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30" Display Flickering/Dancing Pixels

I picked up a 30" display and the issues started ... This is not a dead/stuck pixels issue.

Bought the display at my local Apple store, got it home set it up and did the usual dead pixel search, OK there's three of them (two red one green), round the edges and to honest the pixel size on this display is so small that unless you have a cluster of them in one spot then the odd one here or there isn't really noticeable.

But then, after the screen has been on for a while I see green flickering or dancing pixels on the display. They disappear if you move the mouse pointer over them but reappear when the pointer is moved away, in fact this can even make them multiply.

I search here on the forums and found this :

Again 30" display with lots of green pixels

That post also contains a link to another post of the issue (and even includes an image of the issue at :

Flickering green and blue pixel problem

OK, I'm not going mad and it's not my eyes.

So, I return to the store and we can reproduce it on their G5 with GeForce 6800 Ultra. Something I am very pleased about as it proves it's not my G5 of GeForce card, and the store replaces the screen.

Screen #2: Get it home set it up again do the dead/stuck pixel search, none this time, wow OK let's leave the screen on for a while with nothing happening and ... green flicker returns.

Now, it does go away if you turn the screen off then on again. But they do come back. Sometimes not straight away, but only takes a few minutes. So screen #2 will be going back ...

It definitely would seem to be a display issue as in the threads above it happens on ATI and GeForce cards, Laptops and Desktops (though I didn't see anyone having issues on Windows).

Thanks for reading

Spencer

[EDIT : Here's a link where you can see my test image and a photo of the flickering pixels on my screen - SEE THE AMAZING FLICKERING PIXELS END EDIT]

[EDIT - Update:

I took the second display back to the Apple Store and we proved it on a third G5 and GeForce 6800 Ultra. Let me make sure that's clear. We demonstrated this to the Genius on hand with two different displays that had the issue on my G5 Dual 2.5 with GeForce 6800 at home and with two G5 2.5's with 6800 's at the store.

The staff were great, they waited until it returned (about 30 minutes) and were very interested when it happened. I made the decision not to try a 3rd screen and took a refund which the store did not give me any hassle in doing so.

I just want to say, if this mail seems to be anti-Apple it is not meant to be. The 30" screen is a great screen, the color was great and it if it were not for this one issue I would be proud to own one. The staff at the store were all polite and helpful.

Hopefully, Apple will realise this issue and find a solution for it.

Spencer

END UPDATE]

Posted on Apr 10, 2005 7:16 AM

458 replies

Apr 19, 2005 12:10 PM in response to Richard Blau

Richard, I think this is the same thing. The ones I experienced would collect around icons on a gray background. It seems that it appears where where a certain color changes to another.

S.

Apr 19, 2005 12:24 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

Spencer,

I have a problem similar to richards on my PC, but I believe its slightly different from yours. Key differences:

o It never occurs while the screen is active - only after resync/powerup events (hence why I had asked that question earlier)

o Its only on color edges when it occurs - the picture I saw (maybe not yours though) showed pixels in the middle of the screen. There's also no pixel-multiplying or anything going on - its quite stable, though some colors flicker rather than steady-green

o Occurrence is very, very low. I see it maybe once a week, and tap the power button to fix it.

Other relatied info:

- I'm using a nv6800 based card, but it uses slightly the integrated dvi transceivers rather than outboard ones like the apple card (only single DVI output)

- I've never had this occur using a single-link video card. My other machine has one and I hook the ACD 30 to it for debugging once in a while.

- A friend with a G5 has claimed to have a problem that sounds more like yours, but it hasn't shown up for a number of weeks. Unfortunately she's about a 6 hour drive, so I haven't had a chance to take my display there and see what happens.

BTW - has anyone ever tried moving the monitor to the other DVI port? Not really an option for me or any ATI users, but all the apple nv6800's have two dual-link ports, right?

Apr 19, 2005 12:25 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

I just bought one of these a couple of weeks ago and I have noticed the same thing. It is very similar to what happened on a couple of ADC 23" displays I had when I used a passive extender cable. An active cable solved the problem. I'm wondering if it is a cable shielding issue and what we are seeing is signal interference?

Apr 20, 2005 7:36 PM in response to Keys Curry

I returned my 30" ACD today. The replacement will be here on Friday or Monday from Apple.
I submitted this problem to Macintouch.com yesterday, and today there are now several comments on their page in response that report the same issue.

My friend at the Apple Store has only seen this problem once, although I don't know how many 30" ACDs make it out the door in the first place. Their floor model in SoHo doesn't exhibit this problem, nor does the demo display at the local Comp USA. I suspect there's a batch that has shipped recently that should be recalled, and Apple is reluctant to do so on a $3000 item.

Apr 29, 2005 4:28 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

So - Any Tiger users had this problem go away?

Apr 29, 2005 10:42 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

Although I received Tiger today, I don't have my G5 at the moment, as it's at the Apple SoHo store for service. I took it in after exchanging the 30" ACD for a second display, which still exhibited the flickering green pixel problem. I also exchanged my video card -- the ATI X800 XT -- for a new card, but again, the problem continued. It was suggested that it could be a logic board issue, so they're checking it, although they don't seem to be finding anything wrong.

Spencer -- what Apple store was this where the Geniuses observed the problem? Nobody in SoHo had seen the problem, and when we hooked my G5 up to their 30" ACD, there was no problem, although we only had them connected for about 20 minutes. Their display, though, when connected to their G5, has never exhibited the defect, nor have I observed the defect on any other floor model at any of the other Apple retailers I've visited. This, combined with the fact that the SoHo store has never seen a defective 30" yet I seem to have two of them, and AppleCare at least claims that they haven't gotten a call like mine, all makes me think it's not the monitor, but something else.

