calibration issues Mac and Dell 2405WFP

I’m having a hard time with this and I don’t know very much about calibration. Here is what I have:
Dell 24" 2405WFP LCD with DVI interface
MacBook nvidia g fore 9400 M
Spyder2 Express

I had no issues on my PC system and on an older Powerbook G4 with a VGA connection using the SPyder2 calibration unit. I just got a new MacBook and have the monitor connected via DVI. When I calibrate with Spyder2 it drops my gamma and everything is very dark. I say it reduces gamma because when I look at reference charts my gamma falls somewhere around 3. When I switch back to, say, adobe RGB 1998 it looks fine. but that’s not the only issue. I should also mention I calibrated in a completely dark room and I’ve tried ColorEye with the Spyder colorimeter but that end result is biased so far towards blue my monitor looks awful.
Now my monitor’s contrast control is disabled and not selectable from the OSD. I have no idea when this happened. When I first started calibration I adjusted it per the calibration software and after that I haven’t been able to access it. This is my biggest gripe.
In addition when I look at a grayscale step pattern the value next to black also appears black and I can’t adjust my monitor to correct.
I have no way to connect my monitor via VGA as the DVI adapters I have don’t fit this proprietary deal that Apple has to connect a monitor to there laptops…which is frustrating.

If anything, can someone help me understand why my contrast control has suddenly become disabled? Any other input would be appreciated, as well.

Thank you!