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Mini Displayport to Dual-Link DVI not working?

I have just received my Mini Displayport to Dual Link DVI Adapter. The good: After I cancelled my initial order, because it delayed my notebook, I reordered last week and got it within 5 days or so (despite the store displaying 2-3 weeks). I was positively surprised to see it featuring a USB repeater. I plugged it in and it seemed to work instantly I also encountered no jumpy mouse whatsoever. I tried with a Dell 30" screen (3007WFP).

The Bad: The dvi connector is pretty bad and unstable, you can also not use the screws on the dvi cable to the monitor to fix the plug to the adapter. They also didn't recreate the analog video signals on the dvi connector, so no luck in trying to use the adapter with an old dvi to vga adapter (I was sort of expecting that, but given they have all kinds of circuitry in the box anyway, there was a tiny quantum of hope).

The Ugly: A few minutes later the problem surfaced: The picture became somehow distorted, it looks as if the Dual Link connection is losing a link, meaning that every second pixel or so is missing on screen. But the symptoms can also include shadows etc. I tried a few things:

* Cycling the monitor power has no effect
* It makes no difference if the adapter gets power via the Macbook Pro USB ports, a powered hub, a usb ac adapter etc.
* It makes no difference if there is something plugged into the adapter USB repeater or not.
* The problem seems to be occuring later if the main display is folded down and only the 30" screen is connected
* Re-plugging the connection DVI side fixes the problems sometimes.
* Re-plugging the Mini Displayport side connection either fixes the problem, or kills the connection forever, requiring complete adapter removal and redetection of the main display (sleep, function key etc.).

Over time, the problem surfaces 100%, typically after a few minutes. Funny enough, sometimes it vanishes by itself.

Does anyone have a similar problem? Or is my adapter defective? Any suggestions towards a fix? Any help is appreciated. I am cursing the day someone decided to replace the old dvi connector.

Regards,
TB

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Dec 24, 2008 3:58 PM

Reply
145 replies

Jun 11, 2009 2:14 PM in response to YCNZ

Yeah well I have the older dell 30" that doesn't have displayport, and the apple 30" doesn't have displayport either. Those of us that still need dual-link dvi are screwed with this disaster of an adapter.

I am absolutely shocked that apple has let this go on for so long.. What an embarrassment.

I've had my umbp for about 2 weeks now, and still can't believe I have to put the display to sleep every couple of hours when one of the links "dies".

Pathetic...

Jul 11, 2009 2:33 AM in response to Acmee

My brand new Dell 3008 30inch screen started to display the reported distortion after I plugged a mouse in the monitor's USB port (first USB device I connected to the monitor). I had also just put my (vanilla) Macbook Pro 17"inch into clamshell mode (lid closed, working from Dell screen). Seconds after the Dell monitor went from bad to worse, into the state it is now: waiting to be shipped back to Dell. It won't even display its own built-in menu any more. Something got fried in the monitor. In my eyes this is caused directly by Apple's adapter.

Jul 15, 2009 6:59 PM in response to Acmee

After reading all the horror stories, I almost decided not to get one of these adapters, and just wait it out. I'm glad I changed my mind. I bought one this morning, and have had no problems all day. I'll report back if problems do show up at some point. Here's my setup:

Brand new mid-2009 MacBook Pro
Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter with firmware version 1.02
Dell 3007WFP-HC

I have the USB from the adapter plugged into the port furthest from the Mini DisplayPort, and I have the USB cable from my monitor plugged into the adapter. I have my USB keyboard and mouse plugged into the monitor. I haven't tried any other port configurations, since this one seemed to work.

Not sure what the difference is between my setup and that of others, but in any case, everything works as expected. (Knock on wood.)

Aug 7, 2009 11:16 AM in response to Acmee

I just switched from pc to mac, and have been having the same problem for a month.
My set up is:

macbook pro 15", mid 2009 model with build in sd card slot (2.8GHz with 10.5.7, just updated to 10.5.8)
dell 3007 30"
apple mini display port dual link dvi adapter.

The external display corruption problem happens randomly during all kinds of usage scenarios from web browsing to photo video editing etc. etc. And it happens almost certainly if i switched the dell display off and back on again using the power button on the display.

The dual link md-dvi adapter runs two cable to the mbp, one mini displayport and one usb (the usb cable must be plugged to make the adapter work). On the other side of the adapter is the connector to the monitor and a usb type A slot. I've tried to plug different type of usb devices to the adapter or leave it empty. It makes no difference, the external display corruption problem still happens the same way. Updating to 10.5.8 didn't help either.

when the problem happens, unplug either of the adapter cable (mini displayport or the usb) and plug it back in will fix it. Or u can put the mbp to sleep use command + option + eject, after waking it up the problem disappears.

Called local apple support hot-line, they said such a problem was never heard of (pay more attention to ur own support site, dude). And because the monitor was 3rd party hardware and the display on the macbook pro doesn't corrupt, they won't take it as a mac hardware/software problem but a compatibility issue, and can't offer much help.


Ironically, I also have a windows 7 installation on the bootcamp drive, the dual display setup works perfectly under windows without any problem with exactly the same set of hardware (including cables etc.), what a shame ...

Aug 28, 2009 11:41 PM in response to floschman

Helo Floschman,
Are you sure? Is it true? Did you get 10.6 early and try it? Ouch. I have just installed the snow leopard and had hope this was the long lost 'fix' for the 'snow' on the 30" Dell monitor. I have yet to try this new ( nine month old) MBP which has never worked properly. It has just been sitting around as I have an older model which I need to use to enable the large monitor.
I just can't believe Apple has buried it's head in the sand with this! My 'new' machine gathers dust as it does not work as first advertised. Shame on you Apple support!

Mini Displayport to Dual-Link DVI not working?

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