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M1/M2 flickering, ghosting with external display [Merged]
- Thread starter aednichols
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I think I fixed this!
I signed up just to share my solution: i found a web page that no matter what, was always showing up the flickering and messing up my mac mini connected to a Benq EX2510: since this page actually summons the issue all the time, i sent it to another friend of mine with a macbook air m1 connected to an LG monitor, and he didn't show up the issue on his side. Then he told me, seeing my video of the screen, that the screen with night shift on looks way "warmer" than his screen. This made me think "ok, let's try to see if with a lower level of nightshift the issue is not showing up".
Well, it worked! I lowered the night shift intensity just by one and the flickering went away, even in the summoning page that created me issues every single time, even when the screen was just turned on.
Attached are the pics of my current night shift setup that fixed the issue, and the web page i used as a test for the flickering then turning to image retention
I signed up just to share my solution: i found a web page that no matter what, was always showing up the flickering and messing up my mac mini connected to a Benq EX2510: since this page actually summons the issue all the time, i sent it to another friend of mine with a macbook air m1 connected to an LG monitor, and he didn't show up the issue on his side. Then he told me, seeing my video of the screen, that the screen with night shift on looks way "warmer" than his screen. This made me think "ok, let's try to see if with a lower level of nightshift the issue is not showing up".
Well, it worked! I lowered the night shift intensity just by one and the flickering went away, even in the summoning page that created me issues every single time, even when the screen was just turned on.
Attached are the pics of my current night shift setup that fixed the issue, and the web page i used as a test for the flickering then turning to image retention
Attachments
Hey guys! I had the same issue on a Dell S2722QC connected to an M1 13" Macbook Pro. It worked fine for the first few minutes and then started flickering (quite badly). I've tried a lot of fixes found on forums:
- Changed the refresh rate to fixed 60Hz
- Disabled f.lux/Night Light
- Disabled "Automatically adjust brightness" and "True Tone"
None of these seemed to fully fix the issue, they just made it less obvious, but I think I found a solution:
- Disabled DDC/CI in my monitor's settings
- For the monitor, I selected the "Default for Display" resolution - for some reason "Scaled" was checked. This seemed to instantly solve the flickering issue.
After I've done the above two, I even re-enabled f.lux and "True Tone" and I am not seeing this issue happen anymore. Hopefully it will stay like this. Also after disabling DDC/CI it seems my monitor is running in RGB mode rather than YCbCr and displays colors correctly.
- Changed the refresh rate to fixed 60Hz
- Disabled f.lux/Night Light
- Disabled "Automatically adjust brightness" and "True Tone"
None of these seemed to fully fix the issue, they just made it less obvious, but I think I found a solution:
- Disabled DDC/CI in my monitor's settings
- For the monitor, I selected the "Default for Display" resolution - for some reason "Scaled" was checked. This seemed to instantly solve the flickering issue.
After I've done the above two, I even re-enabled f.lux and "True Tone" and I am not seeing this issue happen anymore. Hopefully it will stay like this. Also after disabling DDC/CI it seems my monitor is running in RGB mode rather than YCbCr and displays colors correctly.
I tried your solution of disabling the DDC/CI, hopefully it remains this way, may I ask how long have you not had the flickering issue since disabling the DDC/CI?
Just a couple of days for now, so it still has time to come back 😬. Fingers crossed.
At this point, it's a hardware/software flaw in M1 and macOS or whatever. Not the monitor... if it were the monitor, then other systems would exhibit similar issues.
I do not want to discourage you, but I have both True Tone and Night Shift turned off on my M1 mac, so the problem cannot be caused by this.
I will try this, since I also have a Dell display, starting today.
Edit: 19th of April I have witnessed some square looking things on the screen, but this is bearable, unlike the burn-in and flickering issues. It lasted 15-20 minutes and then went back to normal.
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Have been struggling with this for months, even got a warranty replacement from Dell on the basis that the flickering/ghosting also effected the onscreen menus (ergo hardware fault). Reading these solutions (during another bout of nausea inducing flickering and ghosting) just tried the below, and the issue instantly resolved:
System Preferences >> Displays >> Display Settings
MacBook Pro 14" with m1: Use as extended, disable True Tone, disable automatically adjust brightness, switch color profile to 'generic RGB profile'.
Monitor (Dell 32" 4k, usb-c): Use as main, switch color profile to 'generic RGB profile'.
