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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

Feb 9, 2010 6:21 AM in response to Richhep

Same problem here!
€900 for a screen!!!
And it flickrs black!!!
(same size/quality from other producers is 2 thirds of the price... this is what we pay the extra for???)

Feb 11, 2010 11:31 AM in response to Richhep

This may be it....the long sought after fix from Apple. I have had one monitor replaced already with the "blinking" problem as discussed on this discussion. MY replacement had the same problem right out of the box. I lived with it for awhile because I didn't want to go through the "shotgun" method of replacing various parts to see if it would fix it. I found I could disconnect and then reconnect the mini-display port cable a couple of times and it would be blink free the rest of the day. But I have grown tired of that. Called Apple to start the gears turning to fix this monitor. They said...we are going to send you a *replacement power cord*...I'm thinking...right...a new power cord is going to fix this??!! Received the power cord the next day by FedEx. Well....I think it fixed it!! It hasn't blinked all day. I'll see how solid it is tomorrow when I power it up. Could it be this simple??? Just replacing the cord? Could the wire gauge be thicker? Perhaps there was some other fault within the original power cords? I'd sure like to know why replacing the power cord cured this problem? Thank you Apple for making this beautiful monitor rock solid!!

Feb 11, 2010 1:26 PM in response to woofer2425

Keep us up-to-date on this... it may start flashing again perhaps. Is there any noticeable difference in the power cords? Heavier gauge cord?

Ghillie

Level 1

0 points

Feb 12, 2010 12:19 AM in response to Richhep

I've got the ACD running from a new quad-core iMac and I haven't seen any problems whatsoever in over a week.

Feb 12, 2010 3:50 AM in response to optimalsharing

After three and a half months of misery (see also my post of jan 4
in this thread), Apple has finally replaced my ACD by a new one.

Basically, it took so long because the problem was hard to reproduce
and diagnose which caused problems both between me and the reseller (we see no
problems? the first time they managed to reproduce it only after more than two weeks,
the second time (after `repairing it') not at all) and between the reseller and Apple
(why should we replace the display if we have no evidence there's a problem?).

Since it's (still!) not an official problem Apple needed evidence. I had recorded the
shivering/blacking-out, and these movies were in the end deemed sufficient
evidence (*) by Apple that there was a hardware problem warranting replacement
of the ACD by a new one (after which it took another two and a half weeks
for the new ACD to be delivered...).

Upon asking why it took so long, the reseller and Apple point the finger at each
other, which means no compensation whatsoever for not having been able to use
my brand new MacPro + ACD for more than three months.

The new ACD has been running for 2 weeks now without problems. Although this
thread learns that that doesn't mean much, I sincerely hope the problem won't recur,
since I do not want to go through such an experience again. If it does, I'll let you know.

(*)
So it might be an option for people having the same problem for whom bringing
in the ACD (for an extended period of time) is not an option, to first convince the
reseller/Apple customer relations that you do have a problem by sending a movie,
explaining them, by pointing to this thread, that you do it that way because
the problem might be hard to reproduce, and asking what they will do about it.

Donald

Level 4

1,610 points

Feb 12, 2010 7:02 PM in response to Richhep

Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0863
Revision ID: 0x00b1
ROM Revision: 3448
gMux Version: 1.8.8
Displays:
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected
LED Cinema Display:
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Connection Type: DisplayPort

Running on a MBP. Display is blinking to black. Very infrequent. Wired Apple keyboard connected by USB and speakers by headphone jack. Have had setup since late June of '09. No problems until within last month.

cammonro

Level 1

0 points

Feb 13, 2010 10:27 AM in response to Donald

Hey folks,

Just an update here. I had a lengthy discussion with a senior level tech adviser today and as of yet Apple still has not officially acknowledged this issue although the tech staff is aware of this thread. In all fairness, this is a very difficult issue to troubleshoot because it's so erratic. I'm of the opinion that there may be a firmware issue but it could also be interference or manufacturing. Who knows? I've gone through 3 monitors and am tired of returns/exchanges. The senior adviser said he will be following up with the engineering department and will get back to me over the next 5-7 days so hopefully we'll have more information.

