ColorVision Spyder question

I have an older ColorVision Spyder with photocal for profiling my monitor. Every time I go to use it, I plug in the Spyder and the computer does not recognize it. If I open the photocal software it also says no devise is detected.

I can get by this by uninstalling the software & then going through the entire reinstall process, everything works, but next time I am back at square one. Makes updating profiles less than convenient.

Anyone know what I am missing? (Other than upgrading to the Xrite system)

Thanks for any help.

I'm just going to assume that you're using a PC--if not, you can probably disregard this entire post

If you go into Device Manager after plugging the spyder in, does something at least show up (likely under the USB tree header) with a yellow exclamation point called "unknown device?" If so, you could open it (double click), and tell it to load a new driver, pop in the original CD from Colorvision, and tell it to find the driver on the CD.

Otherwise, ColorEyes (from Integrated Color) now works on PC and is supposed to be great (I'm going to upgrade to it next month).

Hope this is of some help!

Thanks for the reply David. You assume correct, I am using a PC. The spyder doesn't seen to be showing up in the device manager at all? No yellow exclamation mark. I know it did this before & I eventually got it too work but can't remember how.

When I plug the spyder in, after installing the software, I get a message that the usb device has malfunctioned & I get no option to fix it or load drivers etc.

Corey, I think your Colorimeter is probably bad - the Spyders do have a track record of failing. When you plug in a USB device, the device ID is supposed to be read which then associates it with the correct driver. When you plug yours in, you have a problem with this.

The other possibility is a bad or flaky USB port. I'm assuming you already tried another port. Do other USB devices register properly when you plug them in?

BTW, if you are using an original Spyder with an LCD monitor, you are really hurting the image qulaity. It simply wasn't up to the task to properly calibrate modern LCD monitors and had a tendency to produce very muddy shadows.

E.J. It is looking like you are right. I received the same message in the past & somehow was able to get it to work, but perhaps it is a bad connection or such & has now completely died. I am still using a couple of CRTs but will be upgrading to an apple cinema display & would need to get a new device anyway.

I am the local sales rep for matchrite, that is Xrite's division for the paint industry, now I just need to see what it would take to get them to send me out a "sample" colorimeter or, better yet, spectrophotometer?

My spyder never works until I go thru the install process again. I think it is faulty software, but not sure. I also have to make sure the device is centered on the monitor before it will read it properly. I mean centered very closely.