Illustrator Gradient Shows Wrong Colors

[Carolin5CD9]

I have a problem with creating gradients in Illustrator. The problem came up within the last hour, so it might be a simple key command which I cannot figure how to reverse. Here is what happens:
I give an object a gradient and define two colors, say #555555 to #707070, but these colors are displayed brighter than the usual colors. I can see that when comparing with objects that have either #555555 or #707070 color. But the gradient still says the colors are #555555 and #707070. When I use the color picker for the gradient and take the color from one of the objects without the gradient, it changes the color to that respective, darker one (and still shows the same color code). 
So basically I can't figure out why the gradient has brighter/wrong colors when I create it with the exact color codes.

What I did so far:
- reinstall Illustrator (so version is up to date)

- checked the color mode of the file --> is set to RBG, so there should be no problem with incorrect CMYK display

- exported to SVG --> The colors appear as usual here, so it must be something within the .AI file

[Doug A Roberts]

Please share the file.

[Carolin5CD9]

Could you tell me how? It wouldn't attach the AI file when I drop it to this message box.

[Doug A Roberts]

Share it via a file service like Dropbox, Google drive etc.

[Carolin5CD9]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SsNPpo6YvbwCWSOmDHnujiqDnjmEEwI9/view?usp=sharing

[Doug A Roberts]

I can only see those differences if I define the colours in greyscale rather than RGB. If I type the hex code, I get the expected colour. If I switch to greyscale, I get the lighter colour.

But that doesn't happen with the objects, just the gradient, so possibly a bug there.

[Carolin5CD9]

I agree, converting the color via edit > edit colors indeed changed the colors back to normal! Though in another file with basically the same initial situation it wouldn't work. When I select the object and go edit > edit colors, Illustrator tells me it is already RGB. If I try to change to any other option, CMYK or greyscale for example, it would not do anything, RBG stays selected.
But this just remains in this one file, for any new file I now check whether RGB is selected and the issue is solved with your solution.

[Carolin5CD9 · Accepted solution]

I have found the solution to that problem as well: The document color was set to CMYK (which shouldn't, but may be due to the reinstallation). As soon as I change to RGB, the gradient shows different color codes. Changing these back to #555555 and #707070 resulted in the desired colors.

So it was a mix between a wrong document color preset due to a new Illustrator version and an accidental greyscale mode in some files.

Thank you very much for your help!