damaged, right? Well, the monitor can have the gamma set by the Spyder 2 calibrator.

Any suggestions!?!?!

[Codebreaker]

I didn't realise this at first but where does the Blue Eye come from because you're using a Dell monitor.

It's doubtful that you're damaging the monitor but one difference between some LaCie monitors and others is that they use a 10bit gamma rather than the usual 8 bit. Maybe the Blue Eye and software is just incompatible with monitors other than LaCie.

Does the Spyder work ok?

Colin