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27" Cinema display turns off randomly

I have a new 27" Cinema Display that keeps powering off after a couple of hours. The only workaround is to disconnect and reconnect the mini display port on the Mac, but it only works for a very limited time ranging from 30 minutes to 3 seconds 😟
I know other users have reported that problem in a previous post, but I have not seen an answer to that problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2610292&tstart=360
I noticed the problem seems to be more persistent when it's hot...
This happens on a 2007 Mac Pro with a ATI Radeon HD 5770 card.

Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Feb 9, 2011 7:09 AM

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22 replies

Apr 3, 2011 3:05 AM in response to macktruck

I've the same problem. Just bought an 27" Cinema Display on Friday. It worked immediately without any problems!

Tonight I turned on my Mac Pro 1,1 (4x2,66) with the official Apple ATI 5770 for listening music via Apple TV and "forgot" to turn the machine off.

This morning the screen was off and doesn't turn on again! I restarted the Mac Pro but the screen won't turn on again! Tried already to disconnect the cables on so on, nothing happens.

I know the 5770 card is not officially supported in the Mac Pro 1,1, is this maybe the reason?

Please help, I don't want to bring the Display back to the retailer.... ;-(

May 2, 2011 5:09 AM in response to macktruck

This is happening to me as well. I have a new 27'' Cinema display and a new Macbook Pro (early 2011) and in clamshell mode the power on the monitor will shut off randomly. This happens only after the computer has been left idle in sleep mode so far. What's weird is that the power on the monitor completely shuts off so that it's not charging the laptop or anything. The only solution is to unplug the monitor and plug it back in. My only two thoughts are that this is a settings issue (though that would be a weird setting) or that the monitor may have an issue. Though, I think it would nearly impossible to replicate at an Apple Store since it appears to be random. Any ideas about what this could be?

Jul 31, 2011 3:04 PM in response to Scott Harwell

Looks like there is an idiosyncracy between the Video PCB ( I have a Radeon HD 5770) and Apple's 27" LED Cinema Display. For me the dreaded "Blackout" only occurs when I connect two (2) 27" Apple LED Cinema Displays to my 2006 Mac Pro 1,1. BTW my Mac Pro has upgraded Intel x5365 CPU chips. So instead of being 2 "Dual Cores at 3GHz" it is now 8 Cores at 3GHz.


Yes, it basically makes the USB function STOP or appear to stop and hence a full power down and reboot to get it back up.


WHAT I FOUND


For me when I reduce the resolution of one of the displays to just under the full resolution spec of 2560x1440, so in other words I set the one 27" LED Apple Cinema Display to 2048x1152 and once I did this, both monitors and the computuer operates normally. Also note that before I connected the 2nd Apple 27" LED Cinema Display, I had a Dell 2407 24" Monitor connected to the DVI port and of course it's resolution is nowhere near what the Apple LED Cinema Display can do, but with just one Apple LED Display and the Dell connected I never so much experienced any lockups, blackouts, wake up issues, etc.


So it is a resolution problem that seems to be driving the screen blackout. I will see later today after my system sits idle for a few hours if I have any problems getting the system to wake up with the slightly lowered screen resolution on one of my ACD LED monitors.


Again, it appears to be the Radeon HD 5770 because I read where a person with a 2010 Mac 5,1 with dual 2.4GHZ Wesmere CPU's was having the same problem. OR it is the LED Display that has some sort of timing issue when 2 of them are connected to the Mini Display Ports.


APPLE we NEED some HELP here.

Jul 31, 2011 3:45 PM in response to macktruck

For the mac pros there's one thing I suggest you check. With the cover off, when you boot your mac pro, look at the video card and see if its fan is running. You will (eventually) get a thermal cutoff if the fan isn't running. You might also check periodically even if the card's fan was running at boot to see if it stops. A little "tweak" with your finger will get it going again.


I'm basing this on my experience with a 5870 where the fan couldn't always overcome its starting friction and the card would overheat within a few (random) minutes causing my machine to shut off (with the exception of a single exhaust fan). Replacing the card fixed my problem.


I'm not precluding that there could be something wrong with the monitor or some "quirk" using a 5x70 on an unsupported machine. I'm only mentioning my problem and something to possibly look out for.

