Q: 30-inch Cinema Display flashing

I have been having this intermittent problem since acquiring my 30" Apple Cinema Display.  Sometimes it happens 5 times a day; sometimes it doesn't happen for a few weeks.  It has happened using two different Mac Book Pros.  It has happened in the middle of an OS upgrade.  When it occurs, it does not disrupt the MacBook Pro's functionality.  If the blinks aren't too fast (they vary in frequency), I can keep doing whatever I'm doing until it gets so nerve-wracking I have to restart the laptop.

So far, Apple has replaced all of the hardware (the display, the power adaptor, the dual DVI adaptor, the third party firewire adaptor).  I have replaced my MacBook Pro and the surge suppressor.  I have checked the voltage at the electrical outlet.  I have implemented the suggestion above from Roland Lee.  No joy.

After nine visits to the Apple Store and several movies showing the aberrant behavior, Apple insists that the display is fine and the MacBook Pro is fine.  They cannot duplicate the problem.

Apple insists this is a power problem, even though all the devices connected to the back of the monitor continue to work uninterrupted when the blinking phenomenon is occuring.  Their latest request was to connect the display to a new surge suppressor that has nothing else connected to it.  I did that yesterday and and today the problem recurred.

Suggestions, anyone?

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Helped for me

I have the same issue and it just started a few weeks ago. I bought my 30" Cinema Display in mid 2009 and this is the first time this has happened to me.

In-fact, I'll take it one step further, mine brings up the "brightness" icon in the bottom middle of the screen on and off as well as the screen flashing to look as though it's turning on and off.

While the brightness icon flashes, the brightness is automatically turning itself down, never up, always down, and it does it IMMEDIATELY when the brightness is above "0" until it reaches "0". Sometimes it doesn't even bring up the icon, it just automatically lowers the brightness all the way down in one fell swoop.

I have NEVER used the buttons on the side of the monitor for powering on/off or for brightness adjustments, so it can't be the overuse of buttons.

I went in to System Preferences / Displays / Options  and I hashed "Display Power Button" to "Does Nothing" and Brightness Buttons to "Disable brightness buttons".

This morning the flashing did stop but I'm not sure if that was because I reset the SMC or because of the button preference changes, and it did stop the brightness icon from flashing and it turning it's own brightness down to the lowest, this I tried real-time and it absolutely corrected it.

This makes me believe there is a faulty connector or chip in the button panel on the side of the display which replicates button presses, since the only way to get this to stop was to disable the buttons from working.

Apple SHOULD address this, even for those who have had their displays for 1.5 years. I spent $2000 on mine and there is no way in heck this should have happened when those buttons weren't even used and my display is in absolute MINT condition, it's never even had someone tap it, this should not happen.

Apple, stop being like Microsoft and address your customers issues, those of us who have been with you for 20+ years are becoming upset at your elitist attitude toward your loyal customers.

WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DISABLE THE FUNCTIONALITY OF OUR PRODUCTS IN ORDER TO GET THEM TO WORK.

You're pulling the same garbage with the iPhone and it's battery issues, making customers almost completely disable the functionality of their devices in order to keep battery power for more than 6 hours.

Sad, Apple, truly sad what you've become!

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I think I found a simple solution to my 2008 (or 2003) 30" cenima display blinking problem.

periodically, if not constantly, my display would turn on and off.  Apple will not repair it.  They told me the problem was with the power inverter inside the display and no parts are available.

I have a different opinion. I may have mentioned that I could get the display to turn on if I held my finger on the (capacitance pad switch) power switch.  Well, with some experimentation I noticed that my other fingers would have to make contact with the bezel for my finger on the button to be recognized.  I then noticed that I could move my finger off the switch pad, while still touching the bezel with my other fingers and the unit would stay on, but only if my finger was within 3/8" out from the pad. If I pulled my hand away, however slowly, the display image would disappear.  Well then, I decided to construct a capacitor of sorts.  I took a strip of aluminum foil about 1/4" x 2.5" (folded this size to make stiff)  and carefully taped the ends on both sides of the bezel such that the foil would hover ~1/4" above the pad.  Guess what: it works (at least for now).  It takes some experimentation just using your finger to cause the display to turn on while finger is in place.  Then I install my $0.01 solution.

I don't understand this phenomena because I don't fully understand how capacitor pad switches?  But it seems to work!

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I think I found a simple solution to my 2008 (or 2003) 30" cenima display blinking problem.

periodically, if not constantly, my display would turn on and off.  Apple will not repair it.  They told me the problem was with the power inverter inside the display and no parts are available.

