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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

Jun 28, 2010 10:59 AM in response to pgostby

I have had two customers with the same symptom on Mac Pro's now and they have both needed new Power Supplies. In both cases, putting presure on Apple Tech support resulted in free repairs.

rprr

Level 1

0 points

Jun 29, 2010 9:01 PM in response to KevDaddy63

I am using the 24" LED Cinema display with an old PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8 GHz (Early 2004), GeForce FX 5200, with 64 MB VRAM running OS 10.5.8. It is connected through the Gefen Adapter to the LED display. The problem still happens for me as well. It was OK for a couple of months. Then it started to go solid black. It is intermittent.

Sndchck

Level 2

214 points

Jul 4, 2010 12:10 AM in response to Richhep

I'll trade ya. 🙂
This has been my issue since I bought my system new 2.5yrs ago

http://vimeo.com/10417687

G5 Apple

Level 1

0 points

Jul 4, 2010 8:38 AM in response to winniog

I am just wondering how long winniog used the cinema display with no problem. I have been looking at buying one of these and then I found out about this problem. If it is a OSX problem, I am wondering whether I will have the problem considering I am running MAC OS X 10.4.11 and will not be updating it anymore. I have already purchased the GEFEN convertor box and took my mac to the apple store to make sure everything works fine and it does. Has anyone running MAC os 10.4.11 had this problem?

zevlas

Level 1

0 points

Jul 7, 2010 3:48 PM in response to Richhep

So, here it is July 7th, 2010, and APPLE still doesn't have an answer for us? This is ridiculous. The staff at the Mac Store didn't know what I was talking about. I think it has to be a power source issue because I hooked some LCD lights through a USB on the back and they blink out every time it goes out. And when my screen goes blank, it will do it (like now...dammit) every 7-10 seconds until I give up and turn the **** thing off. Any Apple Support out there want to comment? I've been dealing with this for over 2 years as well. A product that costs this much should be fixable.

mb8

Level 1

0 points

Jul 7, 2010 4:21 PM in response to zevlas

All, I have been having this problem since I got my display as well. I have been doing the following, which is a pain in the @$$ but it is quick. Once the black out problem or the funny split up screen which happens less often - unplug the mini display port plug - wait 10 seconds and plug it back in. Once I do that I do not have the problem repeat the rest of the day. As I said, still a pain but very quick.

Jul 7, 2010 4:33 PM in response to zevlas

Zevlas, I totally agree that this is ridiculous. That the "geniuses" at the Apple Store still act like they've never seen this before does not make me warm and fuzzy about Apple products as much. Still a believer but someday I'll have to admit that my mom and dad put the presents under the tree each year, not that fat fellow.

Jul 21, 2010 7:49 AM in response to Richhep

I have been trying to fix this issue with my Mac Pro Tower for a few months, it has been intermittent, my Samsung LED XL30 display would go to sleep when I was away from my desk (the screen saver would run and then the screen would sleep) then it refused to wake up.

The only way to fix it was to force restart the mac, which as I was working on very large PSD files meant I lost all my work on several occasions. I tried unplugging the power to the monitor at the wall, disconnecting the VGA cable, swapping monitors but nothing worked. Today the problem escalated, the screen started to switch itself off whilst I was sat using it, I changed monitors and the same thing happened so I realsied it must be the graphics card.

I checked it (ATY, Radeon X1900) and saw that it had a layer of fluff / dust clopping the intake and exhaust, I have cleaned it all out with an air duster and so far it seems to have fixed the problem. It is summer here and the studio temp can get up to 25ºC so maybe a contributing factor?

If anyone has been having similar issues with their tower then give the card a clean and see if that helps. Let me know

etiquet

Level 1

8 points

Jul 22, 2010 2:39 PM in response to etiquet

Dear All,

Was a little away from the forum.

The problem is definitely hardware.

After many attempt to solve the issue, my monitor got a board replacement and completely swapped two times... in a nutshell there were a couple of bad serial number onto the market.

I got the current display for now over 3 months and problem definitively solved 😉

Only one advise here, don't loose time to try many tricks regarding software it will not solve anything only hardware swap will.

thank to the forum contribution and a little thank to applecare that finally did not let me down an kept the faith to solve this issue.

Eric

sxjxcx

Level 1

0 points

Jul 27, 2010 2:37 PM in response to Richhep

I've still been having this issue with my Apple 24" LED Cinema Display connected to my 2009 15" MBP.

I've found 2 workarounds that work consistently:

1. Change graphics to 'Higher performance' mode.
2. Connecting a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter, and then converting that back to Mini DisplayPort via Gefen converter. (sounds strange, but it works)

Naturally, I'd like to have this work without using a workaround but rather than play 'repair roulette', this seems to be a better solution for me right now (until Apple finds a solution).

dbk9999

Level 1

70 points

Jul 29, 2010 1:57 AM in response to sxjxcx

Maybe this is just a crazy idea - or maybe it has been suggested before - but I'm wondering if there is a connection to the options to set screen corners to blank the screen. Not that people are setting a corner for that and accidentally moving the cursor there, but just maybe the system is interpreting something that way in some cases (from what I've read, I think there is more than one issue being discussed here). I'm just referring to those who have the screen go blank completely. In my case, the effect is exactly like moving to a corner set to blank the screen.

That just made me suspicious. So, if any of you have this problem and have a screen corner set for blanking, you might try getting rid of that long enough to see what happens.

My problem with this is far to rare for testing. I can go weeks without a single incident. But someone who has this happen every day could see better tell if this made a difference.

Or if it is happening WITHOUT things being set to blank the screen, I guess my idea is wrong!

Aug 4, 2010 8:53 AM in response to dbk9999

My display has gone kaput now too. I've always had the random black-outs perhaps once or twice a day, sometimes more. But now nothing. I've done everything I can think of to rule out any issues:

1. Reset PRAM/SMC.
2. Start without extensions.
3. Tried the display with several different machines.
4. Tried a fresh install.
5. Swapped video cards around in my Mac Pro.
6. Tried a new video card in my Mac Pro.

I'm 100% certain that the problem lies within the display now. Unfortunately for me the display is just out of warranty too which is just typical I guess. I have a genius appointment booked on Friday which is a 60+ mile roundtrip for me. Not best pleased at the moment!

Aug 5, 2010 12:25 PM in response to Chicago Jack

Display flashes to solid black problem solved after changing the Graphics setting in Energy Saver in System Preferences to (higher Performance) instead of (better battery Life) setting. Now it blinks only once after start and then behaves really well for the rest of the time. The graphics card has to be at its best performance to deal with this monster of a display, I have the 30" cinema. For now I am happy, no need to to change monitors or call the genius bar.

Aug 7, 2010 11:33 AM in response to amrshahin

I take that back, the 30" HD Cinema Apple display is still going solid black frequently, what a shame.

dude009

Level 1

0 points

Aug 12, 2010 8:31 AM in response to Richhep

DON'T BUY THE 24" LED CINEMA DISPLAY! I just un-boxed mine, plugged it into a brand new MacbookPro... and NOTHING! BLACK SCREEN 100% of the time. Tried everything mentioned here. Nothing works.

Display flashes to solid black intermittently