Apple Cinema Display 23" - Blank Screen, "short-long-short" LED code

Paper fix worked great.

For any who find this thread in the future.

DON'T USE TAPE.

I tried making a piece of plastic out of tape folded just small enough to cover the middle pin, but when I jammed the plug in (the tape was kinda thick), it smashed it all over the place and it took me over half an hour to scrape it all out of both ends of the plug because the smashing exposed the adhesive on the tape and made it stick to everything. What I eventually did was just to stick a W shaped paper in the power brick end (female) and it worked great.

If you feel like paper doesn't insulate enough, try plastic or tape, but be warned about the tape.

This is how I placed the paper. I used the paper you get when you get a rebate check on the part of the check you tear off, so it was a bit thicker than normal copy paper.

Apple did make a 23" all-plastic Cinema Display. Here's the spec sheet:

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP77

Its power adapter is square and 90 watts (even though the spec sheet says 70 watts), and although it may not have carried the A1097 product number at the time (even Apple is not sure!) it is functionally and physically identical to it. The "out" cable from it has a plug at each end which matches the plugs used on the brick-end of the newer aluminum-series cables. It is not hard wired to the display.

Sorry,

I can't see the spec for it's PSU. The 22" model claims it had a round PSU (like the previous link).

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/CinemaDisplay_22inchAbout.PDF

I don't know if all displays with ADC connectors only had one input. My really old 17" CRT display with an ADC connector only has one input. Just the display lead is connected. It got all it's power from the Mac, but it did mean that only certain Macs were compatible with it.

There was an ADC to DVI adapter that was used to provide power & the DVI connector for Macs that hac no 28V supply for ADC.

http://www.vistek.ca/pdfs/207049.pdf

Is that what you have?

It is not the same as these power supplies discussed on this forum, you may just need an ADC to ADC lead.

Take some photos of the ports in question if you need more help.

@ Drew

Drew Reece (Re:co) wrote:

It's a service engineers code. Find the right manual & it has a table of the LED patterns, they are out there if you look, I think my blog mentions them too 🙂

I believe the cold cathode fluorescent lamps backlights (ccfls) can start to draw a higher current as they age or begin to fail. Since the voltage is stepped up from the 24V input a small change in the high voltage can cause a larger load on the input. The circuitry for the ccfl's seems to detect if it can draw extra current based on the power supply, which is 'sensed' via that center pin.

It may be completely safe, but I worry about doing things that are outside the makers intent.

Thanks.

The apple manual download side does not work for the ACD!

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/CinemaDisplays_20_23_30inchUserGuide.pdf

What is your blog link?

LOL thanks hexdiy, I'm pretty sure you helped out too 🙂

I did get an interesting contact on my site, it led to this second post about actually replacing the power supply with one for powering LED's.

http://pixelchimp.net/blog/pixel-chimp/replacement-power-supply-apple-cinema-dis play

Eroni's suggestion is that as the cold cathode florescent lamps start to age they draw more current. His theory is supported by what I have found by searching & reading. CCFL's run from high voltages that are stepped up from the 24V input.

Logic suggests that the 'pin hack' is not a great idea, for 2 reasons (that I can see).

1. You are simply fooling the monitor into thinking it is OK to overload the power supply (it thinks it is using a 150W supply, but the standard 23" supply is built to provide 90W).
2. The 'paper/ plastic' insulation can move as it is inserted, blocking other pins causes all the current to pass through fewer contacts (Apple made so many pins for a reason, to carry the current).

I vaguely remember someone mentioning earlier in this thread 'brown marks' or discoloring around the power connector after using the pin hack, I'm not convinced it is a sensible long term solution. Check the pins for scorch marks if you dare disconnect the pin hack.

I'm glad the hack is still working for people on here, but please consider there are probably better solutions such as checking the components or getting a power supply that can cope with what could be a greater load. In theory the supply will have thermal cutout/ fire prevention circuits & should be able to run for periods above the max rating, but who wants to trust their workplace or home to that?

Hi Matimac,

It worked. Thanks. Btw: it is easier to roll up a small piece of paper, make a V shape out of it and put it in the outlet instead of trying to put in on the plug.