I have a different opinion. I may have mentioned that I could get the display to turn on if I held my finger on the (capacitance pad switch) power switch.  Well, with some experimentation I noticed that my other fingers would have to make contact with the bezel for my finger on the button to be recognized.  I then noticed that I could move my finger off the switch pad, while still touching the bezel with my other fingers and the unit would stay on, but only if my finger was within 3/8" out from the pad. If I pulled my hand away, however slowly, the display image would disappear.  Well then, I decided to construct a capacitor of sorts.  I took a strip of aluminum foil about 1/4" x 2.5" (folded this size to make stiff)  and carefully taped the ends on both sides of the bezel such that the foil would hover ~1/4" above the pad.  Guess what: it works (at least for now).  It takes some experimentation just using your finger to cause the display to turn on while finger is in place.  Then I install my $0.01 solution.

I don't understand this phenomena because I don't fully understand how capacitor pad switches?  But it seems to work!

I have the same problem!!!  Its driving me crazy.  My power supply seems to be making like a *Tick* sound everytime it flashes.  Sometimes it goes out and doesn't come back on.  And sometimes if i unplug it and then dont wait long enough before plugging it back in, the monitor turns back on but is very static-y over the image.

Can an apple store help me with this?  Is it my power supply being that it makes that funny noise?  Yet everyone else is having the same problem.

Please help apple, do they even have a response to this issue?

I can only tell you that none of the things anyone has written above has solved the blinking problem I am having (blinking display NOT ticking power supply) with my 30" Apple Cinema Display.  I have been to the Apple Store nine times now.  The last time, they closed my case telling me it is an electrical power problem in my home, a problem neither of the two electricians I have hired has been able to identify.  This situation is the one and only time Apple has failed me in 25 years of using their products, and I must say it is very irritating as I have an AppleCare agreement specifically for my display.

Since you seem to have a different problem, I'd start with AppleCare if you have an agreement or a Genius Bar at the store if you don't.  Be prepared to have to take in both the display and whatever computer you have connected to it.

Saturday, April 14th, 2012…. Problem might be solved now?

I have exactly the same problem, with a 30" display I bought in mid 2009 which is really driving me crazy. Randomly, at some time, it starts to switch off and on, 4-5 times a second, so the display is flashing. Most often, it happens in the first 5 minutes after I switched the display on in the morning, but sometimes it takes hours until this behavior occurs. The power on/off-switch on the side of the display also does not work during this, it´s just dead. I´m worried because if it switches on and off for hours, the display could seriously be damaged. The only way to solve the problem is to unplug the power connector that connects the display with the power supply, and plug it in again.... then it works again, until it happens the next time. In my case, it happens about 1-2 times every day. Also, when the displays is switched off (for example before going to bed), it sometimes switched itself on again over night, and starts  switching on/off a thousand times until in the morning when I see it. Therefore, since several years now, I always pull the power cord every time I leave the computer for more than an hour. I also found two videos on Youtube where people showed the problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srCMKHPXNgY , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh-e95A03cw

I have two of these 30” displays, the other one is about 3 years older, and it is working fine. I tried to narrow down the problem a bit, because I have two of them. I am quite sure that it is not a power supply problem, because if I swap the two power supplies from my two 30" displays, the problem remains at the same display (it´s identical 150 watt original Apple power supplies). It´s also not a problem with the computer or the graphics card, because over the years I had two different computers and two different graphics cards (one ATI, and NVidia), and it´s always been the same display that had the problem. I also never used any USB or Firewire devices with the displays, so these are also not the reason. So it must be the display itself, or the cable attached to it.

Well, so far, I could live with it ... I know that Apple charges horrendous costs if I send in a display, and my display is out of warranty, so I just plug the power cord every time it happens, and it´s okay because it is the cheapest solution. However, yesterday, the display switched on and off once again, but it looked differently... switching on and off was slower than usual (usually it is 4-5 times a second, now just one time a second). So I repeated the everyday-procedure and pulled the power connector again that connects the display with the power supply, and - for the first time - it was so FU**ING HOT that I burned my finger when I touched it! So, here´s definitely a danger that something can start burning! Therefore, I honestly recommend that everybody with such a problematic display like mine better not leave the power supply connected if unattended!

After this happened yesterday, I first decided to send in my 30" for repair because of fire danger, although I do not even know if they still have the spare parts for it now in 2012. However, before sending it in, I decided to disassemble the display to take a look inside, for example if I can see an exploded capacitor or similar that might be the reason for the problem and that can be fixed by a specialist. I only found one website that shows how to open the Apple Cinema display, here is the link: http://www.ignition-project.com/articles/2008/01/31/the-apple-cinema-display-sag a-part-2-take-apart-guide  . However, I do not really recommend that you open it: on the inside, the 30” display is completely full of electronics (at least my one, it´s much more electronics than can be seen on the images on the website where only a third of the chassis is filled with electronics, I assume there are different versions of the 30” display - mine is completely crammed with electronics, and also the screws to open the chassis are at different locations).

