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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

JetA1

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2010 11:47 AM in response to JetA1

The problems I'm having look exactly like what happened to the new iMacs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jWlepBzVMs

There was a fix for those I believe...

May 13, 2010 6:49 AM in response to Richhep

I have a spankin' new 24 inch LCD display with a equally spankin'new MBP 15 inch. My display was beginning to do the same blank screen nonsense and also had intermittent distortion of the image.

Check the power source-it seems to be related to power fluctuations, at least in my case. The electrical circuit in my office has a small refrigerator, air conditioner, printer, and computer on it. When the refrigerator turned on, I noticed that the monitor would react either by distorting or blanking out. In addition the power cord to the display was touching another power cord.

The power for the display was then switched into a UPS with surge protection and the power cord, USB and video cables to the display were separated from other power cords. So far so good! Keeping the display power cord/cables away from other power cords could be the main solution here. I'd also recommend not using the power adapter from the display to power the computer but instead use the charger separately. Time will tell if this works.

mcpn

Level 1

0 points

May 14, 2010 7:54 AM in response to Richhep

I have been having similar issues with my 24" Display connected to a 15" MBP for the year I've had it. Running the SMC and PRAM seem to help as does adjusting the cable connecting the two devices. I am posting to this board to catch updates.

May 17, 2010 2:41 PM in response to Richhep

Me too - Mac Pro X1900 video card Dell 30" Monitor. Only way to fix is to turn monitor off and on again and it will last for the rest of the day. The only thing I have done that I can think of is to install QT 7.6.4 for SL

May 29, 2010 4:02 PM in response to robotspacer

Well, I finally took mine in for repair, and I just got it back today. I brought a video of the problem, but they weren't convinced it was the monitor (rather than the computer) so they kept it a few days to test it out.

Turns out it was the video cable, which is a simple explanation I hadn't even thought of. They replaced it.

I just got it back so I can't verify that it's fixed yet, but so far so good. I'm glad I finally took it in—should've done it sooner.

May 30, 2010 4:09 AM in response to Richhep

Problem solved:

I sent the display back, and got a replacement.

No problem since!!

/mrtinb

Jun 1, 2010 8:11 AM in response to robotspacer

Well, my problem is not fixed at all. It happened again this morning.

I'm going to take both my computer and display in next time.

Jun 2, 2010 12:54 PM in response to Richhep

I am on my second lemon of a cinema display. It totally died a few days ago. At first everything was fine, then I wasn't able to get it out of sleep mode without shutting down first. Now the display is always black and will not come up at all. I'm shopping for a new monitor good for graphics, but I won't get another cinema display. Does anyone have suggestions as to what might be a good buy?

Jun 2, 2010 1:13 PM in response to twobluffs

If so, Apple has been selling bad batches for about 4 years. I've gone through 2 cinema displays so far and won't be getting another one. I'm even considering going PC. (Now you know how frustrated I am...)

Jun 3, 2010 10:27 PM in response to Richhep

I posted during April re this problem. Eventually Apple replaced the logic board and graphics card even though I felt sure the issue was with the Apple LED display. All was fine till about a week ago and it all started happening again. Very oddly the screen goes to dark grey often (but not always) when I press the zero key. It's just done it now, pressing '0'. When it does that it also moves the windows of the active application around the screen. At the same time I get no response from the Command-z key or Shift-Command-z or cap (shift) Q key. (Had to cut and paste that cap 'Q'.) I cannot fathom how these events are connected, but they are. Will have to go back to Apple again.

winniog

Level 1

4 points

Jun 8, 2010 4:25 PM in response to mandolynwyn

This is not a new problem or even a problem that only affects newer macs, i am using a dual core G5 and the problem only started for me about 2 months ago when i updated my osx to 10.5.8. Basically every so often the screen goes black then after a second or so it comes back on this is a random problem that can happen once an hour or 60 times an hour. I have seen a lot of posts relating to this problem from other people but have yet to see a response from Apple, other than "we are looking into the problem". This really is a world wide problem that i wish Apple would sort out. I have tried using Apple displays and third party ones and the problem persists. The problem is not with the displays it is obviously a software osx bug problem that needs to be sorted.

kirreip

Level 1

60 points

Jun 17, 2010 4:19 AM in response to winniog

Just for the record: I have the same problem with my 24" Cinema LED Display.

Jun 26, 2010 12:51 AM in response to winniog

I have same issue. Brand new 2010 Macbook Pro, Brand New 24 inch LED cinema Display.

Sometimes flickers on and off within a second, sometimes it takes a few seconds or longer.

Sometimes its once or twice a day, Other times its once or twice every 5 minutes.

=(

Halp.

Jun 28, 2010 6:11 AM in response to Richhep

I also have a brand new MBP (2months old) for work, with a 24" LED Cinema display connected, and after the 2 weeks of flawless use, I started getting the blackouts. This continued for several more weeks before the blackouts stopped, and now the right side of my screen is completely black! At first the screen started to flashed verticial stripes along the right side, and I was able to temporarily fix this by unplugging, and re-plugging in the Mini display plug. Now nothing works. I'm stuck with a 5" wide black stripe along the right side of my screen from top to bottom of useless space.

This problem has been going on for over a year, and there is still no fix???
Apple where are you with this????

pgostby

Level 1

0 points

Jun 28, 2010 9:35 AM in response to Richhep

I have been having this problem for a couple of months now on a 30 inch display (about 30 months old) and it has been driving me crazy...

As a couple of others on here (haven't been able to read all posts as this thread is soooooo long 😟 ), it appears the Mac Pro goes into Sleep mode and the only way to wake it is by powering down and rebooting the old fashioned way (pressing the power button). The worrying thing is that I am starting to have to hit the power button multiple times before the screen comes alive on the reboot.

If this continues to happen I guess I am screwed as from what I can see there is no fix.

Per-Gunnar

Display flashes to solid black intermittently