Display flashes to solid black intermittently

Davidb367,

(Edited - saw the small print showing who you were replying to)

USB connection is fine - my printer always recycles when it loses the USB connection - even for a microsecond. Also one of the other monitors has a USB connection as part of the Mini-Display port adapter connection. If the power suppoly is failing, I would think I'd see more than just a split-second black screen on only one of three monitors. Plus, the Mac Pro has a pretty heavy duty power supply to begin with. But I'll keep an eye on it just in case. Thanks for the response.

r/Jim

FIXED IT!!

Okay, I installed the firmware with a newer mac book pro, didnt work, no blackouts but monitor got hot and I had intermittent horiz. shifts on the monitor.

Then I connected the power to my heavy-duty full-time surge protector ( mine's an APC) , and NO MORE PROBLEMS. Makes sense, many of these posts suggest a power issue.

Congratulations! Unfortunately, this won't work for mine - I'm already on a heavy duty UPS - a PowerChute 1500. No indications of UPS issues according to the UPS display. I'm not even using 40% of the UPS capacity.

r/Jim

A lot of people are experiencing this problem after moving to Lion. The firmware update has not helped me and [some] others - perhaps those with slightly older displays? (My two are 24-inch, Late 2008).

This has happened before with a previous system software update but was resolved by a subsequent firmware update - not this time though. I will keep coming back to this thread just in case someone produces some kind of workaround (otherwise it's unplugging/plugging display every time it starts happening).

I hope Apple address this issue for my existing displays; we have since bought displays for another mac in the office - but not Apple - don't think we will buy Apple displays again.

Based on the behavior and my experience with custom video mode lines under Linux, the thresholds of the display timing circuts are being exceeded. This might be caused by deteriorating components (ie, capacitors falling out of specification). The behavior seems to be affected by heat as well as screen content.

You might try using SwitchResX and check the specifications being loaded by the OS. The monitor *should* be returing valid values for its frequence range. If these do not match, you can update the values here.

I was able to do this with a Dell 2001FP display that started flashing to black. When I checked, the 'Display Info' screen did *not* match those of the Dell documentation for this display. I changed these and I haven't had a flash-to-black yet.

The display has the means to make these values available to the OS.

ATTENTION APPLE:

Is there a way to do this without paying for a 3rd party solution?

Interesting Update: I did nothing - no upgrades, no tweaks of the monitor or system, absloutely nothing - and after two days of intermittent flashing black, it hasn't done it since - I waited ten days before reporting this to be sure it didn't happen again - and it hasn't. Not sure what caused it and what fixed it - it wasn't a firmware or software update, nor a settings change.

Jim

i have the same issue and setup as you , i'd appreciate if you let me know if you found a solution

Dammit, mine started flashing again! Charles S., were you (or anyone else here) successful at using that SwitchResX software to fix the flashing on the Apple monitor in question here? I can't find the doc on my Apple Cinema 24", so don't know what to look for.

Bill

just updated mine with an apple update and is now ok

sorry forgot to post link http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4045 hope this helps everyone

Unfortunately, that's the same update that's posted periodically in this thread - it seems to work for some but not for others.

Lozbou,

I'm not willing to risk the update - mine still has not returned to the black screen, so I'm "letting sleeping dogs lie." thanks for the link, though. If I start having issues again, I'll use it.

r/Jim

Same here.

In my case seems that power faults where messing with the graphics card in the computer.

Plugged a dedicated UPS only to the MacPro CPU and have been problem free for about a month.

All these after 6 month of changing monitors, installing updates and firmwares, buying extra graphic cards, changing boards of the monitors and every trick to surface the web about this issue.

Apple should read this threads.

I don't have an actual Apple display, but by using SwitchResX, I was able to set the refresh rate to 55Hz (instead of 60Hz) and I haven't had a problem since on my Dell display. I'm using a Mini DisplayPort -> DVI adapter cable from monoprice.com.

My macbook pro, purchased in January 2012 has been at the local Apple store for 6 days along with my 24" LED cinema dispaly where they are trying to replicate the issues you describe. The black screen, flickering, and "quilting" or segmenting of windows has occured with 3 macbook pros that I own, all purchased between April 2011 and Jan, 2012. The case has been sent to their engineers and I will update a post when/if they can figure this out. I'm just glad that they're finally taking this seriously. I have over 40 hours of time in either the store or on the phone with Apple Care.