fix (hack) for 30" Cinema HD display dancing pixels

I've just downloaded this and set up as described and guess what - no dancing pixels 🙂

I just got a new 30" a few days ago. I'm running it on my old Dual 800 G4 with an ATI 9600 pro and I've got dancing pixels galore. Either my video card/G4 combo is not really up to driving this thing or Apple is still shipping units with the issue.

Lawrence

If you have dancing pixels, check for an updated driver, whichever card you're using. (I have an ATI card. This worked immediately...)

Put the word "sleep" into the search field.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894

ATI says: Fixed green pixelation corruption issue after sleep on Apple Cinema HD (DVI). Corruption may occur on a select few X800 XT cards with LCD panels after the system wakes from sleep. The problem primarily affects flat panel displays connected to the card's DVI port. The bug was predominantly reported on the 23" Apple Cinema HD but has also occured on other displays. The update should be (re)applied after other driver and OS updates. Future versions of ATI Driver updates and ATI Displays will include this hotfix.

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NOTE: I just bought my 23" Apple Cinema Display last week (mid December '05). Ditto for the Radeon X800 XT card. The driver that came on the ATI CD was still the old one...even though ATI posted the driver update way back in March.

Dual G5 (first model) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

ATI posted an update for the driver. They're calling it a Hotfix.

https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894

To get it, put the word "sleep" into the search field.

ATI says: Fixed green pixelation corruption issue after sleep on Apple Cinema HD (DVI). Corruption may occur on a select few X800 XT cards with LCD panels after the system wakes from sleep. The problem primarily affects flat panel displays connected to the card's DVI port. The bug was predominantly reported on the 23" Apple Cinema HD but has also occured on other displays. The update should be (re)applied after other driver and OS updates. Future versions of ATI Driver updates and ATI Displays will include this hotfix.

Well, but the ATI drivers correct the dancing pixels, the blue pixels????????.

I have a 6800U, is there any solution from NVidia like these?.

RE: ATI Hotfix

I had the problem when I got my X800XT a few days ago, the fix works. (Running a Dell 2001FP).

So I'm gathering some of you guys are running an ATI card if you're getting the dancing pixels?

I will try this, but I want to let folks know that my monitor was created on 11/26 according to AppleCare and still has the issue. I'm running it on a Quad with a 6600 in it.

I called 4 Apple Stores and nobody had heard of the problem (right!) and AppleCare didn't either, sadly.

I'll try this fix and post back.

Okay, I feel like an idiot, but I have tried to run SwitchResX and do what you describe and I never get that resolution in my list after applying and rebooting. It's just not there. I want to scream.

I get flickering white pixels around small black areas (say a quicktime window with a black image) when my res is at 58Hz. At fullscreen, it looks fine at 58Hz. A white pixel here and there.

When I switch to 60Hz, the situation is reversed. I DONT see pixels in small black areas of the screen like a quicktime window, but I DO see them in fullscreen - a lot, mostly red pixels, no white pixels.

I downloaded all the latest drivers from the ATI site, I've reset the PRAM. Nothing works.

I have a Radeon 9600 Pro in my PowerMacG4 (specifications on side)

I dont know if im right, but since i installed the Mac OSX 10.4.4 i dont see any dancing pixel on my 30"...... ¿?

Ok, here's my story:

Bought a 30" Cinema HD from the Apple store in Houston this past saturday, brought it home, hooked it up to my PM dual 2.7ghz with AGP ATI Radeon 9650 and all seemed fine until I viewed something 'black'. Anything black showed rampant dancing pixels, both red and green at different times. I had been running two 20" Dell 2001FP over DVI for the previous 9 months with no problems. I took the monitor back to the Apple store and with the help of one of the guys there set to the task of trying to isolate the problem.

First we hooked up my 'new' monitor to a new dualcore powermac they had in the store (i'm assuming nvidia 6600 card) and it worked fine.. blacks were solid. Then we hooked up a store 30" monitor to my powermac, again, display was fine. Hooked my 30" back to my powermac, and boom, dancing pixels again. For good measure we tried another power mac (different video card) and another 30" monitor with the same results. Only my monitor and my video card caused the problem.

I managed to get a new 30" and exchange my 6 hour old display. This one seemed to work fine with my powermac in the store. I took it home and seemed fine for a day, but then I was messing with an aquarium screensaver that fades the bakground color between blues and blacks, and during the transitions i could see some dancing pixels. Not as bad as before, but definately there.

I found this thread and tried the switchres X hack, but no dice. Even tried the custom settings from further down in the thread, it seemed to make it a bit better, but still have them.

So in summary, this is my second monitor and the monitor does seem to be involved but I don't think it can be the only factor. I think it must be some weird compatability issue with certain cards and certain monitors over the duallink dvi port. As I said I never had this issue with 2 monitors at 1600x1200.

I'm thinking of taking my whole rig back to the apple store next week and seeing if we can try a different video card. At this point i'm even willing to pony up the cash for an alternative card if it will work.

Does anyone else have other suggestions or possible fixes?

Thanks,

Powermac 2.7ghz dual - ati radeon 9650 - 30" cinema hd Mac OS X (10.4.4)

I believe there are (at least) two problems with these monitors. One is the "dancing green pixels" problem. The other is the flashing red or blue short lines on a black background. The first problem exists in many (most or even all?) of these monitors, but it shows up at a different frequency in different monitors. It typically goes away for a while when the monitor is power cycled. The second problem is less prevalent. It seems to appear more in recent production monitors, and it is more disturbing.

I'm not a flat-panel engineer, but my guess is that both problems are caused by signal integrity issues either in the DVI receiver chips, the circuit boards, or internal connectors in the monitor.

i returned a 30" that had the flickering blue problem.
got a replacement that's been working swell for a few weeks,
and last night the problem started on the replacement.

this time the flickering blue problem is accompanied by a fun new problem : the monitor actually goes black for in instant (it flickers off and on)....It was sporadic last night...but started coming on hot and heavy this morning...rendering the display unusable.

what's odd is the flickering stops once i tell the computer to restart and the screen goes to blue....also there is no flickering when the computer is booting up.

I have a 30" CD with the dancing green pixel problem The SwitchRes X solution described in the forum worked flawlessly. My question I guess, is if this works, why should I get my monitor fixed by Apple? Other than a warranty issue, which I know I'm better of sending it in, is there an inherent benefit to running this montior at 60 Hz that I should get it fixed right now or could I run at 58 Hz for the rest of this monitor's life cycle and just be happy?

Anyone know the answer to this? I'm not looking for just an "because it's under warranty stupid" kind of answer. I'm looking for a technical answer, why it would benefit me to run "at full speed" so-to-speak and if it hurts the monitor to run at 58 Hz, etc.

Thanks.