LG Dual Monitor H.e.l.l.!!!! - Someone HELP PLEASE!!!!!

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Level 1

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LG Dual Monitor H.e.l.l.!!!! - Someone HELP PLEASE!!!!!

Hi there,

I'm running a dual set up on my Mac Pro.
Both monitors are the same model: LG 204WT.

Since day one I've been having trouble with the monitors.

It started when I noticed that my desktop items and mouse cursor had a ghost like drop shadow on them. This was corrected by turning the monitor on and off.
Whenever booting up my mac, or coming out of sleep mode the main monitor (with all my desktop items on it) would have the ghost like drop shadow on them.
I tried looking for a driver online for my mac pro, but only found drivers for windows.

I got rid of the drop shadow problem by waiting for my mac to boot up before turning on my monitors. Since then I have yet to encounter a drop shadow unless the monitors were coming out of 'sleep mode.'

My 2nd problem began, when my main monitor went black and the blue led at the front began to flash. I tried turning the display off using the power button, but all buttons on the side of the monitor were not recognized. I pulled the dvi connection out of my mac and pulled the plug out of the back of the monitor. This did not help.
I plugged the AC power back in, only to see the blue led flashing.

I sent my monitors back to the retailer I bought them from, and diagnostics were performed with negative results. Apparently, nothing is/ was wrong with my monitors.

I performed a hardware test on my mac and the results also came back negative.
No problems.

While my monitors were in the shop, I had a standard vga monitor plugged in via a dvi adapter. I had no issues whatsoever.
I finally got my monitors back and everything seemed to be working fine, until the same old problems started again.

I am writing this to you, with only one monitor working, as the other one has a black screen and a blue led flashing...

My patience and faith in LG has run out completely.

Can someon please help lend some insight into what the problem is?

Is it my computer or the monitors, or just something between the two?

I am running two LG 204WT monitors using the dvi Outputs on both monitors into the dvi ports on my mac pro.

Does the LG's option of VGA/DVI output have a play in all my problems?
Are my monitors confused as to which output it should send its signal from...vga or dvi?

Here are my mac specs…
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version: 1.25f4

Graphics Card…
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT:

Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-252
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.252

Displays:

L204WTX:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported

L204WT:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Message was edited by: edanger

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 4, 2008 1:18 AM

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Answer 1

necronym

Level 4

1,434 points

Aug 4, 2008 2:21 AM in response to edanger

You don't say how you've set your monitors up in OSX? Mirrored or extended desktop? I assume these are 20" Monitors?

Are both monitor connectors attached securely to your Graphics Card DVI outputs?

Try connecting just one of your monitors, connected to DVI 1, start up your machine and see how it runs. If it runs fine, shut down and connect your 2nd monitor. Then restart.

Once restarted, go to System Preferences > Hardware > Displays, then configure your second monitor as you would like, either mirrored or extended desktop.

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Answer 2

Aug 4, 2008 5:22 AM in response to edanger

Hi,

I have two 22" LG 225ws monitors from PC World and they seem fine. I have noticed them switch once or twice if i turn the displays on after the Mac has booted but this might be because they are on a separate mains switch and i forget to turn it on! The only other thing is a slight colour shift between the two and mine are VGA only. Not seen any halo or shadow effect.

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Answer 3

edanger Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 4, 2008 12:24 PM in response to necronym

Hi there,

thanks for replying.

My monitors are set up as extended desktop.
Both are securely screwed in to the dvi outputs in the back.

Ive connected the one monitor and started up the machine. I had a very slight ghost drop shadow again. I had to turn the monitor on and off to relieve it.

I plugged in the second monitor, which seemed to be working fine, but when the desktop background popped up on my main monitor, it went black screen again! with the blue led power button flashing again.

Anymore ideas?

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Answer 4

Aug 4, 2008 1:32 PM in response to edanger

Oddly tonight mine started up from the second monitor first and then switched to the first monitor as normal. I zapped the p-ram and this fixed it, maybe try this (if you haven't already)?
Can you take a picture clipping of the desktop to show the drop shadow?

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Answer 5

edanger Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 4, 2008 3:27 PM in response to Mark Thornton

I have not zapped the pram. Will I lose anything if I zap the PRAM?
Here are a few screen captures of the drop shadow.

The last photo is the one that displays the problem the best.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29269054@N04/

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Answer 6

barshnik

Level 1

85 points

Aug 4, 2008 7:19 PM in response to edanger

I can't help with your other problems, but can address with some experience the ghosting issue. Your LG's have multiple inputs, and and if you had (even though you don't) different devices attached to separate inputs, the monitor has to have some way of knowing which input to use. Most monitors have an 'auto sensing' circuit to know which input to use.

For some reason, OS X doesn't play nicely with many of these auto-sensing schemes, resulting in shadows, ghosts, or multiple images as you've seen. Samsungs (and others) have a setup menu item for disabling the auto-sensing, and this fixes the ghosting problem. LG's (at least the ones I've checked out in stores) do not have a menu selection for disabling auto-sensing of the inputs. Check your monitor menu for this, though, in case your particular model does have a way to turn off auto-sensing.

If it doesn't, the only option that I know of is to exchange it for Samsungs with this feature, or another brand of monitor who's auto-sensing circuitry plays nicely with OS X even though you can't turn it off (some do). Hopefully you bought them from a store with a liberal exchange policy. If you are not using an Apple monitor, your safest bet is to either buy a Samsung with the menu option (the BW series do for sure) or lug your mac to the store and ask to try different monitors to find one that will awake from sleep without ghosts - remember, as you've already found out, it is not a problem from power-up, especially if the monitor is turned on after the mac.

John F

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