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Mac Pro with x1900xt Screen keeps flashing to black???

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone else has had the problem, of your screen, going to black then coming back intermittingly. I just got my Mac Pro with an ati x1900xt and I'm connected to a Dell 30in screen. I have it connected to the left port nearest the side of the case. Has anyone else had this problem and got it fixed? I've tried everything, from switching cables, monitors, and I have updated all the software... can anyone help me here?

Thank you.
Koji


Mac Pro 3ghz ati1900 4gig ram 500gig HD Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Sep 11, 2006 11:57 AM

Reply
26 replies

Sep 13, 2006 6:42 PM in response to Magickoji

I have the exact problem with a Dell 24" display and an NVidia 7300. After going back and forth with support and sending in the result of an Apple Capture Data diagnostic, I was told the Dell display may not be compatible with the Mac Pro. I have no idea why that's the case - something to do with DVI signals etc. Anyway, the support technician asked me to connect another display I have (an analog Samsung 17") and so far - knock on wood - the problem hasn't repeated itself yet. I may try the Analog cable with my Dell next. But either way, it sounds like Dell has some explaining to do, and potentially some monitor replacements to make.

Sep 14, 2006 6:26 AM in response to BryanH

I have a Mac Pro 3.0GHz Quad Xeon with an ATI Radeon X1900 XT driving a Dell 2405FPW and a Dell 2001FP (both via DVI). I have problems with the 2001FP not "waking up" and staying black after either the Mac and/or the monitor have slept or been powered off.

I used these same displays with my Dual 2.5GHz G5 with both its original ATI Radeon 9800XT and an ATI Radeon X800 XT and never had any problems at all. Interestingly, these old cards on the G5 drove the 2001FP at just under 60Hz (I'm pretty sure it was 59.9Hz) and not at 60Hz exactly, but the X1900 XT doesn't appear to have this refresh rate option.

Even more interesting is that if the Mac Pro's X1900 XT cannot "wake up" the 2001FP, switching to the analog D-SUB input (currently be used my the Dual 2.5GHz G5/Radeon X800 XT via a DVI-to-analog adapter, at 60Hz) seems to "wake up" the 2001FP on its DVI-D input. The monitor works fine with the Mac Pro and its X1900 XT via DVI-D until the monitor goes to sleep or is powered off...

I may try connecting the Mac Pro/X1900 XT to the 2001FP via its analog input when I get time, to see if this helps.

Sep 14, 2006 8:47 PM in response to James D Forrest

Let me know how that goes. I'm about to hook the Dell up with the analog cable, because after 3 days of testing with the Samsung monitor, I haven't had a single "blackout". Meanwhile, I just called Dell and they're sending me a replacement monitor 🙂 I'm curious whether the people having this issue are using the first generation of Dell widescreen LCDs? Mine was purchased last August (2005).

Sep 15, 2006 3:47 AM in response to BryanH

i used the dell 24" screen with the geforce, with no problems whatsoever to date. can't imagine why they should be incompatible.
just an idea: as far as i saw the dell is autosensing on which port signals are coming in; could fixing this port solve the problem? (i'd have to look how to do this, i don't have the manual with me at the moment.)

Sep 15, 2006 4:27 AM in response to Magickoji

While this isn't directly related to the Mac Pro or the 30". I had a similar experience with my G5 and Dell 24". I found that if I had the 24 hooked up DVI and also had the analog cable hooked up to an computer (pc) that was powered off, it would flicker on and off. Disconnecting from or powering on the PC would resolve it.


As a side note, I hope the 24's work with the MAC Pro. I have 2 x 24" monitors and a Mac Pro on the way with a x1900.

Sep 15, 2006 9:49 AM in response to Magickoji

I am having similar problems with my new Mac Pro 3GHz with ATI X1900 XT.

I have a Dell 2405FPW (24") as my primary monitor, and a Dell 2001FP (20") as my secondary monitor. Both are connected via DVI.

If I plug in the 24" into port 1 and the 20" into port 2, I see correct video on the 24", but a black screen on the 20". If I change resolution from 1600x1200 to 1280x1024 on the 20", I get video on the 20". I can then change resolution back to 1600x1200 and retain video on both monitors. However, if I turn the 20" monitor off, when I turn it back on, it is black again, and stays that way unless I do the resolution change again. Note that the monitor detects a signal, different from when there is no signal at all - it is getting a black picture, and that's what it's displaying. This happens with a fresh out of the box install of Mac OS X, as I did a clean install on another partition to troubleshoot it.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. If I swap the connections - 24" to port 2 and 20" to port 1, keeping the 24" with the menu bar, then I get video on both monitors. However, I get black picture on both monitors during the entire boot sequence and do not see video until the login window appears. I can turn the monitors off and on after that point and continue to retain video. So, that's the setup I'm using, even though it is not ideal to not be able to see anything before the login window.

