Bug 509543 - laptop display colors oversaturated
Summary: laptop display colors oversaturated
Status: NEEDSINFO WAITINGFORINFO
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: colour-management (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: 6.4.80
Platform: KDE Linux Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-09-16 01:18 UTC by William Ethridge
Modified: 2025-09-26 15:42 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
output of drm_info command (192.19 KB, text/plain)
2025-09-23 00:01 UTC, William Ethridge
Details

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Description William Ethridge 2025-09-16 01:18:45 UTC
SUMMARY
On a fresh install of KDE Linux, the colors of this laptop's display are completely oversaturated, resulting in harder to read text and diminished picture quality. The display worked just fine on Windows, but I'd like not to go back.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Install KDE Linux on this laptop


SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: KDE Linux 2025-09-15
KDE Plasma Version: 6.4.80
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.19.0
Qt Version: 6.9.2
Kernel Version: 6.16.7-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 4 × Intel® N150
Memory: 12 GiB of RAM (11.4 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: Intel® Graphics


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This might be a Linux in general issue, but I do not know how/where to report this. if any additional info is needed to help troubleshoot, please let me know.
Comment 1 TraceyC 2025-09-16 17:02:21 UTC
Thanks for the bug report. Please run the following command while the display is oversaturated, and paste the output into this report.

kscreen-doctor -o
Comment 2 William Ethridge 2025-09-17 02:28:56 UTC
(In reply to TraceyC from comment #1)
> Thanks for the bug report. Please run the following command while the
> display is oversaturated, and paste the output into this report.
> 
> kscreen-doctor -o

the output is below:
$ kscreen-doctor -o
Output: 1 DSI-1 eb67793c-b9da-4e89-be97-ca82ce7f3a2f
        enabled
        connected
        priority 1
        Panel
        replication source:0
        Modes:  1:1200x1920@52*!  2:1024x768@60 
        Geometry: 0,0 800x1280
        Scale: 1.5
        Rotation: 1
        Overscan: 0
        Vrr: incapable
        RgbRange: unknown
        HDR: incapable
        Wide Color Gamut: incapable
        ICC profile: none
        Color profile source: sRGB
        Color power preference: prefer accuracy
        Brightness control: supported, set to 95% and dimming to 100%
        Color resolution: unknown
        Allow EDR: never
        Sharpness control: unsupported
Comment 3 TraceyC 2025-09-18 16:42:32 UTC
Thanks for the details. I'll let the kwin developers take it from here.
Comment 4 Zamundaaa 2025-09-19 14:19:49 UTC
> Color profile source: sRGB
If you don't have a color profile set, then colors are sent unmodified to the display.
> Color power preference: prefer accuracy
Please don't use that if you don't need it. If you don't have a color profile, you definitely do not need it.
Comment 5 William Ethridge 2025-09-19 23:10:05 UTC
(In reply to Zamundaaa from comment #4)
> > Color profile source: sRGB
> If you don't have a color profile set, then colors are sent unmodified to
> the display.
> > Color power preference: prefer accuracy
> Please don't use that if you don't need it. If you don't have a color
> profile, you definitely do not need it.

I am not sure if "Prefer Accuracy" was on or off to begin with, but it made no difference regardless of being on or off. 

Additionally, I found out that sometimes (rarely, maybe 1 in 20 tries) the display will load colors properly. But then the screen will inevitably go to sleep and wake up and be weird colors again.
Comment 6 Zamundaaa 2025-09-22 11:38:28 UTC
(In reply to William Ethridge from comment #5)
> I am not sure if "Prefer Accuracy" was on or off to begin with, but it made
> no difference regardless of being on or off. 
It doesn't make a difference for color saturation. As the option says, it makes a difference for performance.

> Additionally, I found out that sometimes (rarely, maybe 1 in 20 tries) the display will load colors properly. But then the screen will inevitably > go to sleep and wake up and be weird colors again.
That's more interesting. What kernel driver does your integrated GPU use? You can check with drm_info.
It would also be interesting to see whether or not there's a difference in the drm_info output when it's working correctly vs. when the colors are wrong.
Comment 7 William Ethridge 2025-09-23 00:01:55 UTC
Created attachment 185176 [details]
output of drm_info command

I spent a little time trying to understand this output, but honestly after a long day's work I'm a vegetable. I appreciate any help i can get!
Comment 8 William Ethridge 2025-09-23 00:03:37 UTC
(In reply to William Ethridge from comment #7)
> Created attachment 185176 [details]
> output of drm_info command
> 
> I spent a little time trying to understand this output, but honestly after a
> long day's work I'm a vegetable. I appreciate any help i can get!

Keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about, but my current theory is: mylaptop's panel is likely wide-gamut (closer to DCI-P3, hi quality and usually used in tablets), but without color management, all sRGB content gets blown out.
Comment 9 Zamundaaa 2025-09-26 15:42:33 UTC
Okay, so it's i915.

(In reply to William Ethridge from comment #8)
> Keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about, but my current theory
> is: mylaptop's panel is likely wide-gamut (closer to DCI-P3, hi quality and
> usually used in tablets), but without color management, all sRGB content
> gets blown out.
Yes, that's why I suggested you should set a color profile. It still doesn't explain why it would sometimes be different though... Maybe the Intel driver is doing something wrong when addressing the display and changing it into some compatibility mode.

If you do use the built-in color profile, do things look correct?