External Cinema Display Problem

Hi,
so I have my new MacBook connected to an "old" 20" Cinema Display using the MiniDisplay port and a MiniDisplay to DVI adapter. It has been working just fine since I connected it a couple of days ago.
I have the MacBook lid closed and I am using just the external display at home.
Today I left my room for an hour or so. After coming back and waking the computer from sleep I was horrified seeing my display full of weird artifacts, randomly displayed blue and pink pixels. On top of that the display was turning off and on (going black) every couple of seconds.
I don't know if it's a problem with:
a) the MacBook
b) the display
c) the connection (adapter?)
Any ideas? Anyone experienced a similar issue?
Best greetings,
Tomasz

I talked to Apple tech support today. After initial description of the problem and basic troubleshooting, I was referred to a product specialist. She had me do an SMC reset (shut down, disconnect power cord and all external devices, remove batter, hold power button for 10 seconds, reinstall battery, connect power and start) which seemed to clear up the problem. But it returned later in the day. I called them back and was immediately sent to the product specialist again. The next step is to take it to the Apple Store to have it looked at there. I won't be able to do that for at least another 10 days, so there won't be any more progress on this problem until then.
When I talked to tech support, they had no information on any such problem in their database, which means they haven't heard it from anyone but me. So if you're having this problem, please call tech support and tell them about it. If they start getting lots of reports, then it starts to look like a real problem and not just one guy who might be doing any number of things to make this happen. Apple tech support has been very good those very few times I have had to talk to them. If you are referred to a product specialist, you might have to wait 10 minutes, but it's worth the wait. You're talking to people you can understand who can answer your questions - they're not reading off of a script. You get a case number so that if you have to call back, you can pick up where you left off - you're not stuck explaining everything all over again.

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Hi All - new to the iMac, looooong time Mac user. So I had a 20" cinema display plugged in to my G4 before getting the iMac and now I am using it as a 2nd monitor (extended desktop). Love the added real estate!
My problem is this - if I plug my keyboard into the USB ports on the cinema, the iMac doesn't 'see' it. Yet if I plug my iPod cable into the FW400 ports it shows up fine and syncs with iTunes. Also, the keyboard WAS working plugged into the cinema display for a few days, but I had to unplug it and when I plugged it back in, no joy. I have restarted with it plugged and unplugged, repaired permissions (not like that'd help) and zapped the PRAM. Under System Profiler, the iPod will show up under the Firewire tab (as does the cinema display) but the keyboard does not show up under the USB tab.
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So the end that plugs into the Cinema Display splits a couple inches from the end into FW, USB, and DVI. What about the end that plugs into the iMac DVI out? Are there 3 ends to that as well? If so can you just unplug the USB portion of that cable from both the iMac and the Cinema Display and use a completely seperate cable to hook up the USB?

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I have a 24" Cinema Display which I plug in to my MBA. The MBA doesn't seem to detect the speakers in the display or the isight camera. I thought this might be a USB issue but the USB sockets on the rear of the screen work fine. Any ideas?