When my machine comes back -- likely the same way it went in (since I doubt they'll find anything wrong with it) -- I'll install Tiger and let you know what happens!

Apr 30, 2005 4:18 AM in response to John Mackey

It was the the Chestnut Hill, MA store. Two genius' , the manager and at least three other staff all saw it. We even used to different G5's.

S.

May 2, 2005 10:04 AM in response to John Mackey

Okay, I finally turned back on power management and had the problem come back. I also have issues with my 2.5 G5 in sleep mode - the fans will race very fast after only being asleep for a few minutes. Then my system does not wake up when this happens. On the few times where my system has come out of sleep mode, it has the pixel problem on the 30" cinema display. On one occasion, I was able to get the pixels to go away completely by powering off/on my display a couple of times (something I had not had success with before). I'm convinced this problem is tied to the power management / sleep mode and some incompatability with the 30" cinema display or the NVIDIA card.

Also, Tiger upgrade did nothing for this problem on my system, but I just did the upgrade, not a fresh install.

May 4, 2005 3:41 PM in response to Don Kulinowski

I got my G5 back last night from Apple. They said that the problem was with my ATI video card. So, this morning I returned my (second) ATI card, and purchased the more-expensive NVIDIA card. Brought it home, installed it, started up, and within two minutes was greeted by flickering green pixels.

Called AppleCare, and they told me to bring the machine to the Apple Store -- again. They said it might not hurt to bring the display, too.

Curiously, the problem is much worse on one of the two DVI ports. It's bad on both, but it's out-of-control on the second port.

I'll let you know what they determine when it comes back to me again -- in probably another week.

Oh - and I forgot to mention that I performed a fresh install of Tiger -- not an upgrade -- and it didn't change anything. I'll also point out that my Energy setting is set to put the display to sleep "Never," and has been on that setting for weeks; makes no difference.

May 4, 2005 5:40 PM in response to John Mackey

John, what do you get if you change your background setting to a solid colour? On my box the problem seems to disappear altogether.

May 5, 2005 10:31 AM in response to Larry Carasco

If I change the background to any of the solid colors that are offered by default, the problem does, in fact, disappear -- at least on the desktop. The other Apple backgrounds -- especially backgrounds with gray or blue -- exhibit the problem, though. I also see the problem within windows, such as in iTunes where the thin vertical divider line hits the dark blue of a highlighted "selected song." It's also quite bad within browser windows.

What I haven't tried is setting the background to a solid color and then checking to see how apps respond. Some backgrounds, when visible while running apps, seem to make the problem worse within the apps themselves. (For example, the above iTunes thing, which makes the normally gray divider line turn bright green and flickery, is worse when some desktop photos are visible surrounding the iTunes window.)

The whole machine is now at Apple for further testing. I mentioned to them that it's worse after sleep. They still don't think it sounds logic-board related, but rather video card (obviously not in my case, as I've gone through three cards) or the real possibility that I've ended up with two defective monitors in a row. They think there may be a problem with the DVI cable from the monitor. They'll be working on it for the next 10 days (as I'll be out of town for that long anyway), and I'm cautiously optimistic that they'll figure this out once and for all. As of now, they're baffled -- just like everybody else, it appears.

My only worry is that they won't see the problem there, even with all of my equipment, because I live under a sun spot or something crazy like that, and it's only a problem in my home. At this point, such bad luck wouldn't surprise me.

May 5, 2005 12:35 PM in response to John Mackey

John, rest assured there are enough of us having the same problem for it not to be a sun spot! The thought of dragging all my kit back to the store is just too much to bear at the moment so I'm hoping they figure it out soon.
I've experienced the same oddities with portions of the screen. For instance if I have a solid background but an iChatAV window up, the dots only appear in the window. Everything points to being somehow being related to the complexity of the image being shown - could still be a software problem. But what kind of software problem only shows up after a certain period of use? What happens when the machine's been on for a while? Well it gets hotter: could it be some component is misbehaving when it gets too hot? A lot of complex graphics computation could be making a processor run hot - but it seems to happen with more than one type of graphics card.

I had a similar problem with a powerbook a couple of years ago which turned out to be a logic board problem but at least in that instance a video ram error showed up during hardware tests, I've run all the tests on this config and nothing's shown up.

May 6, 2005 1:13 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

I was in the Apple Store yesterday looking at G5 Dual 2.7 with 30 inch display. Thanks to this group, I was able to indicate an awareness of the green pixel problem. They stated that Apple was aware of the problem and that it was no longer a problem with the dual 2.7 with ATI Radeon 9650 card. They implied that this card was in the computer specifically to eliminate the problem. I have deferred getting a new system until real-world feedback is available.

Dan Haupt

Level 4

3,395 points

May 6, 2005 3:18 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

We just got a second 30" display today-amazingly no dead/stuck pixels in either. No green pixels yet (which the first one manifests both on a 15" PB and on a dual 2.5GHz with the 6800 Ultra card), but its only been on for an hour or so.

-Dan

May 6, 2005 9:13 PM in response to Spencer Kirk-Jackson

Just Bought a new 2.7G5 and a 30" has one... ONE Dead Pixel!!!! Dang it! At least it doesn't dance.

30" Display Flickering/Dancing Pixels