30" Cinema Display doesn't "wake" when MacPro is booted up.

Had the same problem now for around a month on my mac pro at work. Been unplugging cables etc to get it working but last week the cinema display would just not fire up so i tried 2 other displays without success which pointed the problem to the mac itself.
I tried booting up off the installation DVD, booting from another partition that has Leopard installed and even target disc mode so i could dump my caches from another mac, none of these managed to solve the problem.
Eventually as a last resort I swapped the ATI Radeon HD 2600 graphics card from another mac pro and it booted up first time and has done every other time since! Sorry dudes but it looks like the graphics card is causing this problem. Hope this helps.

Having the same problem, and MORE! Since i write much with family in norway i bought a new norwegian keyboard. Every time i boot the mac says he cant find a mouse and keeps on searching for a mouse. The only thing that helps is to unplug the keyboard, plug it in again and the problem is solved. Since the last software update i have a new problem. The brightness of the screen is at minimum at start up. Turning on more brightness (on keyboard or hd monitor) works for one second then automaticly the brightness goes back to zero again. The only solution is (again) unplug the keyboard, plug it in again and problem is solved ?????

Same issue for me.

Mac Pro / 10.5.6 / 30 inch display / ATI XT900 graphics

Display stays black on startup, or wake up. When I unlplug any USB or Firewire cables from the display it wakes up just fine. Using the aluminum keyboard.

Secondary problem, is that I get small horizontal lines flashing across my screen, only really noticable if I open a black PS doc full screen.

I suspect the graphics card is the issue.

Tony

sounds like an echo in here but I've got a similar problem.
Previously I had the white macbook. 10.5, purchased about a year ago (spring 2008). Have always used an external monitor. However, once I upgraded to the aluminum 13" macbook (about a month ago), I've been having all sorts of display problems.

If the computers are asleep, upon waking the macbook will do just fine but the external display will start flashing black and the desktop image. Also, on occasion the display will flash between black and the desktop image but ALSO have static (like tv snow) around the edges. The only way to stop this from happening is to unplug the monitor from the computer, but that ironically makes the computer freeze. So then I have to do a hard restart.

This only happens once every couple of days, but that adds up over time.

Tried 2 different monitors from 2 different manufacturers and I'm still getting the same issue.

HELP!!!

Here are the ratings and subject lines from 36 of the most recent 50 reviews of the ATI Radeon x1900 XT on the Apple Store:

"* STAY AWAY"
"* Add mine to the list of crapped out x1900 XTs..."
"* worst card ever"
"* disappointed this card is even sold"
"* not great"
"* get rid of it"
"* outdated card a year ago"
"* run away from this card"
"* a disgrace that Apple even sells this"
"* terrible"
"* do not buy this card"
"* great - while it lasted!"
"* what a disaster!"
"* This card shouldn't even be in the Apple store"
"* x1900 crash & burn"
"** horrible card for mac pros"
"* don't get this card"
"* AVOID the Radeon x1900 XT at ALL COSTS!"
"* I would avoid this product"
"* I agree this card is trouble"
"* No No No"
"* ATI Radeon is a bad design"
"* Get anything but this card"
"* Beware!!! Heat is a major issue!"
"* RUNS TOO HOT, YET THEY SELL IT! DON'T BUY."
"* Good Start, poor finish."
"** Well maintained, yet dying..."
"* Overheats and locks up. Great for batting practice"
"* Unreliable over time"
"* DO NOT BUY THIS CARD"
"* very disappointed in the end"
"* card slowly dying"
"* horrible card"
"* some bad ones got out the door"
"* do not buy this card under any circumstances"
"* overheating problems"

36 of the 50 most recent reviews are explicit warnings to avoid this card. That's 72%.

34 of the 50 most recent reviews assigned a rating of 1 star. That's 68%

If you're one of the lucky customers who paid extra for this card when you bought your Mac Pro, and it has crapped out on you, let me save the the trouble of seeking help from Apple. This is what they'll tell you, "You're going to have to buy another video card."

Thanks, Apple. You're a class act.

Hello,

This problem just started with my computer last week. It seems to have started after my last update of OS X 10.5.6. When I try to wake the computer from sleep mode I hear the computer start up but the screen stays black, then I have to usually do a hard reboot or the computer will turn just turn off by the power switch. The same happens when I turn the **** thing on!

I had a friend who is more Mac savvy than myself come take a look at this thing, and he ran all kinds of tests on it, but to no avail. Is this a software problem or am I gonna have to box this thing up and take it for repairs?

Thanx!

Same problem starting with the version 10.5.6 update. My 23" Cinema Display stays black about half the time after waking. This morning I had to mess around with it about 2 hours before it started working. Now the brightness is unadjustable, the touch buttons have no effect. The screen brightness buttons have no effect either. What should I do?

Fixed. I managed to get the brightness working with this:

Delete file Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.preference.displays.<somenumber>.plist
Disconnect and unplug the display
Reboot
Connect and plug in display
Still no brightness controls
Set rotation to some value, suddenly the brightness slider appears, touch buttons work and keyboard controls work
Set rotation to normal, the brightness controls stay visible
Close lid, computer sleeps
Unplug a USB device to wake up computer, now in single display mode the brightness slider and controls still work

All is now back to normal.

Same problem here. This started just after an OS X update (10.5.6) -- MacPro with ATI Radeon HD 2600. Boots up fine (audio, fan running, disk drives accessing, etc.) but black screen on 30" Cinema Display.

A weird combination will get it to work:
- Power off
- Power on with normal PC display (and small adapter cable)
- Comes up fine on PC display
- Unplug PC display and plug in Cinema display
- Works fine (reboot with Cinema display and black screen again...)

Never had this problem prior to OS X upgrade -- looks like something was introduced in the latest upgrade?

Any thoughts?

I am dealing with this same problem again. This time I identified it as happening when the screen went to sleep, not the computer. I guess I will set my display to "never sleep" and see what happens. Now to get it working ...

Aggravating.

OK I was able to fix it without rebooting or even logging out:

Delete file Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.preference.displays.<somenumber>.plist
Disconnect and unplug the display
Still no brightness controls
Set rotation to some value, suddenly the brightness slider appears, touch buttons work and keyboard controls work
Set rotation to normal, the brightness controls stay visible
Close lid, computer sleeps
Unplug a USB device to wake up computer, now in single display mode the brightness slider and controls still work

I think I've figured out that if I cut the power to both the laptop and the display at the same time the dead screen never happens. Only when I tell it to sleep.

Hi KPG,

I have the same combo...Mac Pro with the 2600 graphics card, though with the 23 inch display. I am sending my computer in to get fixed and will report back about what it turns out to be. I've been told it's probably the video card.

I followed this procedure, while the 23" monitor was hooked up, and it seems to work OK now again:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US

Before i tried it, i already purchased a new power supply unit, which did not resolve the black screen issue. Now both units (90W & 120W) do work.

Good luck!

This is extremely irritating, does anyone know why it happens? I have been struggling for 45 minutes to get my display to work.