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Display flashes to solid black intermittently

I originally posted this in the wrong category for the MacBook Pro instead of the Monitor catagory. I am wondering if anyone else has the same problem. I posted the following last night.

*Still an unknown issue with Apple Tech Support*? After 2 calls to product specialists and apparently an undocumented issue by any customers contacting tech support this seems to be a widespread worldwide issue. In one form or another with no answer after several months of the computer release displays are blinking, flickering and flashing to name a few descriptions of this problem. Mine flashes solid black for a fraction of a second and comes right back on. I have had this issue in the power saving mode as well as the better performance mode so that kills that theory. To this point there has been no pattern that I have been able to detect. I can go for weeks without a blink and all of a sudden get 2 in 5 minutes. Usually I am pretty good at troubleshooting but this problem has no pattern and is so intermittent I think it's going to be a tough one and I truly believe Apple has no clue as of yet so they are not addressing it publicly or to individuals calling in with the problem. I purchased my computer November 29th. I used it for over a month without ever seeing the issue. When the new monitor came out I still did not experience any issues with either display in the area of blinking, flickering or flashing. There is a video on Youtube that I have located showing the exact same issue as mine. Though the person on Youtube has a non-apple display and mine is the new 24" Apple display and it is the exact same issue this rules out the problem being the external display. Well, I can check that off as well. This is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-dQIgfIFsI Does anyone else have the exact same issue as mine? I am thinking maybe it is something in the 10.5.6 update. Who Knows?

*BTW this problem is not at all heat related.* It can happen during heavy use or very light use at low temps. I have purchased many newly released Apple Computers over the years and have actually had great luck with them. I hope this is not my first lemon.

MacBook Pro (late 2008) 2.53GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Apple LED Cinema Display (24" flat panel)

Posted on Feb 10, 2009 11:35 PM

Reply
515 replies

Dec 14, 2009 10:26 AM in response to woofer2425

This is interesting because we purchased a new 21.5 iMac the same day we purchased our 24" LED Cinema display. We've had no issues with the iMac, and we've replaced the LED display twice (it continues to "flash to black" intermittently).

FWIW, I have an older 24" LED Cinema display at work (about two months old) and it has never flashed to black.

I wonder it there was a "bad batch" of displays that came off the assembly lines--like a certain range of serial numbers that are defective or something.

Dec 15, 2009 11:49 AM in response to GW4

As promised I'm back and at the 15 day mark, no more flashes to black. I'm going to contact the product specialist I was working with and close the ticket.

I would suspect this could come back again if it's some type of borderline component problem, but it's solid for now. As apple pointed out to me there are many more of these displays that do not exhibit any problems.

S

Dec 15, 2009 1:25 PM in response to Richhep

In my case, connected to a Mac Pro, first Apple replaced the cable... then, a couple weeks later, the "power supply." It's been a week... so far so good. It took a while to convince them I had a problem because I couldn't reproduce it for the Apple tech. I pointed to this thread, which they scoffed at and wouldn't read. "MacBooks that burp also have a 10-page discussion.") Somehow, they must have heard about this problem because, when I picked-up the monitor for the second time, they told me they were "really interested" to know if it happened again.

Dec 24, 2009 8:38 AM in response to Richhep

Same Problem here, running a Quicksilver 933 in Tiger, with a 24" Viewsonic LCD. I used to run a 19" monitor with no issues whatsoever. As soon as I switched to the new 24", I began having random blackouts on the monitor. It lasts for 3-5 seconds, and then the images come back on. At first, I thought the screen saver was trying to kick in, but not so. This happens once every day or so--not often, but still annoying. I haven't checked the monitor with my new Macbook Pro. This seems to be software related, either in the OS, or in ROM instructions in the monitors themselves. The brand of monitor (Apple or otherwise), the computer, and the OS level doesn't seem to matter. Strange.

Dec 25, 2009 7:32 AM in response to chsinet

Hello,

Some news about my problem.
Just had the chance to play around with two displays - on with the described problem, one without. I exchanged the panels between them and placed two small pieces of plastic between the circuit board of the PSU and the LCD panel to ensure a perfect isolation between the panel back and the PSU.
Since this i had no issue anymore - no idea beacause of switching panels or adding the isolation.
No i am happy with my displays - but still hoping not to see any flashing again.

Cheers,
chs

Dec 25, 2009 9:22 AM in response to WH

Hello,

Opening the display is easy: Remove the glas with adhesive tape or some special removal tool. Then you can remove 6 screws and lift the panel carefully some cm (there is a temperature sensor and three connectors to the display. Then you can place already something between the display and the PSU.

Cheers,
chs

Dec 27, 2009 12:00 AM in response to chsinet

Hello everybody,

Just wanted to confirm what everybody probably knows by now. The problem is with the display and not anything that is connected to it. Two weeks ago I bought a refurbished 24-inch Cinema Display. Today I experienced 2 solid black flashes about 15 seconds apart. They lasted for about 1 second.

I have a PC with Windows 7 connected to Atlona adapter.

Looks like this pc guy is going to have to talk to support.

Good luck everybody,
JL

Display flashes to solid black intermittently

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