Yellows appear to be the color of brown mustard. No color profile to calibrate?

[James_Smith]

Hi, I have a Lenovo Y50-70 Touch. There is a slight problem that I'm really not too concerned about but, if we can fix it, I'd like to.

Anything yellow on my screen appears as a mustard color with a hint of green. This is a problem with Lenovo, not LM. I just got this computer yesterday and I installed LM18 Cinnamon (64-bit) last night. There are work-arounds and fixes that I've found online, but they're all for Windows.

How do I adjust the colors on Linux Mint Cinnamon? I found System Settings > Color and I thought "Aha! I'll have this fixed in no time!" but when I clicked on it, it said that I need an "up to date color profile" to calibrate.

From my reading online, calibration doesn't help (on Windows machines) you have go in and manually reset the various colors (Red -15, Green +5, or whatever) one-by-one.

So, now, here I am wondering what to do. Can anyone help? Not specifically with this Lenovo machine, but with adjusting colors on LM Cinnamn.

Thanks

P.S. It's really not that bad. It's one strike against an otherwise 5-star machine. I can deal with it if we can't solve it.

[phd21]

Hi "James_Smith",

It would help to know more about your system setup. If you run "inxi -Fxzd" from the console terminal prompt, highlight the results, copy and paste them back here, that should provide enough information.

Have you installed the "icc" stuff, "argyll", "dispcalgui", "gnome-color-manager", "liblcms" stuff, from the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)?

Hope this helps ...

[James_Smith]

Thanks for the fast reply. Here's my data:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: mac-Lenovo-Y50-70-Touch Kernel: 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.1)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.0.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine:   System: LENOVO product: 20349 v: Lenovo Y50-70 Touch
           Mobo: LENOVO model: Lenovo Y50-70 Touch v: 31900058Std
           Bios: LENOVO v: 9ECN43WW(V3.03) date: 08/12/2015
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4700HQ (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 19154
           clock speeds: max: 3400 MHz 1: 2404 MHz 2: 2401 MHz 3: 2425 MHz
           4: 2394 MHz 5: 2400 MHz 6: 2470 MHz 7: 2420 MHz 8: 2386 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 860M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau
           Resolution: 1600x900@48.00hz
           GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A Direct Rendering: N/A
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-21-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 08:00.0
           IF: wlp8s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 09:00.0
           IF: enp9s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-3: Atmel usb-ID: 003-002
           IF: null-if-id state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (37.9% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Crucial_CT1024MX size: 1000.2GB
           Optical: No optical drives detected.
Partition: ID-1: / size: 901G used: 339G (40%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.09GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-0
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 243 Uptime: 9:56 Memory: 1846.8/15959.8MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.3.1
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.421) inxi: 2.2.35 

Have you installed the "icc" stuff, "argyll", "dispcalgui", "gnome-color-manager", "liblcms" stuff, from the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)?

No, I haven't. Should I install all of them, or are they similar and just one will work?

[phd21]

Hi "James_Smith",

You are welcome.

By the way, looks like a nice computer, and fast.
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptop ... 0-70-touch

1.) Okay, well your video drivers are not setup properly, so that could be why your colors are off. Did you check the "Driver Manager" to see if there are recommended video drivers for this computer? Not sure installing and using Linux Mint 18, which just came out of Beta testing, is helping anything either. Using Mint 17.3 might be better for you at this time, you can always upgrade to version 18 later.

Graphics: Card-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
bus-ID: 00:02.0
Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 860M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau
Resolution: 1600x900@48.00hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A Direct Rendering: N/A

Easily switch Nvidia hybrid graphics (nvidia + intel) '2015 (install correct video drivers)
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=207956&hilit=nvidia
or
How to Get the Latest NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel Graphics Drivers on Ubuntu
http://www.howtogeek.com/242045/how-to- ... on-ubuntu/


2.)

