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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

vsaua

Level 1

0 points

Apr 8, 2010 2:39 AM in response to Alexander G.

Hi, Alexander!

If you had flashes with Samsung TFT it seems that it's the video-adapter/mini-display port trouble, not in the LED Display. I'm going to get for a rent minidisplay to dvi adapter and connect macbook to my old NEC display. If there are flashes than it's trouble in video card.

Also if I manage to get the dvi-to-minidisplay port adapter I'm going to try connect LED cinema to the PC when I I'll connect LED cinema to the PC and see if there are flashes.

Also I'll try to boot from Linux booting CD and see if there will be flashes.

After you post I supposed that trouble in Nvidia video when output to the external monitor. Very bad. And shame on Apple that they don't want to open up the real information about it, because as I know there are no possibility to replace only the Nvidia bug chip - we need to replace whole motherboard as it happend last year with PC-notebooks on Nvidia bug chipsets.

Apr 8, 2010 8:49 AM in response to vsaua

Having given my 24" display back to apple for good I have reverted to my cheapo Samsung display. It has never exhibited the same crappy flashing problems. It did have a problem displaying full resolution of the display but I finally fixed that by using the dvi cable with a dvi/mini display port adapter (instead of the vga versions). Works fine now.

Apr 8, 2010 10:46 PM in response to vsaua

Hi Vsaua!

Besides the sometimes not responding displays after a system wakeup, the connection to the Samsung 24" display also brakes down now and then. It starts "snowing".

The logic board of my mbp was already replaced in january. That didn't solve the problem at all!
I remeber one pc user also reportet issues with the led ACD a few pages earlier.

Seeing forward to read the results of your tests.

Apr 10, 2010 11:32 PM in response to vsaua

Setting different sleep timings didn't work for me either...sadly.

dbk9999

Level 1

70 points

Apr 10, 2010 11:35 PM in response to Christopher Twomey

Sorry it didn't work. Ever since I changed my settings, I have yet to have it happen again. Of course, it didn't start long before I made that change and it didn't happen very often so it could very easily be a coincidence.

Apr 12, 2010 9:49 PM in response to vsaua

Well, tried a few new strategies over the past few days. First, (re)did the SMC and VRAM resets. Then tried plugging the laptop in to a separate power brick. Neither worked.

That said, I do think there is something heat related going on. It generally take a while to begin flashing to black. I'll get some productivity for an hour or 3 on a good day. Then the flashing, once it starts, seems to increase in frequency. I'm running a MBA, so not sure if the heat is there or in the monitor itself. I suspect the latter and can hear the fan in the monitor spin up right after black flash. But the doesn't seem to stay on. (And iStat Pro doesn't list fan speed for the monitor.)

Hmm, if there is a fan in the monitor, then there must be a heat sensor in it too. Anyone know how to get readings from it?

applepam

Level 1

8 points

Apr 13, 2010 12:40 PM in response to Christopher Twomey

I just got my refurbished 24" display yesterday along with the $150 DVI to Mini Display adapter so that I could run it with my MacPro.

I've been experiencing these same short "black outs" since it's been hooked up. The good news is that it's not what I expected—a problem because it's refurbished. I LOVE this monitor. I need it for intensive graphic design work and it's everything I hoped for as far as color accuracy. I just returned the Samsung 2343 because the LED display seemed to leak light at the bottom....solid colors appeared to have a gradient screen, going from dark to light. That's just unacceptable for graphics and Photoshop work.

To get back to my monitor problem...while I am typing out this message I've already had TWO blackouts, each lasting a mere second or so. It shakes me up and is REALLY annoying.

So what's the deal? I'm reading about all the similar problems that MacBook people are having BUT I AM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEMS WITH MY MACPRO!!!!!!!!!

So, I'm thinking it's in the monitor but what to do about it is a mystery. Sounds like Apple won't or can't help us. Hmmmm.

Apr 13, 2010 2:06 PM in response to applepam

May i ask what graphic card your mac pro got?
Apple could help us, but they ignore us strictly (see earlier posts)

applepam

Level 1

8 points

Apr 14, 2010 2:29 PM in response to Alexander G.

Hi Alexander...

My MacPro (Dual-Core Intel Xeon, 2.66 GHz) has a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT.

After reading through this thread I am seriously considering replacing the Gefen DVI to Mini DP Converter with the product from Atlona. So many people claim that the Atlona model made their problems go away because it's a simple hardware fix—not one that relies on software. What do you think?

This flashing to black problem is driving me nuts and I was initially thinking I was having seizures!

Apr 14, 2010 4:10 PM in response to applepam

Well i can't say this for sure, but i suggest the issue lies within the nvidia GPU, because on the one hand most of the replies within this tread got nvidia gpus and on the other hand i also got sometimes display issues with an other samsung 24" display at work (the connection gets lost now and then).

Beside this argument it also could be the mini display port of the machines. While i was on the line with apple care some time ago, they told me also that the core of the issue is probably a defect mini display port of my macbook pro or the nvidia gpu (witch was already replaced).

Although the first suggestion doesn't have really strong evidences, since nearly all macs have nvidia gpu's. But i have to say this: i never read about machines with ati gpus having the same display troubles.

The flashing is driving us all nuts. I was nearly 4 weeks flashing free, now they appear nearly every day…

mb8

Level 1

0 points

Apr 14, 2010 6:33 PM in response to Alexander G.

Hello, yes it is driving us crazy... I wish someone from Apple would take it seriously... I have this flashing problem and have now had the crazy split screen into four wacky screens several times. This flashing happens for me on either the 17" 2010 MacBook Pro or the 2010 Mac Mini Server. I am using the mini display port in both cases. I used to think if I restarted the computer it would help it to stop for the full day. Now I find that if I just disconnect the mini display port - wait for my laptop to normalize and plug it back in that it does the same thing for me in that the problem goes away for a while. I do not believe it has anything to do with the computer it is plugged into - I believe it is something with the display itself!

mb8

Level 1

0 points

Apr 14, 2010 6:41 PM in response to dbk9999

Hello, I had tried the changes to sleep settings some time ago and have experienced the same problems. I also have both a MacBook Pro and a new Mini Server and the display does the exact same thing with both computers! It is not the computer it is the display as far as I am concerned.

Apr 15, 2010 2:30 AM in response to mb8

If the issue is the display, then it is a big coincidence that the second display (a shop window display) i got from the apple store during their supervision of my own display also lacked the same problems.

Also unplugging and reconnecting the display to stop the flashing doesn't really work for me. I have to do this several times, but when i am very lucky it stops after the first try.

Apr 21, 2010 5:10 PM in response to Richhep

Same problem here. Just started happening. The 24" LED Cinema Display (only a few months old) is attached to the mini display port on a Mac Pro (desktop 10.5.8) and has started to behave very oddly. (NVIDIA GeForce GT 120) The screen goes black leaving the dominant open window white then all the open windows shrink and move on the screen before coming back normally. All ACD cables plugged directly into back of Mac Pro.
I have reset the PRAM, but otherwise am stuck.
One post suggested a problem could be using all 3 USB ports on the back of the display but I don't use any of them and still have the problem.
I haven't done anything any differently, no new software/hardware, this just suddenly started to happen. Come on Apple, DO something for all us loyal Mac users.

Agno

Level 1

1 points

Apr 22, 2010 11:25 AM in response to dinglydell

it might not be a NVIDIA issue, because I have a ATI Radeon HD 2600....same problem. I'm hoping that a firmware can fix this. But that's probably NOT the case.

Display flashes to solid black intermittently