30" Cinema Display Won't Work if Firewire and/or USB plugs are connected

Question

30" Cinema Display Won't Work if Firewire and/or USB plugs are connected

I have a 30" Cinema Display, approximately two years old connected to a Mac Pro running 10.5.6. One day it suddenly stopped working. I walked into my office and it was dark. I packed it up and took it to the local Genius Bar. They plugged it in and it worked fine. Hmm. I brought it home and tried it again with my Mac Pro. Nothing. After much trial and error I discovered it would only work if the Firewire and/or USB plugs that are on the cord were NOT plugged into the computer. I always plug these in so that I can run my keyboard/mouse and iSight camera from the back of the monitor since the cords won't reach the back of the computer. So there you have it. The monitor works fine if those two plugs are not connected to the computer. Once I plug one or both of them in the screen goes dark. Any ideas? Thanks for any input.

Mac Pro 2.66, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 7GIG RAM

Posted on Feb 28, 2009 7:07 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 16, 2009 12:49 PM in response to Steve Wilkison

Would love to hear a suggested solution to this as I fear I may have the same problem with my 20" Cinema Display and my new 2009 Mac Mini...

Anyone?

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Answer 2

Mar 19, 2009 12:19 AM in response to Steve Wilkison

I have the same exact problem. Last time, I contacted Apple Support and they swapped the power block for me, but the problem persisted. Since then, I've left my USB/Firewire disconnected. If anyone has a solution, please share it!

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Answer 3

Jun 11, 2009 12:17 PM in response to Steve Wilkison

I have the same problem with my 30" Cinema Display on my G5. I took it to the Mac store three times along with my tower and each time it worked fine in the store. It's an incredibly aggravating problem because I certainly could use the USB and FireWire ports on the back of the monitor. The USB/FireWire cables from the monitor basically act like on/off switches for the monitor when you plug them into the back of the computer. From these posts it appears that this issue is more common than I expected. It would be great if Apple would chime in and let us know what's going on. I'm sure there must be some sort of fix even when everyone at the Apple Genius Bar shrugs their shoulders. If anyone has any ideas, it would be incredibly helpful. Thanks.

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Answer 4

Jun 12, 2009 5:14 AM in response to Stacie 0429

I had this exact same problem when I bought a Power Mac Quad and 30-inch Cinema Display back in 2006. The Quad would shut down as soon as the display's FW plug was plugged in. It worked fine with the FW plug disconnected. I returned them both for full refund. Sorry that's not much help.

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Answer 5

Jul 4, 2009 5:03 PM in response to Steve Wilkison

The same exact problem appeared to me after a two day absence during which my MacPro computer at home was shut down. When I turned it on, the 30'' screen stayed black. After a lot of experimenting, I discovered that when I disconnected its FireWire and USB cables, it went on. After I reconnected either cable, it went off again.
Help please. Is there a possibility that the problem lies with the computer rather than the screen? Just wondering...

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Answer 6

suziqny

Level 1

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Aug 9, 2009 8:58 PM in response to Steve Wilkison

I am so thankful for this post but also really suprised that it was originally posted years ago and there has been not one solution to this. Basically, I have spent the past three hours trying to figure out why my Apple Cinema Display all of a sudden won't work. After reading about the usb issue here I disconnected my keyboard from my monitor and restarted my computer and to my delight and disbelief it works now. I don't understand how all of a sudden usb connections to the monitor can cause it to not work. I connected my keyboard to my hard drive and that is fine. I have a firewire connected to my hard drive right now and everything seems to be working fine. Does this mean my monitor is on its last legs? Is there an update to it? Does anyone know why this is an issue now? Any advice is greately appreciated. Thank you.

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Answer 7

Aug 14, 2009 10:24 AM in response to suziqny

Had the same problem, but after a shutdown with everything unplugged, plugging in with USB didn't turn the monitor off. And for a bit I thought I'd have to replace it!!! Was going to buy a wireless mouse but the shutdown did the trick. Such a weird issue.

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Answer 8

GRHail

Level 1

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Sep 26, 2009 6:46 AM in response to suziqny

My experience is that the monitor is not on its last legs. I have had this problem on and off for several years now. The monitor works fine, though with a few problems: that is, without the USB connection the color sync? and brightness? don't work in their control panels. I have had several Macs, and the monitor worked with two of them all time, one of them intermittently, and two others never. Why? No idea.

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Answer 9

KJern

Level 1

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Oct 15, 2009 5:52 PM in response to Steve Wilkison

I've had this same issue for the past 1 to 2 years. The first time it happened Apple replaced the ATI X1900 board saying it was a power issue. Well, it's now happening again. I'm not sure what the issue is and I've tried a plethora of combinations with the firewire and USB connections. The first time this happened it was intermittent with Firewire and USB, but not both together. This time it's both connections. Unplug the monitor hubs from the CPU and the monitor suddenly wakes up... plug them in and the monitor goes black.

This is real issue that Apple needs to address.

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