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Richhep Author

Level 1

8 points

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

515 replies

mccanoe

Level 1

0 points

Jan 15, 2010 9:49 AM in response to Richhep

UPDATE:

Called apple support, they advised I take the monitor to my local apple store so they could 'verify' the problem, sigh!

Before packing everything up I messed about with my settings, just to see if anything made a difference. I'm not claiming to of solved anything but I've since been using the monitor all PM and so far all is good.

Here's what I did. I took my Air out of clamshell mode and opened the Displays system pref. I then woke my air so the Cinema Display was mirroring the laptop display and clicked 'Detect Displays'.

Then I put the Air back in clamshell, woke it from sleep and started using the Air with the Cinema Display in extended mode.

How could such a simple set of actions affect anything? Perhaps the change from mirror to extended mode resets something - clears out corrupt vram?!?

Who knows what going on but thought it worth posting just in case it helps someone out.

As I type my monitor is still trouble free so do I still take the trip to the Apple store tomorrow or do I stick with what I have...

Jan 15, 2010 9:54 AM in response to mccanoe

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this bug or defect is highly random, and is, to the best of my ablity to tell is a hardware issue, so it won't just go away

I've had entire days with no occurrences and then it just happens all of a sudden. Have not been able to pinpoint a common factor so far sadly.

Unfortunately the randomness of the issue is also a problem with returning it, especially for someone like me that has to mail the display in to a service in another town.

Oh well, guess it's not that bad :/

Jan 15, 2010 12:49 PM in response to Richhep

Same problem as everyone else. I've had the display running for a couple of days (running well) and then started having the problem today after applying the LED Cinema Display Firmware Update (I did have some problems with the iSight being recognized by iChat).

jojm

Level 1

0 points

Jan 17, 2010 3:16 PM in response to Stephen Epstein

I'm having the same problem with my MBP. But I have noticed that it only begins to happen after the display has been put to sleep at least once.

etiquet

Level 1

8 points

Jan 17, 2010 3:49 PM in response to jojm

Dear All,

Another update from my side. (the replacement monitor has also the problem. 😟

The problem seems to be escalated now into Apple, made few capture with some tool provided by the Support specialist. What I could notice is the problem occurs more after a few days of intensive use. Now got some frequent horizontal shift and once the monitor 'lost the synchro' and the display was messed up vertically (the menu bar was at half the heigh of the monitor, the bottom of the screen at the top of the monitor).

If you come for the first time and got the same / similar issue make sure to report it to applecare to build a case. and point the agent to this thread to shorten your access time to the level 2.

FYI : Got the same issue with an iMac & a MBP 2.66.

Keep the faith !

cheers,
Eric

RM8:28

Level 1

10 points

Jan 18, 2010 6:53 AM in response to etiquet

this thread is a year old and still quite active with over 14 pages of posts. Yet no one seems to have a real solution and apple continues to claim they know no known problem with ACD. To help apple i tried to start a new discussion thread to get an idea how many ACDs are being affected by this problem under what specifications but "Apple police" deleted the thread informing me it does not belong here in the discussions.

I suggest everyone call your apple care and let them know you are having this problem. I don't believe posting here makes anything official.

jojm

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2010 4:48 PM in response to RM8:28

This seems to be getting worse. I called Apple Care and they said 'bring it to the genius bar'. I just don't have time to to play with them hoping they can reproduce it, so I'm hoping the **** thing will just die so I can swap it out.

Ghillie

Level 1

0 points

Jan 21, 2010 2:35 AM in response to Richhep

I purchased a refurbished 24" ACD on New Year's Eve, and immediately after it arrived these problems showed up. I must have updated the firmware right away, as I check for updates daily. I waited ten days or so before calling Apple. The display was classified as DOA, and Apple overnighted a replacement to me. I did not update the firmware on the replacement display. The problems have not recurred.

jlrapid

Level 1

4 points

Jan 22, 2010 4:35 AM in response to Richhep

I just got my Mac Pro this December and have had the same problem as everyone else on this forum. I called Apple Support and they pretended not to know anything, then I told them about this forum... and he put me on hold and came back and said with a sure voice, "It is your video card. You need to buy a new one." I asked him if this had fixed allll the other cases, and he said assuredly, "Yes, Yes! That is the problem." Now, I am not buying a new graphics card... They can buy it for me since my 6000 dollar computer isn't working, and it's their fault, but they haven't yet, so I haven't tested this out. I am fairly certain this will not change a thing, however, because the first post of this problem was a year ago... and posts are still being made daily with no progress at all... If anyone else has tried a new graphics card and have seen that it doesn't work, please respond to this and tell me so that I will know.