Jul 31, 2011 4:58 PM in response to X423424X

Since adjusting the screen resolution down from maximum by just one notch on just one of my new Apple LED Cinema Displays, my computer is back to normal. I also have the USB disconnected from the same monitor I have the reduced resolution setting. The monitor with the reduced resolution is the 27" LED Cinema Display that I purchased just yesterday. So far I have had about 3 -4 hours of normal operation with the lower resolution setting on this new monitor.


If this lasts through the night, I will go back to the max resolution setting on this new monitor, because anything less than max resolution looks very poor on this LED display. I will also keep an eye on the fan as you suggest. I'll soon know if this isolates the failure mechanism.

Aug 1, 2011 12:00 PM in response to Techblast

Set resolution on new ACD LED Monitor to full Resolution 2560x1440 and within an hour My Windows Partition (VMWare Fusion - 32 bit Windows XP- Been running for 3 years with no problems) froze up. By this I mean my displays maintained the video information, but I was unable to move my mouse so it appeared my USB Bluetooth receiver was not working. This receiver was plugged into the back of the slightly older 27" LED ACD. The mouse pointer was stuck over the VMWare Fusion partition. So I opened the side cover and the fan on the Radeon HD 5770 video pcb was running. I then unplugged the older 27" LED Apple Cinema Display and the video information from that display showed up on the other monitor. Then when I plugged the older monitor back in, I was able to get my mouse to work. Boy this is screwy.


I have NEVER had any issues with my 2006 Mac Pro 1,1. It has been like a rock. Last month I upgraded to the Apple Radeon HD 5770. The upgrade went PERFECT and the Radeon HD 5770 worked completely normal with my Dell 2407 24" monitor. I already had the referb'd Apple 27" Monitor in my house waiting to go, so the next thing I did was hook up the ACD. That went perfect. Then I said, let me try going DUAL DISPLAYS (actually I never did this before), and walla, that worked perfect. I then ran the 2 monitors (ACD LED and DELL 2407) hooked to my new Radeon HD 5770 for 3-4 weeks and no problems at all - perfect. Then because I loved the display quality I purchased a 2nd Apple LED 27" Display and that is when the $hit hit the fan.


BTW I am running WD 2TB SATA II 7200RPM BLACK hard drives for Mac OS and Windows OS. You know it is times like these that I wonder how a software RAID would hold up.


I did read that another person had the same problem on a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 2.4GHz 8 core. So if that is the case, then this problem is most likely going to be in the 27" LED Cinema Display Monitor itself. I mean if a 2010 Model can repeat what I am seeing, then common link in all this is the ACD.

Aug 23, 2011 1:06 AM in response to macktruck

I bought in November 2010 a MacPro with the ATI 5770 and a Cinema Display 27. At the first boot the Cinema Display worked just fine. After a little while it started to turn off while I was working at the machine and also did not come back easily. By now I had the ATI replaced and they replaced the power supply and the logic board of the display. Unfortunately the problem is still existent. Apple denies to replace the display. It has to be repaired again, which means I cannot use my MacPro for some more weeks. They tried to sell me the protection plan but it feels like I would have to pay for a possible faulty production by apple. That doesn't appear to be right.

I just hope that one day the MacPro will just work with the Cinema so I can stop to regret to have spend so much money on a machine configuration I cannot rely on ...

Methods I tried to get the display working again, which in the end all failed. Some where like a temporary fix:

- Switching the graphic adapter to a different PCI-E port

- Having the graphic adapter replaced

- Switching the Mini Display port used at the graphic adaptor

- New installation

- Disconnet and reconnect power/USB/Display port

- Using a MacBook Pro to bring back the Cinema Display to life (it always works with the MacBook Pro; at least after reboot)

- Paramter Reset

- New power supply in Cinema Display

- New logic board in Cinema Display

Mar 14, 2012 11:51 PM in response to macktruck

Same issue here. Mac Pro 1.1 with CD 27" and Radeon 5770. Bought the CD and ATI card about 18 months ago. Both went back to Apple, have been changed, but I am still experiencing the same problem. And now everything is out of warranty 😟 So I've spent a lot of $ on Apple hardware, but so far had nothing but trouble with it. Come on Cupertino!!

27" Cinema display turns off randomly

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