Trouble with external display on PowerBook using 10.4

I have exactly the same problem with my PowerBook G4 17'' with Apple Cinema 20''. Tiger - archive and install (two times actually). At least I can open the lid and stop the flickering which is getting worse. It seems that the flicker comes at certain situations (at least it does more often) like:

Open new app
Access Dock
Reach side of the screen with mouse
Activate Expose with F-keys or mouse corners

Otherwise I have no idea how to fix this. Tried to trash preferences for dock, Power Mgmt and switch off screensaver to no avail.

Any ideas?

I've got the same problem.
My powerbook G4 was working OK with Tiger as far as the external monitor goes, but now it won't display at all. Further, it makes my computer crash, requiring reboot.
This is VERY maddening.

I've got the same problem, not as bad though. Since installing 10.4 (incl. the update to 10.4.1) the external screen (EIZO, with DVI connection) flickers, and white pixels pop up (looks a bit like noise). I had no such problems with all previous versions of OS X (incl. 10.3.8).

Wow i didn't think I would see a post about this but I am experiencing the same issue with my 1.25 powerbook. never happened until I installed panther. Thought my video card was unseated but since my problem agrees with your posts maybe it's a driver issue or something. !!???!?!?!?

I just started using my PB this way. I have no experience with it prior to Tiger.

At first, It seemed to work beautifully, driving a Sceptre LCD display (1600x1200 resolution). However, I find that some utilities (eg, DiskWarrior) no longer work, and when I try to shut down, I get an error mesage that "MirrorAgent" is hung. I can only shut down using the power button. It seems that there is a bug in the OS.

Hi all,

I discovered a similar problem yesterday...my 15" G4 PowerBook will no longer work with my Proxima projector.

Does anyone know if there is an available fix, or do we just have to wait for OS 10.4.2?

Thanks,
David

Is this problem effecting all uses of external displays or just with lid closed? Unfortunately I can't offer any advice but am equally concerned as I am about to purchase a 2nd display. I'm looking for something at least 19inch that will double as a TV. Anyone have any tips as to which will work without errors?

Hi Mark,

My projector problem occurs with the lid open (I never tried it closed). Also, I haven't tried hooking up an external monitor from my Powerbook.

Best,
David

the exact same thing happens to me with my brand new sony lcd. but for some reason it works fine with vga but not dvi. whenever i do certain things like wake it from sleep, exit a full screen game or change resolutions the external lcd goes black, occasionally blinking an image of my desktop. i called sony tech support and they couldnt really help because i have a mac and told me to contact apple. they also said that it was apple's fault and i would have to wait for them to put out a patch.i hope this is true and that apple releases it soon because i paid more for an lcd with dvi and vga

I have a similar problem. My brand new Viewsonic vp191b-2 works at 75Hz thru the DVI port no problem but if I switch it down to 60Hz it will briefly flash an image about once every 2 seconds. If I start up my Powerbook with the lcd connected and then close the lid so that it uses the viewsonic as the main screen this will actually work despite the fact that it will always default to 60hz. If I change it to 75hz and then back to 60hz the flashing returns.

wow I made posts about the white noise and you are the first one to agree with what I said to a T. Have you heard anything about this problem?

I just got my Powerbook and hooked it up to a projector and I experienced major glitches. The powerbook display looks fine but the projection bottom has waves and is all jumpy. Has anyone else had this issue? Is this heat related? It seems that if I put it on a metal box it seems to reduce this issue but does not stop this. What is causing this?

I'm having this same problem. I try plugging my Dell 1704FP DVI into my powerbook 15inch 1.33ghz and the screen goes blank. I know that the powerbook is "finding" it as the screen flickers like it should and the dell monitor's default unplugged image goes away.

Anyone have any ideas as to how to fix this? I've updated to 10.4.2

I had the same problem with the 60 Hz refresh rate. When I saw your post I switched it to 75 Hz which seems to take care of it. I was wondering if running the two displays simultaneously may be over heating the video card. When I used the VGA port I didn't have the problem. But then what's the point of having a digital display (17" ViewSonic VX-700).

Just to keep this thread going, even though there don't seem to be answers...

I get flickering when using my 1.5 GHz powerbook (128 MB vram, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700), when a 20" Apple cinema display is connected via an Apple ADC -> DVI adapter, but only when the powerbook lid is closed. Opening the lid (thereby activating both displays) always fixes the trouble. Running Detect Displays sometimes fixes the problem temporarily.

Since the connection to the PB is via the DVI connector, there is not choice of refresh rate, of course.

I upgraded directly from 10.3.9 -> 10.4.2. The problem was certainly not present in 10.3.9, but is present in 10.4.2.