Hi All. I just bought a new Dell XPS computer and a great Samsung 940T LCD monitor. I added the Spyder calibrator and went to work setting everything up. Well, I had problems getting the prints to look like the "calibrated" monitor. They looked grey/green and just not like I expected - the old system was better The greys on the monitor were also a little pinkish. Yes- I did disable Adobe Gamma right at the start.
So after hours of putzing around and some frustration and recalibrating a few times, I finally, somehow, got the idea to check the monitor resolution. It seems that when I plugged the new monitor into the new computer and all worked well with an image on the monitor screen and windows working I thought it was set up correctly. It wasn't. The screen resolution was less than the correct set up for the Samsung monitor. I think this happened as I did not get the monitor from Dell, but ordered it seperately from another supplier.
In any case, now that I have set up the resolution correctly all is working perfectly. Monitor colors are great and prints match the monitor just like I expected.
So, I am posting this so it is available for others to see. Hope you can avoid several hours of frustration by checking ALL the small details first.
Posted by Neil Langdon on March 10, 2006 at 2:21 PM
Hey Ed, Thanks for the heads up on the monitor issue. I'm in the market for a new PC and I was wonder if you mind telling what the specs are on the XPS that you bought. Did you get a 400 or 600?
Good luck with the new system.
Thanks
Neil
Hi Neil, Thaks for the reply. I got the XPS 400 with the Pentium 3.0 GHz Dual Core Processor and 4 GIG of Ram. I configured it with 2 160 GIG Hard Drives set as RAID 0 so they stream data. I am also adding a 300 GIG Seagate External drive for back up. The system also has the DVD RW and DVD ROM drives so both CDs and DVDs can be burned and copied. The OS is XP Media Edition with Service Pack 2. Since I am using this just about only for photography I didn't get any office packge, but added MS Office for Small Business 2000 I have from a previous computer. I will only use Outlook and occasionally Word. My work computer has all the other stuff I need.
I ordered it without speakers (have them already) and without monitor (I bought the Samsung from NewEgg). I already had a wireless mouse, so I didn't get that either. I did add the extra firewire ports. The standard graphics cards are RADEON x 300 with 128MB HyperMemory. There is a primary and secondary card of the same configuration.
I am still in the set up phase; adding the software components I want to use. However, so far it is very fast and handles CS2 well.
Hope this helps.
Ed
Posted by Neil Langdon on March 10, 2006 at 8:39 PM
Ed, thanks for the info. Looks like a pretty impressive system you have put together. I'm curious about the 4 gig of RAM; is the system going to be able to utilize all of it? I was under the impression that it can only handle 2 gig. Does the OS require any modification to support the extra 2 gig.? I have been looking at the 400 and 600 XPS systems and feel that the 400 is more than adequate for my needs.
Thanks again for the information and best of luck with your new system.
Neil
I asked this same question and received the posted answers. On another forum Ilearned that the system running CS2 and any other application such as email, virus, firewall, etc may use up to 3 Gig very easily. With a small change in configuration all 4 Gig may be accessed. The link to the discussion is http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=54998&highlight=fix
I decided it was easier, cheaper and faster to get the 4 gig on initial order rather than decide I needed it later and have to retrofit. This is just how I thought. Others may disagree.
Oops! the last link doesn't work. Sorry. Here is the text from the thread I tried to link to.
A big thank you to Larry Burk who posted links to Microsoft's knowledge base that leads us to a very effective fix to the 2GB memory problem in Photoshop for systems that become unstable or cannot load the boot kernel of Windows with the /3GB switch enabled.
READ THE FOLLOWING COMPLETELY BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS FIX!!!
By adding the following to the boot.ini file:
/userva=2800 /3GB
This temporarily gives the OS an extra 200MB of RAM for address space during boot-up. This problem effects primarily systems with graphics cards that have 128KB or more onboard RAM and other devices that require address space.
So the last line in your BOOOT.INI file should look like this:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptI /userva=2800 /3GB
(note only add what is in bold - DO NOT change anything else even if it looks different than the line above)
If 2800 still causes your system to have problems, boot in safe mode and lower it to 2700 then 2600, etc until it works. My system is heavily loaded so I suspect that 2800 will fix the problem for 95% of those having problems.
PhotoShop will now see 100% of the RAM minus what the OS reserves. In my 3GB system, PS not utilizes 2448MB compared to the 1775 before and the system has no problems.
Posted by Neil Langdon on March 13, 2006 at 9:20 AM
Discussion
6 repliesSo after hours of putzing around and some frustration and recalibrating a few times, I finally, somehow, got the idea to check the monitor resolution. It seems that when I plugged the new monitor into the new computer and all worked well with an image on the monitor screen and windows working I thought it was set up correctly. It wasn't. The screen resolution was less than the correct set up for the Samsung monitor. I think this happened as I did not get the monitor from Dell, but ordered it seperately from another supplier.
In any case, now that I have set up the resolution correctly all is working perfectly. Monitor colors are great and prints match the monitor just like I expected.
So, I am posting this so it is available for others to see. Hope you can avoid several hours of frustration by checking ALL the small details first.
Good luck with the new system.
Thanks
Neil
I ordered it without speakers (have them already) and without monitor (I bought the Samsung from NewEgg). I already had a wireless mouse, so I didn't get that either. I did add the extra firewire ports. The standard graphics cards are RADEON x 300 with 128MB HyperMemory. There is a primary and secondary card of the same configuration.
I am still in the set up phase; adding the software components I want to use. However, so far it is very fast and handles CS2 well.
Hope this helps.
Ed
Thanks again for the information and best of luck with your new system.
Neil
I asked this same question and received the posted answers. On another forum Ilearned that the system running CS2 and any other application such as email, virus, firewall, etc may use up to 3 Gig very easily. With a small change in configuration all 4 Gig may be accessed. The link to the discussion is http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=54998&highlight=fix
I decided it was easier, cheaper and faster to get the 4 gig on initial order rather than decide I needed it later and have to retrofit. This is just how I thought. Others may disagree.
A big thank you to Larry Burk who posted links to Microsoft's knowledge base that leads us to a very effective fix to the 2GB memory problem in Photoshop for systems that become unstable or cannot load the boot kernel of Windows with the /3GB switch enabled.
READ THE FOLLOWING COMPLETELY BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS FIX!!!
By adding the following to the boot.ini file:
/userva=2800 /3GB
This temporarily gives the OS an extra 200MB of RAM for address space during boot-up. This problem effects primarily systems with graphics cards that have 128KB or more onboard RAM and other devices that require address space.
So the last line in your BOOOT.INI file should look like this:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptI /userva=2800 /3GB
(note only add what is in bold - DO NOT change anything else even if it looks different than the line above)
If 2800 still causes your system to have problems, boot in safe mode and lower it to 2700 then 2600, etc until it works. My system is heavily loaded so I suspect that 2800 will fix the problem for 95% of those having problems.
PhotoShop will now see 100% of the RAM minus what the OS reserves. In my 3GB system, PS not utilizes 2448MB compared to the 1775 before and the system has no problems.