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

[Colonel O'Neill]

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

[MidnightSun]

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.

[ferganer80]

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?

[Colonel O'Neill]

igfxtray, hkcmd, igfxpers

PIconStartup is that Intel Management and Security thing.

[bmastenbrook]

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.

[mac1133]

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

[ferganer80]

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

[codemonkey]

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

[ferganer80]

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.

[Colonel O'Neill]

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.