My 23" HD Cinema Display is suddenly going black.

Question

My 23" HD Cinema Display is suddenly going black.

It started happening the other day. Every now and then, suddenly the screen goes black, as if I had hit the Sleep button. Energy Saver is set to darken the screen after 1 hour, and in any case this happens while I am working so it is not a sleep factor. Hitting the mouse button or the space key does nothing. It comes back on its own after some time - sometimes after a minute, sometimes longer.

Tried to run the current equivalent of Hardware Test but there doesn't seem to ba anything that tests the graphics card in the Mini. In any case all tests passed.I checked the cables and all seem solid. I changed the wall plug the display uses. Nothing helped.

Could it be a power unit problem?

Mac Mini Server (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 16Gb RAM

Posted on Apr 29, 2016 1:09 AM

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Answer 1

jeffd55

Community Specialist

Apr 30, 2016 12:06 PM in response to Nina Contini Melis

Hello Nina,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

I see that your display keeps going black intermittently and unexpectedly. The following article provides steps to troubleshoot video issues with displays connected to your Mac.

Get help with video issues on external displays connected to your Mac

Best regards.

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Answer 2

May 1, 2016 7:03 AM in response to jeffd55

Thanks, but there was nothing there which seemed helpful in my situation. In any case I took the display into a repair shop Friday for diagnostics. We shall see what they say.

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Answer 3

May 1, 2016 9:29 AM in response to Nina Contini Melis

If I have to purchase a new display, because it would be too expensive to repair my old (2008) 23"one, I have two questions:

1 - Apple Store only offers a 27" cinema display now. Can I use this with my 2012 version Mac Mini Server (purchased in early 2015)?

2. LG seems to make an equivalent (in specs) model that costs less i the

Lg 27mb85z

Would that one be compatible with my Mac Mini?

thanks,

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Answer 4

May 3, 2016 3:09 AM in response to Nina Contini Melis

Update: The repair shop said nothing is wrong with the display - it works fine. they only tested it for a couple of hours, and the black screen problem was intermittent, so there is a chance it simply didn't occur while they were testing.

But there is also a chance the fault lies in the Mini it was attached to. I did run the current equivalent of Hardware Test and everything passed, but could it be a faulty connection or a video card issue?

Still haven't received any reply on whether or not the latest Mac display (or the LG display I mentioned in my previous post) would be compatible with my 2012 Mini.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

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