On a possibly related note, if I start X11, the X11 server takes over the entire display, showing a gray checkerboard pattern as the background with no menu bar, no dock, nothing other than an xterm visible and accessible. If I command-Q, it will quit X11 and everything returns. It's like the X11 window manager is taking over and not merging with the Mac OS X desktop.

It seems like the ATI drivers and/or Mac Pro firmware and/or Mac OS X have some bugs to be worked out.

Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7) ATI X1900 XT

Sep 17, 2006 6:36 AM in response to Magickoji

Hi,

I have read quite a few posts which talk about blank screens and the ATI so I thought I would post about my experiences. Not entirely the same, but similar.

My Mac Pro has Boot Camp 1.1.1 installed with XP.

When I initially started I had two Samsung 17" displays attached, one on DVI, the other on analogue. Both worked fine and everything was great. Today I swapped out the two 17" screens for a 20" Viewsonic and then the trouble started.

At first I kept getting a blank screen, I had a signal but the screen remained blank. After rebooting, swapping connectors, swapping cables, swapping machines, reading forums etc I decided that a PRAM reset was in order.

The reset has made things a bit better in that I now get a usable display most of the time, but there still seems to be some issues.

Whenever I do a warm boot I get no display until Mac OS has fully loaded. No grey screen with the Apple logo. This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that I can't pick an alternate drive to boot from, unless it's from a cold boot. Quite frustrating. XP would appear to be fine.

Also, since performing the PRAM reset, the startup chime volume seems to have increased dramatically. Muting/turning down the volume before resetting seems to have no effect. I have looked at some software to control the startup chime, but some users have reported problems with it on the Intel Mac's so I think I will leave well alone for now. Things aren't perfect at the moment, I don't want to make it any worse.

The screen is fine on other machines so the company I bought it from are not going to replace it 😟

If anyone has any thoughts on this, or even a resolution for these problems I would be most grateful.

Many thanks,

Dan.

Sep 22, 2006 5:53 AM in response to Danzino

I found a solution that it working for me: I change the resolution and then change it back. To prevent issues with windows being repositioned I quit apps that might be affected before changing resolution and then re-run them after.

I automated this with an AppleScript I'll post below. I use "cscreen" to change resolution. I read about it here (<http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060808051946975>); there is a working download link for it near the bottom of that thread.

From a command-line, "cscreen -h" will give help regarding its options. The options I use below are for my setup (cscreen executable located in my "~/Bin/" directory, screen #2, normal resolution 1600x1200, refresh rate 59.9 Hz); your monitor will probably have different settings and you should make certain to use settings that are valid for your monitor...

My AppleScript is:
<code>
tell application "HardwareMonitor" to quit
tell application "MemoryStick" to quit
tell application "Amnesty" to quit

delay 1

do shell script "~/Bin/cscreen -s 2 -x 1280 -y 1024 -r 59.9"
do shell script "~/Bin/cscreen -s 2 -x 1600 -y 1200 -r 59.9"

delay 1

tell application "HardwareMonitor" to launch
tell application "MemoryStick" to launch
tell application "Amnesty" to launch
</code>
Note that you will need to change what applications you quit/re-lauunch depending upon what you have running on the display being reset and what windows would be moved.

Mac Pro 3.0GHz Quad Xeon Mac OS X (10.4.7) X1900 XT, 4.0GB RAM

Oct 23, 2006 2:23 PM in response to James D Forrest

I just stumbled into this thread. I am having the same exact problem everyone else is having. I have a x 1900 xt and a dell 2407 A03. ANyone else found a solution that has worked? Or are you all still getting the same issues? Please let me know.

From all the reading I have heard DVI-D Dual LInk cable may help, new UPS may help, how does the script help.

Dec 10, 2006 2:01 PM in response to James D Forrest

I have the EXACT same problem with my Dell 2001FP (built May 2004).

I can solve the problem by physically disconnecting the DVI cable and then reconnecting it. But every 2-10 minutes the screen on the Dell blacks out for 1 sec and goes back on. Very weird!

I can't tell if this is a Dell problem or an X1900XT problem. The same Dell 2001FP has worked flawlessly on several of my Windows XP based systems.

My 30" HD Cinema displays is working without a hitch.

Did you try the DVI to VGA doggle to see if that fixes the problem? As I understand it the X1900XT is supposed to support every type of DVI, DVI-D, DVI-I.

Changing the inputs on the Dell doesn't solve it either.

Thanks, Rob.

Mac Pro with x1900xt Screen keeps flashing to black???

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