Have you installed the "icc" stuff, "argyll", "dispcalgui", "gnome-color-manager", "liblcms" stuff, from the Software Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (SPM)?

No, I haven't. Should I install all of them, or are they similar and just one will work?

Once you install the correct video drivers, you may not need to "calibrate" your display, or install the programs required for doing that. It will not hurt anything to install them though, if you want to do that. Honestly, I do not know which ones are specific for a monitor screen's calibration, or how to use them, because I have never done that, or needed to. Perhaps someone else in the forum might have more details on this procedure and the requirements. But, these are the programs related to colour calibration in the Synaptic Package Manager (SPM). "icc-profiles" & "icc-tools", are used by most, if not all, colour calibration programs.


Hope this helps ...

[James_Smith]

Okay, well your video drivers are not setup properly, so that could be why your colors are off.

I must mention again that this is a problem with the Lenovo Y50-70 with the 4k monitor. It's a well-known problem.

Here's an example of a fix that works with Windows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0rn2dOhmUY

Of course, if you say my video drivers aren't set up properly, I believe you, but I'm quite certain that's not the issue. This is a Lenovo problem.

[phd21]

Hi "James_Smith",

Trust me when I tell you that you do not have the correct video drivers installed, the results of the "inxi -Fxzd" command say so, "Failed", and you have no GLX rendering, when you should. Check your "Drivers Manager" to see if it recommends any video drivers for the Nvidia, and install that, and reboot (restart). Otherwise, use one of the links I gave you to install the drivers that way. You have a dual video hybrid of Intel and Nvidia.

If you still need color calibration after installing the correct video drivers, then install those programs and utilities as well. You will have to experiment with them, or do some research on them, to see how they work.

Since your computer, like most laptops, can run "hot', here is another web link you should read and install the programs in this as well, especially the ones regarding "4. Reduce overheating of the computer" (TLP & cpufreq).
https://mintguide.org/system/60-the-acc ... milar.html

Hope this helps ...

[James_Smith]

Trust me when I tell you that you do not have the correct video drivers installed...

I do believe you, as I said, and I thank you for your help.

I've followed the directions in the link you provided and I think I've got it right now.

Code: Select all

Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 860M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 driver: nvidia
           Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 860M/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 367.27 Direct Rendering: Yes

I still have mustard yellow with a hint of green rather than bright yellow.

I've downloaded Argyll and I'm going to work with it for awhile.

Thanks again.

[phd21]

Hi "James_Smith",

You are welcome.

The results of the "inxi -Fxzd" for graphics looks much better now. Which link did you use? The first link has a nice utility to control which video card is primary and their features as well. Nvidia will probably give you the best performance, but with that utility, you can use either one when you want to try it out for yourself. Regardless of video driver installation method, you should now have a Nvidia icon in your system tray panel, do you?

You installed the "icc" stuff, "argyll", "dispcalgui", the last one I think is a graphical desktop calibration tool for your display (monitor screen).

Update: When you search the Synaptic Package Manager for "icc", there is also "xcalib"

Hope this helps ...

[James_Smith]

Which link did you use?

The first one.

Thanks again.

[Mangoverde]

Hi "James_Smith" and "phd21",

I am also having a similar issue with my newly-purchased Lenovo X250. I have installed Linux Mint 18 and my problem is that what is supposed to look as a normal white colour on my screen ends up looking like a pale yellow. I have followed your exchange closely and have tried all the options that you both mention, but am still not able to get a balanced display.

I also installed Argyll but I'm finding that it's not as easy to use as I thought. I wonder if I downgrade to Linux Mint 17 will solve the problem... Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

[James_Smith]

Hi "James_Smith" and "phd21",

I am also having a similar issue with my newly-purchased Lenovo X250. I have installed Linux Mint 18 and my problem is that what is supposed to look as a normal white colour on my screen ends up looking like a pale yellow. I have followed your exchange closely and have tried all the options that you both mention, but am still not able to get a balanced display.

