Richhep

Q: 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

Close

Q: Display flashes to solid black intermittently

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 26 of 35 last Next
  • by Rahabib,

    Rahabib Rahabib Apr 21, 2011 10:23 AM in response to sbudhram
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 21, 2011 10:23 AM in response to sbudhram

    the problem is, I am already on my 3rd adapter and the problem goes away in Windows and Ubuntu.  So how is that a hardware problem?

  • by Bradley Ayres,

    Bradley Ayres Bradley Ayres Apr 27, 2011 5:01 PM in response to Richhep
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 27, 2011 5:01 PM in response to Richhep

    It would appear that I have had the problem fixed. See my post on page 12 of the 'sister' discussion:

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2765598?start=165&tstart=0

  • by msinanian,

    msinanian msinanian Apr 28, 2011 1:05 PM in response to Bradley Ayres
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2011 1:05 PM in response to Bradley Ayres

    You mentioned the monitor not working with other machines, like a Mac Pro, so the "conditions" aren't exactly the same, even if other machines like the new Early 2011 MBP's weren't working with your ACD as well, it might be that it was just a bad ACD. If Apple had discovered a hardware fix like that, I'm sure they would have started accepting more of our monitors or contacting those of us with open cases to start that process.

     

    Thanks for updating us though and glad to hear you're out of this nightmare!

  • by Bradley Ayres,

    Bradley Ayres Bradley Ayres Apr 28, 2011 7:38 PM in response to msinanian
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 28, 2011 7:38 PM in response to msinanian

    I agree the conditions are not the same (ie Mac Pro rather than MBP; I don't know what they used back in the workshop), but the symptoms were identical to all the videos I have seen posted. I was surprised that a logic board change to my 24" ACD fixed the problem. To me, that would imply that there might be a 'bad' batch of 24" out there that have an issue with the latest Macs.  My hunch on why Apple have not taken back all the monitors so far is that they are out of warranty (as mine was, but being in Australa, maybe there are a lot less people with the issue) and maybe the results take time to get back to Cupertino. In my specific case, I think Apple have been working hard to fix the problem. Obviously I can't say the same about everyone else.

     

    Hope they fix your's soon.

  • by msinanian,

    msinanian msinanian May 4, 2011 10:08 PM in response to Bradley Ayres
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 4, 2011 10:08 PM in response to Bradley Ayres

    As we've been discussing on the "sister thread," an official update is now released that specifically mentions external display + Thunderbolt support!!

     

    Screenshot below:

    macbook_update.jpg

  • by Joshua Kapellen,

    Joshua Kapellen Joshua Kapellen May 8, 2011 4:00 PM in response to msinanian
    Level 1 (25 points)
    May 8, 2011 4:00 PM in response to msinanian

    Did this update resolve the issue for anyone? I actually never had any issues prior to the update, but AFTER I installed this update on my new MBP 2011 it is doing it and frequently.

  • by cseifert,

    cseifert cseifert May 10, 2011 5:06 PM in response to Joshua Kapellen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 10, 2011 5:06 PM in response to Joshua Kapellen

    I have installed that update on my 2010 MBKPro 17" I7 with the nvidia GT330M graphics card.

     

    I bought the computer in June of 2010 and ocasionally get the intermittent flashes to black on my external monitor.

     

    I still get them aftter this update and witha all software updates up to date. So, for me anyway, the issue still exists.

  • by AZ Bryan,

    AZ Bryan AZ Bryan May 11, 2011 2:13 PM in response to Joshua Kapellen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 11, 2011 2:13 PM in response to Joshua Kapellen

    This update has not fixed the issue for me. My brand new Macbook Pro(15") is connected to my 24" LED monitor and this problem is still super annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!

     

     

    I CAN NO LONGER BRAG ABOUT THE QUALITY OF APPLE HARDWARE.

