intermittent black flash with 24" LED cinema display

c.s. said:

I recently got a second 24" LED cinema display (one at the office, one at home). I noticed a thread on Apple's discussion board that perfectly describes an issue I'm having with the new one -
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1902288&tstart=0
When connected to my MacBook Pro, the screen will randomly (2-3x/day) flash to black and then reappear. It's not losing signal or going to sleep, because my laptop screen doesn't switch on or anything. My other 24" ACD has never exhibited this behavior when plugged into the same MBP, so I'm thinking it's a hardware problem. Just want to be sure before I send it back. I've heard some rumblings that OS 10.6.2 will have some "graphic card fixes", wish I knew if this is something they're looking at. Anyone else have this problem?

Click to expand...

Mine did it this morning once - it was the first time ever. I'm going to continue to watch it - it's only a couple of months old.

x2

Any update on this topic? I just got a 24" Cinema Display and have it connected to a 24" iMac running 10.6.2. Every once in a while it will quickly flash to black and then back to normal, almost like the computer is going to sleep. It only lasts a split second, but it can be distracting.

It reminds of when the HDMI gets all wonky between my Tivo or Blu-ray player and my LCD teleivsion (usually happens after I've unplugged and replugged an HDMI cable without power cycling the devices, which I assume has to do with the HDCP thinking I'm up to no good).

I've only seen it happen twice and that early on, so I'll see if it continues over the next week or so. I also plugged it up with no reboot after unplugging an older Samsung DVI LCD, which "could" cause some confusion for the display drivers.

It sounds like a power supply issue like I had 🙁

So I purchased my MBP along with a 24'' ACD back in August. I had this exact same issue happen during the first week of having the monitor. It wasn't over heating. It would happen 1-2x/hour for a brief 2-3 black flash and come back on right where I was. Nothing wrong with the video card as the MBP screen was fine.

I called Apple Care and they went through my settings and had me to some command prompts and asked me to see if that fixed things. Let it go for another week with the same issue, called back AC and went through the same run around. Finally on the 3rd time I got a representative that was nice and transferred me up to a higher specialist. He really spent time and had no idea what was going on. MBP was not in clam shell mode as I was running extended desktop. None of my settings were set to go to sleep...etc. So he told me he would contact the engineering department and get back to me the next day.

So I get a call from him and I guess there was a problem with the power supply in the batch of monitors that mine was produced in. Told him I opened up several cases before, the first of which was within the first week of getting the monitor. He told me to go to my local Apple store and get it swapped out. So I went and the manager was nice enough to give me a new ACD on the spot after reading the notes the AC specialist had written on my case report.

So I take my new ACD home and find out there is a back light bleed on the second monitor. Take it back and told them I want to return it because it is defective. At that point the new iMacs came out and I asked if I could just get store credit since I was actually interested in that. Said sure and I'm on my way to getting a new 27'' iMac.

So long story short, I think you guys are experiencing a power supply issue. I would call AC and let them know you aren't happy until it gets replaced. This should be something documented with the Apple engineering department. Most of the AC representatives I spoke to had no clue what was going on or how to help me.

Edit: I began having this issue back in August, long before 10.6.2

OP, any update to your situation?

I know exactly what you are describing... the same thing happens to me sometimes when using an external monitor with my MBP. It's like the MBP doesn't quite have the juice to handle both displays at once. When I close the MBP's display, and then use a mouse to wake it up again, the black lines on the external monitor have always disappeared.

You might try more RAM in your machine, or perhaps adjusting the refresh rate in Display settings. I've found 60Hz usually works best.

Apple led cinema Display

I had a Macbook pro 13.3 with a led cinema display 24". Ive changed my macbook pro for a macbook air, since then my screen started flashing. I was going trough the informations on the apple website and ive realised that my macbook pro was using 65 watt and my macbook air is using 45 watt...So if i connect the original magsafe adapter that came with the computer i have no more flashing! .... Strange.... try this and let me know if its fixed your problem.

Lifting this thread because I have a black flashing ACD 24", sometimes the image also splits in three (usually if i run windows). Has anyone had this fixed by a replacement? I got mine used but it's still under warranty.

The black flash has happened to me a few times. I just unplug the mini display port and re-insert it. Problem usually solved, if not wiggle the plug a little bit.

Gonzo3333 said:

The black flash has happened to me a few times. I just unplug the mini display port and re-insert it. Problem usually solved, if not wiggle the plug a little bit.

Click to expand...

Doesn't seem to do much here unfortunately.

Flashing Cinema Display

I have two 30" cinema displays sitting side by side and running off the same Mac Pro. About 3 or 4 times per week when I boot the computer - whether or not I have turned off the monitors the night before - one (always the same one) will flash or blink back and forth, continuously, to total black for a split second then back until I unplug the power cord. Not for any length of time just out and back in. That solves it for the remainder of my work session. I like to power off my monitors at the end of the day and sometimes the monitor that flashes will not respond to the off button.