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Flickering vertical lines on M1 Mac Mini

v0n said:
None of it helped my issue so far. And yes - Monterey made it much worse. I'm already on HDMI (from USB-C), and it still happens - I can trigger it every single time if I start uploading any video to YT via YT Studio page in Firefox. And then it's bad, screen unreadable for minutes until it settles down.

Has anyone found proper solution or should I be thinking about returning this POS. This whole experience with Apple Silicon is becoming garbage. Almost no software and plugins ported, memory leaks of epic proportions (constant 10Gb of RAM used with next to nothing open), that leads to unstable FCPX either not rendering things or shutting down plugins one by one with "plugin stopped responding". Add to that regular unscheduled breaks from work when the screen goes tits up and I'm ready to be angry. It's been months and the whole experience is just getting worse.
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Unfortunately there is no solution to this issue I think and Apple won't help either. I am unable to use my preferred 38" ultrawide because of this pos m1 macbook (flicker and image retention which only happens when using m1). Sadly, I had to buy a different monitor just to be able to use this garbage laptop because of work requirements (need mac to run xcode).

I've used all sorts of combinations, high end USB-C to HDMI adapter, USB-C connection via the caldigit TS3 dock. Even returned two m1 macbooks for replacements and still same issue. I've come to believe that its a hardware level issue which is making the m1 macbooks incompatible with certain monitors, don't know what exactly though. Nothing works.

See this thread for further details - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-air-ghosting-flickering-with-external-display.2271670/ (lots of detailed posts with the same issue)

forums.macrumors.com

M1 Air ghosting, flickering with external display

Going to post my issue here to document what happens with my setup. I have this same issue of vertical lines appearing and the screen flickering. Apparently it happens randomly, and luckily only just three or four times per month. Today it happened when I visited the Slack website using Safari...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
forums.macrumors.com

M1 Air ghosting, flickering with external display

Going to post my issue here to document what happens with my setup. I have this same issue of vertical lines appearing and the screen flickering. Apparently it happens randomly, and luckily only just three or four times per month. Today it happened when I visited the Slack website using Safari...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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So there's essentially no fix for this? This is pretty much a dealbreaker. I was so excited for my Mini M1 and now I'm probably going to return it.

I've tried different cables, different monitors, and the USB-C to HDMI connection. It looks great on my 4K TV, but not my monitor.
 
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no0nefamous said:
So there's essentially no fix for this? This is pretty much a dealbreaker. I was so excited for my Mini M1 and now I'm probably going to return it.

I've tried different cables, different monitors, and the USB-C to HDMI connection. It looks great on my 4K TV, but not my monitor.
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As far as I know, there is no fix for this (Apple has not even acknowledged the issue, let alone specify if its software or hardware so who knows. The issue has persisted through various OS versions and presents with all m1 variants i.e. m1, m1 pro and m1 max. so I am leaning toward it being a hardware issue). Your options are to either

1. live with the problem (don't think this is possible if you value your eyes with all the flickering and this does not even take into account the burn in issues)
2. go out and buy a different monitor (research the linked thread to make a list of monitors that the m1s dont play nice with so that you can stay away from them for your new purchase). This is what I did as I need macos for work, if I did not have this dependency I would not touch the m1s. Yeah the perf is good and all that but what's the point if you can't use it with your high end monitors.
3. return the m1 machines and buy something else.
 
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oz_rkie said:
As far as I know, there is no fix for this (Apple has not even acknowledged the issue, let alone specify if its software or hardware so who knows. The issue has persisted through various OS versions and presents with all m1 variants i.e. m1, m1 pro and m1 max. so I am leaning toward it being a hardware issue). Your options are to either

1. live with the problem (don't think this is possible if you value your eyes with all the flickering and this does not even take into account the burn in issues)
2. go out and buy a different monitor (research the linked thread to make a list of monitors that the m1s dont play nice with so that you can stay away from them for your new purchase). This is what I did as I need macos for work, if I did not have this dependency I would not touch the m1s. Yeah the perf is good and all that but what's the point if you can't use it with your high end monitors.
3. return the m1 machines and buy something else.
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Luckily I just bought this monitor so I can take it back if I decide to. I did get a great deal on it though and I'm not entirely sure I want to keep the Mini for other reasons...

For those of you who have a monitor that "plays nice" with an M1 Mini, does this also mean you get clear text? Aside from the flickering and lines, the on-screen text for me is blurry and that is a dealbreaker too.

I just don't understand how Apple could get something as simple as displaying 1080p through HDMI so badly.
 
no0nefamous said:
For those of you who have a monitor that "plays nice" with an M1 Mini, does this also mean you get clear text? Aside from the flickering and lines, the on-screen text for me is blurry and that is a dealbreaker too.
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That is yet another issue plaguing the m1s. Various threads on this forum alone (search for blurry text, ypbpr issues - https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...play-fuzzy-fonts-colors-ypbpr-vs-rgb.2276345/). Even for those who have managed to dodge the flickering and burn in issues, it seems you have yet another coin flip to win i.e. does the mac m1 manage to send an RGB signal to your monitor or end up being limited to ypbpr signal and hence text not being sharp. I know some people have had success with plist hacks etc to try and force RGB signals but seemingly this does not work in all cases.
 
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Just to chime in: Having the exact same flickering issues with my Mac Mini M1 connected to a Samsung Odyssey G9.
Already talked to the Apple Support but they weren‘t very helpful (Samsung I didn‘t contact, because the monitor is running fine when I use my Windows machine with the exact same cable).
I had high hopes that the Monterey update would at least help to some degree, but when I read through the comments here it doesn‘t seem like it.

