Dell U2711 Calibration - here we go again!!!

I have just built myself a new i7, Windows 7 - 64 bit OS, PC and added a Dell U2711 monitor for the display. Being well aware of the need for monitor calibration I also got a Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite colorimeter to ensure I have good colour accuracy.

After installing the latest Datacolor software (V4.2.1) for the Spyder 3 and then going through the calibration process I was shocked at the result. A pinky/warm look that was way off. I tried several full recalibrations using slightly different targets all resulting in slightly different but totally wrong & unusable profiles.

So I then hit "the Net" to see if I was alone with this problem and sure enough others have reported the same symptoms here at DPR as well as other forums. I was looking for a solution but did not find one so here I am. There was lots of discussion in the topics with references to various websites but I have not found anything that says if you follow these instructions you will get a good calibration and profile.

It looks to be a Spyder 3 problem so I had a look through Datacolor's knowledgebase but did not find any help there. Although they do say that their Spyder 3/software combination is ok to use on wide gamut monitors. My next step is to email them as I am sure that they are aware of this issue.

I know there are lots of Dell U2711 users here so maybe you have gone through a similar process with the Spyder 3 that I am going through now and have found a solution, could you please let me know how you fixed it.

In the mean time I am using the Adobe RGB profile and to Dell's credit, it is not far off.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,