<Edited by Host>

Ghillie

Level 1

0 points

Jan 22, 2010 3:46 AM in response to Richhep

Update on last post: Display just went black momentarily after 5 days of having no problems. Still haven't updated camera firmware.

Marksul

Level 1

0 points

Jan 22, 2010 4:48 AM in response to Richhep

Yea happening to me also, got a new one 24" LED Cinema Display direct from the apple store online back in November its connected to my mac book pro over the display port. I rang apple support yesterday 21/01/2010 they said that they didn't know about the issue asked me to to a command alt+RP on boot up wait for the apple chime three times and then boot.

Still flashing today????

mccanoe

Level 1

0 points

Jan 23, 2010 9:39 AM in response to Richhep

So took my monitor to my local Apple store (100 mile road trip), apple genius plugs it into his macbook I explain the problem, he looks at me like I'm nuts. I direct him to this discussion on apple.com but he makes no attempt to look it up instead, fiddles with the display preferences before turning to me and saying he can see no problem nor is this a known issue.

Being a loyal (s/loyal/stupid/), apple customer I know how discussions with apple genius tend to go, hence had filmed my monitors problems with my phone, which I have to admit, rather smugly showed the guy.

Long story short - as i'd purchased the hardware online they refused to offer me a replacement at the store, despite the monitor only being 10days old. They did offer to repair... Interesting concept repair a problem they don't seem to know about or understand. I refused the kind offer.

Props where props are due the genius did acknowledge the fault and give me a case number hence I can now return my monitor for a replacement. Don't expect any change but at least worth a shot.

jojm

Level 1

0 points

Jan 24, 2010 4:35 PM in response to mccanoe

I brought my monitor to a 'genius' and they couldn't reproduce the problem, so I left it with them. I hooked up an old Dell dvi monitor and have been running for days with no problems at all. Let's see what comes of the 'repair'.

Jan 25, 2010 2:09 AM in response to Richhep

Add me to the list.

I've got the new 27" iMac with 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor. The graphics card is the ATI Radeon HD 4850.

Mine is not as bad as some of the videos I have seen, but it does go to black for a split second every 30 seconds or so and there are little black bands across the screen every once in a while as well.

When we first got it, it was delivered with condensation on it because it had apparently been stored outside in the freezing cold. I thought it might have had something to do with that. Then it seemed to stop for a while, so I thought maybe I was crazy.

Now it's back and after reading all of these comments about the same thing, I'm beyond frustrated.

Plus, I'm in Italy... where returning things or having something fixed takes about 12 years. It's hard to nkow what to do because we already jumped right in to using it for our office... it would be hard to go back... even temporarily.

If you're reading this and considering purchasing a new iMac... I would wait and see if this problem gets addressed.
________________
Mariana Pickering
designer . Emu Architects . Cavriago, Italia

Jan 25, 2010 9:39 AM in response to Richhep

OK - ready for another curve ball?

Received new 24" LED Cinema Display the other day (with Atlona AT-DP200) for use on G5 PowerPC, 4x2.5GHz, OS10.4.11, nVIDIA GeForce 6600, PCI Bus, 256MB VRAM. Display goes black on start-up; it never gets past the start-up screen. However, when booting in Safe Mode, the display functions flawlessly. I tried many of the "fixes" suggested in this forum but to no avail.

I then hooked up the ACD to an older PowerPC G5 (1.8GHz, OS10.4.11, GeForce FX 5200, AGP Bus, 64MB VRAM) and guess what...? I works fine; although the display does flicker a bit when the screen-saver is running.

I'm not an engineer or electrician, but it seems logical to me that the lower end system requires less "performance" (i.e. power) from the Display in order to function.

I see a vast majority of posts are concerning iMacs or MacBook but I'd be interested to see if there are any other PowerPC or MacPro users having these or similar issues.

Display flashes to solid black intermittently