Brilliant idea to test with a different Mac!
Finding that the problem is the same with more than one Mac indicates that your problem is with the display.
If you tested ONLY the cables that came with your display, the problem might be cabling.
Contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for service.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim
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I had been running my Satellite L850 laptop via HDMI to an external monitor without problem for many months.
A couple of weeks ago I attempted to update the catalyst driver and have had problems ever since.
Basically now when I select 1080p mode via the catalyst control panel it makes the screen flash and have vertical lines.
Occasionally it will work for a short period, even up to an entire day and than it will randomly start again. I can play a game in 1080p mode and it will be totally random, sometimes allowing me to play for hours without having the black screen flashes whilst other times it will flash constantly and the only way to resolve is to either restart or pull out the HDMI cable and plug back in and cross your fingers you have enough time to reopen catalyst and change to 720P which is always stable.
I have tried:
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2. Using System Restore to go back before I made the changes
3. Using the AMD Catalyst removal tool and updating to the newest version via AMD website.
4. Reinstalling my chipset drivers along with #1
5. Tried a different monitor (still happens)
On a side note every time I use the removal tool it removes my USB drivers also and I have to reinstall.
The current graphics driver is AMD Radeon HD 7670M and I have also tried the solution on the tech support forum here http://www.mytoshiba.com.au/support/item/781.
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Probably your problem has nothing to do with the picture issue mentioned in the technical document posted by MisterX.
I could read in your first post above, that this issue appeared exactly after the driver update.
> A couple of weeks ago I attempted to update the catalyst driver and have had problems ever since.
Are you 100% sure that the display driver update has caused this problem?
You have also mentioned that this issue does not appear always but sporadically and every once in a while.
From my point of few there are some open questions:
1) Is it really an graphic card driver problem or maybe an GPU issue?
If the issue did not appear in the past (before the GPU driver update) then yes: it could be related to the driver.
2) The notebook support also an Intel HD graphic card (its part of the Intel CPU)
I think you should check if the same issue would appear using the Intel GPU.
Try to uninstall the AMD driver (from device manager as well as from programs & features are within the control panel) and test it using Intel GPU only.
3) Last but not least test the notebooks video output with fresh recovered notebook. After the recovery the graphic card driver should be the same which you have used before the update.

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Hello,
I recently acquired a 30 Inch Cinema Display that was having some screen issues. After first hooking up the monitor to my MacBook Pro laptop, it worked great for about 10 minutes and then I noticed the screen showing burn marks on the right side and sometimes the screen will go white, OR it will try to display the image, but show color bars. I kept turning the monitor off and on, and it eventually works again.
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that's a bummer that there is no easy fix for this issue. It's frustrating because the monitor works some of the time, and then the color bars appear. Also, it seems like this problem occurs a lot but there is no easy fix. Even Apple said they didn't know why it was doing that.
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Hi Karl,
Good Day!
Thank you for your advice. I already changed the graphics card but got no positive result. Could it be the adapter of the monitor? or the LCD itself? Is there anyway we can further isolate the problem?
Ciao!
Respectfully,
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Hi Karl,
Good Day!
Thank you for your advice. I already changed the graphics card but got no positive result. Could it be the adapter of the monitor? or the LCD itself? Is there anyway we can further isolate the problem?
Ciao!
Respectfully,
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I had a similar problem to lain Maclreud
Immediately after updating to 10.4.11 and rebooting the toparea on my cinema display went dim and I saw the 2 short, one lon blinks on my power display LED
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Have you tried the Command-Option-P-R keys to reset the PRAM? (Maybe the upgrade has messed up the display settings?)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

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The 5mm LEDs that I used for the initial repair can be purchased from any electronics component supplier. Avoid Radio Shack at all costs. I wouldn't recommend using 5mm LED though. I've purchased some 5050 SMD LEDs for the next rendition. I will report back later in the week with my my results and possibly some photos. It's not somethign you want to attempt unless you're confident in your soldering skills. You'll also need to do a little math to figure out how to configure the LEDs and give them the right resistor.
Here are some photos of the 5mm LED job. I parralelled 3 strings of 8 LEDs wired in series and powered them directly from the 24v rail of the power supply. These LEDs are held in with hot glue. On the next repair, now that I know its worth while, I'll use the backlight driver from the logic board which will give me brightness control again. Pardon the mess, I had been working on wiring up that strip for a couple of hours. It really helps to have an adjustable lab power supply on the bench to test as you go. Also, note the hot spots in the bottom right and left corners of the screen. They are caused by misaligned LEDs.