  • by Duncan Quick,

    Duncan Quick Duncan Quick May 16, 2011 10:43 PM in response to Richhep
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 16, 2011 10:43 PM in response to Richhep

    I've had the same problem.  I have an eBay bought but near new Apple 24" Cinema Display, Mac Pro 3.1, ATI Radeon HD5770 video card, and two Dr Bott 6' extension cables.  After some hours of mucking around I found that it is not electromagnetic interference, cable shielding doesn't help, and there's nothing wrong with the Apple hardware and software.  In my case, I found that it was a simple problem of the Dr Bott miniDisplayPort connectors failing to make a good electrical connection with the Apple Cinema Display cable plug.  By holding the plug and socket connection together by hand, I can make the display stay lit.  If I let go, it blinks off and on at random intervals.  I was lucky that it was happening not at all when the ACD was plugged directly into the Mac, thereby eliminating the Mac, software, screen and video cards as potential culprits.  But when I plugged the extension cables in, it would flash every second or two, starting immediately.  By putting some force axially on the extension cord miniDisplayPort plug and socket, to push them harder together, the display stopped flashing on and off and did not flash again.  Only one of the plug / socket connections had this issue, the other was fine.  I cable tied the connectors together to keep some mechanical load on them.

     

    Duncan Quick

    Electrical Engineer

    Melbourne, Australia.

  • by Rahabib,

    Rahabib Rahabib May 20, 2011 2:51 PM in response to msinanian
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 20, 2011 2:51 PM in response to msinanian

    The update helped a bit.  Its less frequently (now its every 20 minutes instead of every 5), but it still occurs.  Good thing this thing can triple boot into two competent OSs.

  • by spacecadetlv426,

    spacecadetlv426 spacecadetlv426 May 21, 2011 2:37 PM in response to Duncan Quick
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 21, 2011 2:37 PM in response to Duncan Quick

    I'm also having screen flickering/tearing and blacking out problems.  I have a 24" ACD (16 months old software/firmware all up to date) a MacBook Air (2 years old) and a brand new (purchased today) 21.5" quad core i5 iMac.  I had the black screen occur when using the ACD with my MacBook air about 2-3 times a day and a screen flicker/tear every now and then for the last 6 months or so.  I put it down to the onboard graphics and shared memory not being able to cope and lived with it - it wasn't a major problem.

     

    However, it's a lot worse with my iMac and started to get worse the longer it was plugged in (about 4 hours use).  I also tried applying a slight pressure to the connector and found that I could increase the rate of and move the flickering/tearing a further 4 inches up the screen depending which direction I applied the pressure - the blackouts didn't occur at all during this time although it was only for a short amount of time.  I tried unplugging the ACD and plugging it back in and ensuring the cables were not tangled or under any tension.  As yet no flickering or blackouts for about 2 hours now.

     

    FIngers crossed...

  • by dsecrest,

    dsecrest dsecrest Jun 1, 2011 8:43 AM in response to Richhep
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2011 8:43 AM in response to Richhep

    I've been using a 13" 1st gen unibody Macbook with a 24" ACD. Never had an issues. Two days ago, I got a new 15" MBP i7, and it's flickering so often, it's hard to get anything done.

  • by Rahabib,

    Rahabib Rahabib Jun 2, 2011 8:17 AM in response to dsecrest
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 2, 2011 8:17 AM in response to dsecrest

    I would be willing to wager that if people had bootcamp installed with windows 7 (or anything) their display would work fine.  It seems I am the only one who has tested this, and its definately an Apple driver issue.

  • by davidb367,

    davidb367 davidb367 Jun 8, 2011 11:28 AM in response to Rahabib
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 8, 2011 11:28 AM in response to Rahabib

    I have just seen the exact same behavior on a PC with a Nvidia 8400S graphics card and a Planar 17" LCD display.  I have to concur that it is a graphics driver issue.  Happens about twice a day when the graphics card starts getting hot and the fan speed has increased.

  • by 22pirate,

    22pirate 22pirate Jun 10, 2011 5:25 AM in response to Richhep
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 10, 2011 5:25 AM in response to Richhep

    i've been having this problem as well. I read some of the posts here and unplugged the AC cord and used the battery for a bit then plugged the AC back in and it seems to work better. There is definitely a connection between the AC and Battery and the external monitor blinking.

first Previous Page 26 of 35 last Next