Dim Screen and Over saturation Mac Pro 1,1 - 10.6.5

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Dim Screen and Over saturation Mac Pro 1,1 - 10.6.5

Hi I have read a bunch about this issue but cant seem to find a resolution. I recently upgraded from 10.5 to 10.6. I am currently running 10.6.5 and I am experiencing a weird issue with my display. It appears much darker and the colors are over saturated.

I have heard that this is because the apple changed the gamma from 1.8 to 2.0 (or 2.2... i forget) anyway. The screen looks awful. I have tried other profiles, recalibration, etc... with no luck. However while the computer is on if I simply pull the dvi connection out of the machine and put it back in it reverts to a traditional gamma, saturation and overall appearance of what the screen looked like in 10.5. 🙂

Now although I think it is really absurd that I need to do this I dont care that much EXCEPT this solution does NOT work with the secondary display port. I will pull the dvi out and plug it back in and the secondary screen is still very dark and saturated. I noticed it first in 10.6.4 and was hoping the issue would be resolved in 10.6.5 update but no luck.

Whats the deal?

Is there any solution to get the traditional saturation, color and brightness of my displays restored?

Just so you have a little background on myself, I am an IT technician of 5 years and a digital artist of 10 years. I do not believe that this issue can be resolved with recalibrating the display profile because I have tried it (many times). I REALLY hope this is not the new standard.

If it is see ya later 10.6! Hello 10.5.

Thanks in advance

Mac Pro 1,1 intel, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Mac Pro 1,1 intel

Posted on Nov 19, 2010 10:44 AM

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Answer 1

00sean00 Author

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Nov 25, 2010 1:07 PM in response to 00sean00

bump...

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Answer 2

Nov 25, 2010 8:51 PM in response to 00sean00

In the "Seeing" tab of "Universal Access" system preference, make sure the "Enhance contrast" slider is all the way to the left ("Normal").

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Answer 3

00sean00 Author

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Nov 26, 2010 12:14 PM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

It is currently set to normal. That is an interesting setting adjustment that I was unaware of. Unfortunately that did not solve the problem.

Thanks anyway

Anyone else experiencing this? Any solutions?

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Answer 4

00sean00 Author

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Nov 29, 2010 2:07 PM in response to 00sean00

Wow... Nobody can chime in on this one?

Here is the link to the original discussion on the apple forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11353790

notice was never resolved.

Thanks

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Answer 5

00sean00 Author

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Dec 6, 2010 2:00 PM in response to 00sean00

ok last bump.

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Answer 6

noice_T

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Dec 6, 2010 2:12 PM in response to 00sean00

What video card are you running, also what monitor as well? Apple or third party? How are you connecting? DVI or DVI to mDP?

Drivers were updated in snow, so maybe that changed something perhaps if on a third party display?

As a starting point, I would try a clean install of 10.6 (not upgrade, and from retail 10.6) and see if the problem happens.

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Answer 7

00sean00 Author

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Dec 6, 2010 3:46 PM in response to noice_T

Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT

Display:
20" Apple Cinema Display (2006)

Connected via full size DVI

I'm going to leave doing a fresh install of 10.6 as a last resort. If I have to do a fresh install it would literally take weeks to restore my computer to where it is now (I have a LOT of programs on both the mac side and the windows side of my machine).

Any info is much appreciated!!

Thanks

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Answer 8

noice_T

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545 points

Dec 6, 2010 4:19 PM in response to 00sean00

Although it seems like a pain, I think it best to clean install. Reason only being, you want to cut out as many variables as you can.

If you have a spare drive, just install 10.6 on there just for experimenting; you don't need to install any programs. You just wanna eliminate all variables, so see if and if so, where up until (10.6.3?) the problem arises.

A clean install is fast, especially with snow. 20-30 min maybe? Run diskwarrior after that if you have it too.

Also, what happens when you adjust the brightness? Does it just stay dark? (I'm just trying to grasp what the "darkness" looks like)

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Answer 9

00sean00 Author

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Dec 6, 2010 4:40 PM in response to noice_T

Ok, fair enough. I have a spare drive. I will load snow on there some time in the next few days. Its a home computer so its always a pain to try and find time.

Thanks

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Answer 10

NullUnit

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Dec 6, 2010 5:51 PM in response to 00sean00

10.6 still has SERIOUS issues with displays.

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Answer 11

00sean00 Author

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Dec 6, 2010 6:06 PM in response to NullUnit

Are you experiencing this issue as well?

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Answer 12

00sean00 Author

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Dec 6, 2010 6:13 PM in response to noice_T

Oh I forgot to answer your question. At max brightness the screen appears as if it were set to 50% or less. The colors are very deep and saturated. The next time I am working on it I will do a screen capture upload it to photobucket and post the link.

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Answer 13

NullUnit

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Dec 6, 2010 10:57 PM in response to 00sean00

Not this issue specifically, but other issues clearly.

For instance, why on earth does changing the profile used on my left monitor also alter the colors on my primary monitor or my right monitor? Why can't I get display preferences to remain set after sleep? Why do monitors sometimes refuse to wake up? Why am I getting the occasional static on one monitor?

Something is seriously hosed in the firmware, OS, or video drivers.

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Answer 14

00sean00 Author

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Dec 7, 2010 8:47 AM in response to 00sean00

Ok doing a screen capture doesnt work. I thought maybe it would but once the image is viewed on a non dim over saturated screen (regular) it looks normal. Whatever... I will just try a clean install of 10.6 and post back. I have a feeling once I update to 10.6.4 it will reappear. Only one way to find out.

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