I also installed Argyll but I'm finding that it's not as easy to use as I thought. I wonder if I downgrade to Linux Mint 17 will solve the problem... Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

I'm not sure. That's entirely different than the problem I had. Yours might simply be a matter of calibration. According to the very helpful folks at the lenovo.com forum mine is a firmware problem. According to Lenovo customer service (their help center or whatever it's called), I'm out of luck as it's not a big enough problem for them to bother fixing.

[MintBean]

According to the very helpful folks at the lenovo.com forum mine is a firmware problem. According to Lenovo customer service (their help center or whatever it's called), I'm out of luck as it's not a big enough problem for them to bother fixing.

If it's a recent purchase, return it for a full refund. Don't accept any BS - no repair, no faffing around with tech support - full refund.

[James_Smith]

According to the very helpful folks at the lenovo.com forum mine is a firmware problem. According to Lenovo customer service (their help center or whatever it's called), I'm out of luck as it's not a big enough problem for them to bother fixing.

If it's a recent purchase, return it for a full refund. Don't accept any BS - no repair, no faffing around with tech support - full refund.

I bought it used and it was already a couple of years old when I bought it. I knew about the problem before I bought it. The only reason I bought it was because the price was right and because of this post on the Lenovo website. There was a fix—or so I was led to believe.

That post no longer contains "Amy_Lenovo"'s full name. It did before. She is (or was) an employee of Lenovo (I verified she worked there) and she said there was a fix. I called Lenovo tech support three times referencing that post and that number, emailed them two times, and called customer service (that is, their main switchboard) trying to speak to Amy whatever-her-last-name-was (I can't recall now) or anyone in the "Pervasive Issues" department. They didn't know what I was talking about. They'd never heard of that department. If you google "lenovo" and "pervasive issues" you get many, many hits. There is such a department. I have no explanation as to why the people at Lenovo had never heard of it.

The last tech support person I talked to at Lenovo thought that I was just some idiot and I read something online somewhere and basically told me "don't believe everything you read on the internet."

I said, "It's on your website. On your forum."

"Anyone can post on that forum," he retorted.

"She works for Lenovo. Her job is to sort out exactly these sorts of problems," I responded.

He said they'd never heard of this problem with the Y50 before. I told him that was impossible. Get on google, type in "lenovo y50 4k screen yellow problem" and you get tens of thousands of hits.

Nope. He said he'd never heard of it. The first two I talked to were unhelpful but the last one I talked to was absolutely infuriating.

The only reason I've kept the computer is because it's fast, very powerful, the other colors are magnificent, and the yellow isn't that bad, most of the time. It's part of their dynamic screen adjustment system. If I look at, for example, the text scrolling at the beginning of the Star Wars movie (which is yellow on an almost totally black background) the yellow shows up beautifully. If, on the other hand, I'm watching the Simpsons, where there are a lot of other colors, the yellow looks a little brownish.

If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have bought it, but it's cheaper to keep it than it is to buy another one.

[MintBean]

Well, sounds like tech support are trying to mislead you. Sure anyone can post on that forum, but not anyone can get a tech support status in their profile.

Amy's last post was today. Why don't you message her and ask for her contact details and why nobody on the helpline acknowledges her existence?

[edit]Yup, I just read through the thread you linked and they're definitely fobbing people off. Experiences exactly the same sort of thing with a lovely, brand new HD dell XPS I bought a few years back.Only problem was the screen had tiny coloured lines running down it as if the R/G/B colour components were somehow misaligned. Hundreds of others were having the same problem and were getting the runaround. Dell did replace some customers screens (presumably), but the replacements had all the same issues. That's when I sent it back.

Unfortunately, if a big company has sent out substantial numbers of products with a 'minor' but very annoying defect, the guys with the slide rules will perform a cost/benefit analysis, and sometimes the result is not to the benefit of the customer.

I did a bit of digging and there is a free program called 'lprof' for creating colour profiles. You could play with that to tweak your display. Only downside is it's only available as source so you would need to compile it.

