27" Cinema Display Sound Issues

It's your choice to do that if you wish. I'll save my time.

I hope Apple is more open about what is going on. At least an acknowledgement that they are working on a fix. It is a $1,000 monitor.

Apple IS admitting that this is a known problem. That's amazing in and of itself. I can't count how many times in the past when there's been a serious problem with some new Apple product (for example, the one where the last two generations of MacBook Air overheats when running video and the processors slow down or lock up) Apple denies or stonewalls.

Our experience indicates that the problem is USB related and affects all 27" displays (at least all 16 we purchased in the US and UK). Sound goes out and the system prefs Sound panel goes nasty-jerky after an indefinite interval. Sleep may or may not be what triggers the issue. We also believe that when the problem manifests it may be overheating the computer. Our observations are with the monitors connected to 27" i7 iMacs. When we noticed that if you continue to run the system after the sound goes out the iMacs sometimes start having a very hard time running video (we first noticed it with Vimeo), the video gets very, very jerky. Very suspicious on an 8 GB 8 core i7 iMacs. We installed iStat Menus 3 which displays output of all the iMac's internal temperature sensors as well as fan speed and processor load. I have no way to establish cause and effect, but some of the temps were a little or a lot higher on iMacs that had a 27" display connected and were actively experiencing the sound failure. Representative Normal/Fail in centigrade with 20º ambient: Board 54/59, CPU 44/52, GPU heatsink 49/62, Primary heatsink 52/62, Secondary heatsink 66/80. Unplug the monitor and restart the computer with the monitor connected but its USB disconnected and you can watch the temps drop. So there seems to be a LOT of heat associated with the problem.

It ***** that these beautiful new 27" monitors have this serious flaw, but at least AppleCare openly admits there is a problem and says Apple engineering is working on it. I'd like to just wait it out, but after getting the shaft on all the MacBook Airs we bought (Apple never fixed the problem so far as we know) I'm returning all the 27" monitors we just bought. We'll replace them when Apple fixes the problem. Sad day... the display is beautiful.

@dlo did AppleCare actually tell you on the phone they are aware of the issue and are working on it?

This won't be a surprise to anyone, but same issue here in Germany with a combination of mid 2009 MBP 13" and ACD 27" received about 10 days ago.

Regards

I have the same problem. System power setting re-set does not fix it, nor does unplugging mini-display port. Very disappointed. Puzzling because the sound did work at first (at least after installing the recommended software patch from Apple), and sound seems to be dead completely now. I hope Apple is reading this.

Hi all, came upon this thread and created an account to confirm that I'm having the exact same problem on my new ACD27 connected to a PC running W7x64. Asus P7P55D motherboard and XFX ATI 5970 which has a miniDP connection. Power resetting the ACD fixes the sound temporarily.

Absolutely love the screen, I've previously been playing Bad Company 2 a bit on my old samsung 24" and that was fun, but this is just breathtaking. Big smile on this guy's face 🙂 So much that I've decided to keep it even with the sound problem (I'm mostly using a headset anyway).

That being said, I want the sound working as well of course - let's just hope they can fix this either with a driver update, or a firmware update (if there is such a thing on the ACD).

OK.. called Apple, the fix that worked for me was to unplug the power supply for the Cinema Display, wait at least 30 seconds, then plug it back in. My sound is back, and I'm happy about it. The support rep did confirm that Apple is investigating this issue and is doing a "capture" -- so if your unit can't be fixed by troubleshooting over the phone, they will offer to replace yours and have you ship your problem unit in for "investigation".

@jeremypk This is temporary. Other posts and my experience is that they sound issue will come back. It can take 1 days or 4 or 5 days, but it will come back.

@n47_eBee Since the monitor was tested on a Windows 7 system with the same symptoms, it looks like the issue is with the monitor. Our only hope is a firmware upgrade or to mass replace all affected monitors.

@ theBigD2, Thanks. I agree with you that it's likely to come back. Looks like Apple screwed something up with the monitor's built in circuitry/components and didn't bother doing enough due diligence before mass producing and shipping. If it happens again, I'll ask for a new one under the terms of the 1 year limited warranty. I just don't see a point in doing so until they've identified and manufactured new units that don't have this flaw. Do you think this is a universal issue, or just one affecting a minority of the 27 inch displays?

After following this issue for awhile now, my guess is the problem is inherent with all of the monitors. Someone on this forum bought a lot and all had the problem. That cannot be coincidence. Windows 7 problem seals it for me. The only people without this issue are those that are using MDP audio on newer macs.

This issue just started happening for me, and it seems connected to sleeping the machine while connected to the Cinema Display with "Display Audio (USB)" selected as the Sound Output.

Amazed to find this five-page-long thread already underway.

Same issue on 4 monitors. Disconnecting the power for 10 seconds seems to fix the problem., but it returns...

I second the advice to disconnect the power to your monitor for 30 seconds, then plug it back in. I am now running my sound through MiniDisplay Audio out, and hope that might prevent the issue from re-curring. We shall see. Also make sure to install the LED Cinema Display Software Update 1.0 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1107.

I have had the display since it was released in the UK Oct 7th and have the sound dropping out issues as mentioned. Apple seem to have adopted their usual Ostrich head in the sand approach, remember the yellow screen issues with the 27" iMac? Technical support will not admit to knowing of the problem, and have advised, all the usual SMC reset, plus running a Capture Data application that they have sent me which I have not done.

I have a least managed to get two of their guys to read this discussion page, getting them to log into it while I was on the phone.

Until it is sorted I will stick it out with the Monitor I have, restoring the sound by shutting down the Mac Pro and rebooting as necessary, restarting does not work.

exactly the same isseu: When I hit the volume up or down button on my keyboard, there is a delay before the volume graphic pops up. No sound feedback then.

Restart only helps from time to time -
Apple, please fix it, it's essential.