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Level 1

5 points

Mac Pro sometimes displays static after displays wake up from sleep

Twice already when waking my two displays from sleep, the primary display will show just colored static, not the login window. The external display seems fine and shows just a blank screen. If I type in my password, the static goes away and the primary display shows the desktop. I can't reproduce the problem... it just happens (so far, infrequently).

I recently upgraded from an older Intel Mac Pro to a stock Early 2009 Mac Pro with 2 x 2.26 Quad-Core Xeon using the same two displays (a 19" Samsung and a 24" Dell) I had before. The 19" Samsung is connected via a mini displayport to DVI adapter and the 24" Dell is connected via DVI and is the primary display. My Mac never sleeps; only the displays sleep and I have it configured to require a password when waking from sleep or screen saver. I also have the Flurry screen saver enabled.

I basically unplugged my old Mac Pro and plugged in my new Mac Pro to my existing setup (displays, network, keyboard, mouse). This never happened with my old Mac Pro so I doubt that it's a problem with the 24" Dell (unless it's a huge coincidence that it started happening after I upgraded).

I want to reiterate that the 24" display is NOT connected via the mini displayport to DVI adapter, but through the DVI port. This problem happened once yesterday and once today and I've had the new Mac since Monday. I'd say my displays go to sleep about 6 times a day since I go in and out of my office often. The problem has yet to happen when I wake up the display first thing in the morning.

Early 2009 Mac Pro 2 x 2.26 Quad-Core Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 24" Dell display via DVI, 19" Samsung display via mini displayport to DVI

Posted on Mar 19, 2009 12:58 PM

149 replies

Jul 5, 2009 2:46 PM in response to chinhster

Just another user with the same problem. I noticed it when I first got my Mac Pro. I got it the first week it was in the stores.

Configuration:

Mac Pro
2x2.26 GHz Quad Core
OSX Version 10.5.7
16GB 1066MHz DDR3

Two 30" LCD's with Two NVIDIA GeForce GT120's, one in Slot-1 one in Slot-2. Same revisions, everything. One came in the Mac Pro, one was ordered from store.apple.com and installed by myself.

NVIDIA GeForce GT120 (Slot-1) Device ID: 0x0640
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision 3386

With Dell 30007WFPHC connected to DVI at 2560x1600 32-Bit color

I would agree that I have seen it less, but it still does snow and sometimes flickers for me. I would like to see a resolution to this.

Jul 6, 2009 1:45 AM in response to chinhster

I don't know if this is any help to anyone but I also occasionally get this for a couple of seconds when waking my Mac Pro 2009 with 4870 from sleep.

I'm using a HP LP2475w monitor.

It always rectifies itself after a couple of seconds.

Honduras

Level 1

4 points

Jul 14, 2009 8:28 PM in response to chinhster

I have the same noise problem randomly. I have 3 Acer V223W hooked up to 2 Nvidia GT 120 cards.
On another note, I also have trouble getting a signal on the monitor hooked to the minidisplay port with a DVI adapter after waking from sleep mode. This happens more often. Its so frustrating that I've decided not to put my mac to sleep anymore. I simply turn off the monitors while I'm gone and turn them on again when I'm back.

Jul 15, 2009 2:38 AM in response to Honduras

I have the 4870 and dual Gateway FHD2400 with the same problem. Count this as my "me too" post. Turning off the monitors rather than sleeping doesn't seem to work either. So Apple, what up?

jb0t

Level 1

0 points

Jul 25, 2009 8:46 PM in response to oneguynick

Having same problems using DVI connected Acer x241w. The only trick I have found to wake it back up instead of having to unplug the DVI cable or turn on and off the monitor is to set one of the corners to "display sleep" and mouse down to make it sleep again and then wake it back up.

I can also recreate the static if I mouse down to "display sleep" and wait a couple of minutes.

