24" LED Display with 2011 15" MPB

Just had a switch to black. Forcing the discrete GPU didn't help.

Link to other thread about this issue:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2766186

I originally posted in the other thread. This one seems to be the most active, so I'll reply here as well.

Early 2009 MBP 17" OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 -> 24" Cinema Display
No Flickering or black screens

Early 2011 MBP 17" OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 -> 24" Cinema Display
Frequent flickering or graphical glitching lasting < 1 second per incident.

I installed BootCamp on the 2011 MBP (Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) and am posting from that platform using my 24" Cinema Display.

It's been about 10 minutes now, and I noticed one graphical glitch just a minute ago as I was typing this post. However, I must say that I'm experiencing far, far fewer incidences of graphical glitching using Windows on this platform.

I'm thinking the problem may be device-driver related, where the Windows BootCamp driver for the AMD Radeon chipset is somehow less vulnerable to this problem than the driver software Apple is using under OS X.

Note: It's now been about 15 minutes of use, and, so far, I have only seen the one graphical glitch. Definitely far, far less frequent than on OS X.

Count me in as well.

If is a very random occurrence.

I can go a long time without it happening and then it could
happen 3 times in 10 minutes.

I tried to file a bug report with Apple, but couldn't get that link to work.

Me too, I have this problem with a 24" LED Cinema Display (bought November 2009) and 2011 13" i5 Macbook Pro.

Message was edited by: th.effing

Me too. Just switched to an Early 2011 MacBook Pro and my previously fine 24" LED Cinema Display now randomly goes black every few seconds.

Apparently it's not just a video driver issue, as I've tried a bunch of other screen, including an HDTV 1080p and a 22" screen, and a bunch of others NONE have this issue. ONLY the ACD 24" have it (maybe other Apple screen, I don't know).

Considering that and the fact that it also affects some other Mini DP Apple computers like ones using NVidia 9400M, the fix will probably come in form on a ACD 24" firmware update and maybe coupled with a graphics drivers update, but not so sure.

Yeah, I'm having the issue as well. I have a 15" MBP with the 2.2 GHz Sandy Bridge. My 24" cinema display goes black and stays black. It doesn't really flicker. I have to disconnect all power from the outlet to the cinema display and power off the notebook. Once I do that and reconnect everything, it works. If the machine goes to sleep, the cinema display will stay dark and all of the windows that were on the display move to my macbook pro's screen. What a nice bug, eh? Apple please send out a fix!

Does this also affect the 27" display. If not then it means Apple only tested the new laptops with the 27" model and neglected the 24" which is a massive oversight. I'm pretty much considering returning the laptop and going back to Early 2009 model at this point.

Well, it appears Apple is aware of the issue. An Apple Discussions Host called me a few days ago after seeing one of my recent posts. He offered to swap my MacBook Pro for a new one so Apple Engineers can get their hands on a known bad unit. I shipped it off last night and anxiously await my replacement.

I'll personally bring my 24" ACD back for repair (still under warranty) as the tests I conducted are confirming that the screen itself an issue.

Indeed, I have this issue not only on my 15" MBP 2011, but also on a 2009 Mac Mini and a MacBook Unibody. Meanwhile, when using the USB Audio (integrated speakers of the screen), if I play music for more than about 20 minutes, the sound start to crackle and stop until I unplug and plug back the USB cable of the ACD 24". Also NONE of the other screen have tried have showed the flicker issue, even with my 2011 MBP.

SO in my case at least, it seems that the 2011 MBP is working just fine, as I have no issue whatsoever on both a 22" HDTV and a 40" HDTV connected in HDMI using a Mini DP <-> HDMI converter. Some MBP may have issues themselves, but definitely not mine, but my ACD 24" do have problems that need to be fixed, that's for sure.

I have the same problem with my new 17" MacBook Pro and 24" cinema display. Called Apple and they are awning out a new unit. Great service I have to say. Hope the new one will work better though.

BTW: I am having this issues on my new MacBook.

Has anyone been able to pin point whether this is a laptop issue or a display one?

Since roughly January my 2009 MBP 15" is experiencing the same issue. Occurs roughly once to three times a day. New MPB is due to arrive next week, looking forward to seeing (and hoping it doesn't) if it continues to occur with that one.

I have a 2010 MacBook Pro 15" and a configuration that almost proves it's a display thing rather than the computer being at fault.

I connect my (closed) MacBook Pro to a 24" LED cinema display that is supposed to be identical both at work and at home. I experience the issue described here daily at home - about once to twice an evening - while I have never seen it at work. I sit behind the computer most of the day at work so if this were happening there as well, I'd see it.

I don't shut my laptop down going from home to work or vice versa, simply disconnect the cables so that it goes to sleep.

Due to the low frequency it's not really that annoying, but it is startling when it happens... And if this is a screen hardware issue, I'd really like to know about it so that I can get a good screen before it's out of warranty!