22' Cinema Display goes black randomly

Is there any information from Apple on the problems of cinema displays of all sizes going black? Is the issue with the Invertor Board, the Defection Controller, or something else. Zapping PROM has no effect. Sometimes jiggling the cable awakens the monitor, other times not. In my case, the monitor worked well with a G4 dual 800 until shortly after the Applecare contract expired.

The most common issue seems to be the actual backlight inverter going bad (it flashes the error code via the power light; 2 short and 1 long flash) followed by the backlights themselves. Apple's standard response in most cases seems to be to replace the entire LCD unit/electronics and not just the bad inverter board which for out of warranty repairs can run 600+ USD (makes more sense to get a new monitor at that amount).

LCD Part/MoniServ at least has replacements for the 15" and 17" Studio Displays at a reasonable cost. I guess those units outsold the larger displays which made it feasible for them to redesign better versions. My 22" ACD problem got really bad in the last month (blinking off and on every 5 minutes). Ended up just buying a new monitor and have my Cinema stored until I can get a replacement inverter board.

Is there source that sells the invertor boards? In my case in a 22 inch Cinema Display. Does Apple have support information for such replacements? Can someone with tools do the replacement?

In past years Apple has not forced users to spend large sums to repair unnecessary electronics in Apple products? I hope that hasn't changed.

My 22" display goes black randomly but the power light does not blink - it stays on solid. Might this be a different problem from a bad inverter?

Did either of you get a warrenty with your moniter, Its best to get a warrenty for a high price moniter because you will never know what will go wrong.

Does anyone know if the error message for failing inverter could be given falsely, when the ADC connector wasn't plugged in well, or partially came unconnected?

My 20" went black last month, saw the short-short-long flashing pwr light, but when I went to unplug then re-connect the display (which brought it back to normal), the ADC connector practically fell off the back of the mac. I usually have to put some effort into removing it, so I assumed I had just done a poor job plugging it in previously. But could that cause a false flashing error message?

Alan, talk to these guys, http://www.lcdpart.com/
They have either the parts, or the information you need, and can give you some options over the phone.

This diffinatly seems to be a problem with 22" displays. Mine started going black every time I used the visualizer in iTunes. Then it was any time a program would change the rez of the monitor display. Sometimes, it just goes black.

I then installed a RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP VIDEO CARD and DVI TO ADC DISPLAY ADAPTER so I could use Final Cut Pro. Still have the same problem. But, since I have the DVI TO ADC DISPLAY ADAPTER sitting on my desk, I can just unplug the connection and stick it back in and it comes up. (One day it's just going to go PITZZzzzzz!).

I seems to act up more when it has been on for a while. If I restart the puter, it will come up black.

Clay

Follow up: I took my 23" cinema display in for service and was told that the problem was either the controller board (or something like that) or the LCD itself. Either way they were going to have to send it to Apple for repair which would cost $499.

As that was more than half the cost of a new 20" display, I just got a new monitor.

Nice to know I'm not the only one with this problem. I just brought my 23" ADC in March. Started blacking out on me. Took it to an Apple store where it was sent out for repairs. Two weeks later, I received the monitor back with repairs done. But....I'm still getting blackouts...even before I enter my password so I know it's not some program I'm running. I took my power mac g5 to apple prior to the monitor. They found nothing wrong with the cpu unit. While monitor was out for repairs, I used my old crt monitor with no problems. At this point, I don't know what to do. This equipment is not cheap. I am a Windows convert, and this experience with my first Apple PC is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.

OK! Just to keep you all posted. I called back Apple and told them the issue was not resolved...my monitor still blacks out. Obviously, whatever they did didn't fix the problem. So Apple was nice enough to replace the unit with a brand new replacement. This one has a more recent serial number and it's working perfectly...so far.

Will keep you posted.

I've got a 22" that just went black one day; nothing on re-boot, zapping PRAM, etc. I never got any of the flashing error codes. It seems "stuck in sleep mode" as the amber light stays on. I even tried connecting to a PC to see if I could "wake it up", no luck. I'm going to have it looked at this week, but I think it is the inverter board. I've checked around and they are hard to come by. LCDpart/Moniserv list them for $109 but are currently out of stock, they will repair one for $60. I'll see what the repair shops comes up with and post back.

23" HD owners should also send in requests to LCDPart.com about parts like backlights and inverters so that in the future, it will be an easily available option.

Just a few months ago, they were not directly selling the inverter boards for the 22" model but they are now (albeit quantities are still limited and of the original AMBIT variety; I'm hoping they will engineer their own part as they've done with the 17" and 20" since the AMBIT's have shown they do not last very long).

I'll be happy to restore my 22" once they have stock of the inverter; I've been using the new AL 20" bought as a replacement but the brightness even at the lowest setting is burning my eyeballs out.

Greeting fellow sufferers

I purchased an Apple 23" Cinema display about 2 weeks ago and the display started to go black randomly virtually immediately. When I called up Apple they say they didn't know what the problem was but it's clearly a design issue from what's been posted. Why not own up?

I even re-installed my operating system twice thinking it was a problem with the harddisk. I also spoke to ATI, the graphics card maufacturer who told me that I had the correct card.

Now each time the screen goes black, my heart takes a dive, but it does seem to come back. Do we live with it or insist on a swop as it's under warranty?

Has anyone else noticed that it seems to have conflict with fonts in the system?

I just started having the same problem: powerbook goes to sleep, display (23") won't wake up when i wake up the computer. i unplug the display at various points and replug and unplug and replug, and through some random combination of spells, it comes back on. sometimes shutting down and restarting helps.

I read through this whole discussion string... sounds like i should take the display back to the store and ask for a replacement. i bought it just about 3.5 months ago.

could it be in the connector cables? the power adapter? should i try replacing those first?