KeynotePlayer55

Q: Cinema Display 30" Dead - Could it be the Power Adapter?

Monitor: Cinema Display 30"

Computer: Connected to a MacBook Pro Mid 2012 Retina  with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM,

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB

 

I've had the Cinema Display since 2007. Used it with a Tower for the first 5 years, replaced the Tower with a MacBook Pro in 2012. Drove the CD with the laptop using a Thunderbolt > DVI adapter for about 3.5 years, worked ok. Finally, the Cinema Display just went black. The LED in the corner still glows when powered. I can still use the power button on the CD to turn the monitor on/off, sleep the system etc. the MBP still sees the CD in the monitors when the adapter is plugged in. The CD can still drive USB devices. But there is no image, no matter what I do.

 

Finally hauled the old Tower out, and connected the CD to it, just to see if it was something with the MBP. Same results, no image.

 

I did notice that the Power Adapter brick stays cold. Could it be that this has just gone bad, and I could replace it for relatively little cost? I'm seeing prices of $150/200 on Amazon. Don't want to mess around with this much more, it's a 9 year old monitor. But I really loved it, and would like to see if I can get it fired up again.

 

Thanks.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), null

Posted on Mar 16, 2016 11:48 AM

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Q: Cinema Display 30" Dead - Could it be the Power Adapter?

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  • by Magic Shield,

    Magic Shield Magic Shield Mar 17, 2016 10:55 AM in response to KeynotePlayer55
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mar 17, 2016 10:55 AM in response to KeynotePlayer55

    Sounds like either the back lit display is on the way out (you can tell if the monitor is displaying anything by shining a very bright light up to the front display and seeing if you notice any video being displayed) , or the display simply isn't detecting the output signal from your GeForce card. I have an NVidia GTX 770 and one of my 3 cinema displays occasionally does the same thing. I end up having to unplug the monitor for a few seconds, use WIndows to detect the display, plug the monitor back in and detect the display again to get any video to show on the screen. It's intermittent but sometimes pretty stubborn. Good luck! If you've got two monitors you can use the working one to see if your cinema is even being detected or not. If it is, but the screen is still black, it's likely you'll need back light replacement parts.