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23" Cinema Display sleep issue on Mac Pro

D

DualShock

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 29, 2008
570
124
Mods plz move if this is the wrong forum. Issue is display related, but specific to a Mac Pro.

I'm having an odd issue with my 23" Cinema Display connected to my 2008 Mac Pro with an ATI 3870 card, running 10.5.6. I have the display set to power down after 10 minutes in the Energy Saver pref pane. Originally, when the display powered down, the white LED in the bezel would come on, and a key press or mouse move would turn the monitor back on.

Not too long ago, I started noticing 2 odd behaviors:

1) Sometimes when the display powered down, the white LED would blink. No real regular pattern to the blink. Sometimes it would blink slowly, sometimes erratically. Pressing a key or moving the mouse would turn it back on.

2) Other times, the white LED would completely go off. In this case, the display would NOT turn on after a key press or mouse move. In fact, it seemed completely unresponsive; the power button on the side did nothing either. If I try to sleep the whole machine at this point (Option+Command+Eject hot key), it would sleep then immediately turn back on, but the display would stay off.

What's even weirder, in the 2nd case, to get the display to come back on, I either had to 1) do a hard power down of the Mac Pro, or 2) turn on my MacBook Pro. Seems that Bonjour would see the MacBook Pro on the network, and would turn on the display. :confused:

Anyone ever experience this problem or know how to resolve it? I've tried zapping the PRAM and resetting the SMC, with no luck. Also, the problem doesn't seem to be as bad in Windows XP using Boot Camp. Most of the time the display and its LED would behave properly in this case. Next thing I'm thinking of trying is to swap the graphics card with the stock 2600XT card to see if my 3870 is bad (which I'd really hate because I have one of the quiet ones :)).
 
Hmm well based on the *overwhelming response* to my thread, this must be a real common problem. :p

I've swapped out my 3870 for the stock 2600XT card, and I'm seeing the same behavior in OS X. However, in Windows XP, the power light behaves as expected (comes on when display sleeps, and stays on until a mouse move or key press wakes up the display).

I found this thread that seems to indicate a problem with the display's power brick, but considering I'm only seeing this in OS X, I'm leaning toward some odd issue with a system update I've previously installed, since it only started fairly recently.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Do you have the Firewire and USB hooked up to the Cinema Display? I thought I heard something about the firewire hub conflicting with sleep on the Mac Pro and I think other Macs too?

Just a thought.
 
I know on my Mac Pro I have my keyboard and mouse hooked up to my display, and unless I time it just right the monitor will wake the computer up when I try to put it to sleep and turn the monitor off.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Do you have the Firewire and USB hooked up to the Cinema Display? I thought I heard something about the firewire hub conflicting with sleep on the Mac Pro and I think other Macs too?

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact I do. I have the FireWire and USB cables from the display connected to the back of the Mac Pro. I plugged in my printer (USB) and my external hard drive (FireWire) into the back of the display. (Most of the time both are plugged in but powered off.)

However, it's been like this forever. Never had any display sleep issues until recently. I've tried disconnecting the printer and external drive from the display, but it didn't help.

I'll try disconnecting the FireWire cable from the Mac Pro and see if it helps.
 
DualShock said:
As a matter of fact I do. I have the FireWire and USB cables from the display connected to the back of the Mac Pro. I plugged in my printer (USB) and my external hard drive (FireWire) into the back of the display. (Most of the time both are plugged in but powered off.)

However, it's been like this forever. Never had any display sleep issues until recently. I've tried disconnecting the printer and external drive from the display, but it didn't help.

I'll try disconnecting the FireWire cable from the Mac Pro and see if it helps.
Click to expand...

Hopefully that solves your problem or at least rules out that possibility.

You could always pick up a firewire/USB hub if you find out the one in the display is the problem.
 
Well I have found the problem, but it's not what i expected.

The USB plug was preventing the display from sleeping and waking properly. I've tested it on my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro. Same behavior for both.

The problem now is, I'm not sure if it's a software problem (like a recent OS X patch), or a problem with the USB cable or hub coming out of the display. Considering the display sleep works fine in Boot Camp with Windows XP, I'm thinking an OS X bug.

Kinda sucks that it's the USB hub or cable, because it appears that the visual indicator that appears on the screen when the brightness buttons on the display are pushed, as well as the brightness keys on the keyboard, function through USB.

Gonna post over in the displays forum to see if others can duplicate my problem.

EDIT: Thread in peripherals forum here.
 
Figured I'd post a quick update on my monitor scenario (and break the "monotony" of all the Nehalem Mac Pro posts :D).

I sent out my monitor for repairs this past Saturday. Just got it back today from Apple's depot. They replaced the logic board in the display, and now it works perfectly. Apple's support rocks! :D

I was kinda hoping that they would *accidentally* stick a Radeon 4870 in the box when they shipped the monitor back, but oh well no such luck. ;)
 
DualShock said:
I was kinda hoping that they would *accidentally* stick a Radeon 4870 in the box when they shipped the monitor back, but oh well no such luck. ;)
Click to expand...
LOL

Actually I'm a little concerned now that Apple has replaced the 23'' ACD with the new glossy 24''. I hope if I ever have to send out my beautiful ACD for repair that they might just deiced to replace it with the new 24''ACD. I love how the new acd looks. But I could never live with that glossy screen.:mad:

Apple has been known to just replace items. Most of the time this is a great thing for the costumer. Your 2006 mac pro swapped out for a 2009:)
As the 23''ACD gets older and parts are harder to come buy. A swap might be Apples only option for someone with a 3 year warranty.
 
DualShock said:
Figured I'd post a quick update on my monitor scenario (and break the "monotony" of all the Nehalem Mac Pro posts :D).

I sent out my monitor for repairs this past Saturday. Just got it back today from Apple's depot. They replaced the logic board in the display, and now it works perfectly. Apple's support rocks! :D

I was kinda hoping that they would *accidentally* stick a Radeon 4870 in the box when they shipped the monitor back, but oh well no such luck. ;)
Click to expand...

Glad to hear the problem was not a conflict between the old and the new. It's enough that I have to convince my wife that I need a new MacPro - I'd never be able to get her to go for both that AND a new display.

I like my 23" just fine.
 
rpaloalto said:
Actually I'm a little concerned now that Apple has replaced the 23'' ACD with the new glossy 24''. I hope if I ever have to send out my beautiful ACD for repair that they might just deiced to replace it with the new 24''ACD. I love how the new acd looks. But I could never live with that glossy screen.:mad:

Apple has been known to just replace items. Most of the time this is a great thing for the costumer. Your 2006 mac pro swapped out for a 2009:)
As the 23''ACD gets older and parts are harder to come buy. A swap might be Apples only option for someone with a 3 year warranty.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was worried about myself. I have AppleCare on my display and Mac Pro, and less than 1 year into it. Yesterday I did see that some refurb 23" models showed up on Apple's online store, but that doesn't last forever. So if they were ever to do a swap (due to a lack of parts), in theory they could still give you a refurb, at least in the short term.

If they were ever to do a swap with a new LED backlit one, I think they would also be required to send you a new graphics card, since all Mac Pro's that came out before the 2009 one don't have mini DisplayPort, and, as far as I know, Apple does not sell a DVI --> mini DisplayPort adapter (though they do sell a mini DisplayPort --> DVI one).

And yes the glossy screen would suck. :D
 
Upgrading to 10.5.7 doesn't fix the coma issue (won't wake up from sleep), very annoying..... (My system was 2008 Mac Pro with 2 x 3GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon with ATI Radeon x1900).....
 
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