Eureka!!! T420 Screen Problem (Partially?) Solved

Uninstalling the Intel HD Graphics Controller and reinstalling just the monitor driver has solved the issue for me. Now, the screen looks just fine - no bluishness and much better contrast. Not as good as one would expect from an expensive laptop but the difference this made is huge.

 

Strange. Do you need the HD graphics drivers at all?

 

Yes, otherwise the max resolution option is 1024x768.

Btw, after a reboot the screen became bluish again. I really don't know what to do. At least we know that the driver may be the culprit. Sorry for misleading you, guys.

 

Damn.

Any chance some calibration might help? How are the blacks? For me, as long as the blacks are clear and distinguishable, I'll probably be ok with other colors not coming out terrifically.

 

Try preventing all of the Intel graphics utilities from launching in MSCONFIG.

 

Guess the screen isn't as bad as we initially thought it was. Did you get the latest driver from Intel or was it from Lenovo's site.

 

The driver I installed was from Intel.

 

My experience is that the Intel applet overrides the Windows calibration profiles. So either disable the Intel apps (reduces process count, but also might keep it from going into power save on battery) or calibrate manually with the Intel app.

 

Colonel, I could not find any way to disable the Intel app. It seems to be bundled with the driver.

 

For 4500MHD chipsets, it's igfxtray.exe and igfxpers.exe. A lot of people disable those two with that chipset because it automatically lower the refresh rate on battery. What Intel items do you have in msconfig->Startup?

 

They're called Intel(R) Common User Interface for me and there's three of them.

 

Or, you could try tweaking the color settings within the Intel tools. At least you know that the screen can be improved through purely software means.

 

I've got:
- igfxtray.exe
- hkcmd.exe
- igfxpers.exe
- PIconStartup.exe (Intel Management Engine Components)

So which one do you think belongs to the Intel HD Controller app?

 

igfxtray, hkcmd, igfxpers

PIconStartup is that Intel Management and Security thing.

 

Since I'm using Ubuntu and not seeing any appreciable difference between my T420 HD+ display and other TN panels (Acer Aspire 1410 and a LG E2050T monitor), it really does sound like this could be a software problem. Before I blew away the Windows installation, I noticed that it offered me a driver update for the LCD. Has anyone here installed this update? Does it add a color profile? You might need to manually select that profile if so.

 

I changed the color profile to a custom ICC profile in windows 'Color Management' and its a lot better. I did a google search and downloaded a bunch till I found one that I liked. I'm using a thinkpad L420

 

mac1133, which ICC profile did you find to be the best?

 

Any more progress to improve the screen on the T420 by software means?

 

Windows clean install with the Intel HD driver instead of the Lenovo HD driver solved the color profile issues for me. The griddyness and narrow viewing angles are still there.

 

Just going to bump this thread:

NotebookCheck is now posting ICC color profiles for the newer laptops that they review, including the T420.
Review Lenovo Thinkpad T420 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
Search for "ICC File (Datacolor Spyder3Elite)" on the page. It's apparently for the HD+ LEN40A1 panel.

 

so far ive been using

 

Ah, so you're under fluorescent lighting I see...

 

Hi,

I have tested the ICC profile suggested by mac1133.

I confirm it makes a great difference !

I keep this ICC profile as the default one.

Thanks mac1133.

 

Used the mac1133 profile on my new T420 with the LG display, and it makes a huge difference! The big thing is contrast; your custom profile ups the contrast noticeably.

While not as good as the X220 IPS display or the TN ones on MacBooks, it's getting better. Thanks again.

 

Good to know! Now i'm more up to buy the LG and install it myself, the only drawback is that i'm afraid of having problems with SAT...

I've found these LG's in eBay-europe http://www.ebay.es/sch/i.html?_from..._nkw=LP140WD2&_sacat=See-All-Categories check

as you can see there're two different models ( B1 and D1 ), there are changes between them? wich one is better?
my goal is to have a matte finish of course.

 

Thanks for the mac1133 icc profile linked to earlier in this thread. It makes a huge difference to the perceived quality of the t420s screen.

