Wrong colors on external TV

[Alin Hanghiuc]

Hi,

On a Lenovo Thinkpad T420, with an Intel Core i5-2520M CPU and integrated graphics, when using a Samsung UE40J5200AW 40in TV with a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and an HDMI cable, the colors are very wrong on the TV.

This happens on a brand new Ubuntu 16.04 installation made from scratch, and it does not happen when I boot from a Linux Mint 17.3 "Rosa" Cinnamon 64-bit live DVD. So same laptop, same adapter, same cable, same TV, and the colors are fine on the TV in this case (Mint live DVD). Also, when switching the laptop with a Dell running Windows 8.1 (so the same adapter, cable, and TV are used), the colors are again fine.

I have attached a picture that shows the laptop screen in front of the TV screen with the display mirrored. So both screens should look the same in the picture. But it looks like only the white color is the same, while the rest of the colors are very different.

Thanks for your help,
Alin.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-22.40-generic 4.4.8
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-22-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity_support_test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
Date: Sun May 29 17:47:11 2016
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: xenial
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [17aa:21ce]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-05-06 (22 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
MachineType: LENOVO 4236BH1
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.4.0-22-generic.efi.signed root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro noprompt persistent quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/05/2013
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 83ET76WW (1.46 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4236BH1
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr83ET76WW(1.46):bd07/05/2013:svnLENOVO:pn4236BH1:pvrThinkPadT420:rvnLENOVO:rn4236BH1:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4236BH1
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T420
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12.2+16.04.20160415-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.67-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 11.2.0-1ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 11.2.0-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.10.1-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.7.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20160325-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.12-1build2
xserver.bootTime: Sun May 29 17:45:29 2016
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 738
 vendor LGD
xserver.version: 2:1.18.3-1ubuntu2

[Alin Hanghiuc (alinhan)]

I managed to solve my issue: I found a passive DisplayPort to HDMI adapter that works (the colors on the TV are as expected).

But I still think that there is a software issue, or an issue that ca be solved with software, since with the exact same hardware the colors are fine with certain software.

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We are sorry that we do not always have the capacity to review all reported bugs in a timely manner.

Ubuntu 16.04 (xenial) reached end-of-standard-support on April 29, 2021.

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue when using a currently supported release of Ubuntu then please let us know otherwise this report can be left to expire in approximately 60 days time. (Your comment #3 has been noted by the way).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xorg (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]