Jul 29, 2009 2:53 AM in response to oneguynick

From the friendly MacRumors.com on 10.5.8...

http://bit.ly/19Q4Bb

+MacRumors has received word that Apple seeded OS X Leopard 10.5.8 Build 9L30 to developers last night, including only a single documented change related to an _issue with external monitors and waking from sleep mode_. There are reportedly no listed outstanding issues in the latest build.+

jb0t

Level 1

0 points

Aug 13, 2009 5:51 PM in response to oneguynick

No changes since updating to 10.5.8.
It happens maybe a little less frequently but still happens nonetheless

Aug 13, 2009 6:48 PM in response to jb0t

Same behavior here, still no good. I wonder how Linux would run on this machine...

aschwarz

Level 1

0 points

Aug 28, 2009 5:55 PM in response to chinhster

My Mac Pro (2x 2.26GHz quad core with the NVIDIA GT 120) has been having issues as well. Whenever waking from sleep (or just display sleep) about 50% of the time my primary monitor (connected to the tower's mini-displayport with a miniDP->DP adapter) would display static until I turned it off and on again, at which point the problem would go away. I actually tried hooking this monitor up via DVI using Apple's miniDP->DVI adapter, but that was actually worse - my display would just flash on and off repeatedly about once per second ⚠.

So I stuck with the miniDP->displayport cable, turning the monitor off and on a few times a day. Annoying, but I could live with it while hoping that Apple was working on a fix.

I just upgraded to Snow Leopard, and the problem has become less frequent but more annoying: Now when I turn the monitor off and on, instead of entirely fixing the problem, most of the screen is okay but I still get horizontal staticy green lines in the top 200 pixels of the screen. The only solution I've found so far is to restart the computer.

This really needs fixing.

epee63

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2009 12:34 PM in response to aschwarz

A few weeks ago I ordered this connector as the replacement of the Apple one: http://www.eforcity.com/tothmdpdvimf.html
This thing looks very "boxy" but does the job for me: while previously I was getting "white noise" screen a few times a day, now I have not have it for a week.

I am using SyncMaster 26.5" monitor.

epee63

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2009 7:12 PM in response to epee63

Taking it back - problem still there just less frequent

Sep 21, 2009 11:20 AM in response to chinhster

I too am having the display snow problem on my brand new Mac Pro (less than a week old), with SL installed. I hadn't seen any previous posts indicating whether anyone else out there was still having problems after installing SL.

For the record, I have a Westinghouse 22" plugged into the DVI connector of an Nvidia GT 120, and this is my only monitor.

Any others who have upgraded to SL still in boat with me?

The irony of display snow on Snow Leopard is enough; the annoyance of this pesky issue is too much.

null

MR17

Level 1

0 points

Sep 21, 2009 3:46 PM in response to anearforgear

Yup, I bought this Mac Pro just 2 weeks ago and it came with OSX 10.6 (now upgraded to 10.6.1) with the standard Nvidia GT 120 graphics card it ships with and a 24-inch Benq monitor using the DVI-D port with a dual-link cable. I get a screenful of static when the computer comes out of sleep about 7 times out of 10. Most of the time (not always) it corrects itself if I wait about 30 seconds. Turning the monitor off and on has corrected the display every time but once so far. Inconsistently reproducible, nagging malfunctions like this are the worst.

I'm glad I found this thread, because I was on the point of shlepping the monitor back to the store and exchanging it for another brand. It's a relief that I won't have to, as I like the monitor in every other respect and I got a good deal on it.

I wonder if the problem ever comes up for people using Apple-brand monitors?

Also, the monitor and graphics card both have HDMI ports, so I wonder if moving over to that would fix the problem. It doesn't seem to happen on the VGA port, but I won't use that as there's a visible degradation of the display quality when I do.

Oct 3, 2009 2:04 PM in response to MR17

Bought MacPro in June. I have a 30" Dell attached to it. I had the Dell attached to a MacBookPro prior to this computer. I never had snow issues on it. I'm not experiencing the snow as much as others it seems, but I do get random static on the screen from time to time and it's annoying enough that I googled to find this thread.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 120.
ROM revision: 3386

MR17

Level 1

0 points

Oct 4, 2009 12:47 PM in response to Harland Macia

I reported the sleep/static issue to Apple tech support on Sept. 30 and reproduced the defective behavior several times while following instructions on the phone. I'm told it's been "escalated to engineering." I'll post again when I hear something, hopefully in the next day or two.

Mac Pro sometimes displays static after displays wake up from sleep