I further tried to narrow down the cause of the problem. In another thread, I read something about erratic behavior of the power switch. Maybe the on/off-switch on the right side is the reason why display switches on and off? I found one related topic regarding a 30” cinema display where a user has a problem with the power switch ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2443325 ), and another one regarding a 20” cinema display ( https://discussions.apple.com/message/2716180  ). Therefore, I removed the bezels on the right side from both 30” displays in order to swap them, in order to see if the problem moves to the other display. The touch buttons are integrated into the bezel, and connected with a cable and a connector to the rest of the display. The bezels are removed by using a knife, sticking the knife into the small gap between the white bezel and the top of the chassis, and then removing the bezel from top to down (it is glued, you need some power, however, you really got to do this carefully because the white bezel is made of plastic and it can easily break – I broke mine in the middle part and I now have a crack there!). You can see it in the link given above how to remove the bezel. After that, I swapped the two bezels of the two displays, so I have the on/off switches of both displays swapped.

It has now worked for 8 hours without problems, but something else got me really confused now: on BOTH displays, the on/off switches to turn on/off the displays BOTH now do not work anymore (see beginning, also when the main problem that the display switches itself on and off occurs, the power button does not work). If I remove the bezels again and put the bezels an aside, they start working again, but if put the bezels in place again at the chassis, they don’t work. I made a video of it, you can see it here: http://youtu.be/Lh7Cceserf4 . However, if the bezels are in place and refuse to work, after disconnecting the power cords from both displays and reconnect them, both buttons work again normally. So, when I remove bezels and reattach them while the display is running, they refuse to work???Usually these buttons react at the slightest fingertip, so it seems that they calibrate or readjust in some way when the display is connected to power, and when I remove and reattach them this calibration is messed up. This might also be the cause why the display starts switching on and off, because something influences these buttons, or maybe the cable that connects the buttons with the rest are squeezed. So … time for a few days of testing if the problem occurs again… ->

Thursday, April 19th, 2012 – five days later:

I can say that in the meantime over five days, the displays made no problem at all. I finally got rid of the blinking display automatically switching on and off (which it did every day before), and of the power button that does not work. It might well be that the on/off switch with its very sensitive touch pad has been the reason for all the problems. In the video (at 00:22), you can see how I put the bezel on the left display, but I squeezed the cables which is not good, so make sure it fits into the hole without squeezing them. My advice for other people that have the same problem is to remove the right bezel, and keep it mounted in the upper half while having half an inch of distance on the lower part between buttons and chassis by putting something in between (that should avoid any problems, see video). Afterwards, try for a few days and see if the problem happens again. If the problem does not repeat, it has likely been the power buttons. However, in my case, I swapped the two bezels of the two displays and immediately put them in place again, and the problem also did not happen again. It might be that a very very minimal change in the position of the bezel or how the cables are running behind the buttons (electric field?) causes the effect.

Would be happy to have some feedback here, and if it worked for you as well or not.

I solved the same problem in my 30" display w/o openning the display with the use of a little aluminum foil and two strips of gaff tape.  For my display, I found that the power button was eratic. At times I could touch it and the display would turn on, then off, then on, and so forth. In playing with the button I found moments when the dispay would stay on.  In these different times, I would hold the bezel with my right thumb on the display front and my middle finger on the display bezel back.  My right index finger operated the switch.  At times, I found that while holding the display & switch as stated that the display would stay on.  Moreover, I found that I could back my index finger off the button a very slight distance and the display would stay on! Moving my finger farther away from the switch would cause the display to resume its erratic behavior.

Solution: A "capacitance bandaid".

I took a small amount of aluminum foil and folded it into a strip 1/4" wide by 3-4" long.  I attached one end to the front of the bezel with gaff tape and the other end to the back with the aluminum strip hovering about 1/4" out from the switch (not touching). I then played with the on/off button, finger under the tape, until the display stayed on with my index finger under the aluminum foil (thumb and middle finger in position as stated above).  I backed my finger off the switch very slightly and in doing so, I brought the taped aluminum foil closer to the switch to substitute for my finger's presence.  The display stayed on!  It has remained on for 2 months now without blinking.

In short, the switch is capacitance sensitive, I believe.  While my solution isn't eloquent, but it's cheap, easy to install, and it works.