Colors display incorrectly

[Herb Caudill]

Please see this video for an overview of the problem:
http://youtu.be/rFCHamEvnKc

Here's my setup:

- Dell Precision M4800 laptop (Intel i7-4900MQ, 16GB)
- Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
- NVIDIA Quadro K2100M with latest drivers
- Monitor 1: Built into laptop (4K, 3200x1800)
- Monitor 2: Dell P2415Q (4K, 3840x2150) directly connected to laptop via built-in DisplayPort
- Monitor 3: Dell P2415Q (4K, 3840x2150) connected via Ableconn DisplayPort 4K Adapter (DL-5500)
- Latest DisplayLink drivers (7.7.59503.0)

Here's my problem:

When both monitors are plugged in, the built-in laptop monitor and the external monitor connected via DisplayPort both work 100% normally. The monitor connected via USB/DisplayLink, however, displays the colors wrong. This isn't a subtle color calibration problem: Blue displays as orange, red displays as blue, yellow displays as a pale blue, etc. Whites, blacks, and grays display normally.

If I unplug Monitor 2 from the DisplayPort, color display on Monitor 3 (USB/DisplayLink) goes back to normal. So I'm guessing that there's a driver conflict going on.

Any ideas?

[Wim]

That's weird. Thanks for the video, otherwise I'd have found this hard to believe :-)

To help narrow down the source of the problem, are the colors correct on a Print Screen? This will tell us if the pixels are corrupted by the OS before they get passed to our driver, or if they are corrupted after they get passed to us.

Wim

[Herb Caudill]

are the colors correct on a Print Screen?

Yes, the colors are correct on any sort of screen capture (PrtScrn, Windows Snip tool).

A couple more data points FWIW:

- If I play any kind of video on the DisplayLink screen, it starts out with the wrong colors for a couple of seconds, then flickers a bit and adjusts to the correct colors and stays correct as long as the video is running.

- If I have both monitors connected via DisplayLink, they both display colors correctly. (This isn't acceptable in the long term, though, because I can't have a 30hz refresh rate on my primary monitor.)

- I haven't gotten into the math, but whatever function the RGB values are going through, it reverses itself. In other words if you apply the inversion twice, you end up with the correct color values. I noticed this when displaying a frame of the above video on the DisplayLink monitor; the incorrect colors in the video were perfectly corrected, while the rest of the screen remained in cuckoo-color land.

Hope this helps -
Herb

[Wim]

I've asked around for some opinions on this. It could be something to do with the graphics driver. I see your graphics driver is from 2012, so would be worth updating and see if this fixes the issue:

Graphics: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (Intel Corporation)
Graphics Driver: 8.15.10.2761 Dated 2012/05/21
Graphics: LogMeIn Mirror Driver (LogMeIn, Inc.)
Graphics Driver: 7.1.542.0 Dated 2006/05/22

Also, could you try without LogMeIn? I don't think this is a problem but worth checking.

Wim

[Herb Caudill]

I see your graphics driver is from 2012

Hi, Wim.

Not sure where these driver version numbers are coming from, but they don't apply to me. I don't have LogMeIn, and I don't have an Intel graphics driver. As I said above, I have the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M graphics card. I just uninstalled my graphics drivers and reinstalled them from the NVIDIA site, and have what should be the very latest (version 9.18.13.4725 according to Device Manager).

Thanks
Herb

[Wim]

Hi, Wim.

Not sure where these driver version numbers are coming from, but they don't apply to me. I don't have LogMeIn, and I don't have an Intel graphics driver. As I said above, I have the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M graphics card. I just uninstalled my graphics drivers and reinstalled them from the NVIDIA site, and have what should be the very latest (version 9.18.13.4725 according to Device Manager).

Thanks
Herb

Doh! You're right. I must have been looking at someone elses log files at the time... Trying to do too many things at once :-)

Can you send me the log files, especially the system_details.txt so we can try and find a similar system and reproduce. Details on how to do this are here:

http://kb.displaylink.com/269

Wim

[Herb Caudill]

OK, I've attached SystemDetails.txt. I can send you the whole zip file if you want but it won't let me upload it here.

Thanks
Herb

[Herb Caudill]

A little more information, FWIW.

1. Here's a video showing some more precise information about the color inversion, as well as the effect that playing a video full-screen has (as described above). http://youtu.be/KPrBjD65lJQ

2. As I mentioned before, a screen capture returns an image with the correct colors, regardless of what the monitor is showing. However, GoToMeeting goes completely insane when I have DisplayLink adapters mixed with a direct DisplayPort connection.

What I see:

http://i.imgur.com/0SA3wMR.jpg

What other GoToMeeting participants see:

http://i.imgur.com/2mpTU70.jpg

If I'm using the DisplayLink adapter exclusively, or not using it at all, GoToMeeting behaves normally.

Hope this helps.

[Herb Caudill]

*bump*

DisplayLink - any word?

[JamesH]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in replying and thanks for the detailed information.

Can you send the logs from the tool that Wim mentioned to this email address: technical_enquiries@displaylink.com

Answers to the following would be really useful:
Has this always happened or did it used to work on earlier versions of DisplayLink software?
Do you see the original issue in other browsers?
Can you try a different displayport cable (to that connected to the adapter)?
Does this happen at other resolutions?
Have you seen this issue on other notebooks and monitors?

Thanks,
James

[Herb Caudill]

I'll send the log zip file via email.


Has this always happened or did it used to work on earlier versions of DisplayLink software?


I've only experienced this since I upgraded to 4K monitors. I've used DisplayLink adapters for a long time with non-4K monitors and haven't had the issue with them.


Do you see the original issue in other browsers?


It's not a browser thing, or an application-specific thing. It applies to the entire display and to all applications: the desktop, Windows Explorer, Photoshop, Visual Studio, etc.


Can you try a different displayport cable (to that connected to the adapter)?


I've tried several different cables from different manufacturers.


Does this happen at other resolutions?


Yes, it happens regardless of the resolution used. I'm currently using the native resolution on all monitors, but for example if I change the 4K monitors from 3840x2160 to 1920x1080, I still have the same color inversion on the DisplayLink monitors.


Have you seen this issue on other notebooks and monitors?


At this point I have three external monitors: Two Dell P2415Q units, and one Dell UP2414Q. I've tried all combinations of monitors and adapters, and as long as one monitor is connected directly to the laptop via DisplayPort, the ones connected via DisplayLink USB adapters exhibit the color inversion.

The only way to make the problem go away is to connect all the external monitors using DisplayLink USB adapters. This is not ideal because the DisplayLink 4K adapters don't support a 60Hz refresh rate.

I haven't tried this with another laptop because I don't have one that has a DisplayPort jack.

Thanks for your help -
Herb

[Kubam]

Thank you Herb for all tips. I've managed to reproduced it internally.

We will keep you informed how it is progressing.

BR,
Kuba

[Kubam]

Hi again,
can I ask you to:
1. set value LargeScreenBoostCapable to false under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\Core\ in Windows Registry
2. Reboot computer
3. Check if issue still exists

Please let me know about the results.

BR,
Kuba

[macguyver13]

I had this same issue and I disabled the LargeScreenBoostCapable in the registry and rebooted. The colors appear normal again, but I just looked in the registry and the setting is set back to 1 now. Not sure if that matters, but I'm just glad to have my colors working again.

Before, I had to change the palette down to 16-bit color in order to get the colors to work, but then you lose a lot of detail. This fix seemed to work for me. I just wanted to post in case others come across this.