The only thing that seems to slightly help is to change the black level of the monitor. However this reduces the quality of the image much and also it only seems to shift the problem, so that it happens with other grayscales.

What can we do? Be annoying to the Apple support? Thing is: there is no way that I will carry this huge monitor to an Apple Store.

For the time being I simply live with the problem, although it get‘s very annoying from time to time.
 
I'm using 2 monitor for my mac mini m1.
Dell U2720Q: No issues found. Notice when I watch netflix... subtle got black screen 0.01sec frame while playing. Or maybe is not.. not confirm yet.
BenQ PD2700U: Cause major flickering on some dark, grey areas.

As I repeat for the solution for my BenQ PD2700U:
1) Open System Preference > Display > Press Alt + Left-click on "Scale"
2) This will show various resolution display for your monitor
3) Check box "Show low resolution modes"
4) Select your resolution with low resolution

This works for me. Do let us know if this works for you also.

We really need a compilation list for all the affected monitors.
 
Has anyone been able to fix this via an official Apple USB-C to HDMI adapter? I tried with an Anker adapter from Amazon, but it did not solve the issue. If the official Apple one does, I'd buy it, otherwise it's rather expensive ($70) for no reason.
 
no0nefamous said:
Has anyone been able to fix this via an official Apple USB-C to HDMI adapter? I tried with an Anker adapter from Amazon, but it did not solve the issue. If the official Apple one does, I'd buy it, otherwise it's rather expensive ($70) for no reason.
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I have the official Apple usb-c to hdmi adapter. Does not work in terms of resolving this issue.
 
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Here's the closest I got to curing this issue.

- TB/USB-C straight from Mini to monitor would trigger flicker/ghosting with high contrast web pages
- HDMI from Mini to monitor would NOT trigger with high contrast web pages but triggered every single time on... high speed upload via wifi. Seriously. Every time I would upload ProRes video from external USB-C drive to YouTube via wifi with transfer running at 70-100Mbit the whole desktop would become next to unreadable. Once the upload would end, the screen would slowly settle down and become normal within minutes. Transferring big files from external drive to external drive would not create any issues.
This led me to think this might be some sort of issue with ipad-like circuitry on those boards, loads of stuff packed into tiny motherboard that was never meant to run full voltages on all buses during high data throughputs. So last month I bought external TB4 hub and my monitor is now running
- TB/USB-C from mini to TB4 hub with its own power and TB/USB-C from hub to monitor. And so far, so good - I had not had a single ghosting since. Yet.

So now the only problem I have are massive memory leaks in Monterey. There is barely any memory left on 16Gb Mini to run FCPX with plugins, I have to keep restarting FCPX all the time to keep working. I'll wait til the next Monterey update, but if that doesn't fix it I'm getting rid of this POS technology. Apple Silicon so far is just not working for me.
 
v0n said:
Here's the closest I got to curing this issue.

- TB/USB-C straight from Mini to monitor would trigger flicker/ghosting with high contrast web pages
- HDMI from Mini to monitor would NOT trigger with high contrast web pages but triggered every single time on... high speed upload via wifi. Seriously. Every time I would upload ProRes video from external USB-C drive to YouTube via wifi with transfer running at 70-100Mbit the whole desktop would become next to unreadable. Once the upload would end, the screen would slowly settle down and become normal within minutes. Transferring big files from external drive to external drive would not create any issues.
This led me to think this might be some sort of issue with ipad-like circuitry on those boards, loads of stuff packed into tiny motherboard that was never meant to run full voltages on all buses during high data throughputs. So last month I bought external TB4 hub and my monitor is now running
- TB/USB-C from mini to TB4 hub with its own power and TB/USB-C from hub to monitor. And so far, so good - I had not had a single ghosting since. Yet.

So now the only problem I have are massive memory leaks in Monterey. There is barely any memory left on 16Gb Mini to run FCPX with plugins, I have to keep restarting FCPX all the time to keep working. I'll wait til the next Monterey update, but if that doesn't fix it I'm getting rid of this POS technology. Apple Silicon so far is just not working for me.
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hey, can I ask which hub/dock you used? I've used a caldigit TS3 plus dock in the past (and have since returned it) since it did not seem to help with the flickering/ghosting issue.
 
oz_rkie said:
hey, can I ask which hub/dock you used? I've used a caldigit TS3 plus dock in the past (and have since returned it) since it did not seem to help with the flickering/ghosting issue.
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Kensington SD5700T
 
I couldn't resolve this issue and wasn't gonna cycle through a bunch of monitors until one worked, so I returned my Mac Mini and opted for an iMac instead. No regrets.
 
burnkill said:
Yep. Dealing with this issue on the brand new M2 Mac mini. Found these threads because of the issues I'm having. I think I'm going to return this.
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Go out to the BenQ website and they will walk you through some steps to fix the flickering issue. Didn’t have the issue on the M1 but had the issue with the M2. Walked through the steps and the issue was fixed.
 
JavaScript Jackal said:
Go out to the BenQ website and they will walk you through some steps to fix the flickering issue. Didn’t have the issue on the M1 but had the issue with the M2. Walked through the steps and the issue was fixed.
Click to expand...
Why don't you outline the steps here. It would help anyone visiting this thread or searching on google.
 
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