In the meantime, if you are reading this thread and you are experiencing this problem, please call AppleCare and LET THEM KNOW. This is the only way to get Apple's attention on this matter. Not only that I feel it also will help Apple obtain empirical data in order to truly troubleshoot. We all have our theories but these are not scientific studies by any means.

Eventually I think we'll get a resolution here.

Feb 13, 2010 10:51 AM in response to Richhep

10 day old MBP 15", 2 day old LED CD 24" Same problem. Called Apple Care. They reset SMC and PRAM. If the problem continues, take it into a store. They'll set it up and see if they can observe same problem (2-3x a day for me)

yuanma

Level 1

0 points

Feb 16, 2010 8:24 AM in response to Richhep

Experiencing the same problem(s) with a 24" display hooked up to a MBP. Sometimes there's a split-second shift of a horizontal line of pixels, sometimes it flashes to solid black. Seems to be very inconsistent so I'm not even sure whether or not it's worth it to bring it into Apple Store. It's extremely distracting because I am a web designer and I have to look at my screen all day. )-:

Feb 16, 2010 2:15 PM in response to woofer2425

I was hopeful....that simply changing the power cord would fix it....but it blinked a couple of times the following day. But not nearly as bad...just a couple of times and I didn't even have to do my reset ritual. I think changing the power cord did help, but not completely.

cammonro

Level 1

0 points

Feb 16, 2010 6:44 PM in response to woofer2425

I got a call back from Apple and the engineers are saying that the problem is in the all-in-one cable for the Apple Cinema Display and that it needs to be replaced. I see that at least one person on this thread has had that replaced on their monitor but apparently it did not work? What was the full result? Did it make any difference? I'm reluctant at this stage to go without my monitor for service - especially if it's not going to fix the problem.

Feb 19, 2010 9:44 PM in response to Richhep

I'm running into the same problem with my second display, a new 24" Acer LCD attached to the DVI to miniport adapter on my new Mac Mini. It periodically goes blank, or else goes to snow. Then, the picture comes back. It's very frustrating.

I see a firmware update is available to fix similar issues with the miniport to VGA adapter, but have not found a similar update for the miniport to DVI adapter.

My primary display is my old Apple Cinema 23" HD display, on the Mini DVI connector, and it is working fine.

Chris Shaker

Paulium

Level 1

9 points

Feb 24, 2010 7:00 AM in response to Richhep

I currently have my display in the shop to have this problem fixed or the display replaced. The intermittent going black started shortly after I received the monitor in October '09 - hooked up to a MacBook Pro 15" - and has only gotten worse over time. Over the course of a day when I am at computer this can happen 6-10 times. And then occasionally the screen scrambles entirely - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai35D5W0xO0

So far the shop guys have not seen the intermittent blanking, but I've sent them this thread URL so they can get a sense of the scope of the problem.

Paul

Ghillie

Level 1

0 points

Feb 24, 2010 10:49 PM in response to Richhep

Follow up from my last post: Still no problems whatsoever with 24"LCD used as 2nd display with new/current generation Quad-core iMac. That's 3 full weeks + without any problems from the display. It's used for hours and hours each day as a 2nd display.

I've got another last-gen 24" iMac with ATI Graphics (the top model of the last production series) that we bought refurbished, but I haven't connected the 24" ACD to this iMac. If I do that, I'll post the results.

Bottom Line: The only computer that's had problems with the 24" ACD has been the last-gen iMac 2.93 GHz w/Nvidia graphics (GT 120).

If anyone else can corroborate/refute the results that I've gotten indicating the fault lies with Nvida vs. ATI please do. Apple will then potentially have something concrete to work with.

mb8

Level 1

0 points

Feb 26, 2010 9:31 AM in response to Richhep

Hello, I have the same issue right out of the box with a unit I purchased this year. Interestingly enough the monitor does exactly the same thing with either a brand new Mac Mini Server or with my 17" macbook pro. The monitor goes to black once in a while. It seems to do it more frequently on the mini and more frequently when the MBP is set to the "better battery life" graphics setting. It is VERY annoying. I love the monitor but do not know what to do about this issue.

Display flashes to solid black intermittently