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I Hav an iMac and 2 Mac Cinema Display Monitors.
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Hi Karl,
Good Day!
Thank you for your advice. I already changed the graphics card but got no positive result. Could it be the adapter of the monitor? or the LCD itself? Is there anyway we can further isolate the problem?
Ciao!
Respectfully,
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I've been experiencing additional issues with USB speakers. I plugged them into a USB port on the iMac itself (as opposed to the LED Cinema Display) and the feedback was gone. However, now I get situations where the audio appears to randomly "die" on the system. If I go into Audio preferences and switch the audio output to the internal speakers, the audio comes back on. If I then switch it back to the USB speakers, it continues to work until it randomly dies again. This happens typically 3-5 times a day.
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External Cinema Display looks fuzzy when connected to 24" iMac...

Hey
I have a new iMac (aluminum with black rim screen) and a new 23" Cinema Display. I have connected them both together and am using the Cinema Display in extended desktop mode as the main screen. The resolution is set to the maximum but all the icons and windows look slightly fuzzy. I have no idea why and at a dead end. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi B Boy26
In the preference panel try setting the resoultion at 1920 x 1200 for the display, thats the (optimum resolution) for the 23"
Here are the spec's: http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html
Also check in the "Display" section of the forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=111
Dennis

Mac Pro 3,1 with ATI Radeon 5770 + 30" Apple Cinema Display Problem

Ok guys/gals,
First of all I apologize for the thread as there have been previous posts in the past referrencing various different questions and setups, but I have a problem.. It's a little bit of a noob question so sorry in advance BUT..
What is the correct way to set up the 30 inch with the 5770? I have an old 3,1 (early 2008) that I've upgraded with various hard disks, SSD and 12 gig RAM. I removed the stock Nvidia Card and replaced it with this one but I am having problems that cause the Mac to slow down and the display to go all "fuzzy" or have streaking greenish lines (which you can only see against a black backdrop).
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Is my Mac dying? or am i not powering the 30 inch correctly? If not, then I am confused between display ports and dual power (active) mini display ports.. can someone please point me in the right direction?
Apols for the long note, but am pretty good with computers but this is just annoying the sh*t out of me and has been for a while...
(PS - I CANT WAIT FOR THE NEW MAC PRO !!!)
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NK

@ Hatter
Yup prior card was 8800gt and new card is nice and snug. 10.8 was not clean install, was upgrade. Ill try safeboot although not sure how/why that will fix any long term issues i have (which are random).. Trying 10.7 i had the same issues and was hoping that 10.8 wld fix.. Why go back to 10.6.8 when it should work in todays day and age? :(
@ Grant
Have done that now although not sure why something like this is not in the owners manual?!
Thanks for the help/suggestions so far guys, much apprec.. Feels like my pro is dying on me slowly but surely...
Any other bright ideas?

Cinema display problems

For no reason apparent to me my display flickers for a flash and will not display the usual start up imagery.
I've gone through so many help threads but can find no parallel problem.
When I open the MacBook the image on the laptop only shows when I unplug the thunderbolt wire/connection.
Any wiring and plugging with restarts, etc provide no solution.
I did a software update to see if this would help. Problem seemed to correct itself.
I shut my system down and few hours later started up my system again for routine work and same problem occurs.
Does anyone have any idea??
Appreciate help for this ludite.
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Hi, I don't have that Monitor to test, but I wonder if this would help...
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/4340
Semi interesting thread on the 20'' and OS9...
http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-10091.html
Oh, does it boot to 640*480 with Extensions off?

20 inch cinema display problem

I have an anoying problem with my screen and i need a solution. There are no green colors at all so the screen has a pinkish color. It all started when i had a problem with my G4 freezing. I took it to a repair place and they totally screwed me over. Basically switching out Everything-motherboard, ram, video card, hard drive. turned out being a problem with my hard drive. when I brought my computer home i had the color issue. Took the computer to another place and they say the problem is my video card. my display works on other computers. I tried everything in the settings with no luck. I dont know if the repair people changed some kind of setting or what or if they damaged my video card. I really dont want to buy another video card and have that turn out to not be the problem. Is there any other way to try and fix this problem. Help

One thing you might want to try adjusting is the gamma setting in Displays Preferences color calibration area. Macs typically are set at 1.8 but PCs will often use 2.2. That could account for the difference.

External Cinema Display Problem

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