I have a 2009 Mac Pro octo with an ATI 4870 card hooked to my 30" Dell monitor. For the past week or so I see periodic flickers. I happens every 20-30 minutes but it happens on a regular basis. The monitor is only 4 months old and worked really well on my Dell machine. Any idea where the problem could reside?
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periodic monitor flicker (ATI 4870 card)
- Thread starter sjivan
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I have seen this too. What model is yours? I assumed mine was defective. I was planning to take advantage of the Dell advance-replacement 1 year warranty, but maybe it's not worth it if they're all doing this. It doesn't bother me a ton since it's only a microsecond of flicker/static. It is not your 4870, because it was doing when I had the GeForce 8800 GT too.
The model is 3007WFP. OS version : 10.5.6
It didn't use to flicker for the first month of use, but has recently started acting up. I'm almost a 100% sure the monitor is just fine. I'm just pissed that I poured so much $ and have to deal with all this nonsense. If I were to do this all over again, I'd probably go back to using a Dell. Its a love / hate relationship and I'm starting the hate my Mac Pro more lately.
It didn't use to flicker for the first month of use, but has recently started acting up. I'm almost a 100% sure the monitor is just fine. I'm just pissed that I poured so much $ and have to deal with all this nonsense. If I were to do this all over again, I'd probably go back to using a Dell. Its a love / hate relationship and I'm starting the hate my Mac Pro more lately.
It's not the Mac Pro. I was using a 22" display for 6 months and it never flickered. When I switched to the Dell (mine's a 3007WFP-HC), that's when I first noticed it. At first it was maybe once a week, but now it's probably twice a day... and i'm at the computer alot. It could be progressively getting worse. I'll probably try my luck with Dell's advance-replacement warranty before the 1-year is up. Hopefully the replacement doesn't have dead pixels.
It's the MiniDisplay Port to dual-DVI adapter--it's not your monitor, Mac Pro, or 4870 card.
Apple refuses to fix this problem.
That's why I want to get a second graphics card for my second display. The MiniDisplay Port cable doesn't work, and I don't want a glossy second monitor.
Apple refuses to fix this problem.
That's why I want to get a second graphics card for my second display. The MiniDisplay Port cable doesn't work, and I don't want a glossy second monitor.
Like you and DeepCobalt, I also have the same problem. And yes it is the Mini-DP to Dual-DVI connector that is faulty.
After the 10.5.7 update I still get the flicker but not the screen 'scrambling' anymore - so far ....
Anyway, FYI I have a Samsung SynMaster 305T Plus connected. It's def not the monitor!
DeepCobalt, I'd aske Apple to give me credit for the dual-DVI adaptor and put that towards a second video card!
I'm not using any adapters and had the periodic monitor flicker whether with the 4870 or 8800. I'm just using a plain old dual-link DVI cable.
That's the problem - It's never Apples fault. Their products only work well with their accessories which are extremely overpriced. It's like they deliberately do this. The Dell 3007-WFP monitor is an excellent monitor and works perfectly on any PC. It's only when I started using it with the Mac Pro that the fonts are extremely blurry while they show up fine on ACD 30, and now I get this stupid flicker. Really annoying. I've put a "freeze" on purchasing any other apple product although its perhaps too late now.
How does one update it? I didn't see any option to change / update the Dell 3007WFP driver. I really want to toss this POS out of the window.
I was thinking more of the 4870, as the drivers are the first revision on the MP. So updates are likely.
But if you want to check on the monitor for windows, look here (no OS X or even linux versions are listed).
There's no such thing as monitor drivers (display profiles, yes, but that's diff). Like I said before, at least for me, the cause seems to be the Dell display itself because the flicker is present using my 8800GT too. It does seem to have become more frequent with the 4870, though, but maybe it's the monitor just getting progressively worse.
Odd, as I've downloaded drivers, not just profiles for my NEC 2490 for Vista, though I don't use OS X very often, and currently don't have a copy running.
(I'm stuck with windows ATM, as my primary software needs don't give any options on all of them that are consistent for other OS's).It slipped my mind it's also present on the 8800. Sorry about that.
What threw me, was the mention of the Samsung 305T, which led me to think it wasn't the display.
BTW, what is the exact refresh rate of the cards in question?
What is the cable lengths this is experienced with?
What kind of flicker are you talking about? I've recently noticed some speckled noise appearing in areas of black on my 30" ACD and a 4870.
The miniDP to DVI works just fine. It's the powered mDP to dual link DVI that has the problem.
I just found this thread : http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9471440
Others have reported having the same exact issue and having applecare didn't help.
Others have reported having the same exact issue and having applecare didn't help.
Can you describe the effect you're getting? Also, how long is the DVI cable you're using and do you have any shorter ones you could try?
Every 30mins to an hour, there is a brief flicker that appears. Kinda like a power fluctuation or some static electricity. It is frequent enough to be quite distracting and annoying, especially considering I have a brand new Mac Pro 2009 (<2mo) and a relatively new Dell 30 monitor (<6mo old).
It just occurred to me that the problem initially wasn't there and started showing up ~2 weeks ago. This was exactly at the time that I got the mini Displayport to HDMI adapter to try to connect the second display to my LCD TV. When I did this however, eveytime I turned the TV on, there would be a significant flicker on my monitor just like turning off the monitor and turning it on after a few seconds. So I gave up on using the second display and tossed the displayport-hdmi cable out and now its no longer connected. However I now keep getting this periodic flicker on my monitor.