Mac Pro - Dual Monitors causing screen to make blue "flashes"

[azenis]

Hi guys
I just hooked up a 2nd monitor to my early '08 Mac Pro and when in OSX the screens start to go blank/blue for about 1 second intervals. They flash together sometimes, and other times sort of independantly to each other. When the desktop comes back on it fades in like its animated rather than like its cutting in and out.

It seems fine when I disconnect one monitor.

Running 10.5.2 all updates 8 core 2.8ghz with 10gb ram and 8800GT

Please help!!

 

[azenis]

OK I seem to have tracked it down to being caused by the 19" monitor which works fine on my pc! if thats the only screen plugged in it does it, if the 22" is in its fine... so got me beat!

 

[JesterJJZ]

My main screen flickers and shows static and stuff when I boot with dual displays. Just for a sec right before OSX loads.

 

[traderx1]

Hi guys
I just hooked up a 2nd monitor to my early '08 Mac Pro and when in OSX the screens start to go blank/blue for about 1 second intervals. They flash together sometimes, and other times sort of independantly to each other. When the desktop comes back on it fades in like its animated rather than like its cutting in and out.

It seems fine when I disconnect one monitor.

Running 10.5.2 all updates 8 core 2.8ghz with 10gb ram and 8800GT

Please help!!

I have the EXACT same problem. I have tried 2 different "second" monitors and I get the same blue flashes. When I disconnect the second monitor all is well. The monitors work well by themselves.

I have MacPro first version released oct 2006

 

[azenis]

Mine is right now, I changed the refresh rate back from 75 to 60hz and its not done it once, so give that a try.

 

[rafdesign]

Same trouble here

I am running 10.5.5 and I have 2x DELL 24" connected to my MacPro Dual-Core Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz.
The video card is NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT. The monitors flashes sometimes to a blue screen, simultaneously.
I tried to turn off the right screen, and now the left doesn't flicker anymore.
I think it must be my MAcPro. It started about a week ago.
Anyone has the same and found a solution?

 

[azenis]

Did pulling the refresh rate back not help?

 

[TheFuel]

No solution here, but originally I thought it was due to my KVM (Linkskey LDV-DM702AUSK) switch as I only saw this behavior when switching to my Mac Pro. Subsequently I had the KVM RMA'd and Linkskey discovered one of the DVI ports as being defective. Haven't received a replacement yet.

 

[rrotheram]

Glad I found this

No solution here, but originally I thought it was due to my KVM (Linkskey LDV-DM702AUSK) switch as I only saw this behavior when switching to my Mac Pro. Subsequently I had the KVM RMA'd and Linkskey discovered one of the DVI ports as being defective. Haven't received a replacement yet.

I also have a Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 Quad with 8GB ram and 2 dell 24" monitors and have been driven mad with the blue screen flickering. I spoke to Applecare about this and they do not think it is hardware related! although we all have the same hardware with the 8800GT cards. They thought it was software related but couldn't pin point the problem. Do you think it is a 8800 GT related hardware problem? i am loosing the plot so help please

 

[TheFuel]

Do you think it is a 8800 GT related hardware problem?

My experience is limited to the 8800GT so I can't speak to other hardware. I do not believe it to be a hardware problem; the blue flashing most likely can be solved via driver or firmware update. However I don't expect Apple to put much (if any) effort in solving it.

An interesting twist on this problem for me is my desktop image resets on boot or (occasionally) switching via KVM. This indicates a software problem either saving the settings or the 'key' (possibly the EDID) used for association is problematic (e.g. key is not stable during re-sync). I've tried the typical solution of verifying and repairing permissions but haven't bothered proceeding further since it's not critical.

 

[VI.]

After three logic boards and a new MacBook Pro replacement and the problem was still there!!!

One day out of the blue I decided to buy a Mini-display to HDMI adapter and the blue screen flash went away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It was the HDMI adapter that saved the year!!!!!!!!!)

Note: Mini-display to DVI and Mini-display to VGA apple adapters still result in the blue screen flashing.

What a total waste of time!!!! Apple care and apple repair centre were not very useful!