Yet to see if it returns, YMMV.
System Preferences >> Displays >> Display Settings
MacBook Pro 14" with m1: Use as extended, disable True Tone, disable automatically adjust brightness, switch color profile to 'generic RGB profile'.
Monitor (Dell 32" 4k, usb-c): Use as main, switch color profile to 'generic RGB profile'.
Yet to see if it returns, YMMV.
Had the same problem with my M1 13' MBP (very often) and my M1 Pro 14' MBP (rarely), both running at 60Hz on a 29" LG ultrawide. Last week I had extreme flickering during a call - two days later my monitor still had burn-in spots. The new 34" Huawei MateView at 165Hz seems fine so far.
Mac mini M1, Monterey 12.1.
Connection: HDMI 2.0 (HDMI to HDMI), brand: Vention. 1 meter.
Dell ST2420L (TN panel) ---> shows very faint texture (squares) especially on dark grey color (#1f2124).
Dell P2419H (IPS panel)---> No issues at all. Plus the color looks very nice to me.
Connection: HDMI 2.0 (HDMI to HDMI), brand: Vention. 1 meter.
Dell ST2420L (TN panel) ---> shows very faint texture (squares) especially on dark grey color (#1f2124).
Dell P2419H (IPS panel)---> No issues at all. Plus the color looks very nice to me.
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are you sure seeing these lines before you ever plugged any M1 Mac to these monitors?
My monitor (Dell ST2420L) now exhibits same issues even when plugged into PC (Windows). But I'm not so sure if it's been there from before.
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Found an incredible deal on a surplus LG 32BL75U-W (equivalent to the 32UL750-W) from Amazon Warehouse Deals. It's basically an LG 32
After a morning of running the most challenging scenarios that would always produce a flicker, the BL75U didn't misbehave once. The HDR is still lacklustre in OS X but the color gamut is better, it gets 75% brighter and it doesn't flicker, so I'd say it was a decent upgrade.
After a morning of running the most challenging scenarios that would always produce a flicker, the BL75U didn't misbehave once. The HDR is still lacklustre in OS X but the color gamut is better, it gets 75% brighter and it doesn't flicker, so I'd say it was a decent upgrade.
I can't believe that is something cable related. I tested so many, using dongles, using sub DP, HDMI...
It's been the case for me on two monitors. My USB-C cable is 18 inches and rated for 8K at 60 hz. The HDMI long cable caused problems but the 6 ' didn't. So it's just one of many factors. Never had these problems with 2K external monitors.
It seems indeed absurd. But my LG Monitor Instructed me to use the cables that came with the Monitor, so I guess there might be something special in them? 🤷♂️
It's very unlikely that it is cable related. It might seem so since the issue can be pretty temperamental (it cannot happen for weeks then it will be back). I've tried a variety of cables, hdmi/dp/usb-c, very expensive ones, very cheap ones, apple branded ones, cables that came with the monitor etc. etc. It can seem that the issue was resolved with a cable change, but it will be back in a few days or so.
Funny or not, I believe it can be cable related, yes.
Today I bought a fancy 8K HDMI cable, a short one HDMI 2.1 8K @144Hz 16Inch.
Don't ask me how, but trying to replicate the flickering (the situations that would trigger it), my display did not flicker. Even the vertical bands that appeared in the screen running MacOS in dark mode (or programs with dark/black interface) didn't showed up.
My display is solid rock now. Been testing it in this last couple of hours.
Today I bought a fancy 8K HDMI cable, a short one HDMI 2.1 8K @144Hz 16Inch.
Don't ask me how, but trying to replicate the flickering (the situations that would trigger it), my display did not flicker. Even the vertical bands that appeared in the screen running MacOS in dark mode (or programs with dark/black interface) didn't showed up.
My display is solid rock now. Been testing it in this last couple of hours.
I have to admit that it sounds ridiculous. Taking a look at the Studio Display Thread I read that some folks were dealing with flickering while using the cable provided with it. After reading that a replacement fixed the issue, I decided to give it a try. And for now, it's gone. I wish I would have bought it earlier.
That's exactly how I mostly solved my flicker. The only thing I have left is occasionally, maybe once a day, the screen will go black for a couple seconds. But that flicker and other weirdness is gone. (Studio Max now, rather than M1 MBA)