[James_Smith]

Amy's last post was today. Why don't you message her and ask for her contact details and why nobody on the helpline acknowledges her existence?

I wasn't going to, but I did decide to send her a private message this morning. Here it is:

Amy,

I have a (gently) used Lenovo Y50-70 with the 4K screen. I knew about the yellow color issue before I bought it, but I went ahead and bought it because this post.

As advised, I called tech support. I did so three times, actually. The first two people I got ahold of were absolutely unhelpful. I mentioned the post above, and the reference number you provided in the forum post. I might as well have been speaking Martian. They had no idea what I was talking about. After offering all sorts of bad suggestions (e.g. "have you tried reinstalling Windows?") I gave up. One of them recommended that I call Geek Squad. I did. They didn't have a clue what I was talking about either and they had lots of dumb advise as well.

So, I decided to call Lenovo tech support again. The third guy I got was infuriating. He impugned my intelligence, suggesting that I'm just some ignorant imbecile who read something online. He said "You can't believe everything you read on the internet."

I said that it was on the Lenovo forum (I had already told him that, of course).

He said "Anyone can post on that forum."

"She works for your company." (I had already told him that as well)

Nothing I said convinced him that you actually work for Lenovo and that you were acting in your official capacity. He maintained that I found something that someone online wrote and that I was stupidly regarding it as gospel.

He also suggested that I was just being overly picky about the quality of the colors. He said this is the first time he's ever heard anyone complain about the display of a Y50.

I hung up more frustrated than ever.

I tried one last time to resolve this. I called up the main number and tried to get ahold of you, Amy, or anyone in the "pervasive issues" department. Again, I might as well have been speaking an alien language.

So, this is my last ditch effort. Can you help me? Can you give me the name and number of a specific person to call?

I actually don't expect a satisfactory response.

[MintBean]

Good for you James. If nothing else, you'll know you tried every avenue. Of course if you hear anything back... well I'm nosey, you know?

[James_Smith]

Good for you James. If nothing else, you'll know you tried every avenue. Of course if you hear anything back... well I'm nosey, you know?

I will let you know.

One thing I want to mention, just so that anyone who wants to put on his troubleshooting hat can have some information to go by: If you read the aforementioned thread on the Lenovo forum, and other threads online in various places, you'll see that someone people have plugged up external monitors and had no problem with the yellow colors with this machine. At the same time, people have replaced the screens and have seen no improvement.

I think this guy has correctly identified the problem, though he does not have a solution.

[James_Smith]

Good for you James. If nothing else, you'll know you tried every avenue. Of course if you hear anything back... well I'm nosey, you know?

I never heard anything back and, just as a last-ditch attempt, I looked for Amy_Lenovo on Facebook (using her real name, of course) and immediately found her profile. At the top of her timeline, she has a post that says she left her job at Lenovo about three weeks after my email was sent.

I'm done with Lenovo. I just bought an Alienware 15 R3 (which is a beast) and I have a small HP laptop for those rare occasions that I need Windows.

By the way, I decided to finally upload some pics of what exactly I'm talking about with this display. The small screen in these pics is the Lenovo and the large screen is an LG television that I've hooked up through an hdmi cable. The pics are exactly the same, pixel-for-pixel.

[MintBean]

Sorry you didn't get a satisfactory response, James. Looks like Amy may have been a person with some integrity who perhaps did not agree with the way the company was playing it; maybe.

Anyway, thanks for the update and I hope you enjoy your new system.

[Raydog]

Hey James, you could try "Brightness controller" http://www.noobslab.com/2017/06/are-you ... f-yes.html.

"It lets you control the brightness, Color temperature of the display and RGB as well".

If you decide to try it be sure use the "sudo apt-get install brightness-controller brightness-controller-simple' command instead of 'sudo apt-get install brightness-controller-simple' that they give to get the color temperature/RGB controls.