 

Could someone give me a step by step on applying the above icc profile? I couldn't do it after some googling. Thanks a lot!

 

To install an icc profile in Windows 7:

1. Install the profile by double-clicking on the downloaded profile
2. Enter Color Management through Control Panel
3. In Color Management, go to the devices tab and check "Use my settings for this device"
4. Then click the "Add..." button then select the appropriate icc profile.
5. When added, select the profile and click the "Set as Default Profile"
6. Then your done applying the profile.

 

Thanks a lot pcyl! When I tried to install it myself I forgot to check "Use my settings for this device". My bad.

The customized icc profile above made colors less blueish and more vibrant.

 

I also just installed the color profile on my T420s.

Difference it makes is quite amazing, the screen looks much much better now.

Kudos.

 

Do I need to keep the downloaded file after install? Or is the profile now stored somewhere else?

Thanks!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...n-problem-partially-solved-3.html#post8089497

 

Thanks, I did that. But I'm wondering if, after doing that, I can delete the downloaded file. Or if I need to keep it for Windows to read the display settings.

 

I don't think you need to keep the file. You can find out if Windows needs it by moving it or renaming the folder then checking if the display still looks OK after a reboot.

John

 

I'm not sure which HD driver to install, what's the 'Lenovo HD driver'? the driver on the lenovo site IS the intel one, so what's the difference in where you download it from?

also, what is the 'thinkpad monitor inf file'?

 

The difference in visual quality provided by the ICC profile mac1133 linked versus the out-of-the-box quality is stark. My only issue with it is that dark gray (say, in the #222 to #555 hex range) has a brownish tinge to it. I do realize that some of that is the result of the poor viewing angles of the panel.

The only time it's overwhelming is when I use Tweetdeck, which is a sea of dark gray. The improvement in contrast and overall viewing experience that profile affords is worth the minor quibbles, though.

 

It's probably also due to differences in ambient lighting and in the individual panels. Calibration isn't a one-and-done deal, correct calibration will vary for every panel and the end result will be affected by the temperature and intensity of ambient light, etc.

(Still, using someone else's profile for the same model panel is generally better than nothing...)

 

So, having a better profile is good and all, but can anyone explain why none of the icc profiles provided by lenovo does anything at all?

 

Help...
I heard T420s screen is capable of good colors and found this thread...
However after setting the icc profile downloaded to default...
Nothing happens... It stays the same... I have restarted a few times and re-checked it has become my default icc profile...

 

Thy disabling Intel's igfxpers.exe in MSconfig's startup list then reapply your profile.

John

 

Hi John~
I took your advice and disabled the "igfxper.exe"...still nothing happens...And then I disabled all Intel Graphics from the startup list...Still nothing happens...
I restarted multiple times...and reapplied the profile multiple times too...
Kind of given up on this...
5555555555555555555555.....

 

Have you guys checked that the power savings settings on Intel Integrated Graphics are disabled? Enabling those can make the graphics look even worse. The option is somewhere within the Intel Graphic utility.

Just throwing it out there in case it helps someone.

 

solved following these steps:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/492790-m11xr2-calibrated-lcd-icc-profile.html

 

Yes, the mac1133 screen profile does wonders but the contrast is a bit to high... How can I just lower the contrast without messing with the other settings?

Thanks

 

What's wrong with the screen exactly?

 

It´s too dark... the contrast is too high.

 

Hello everybody,

even though the thread is old, I want to share my expierence with the T430 screen. I have found a couple of color-profiles which all enhanced the quality of the screen. Especially the one from Mac1133 worked very well under Ubuntu. The upside of the highe contrast is that even at low brightness-levels the picture remains clear and nice to read. So a definit recommendation for the T430.

 

This helps out so much. I joined this forum to download this and check it out and have no regrets.

 

Joined this while looking for a solution for the terrible screen settings on my T420. This works very well under both Win8 and Ubuntu, finally some normal-looking colours!

Oh, and mac133 is a hero!

 

Just joined the forum to try this ICC profile on my T420. The blueish hue that has plagued me for too long is finally GONE!
I cannot say thank you mac1133 enough!!!!