Major Defect: Apple 30″ Cinema Display Monitors
I’ve been fortunate to have a terrific computing setup here for the past nine months: a quad-core Intel Mac Pro with 1.25TB disk, 4GB RAM, and *both* a 23″ and 30″ monitor. Sweet, indeed.
But from the very start I’ve had a problem, which turns out to be extremely common: The 30-inch display is plagued with green pixels that appear in image-context-sensitive areas. This wasn’t too bad when I was mostly doing audio and text work, but now that I’m working more with images in Photoshop and video in Final Cut Pro, it’s truly unacceptable. Here’s an example. I photographed this directly from my screen
Well, it turns out this is a problem shared by a very large number of users. Referred to as the “flickering/dancing pixel problem,” it has been the subject of an ongoing discussion for well over two years with more than 400 messages posted to the thread! As far as any of us can tell, Apple has never acknowledged this problem or offered a fix to anyone. The company continues to replace monitors under warranty, but the replacements always have the same problem. As others in the discussion point out, I’m amazed that Apple continues to sell a product with such a significant known defect. This isn’t a minor issue; these green pixels can be all over the screen.
I bought the Apple 30-inch monitor ($2,000) because it looks so nice on my desk. Dumb move. I should have saved a few hundred dollars and bought the Dell 30-inch monitor instead. Word on the street is that it doesn’t have this problem. If you’re considering such a large monitor, I urge you to avoid the temptation to buy the Apple product until the company deals with this problem. And if you work at Apple…hey, what are you guys doing there? Remember us, the customers?
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You didn’t miss out, I have a Dell 30″ and it has the same problem.
Comment by Simon — 8/4/2007 @ 9:49 pm
Actually, I think I nailed the issue on my Dell 30″. When I use the supplied DVI cable from Dell to connect the monitor DIRECTLY to the Mac laptop or the workstation PC or my G4 it works like a dream (no dancing pixels). It’s only when I try to connect the monitor through the KVM that the pixels appear. I’m not entirely sure if it’s the KVM itself or the cables that came with it (still testing) but I’m convinced there is nothing wrong with the monitor.
Comment by Simon — 8/6/2007 @ 6:37 am
Well I’m wrong. The Dell works fine, the cables work fine. It’s the KVM itself which is the issue. I have the Moniswitch Pro DVI DL (2560 x 1600) 4 port switch and when I hook my systems up via that KVM I get dancing pixels exactly as seen in the image on this page. I bought a cheap ACER monitor and hooked that up and I had the same issue. But when I remove the KVM entirely from the equation then the monitors work fine. Everything is DVI-D with all the proper dual link cables.
Comment by Simon — 8/21/2007 @ 5:23 pm
I’ve found the fix: Just blog about it and all your troubles will disappear. Seriously, after having this problem for years, it has not appeared for more than two weeks. Weird.
Comment by site admin — 8/21/2007 @ 5:26 pm
Care to share a link to the fix? why not post it in this article?
Comment by Frost — 9/29/2007 @ 8:27 am
I had this and fixed it by switching to the second DVI output socket on the graphics card.
Comment by Ken — 10/12/2007 @ 4:55 pm
I’ve tried that a long time ago Ken, it still happens on both Dual Link DVI ports on the graphics card.
Comment by Frost — 10/15/2007 @ 10:09 am
I bought a Dr Bott Moniswitch Pro DVI Pro for use with a Dell 3007WFP-HC. I have flashing red, green and blue pixels on full colour images, particularly in the darker areas. I have returned the unit to Dr Bott and am waiting for a reply. Either the unit or the cable(s) is at fault, all is fine without them. Any one got a solution yet?
Comment by Ian — 1/22/2008 @ 1:14 pm
I should have typed Moniswitch Pro DVI DL designed to run at 2560 x 1600.
Comment by Ian — 1/22/2008 @ 1:15 pm
I have a intel 8 core w/ 12 gigs of ram, ati1900 video and new 30″ monitor dual linked with a wacom 20ux cintiq. Everything works lovely here! My pictures are absolutely beautiful.
Comment by mark dietterich — 3/21/2008 @ 5:36 am
Hi,
I recently discovered a problem with my two years old 30″ Apple Cinema Display with green or purple splashing/flickering lines crossing the screen. It happens when I connect to the main DVI port with high resolution (2560×1600) set up and does not happen with the other DVI port of my NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphic card. (BTW The display is connected to MacPro 2.66 dual-core 3GB memory Mac OS Leopard.) I have another NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphic card installed and tested, the result was the same.
It shows the same, green or purple splashing/flickering lines crossing the screen when I use the primary DVI port.
I also tested the power supply adapter from other 30″ Apple Cinema Display and the result was the same.
It seems like the problem is in either the cable or the logic board inside the Display but not sure.
Any suggestions?
PS I could also attach the image of the screen, if you could respond me with your address.
Thanks.
M
Comment by Masahiro — 4/10/2008 @ 10:46 am
30″ display with red [ixels that swam the screen and blue vertical bands. I took display into Apple and it seemed to work fine. I purchased a new graphics card with no luck. I even bought a new mac and still the same. I switched it to another mac further away in our office and that worked for a while. If I switch to one of the other plugs on card that is for smaller displays it seems to work fine except that defeats the purpose of such a big display. I am wondering if it is in power supply (overheating?) or if it is caused by electrical interference in the building.
Comment by Steve Perkins — 4/23/2008 @ 3:21 pm
I discovered as well that unplugging the monitor cable to the power supply (not the power cord) removed the green pixels. In some cases it was only temporary but when trying it again they stayed away for longer periods. Not sure if the connection here. I am dealing with a reseller tech who thinks its either the graphics card or the logic board. Thing is…why would the power supply make the monitor randomly produce the green pixels once and a while. Is it a power surge prob from over heating or something?
Or is it causing some interference somehow in the signal. I am not techy so someone explain it to me if they can. lol
Cheers!
Comment by Andrew — 5/17/2008 @ 8:20 pm
I’ve had this problem on two different 30″ cinema displays. It was fixed by tightening the DVI connection. At first I thought the display was going, but it was really just a loose cable.
Comment by Ben — 7/19/2008 @ 8:13 am
I have 30″ and 20″ on a GeForce 8800GT in a 2×2.66 Dual Core with 4G of RAM. Same problem. I recently replaced a bad ATI Radeon 1900 XT with the GeForce 8800GT… BOTH cards had the same issue with the green dancing pixels. I usually just restart and it goes away most of the time.
Comment by Lloyd — 9/15/2008 @ 4:58 pm
I have the same problem with my 30 in as well. I have found that taking a tooth brush with some alcohol on it and rub the connector on the display cable and them put it back on the card seems to make my problem go away for a while but it seems to always come back when i am heavily involved on a project when i need it the most.
Comment by david — 10/28/2008 @ 7:22 pm
Same here. I just unplug the dvi plug it back in and voila back to normal.
It only happens after the screen resumes from sleep. I turn off power management it never goes to s3 sleep and the problem mever happens. Strange thing is that if you turn off and on the screen the are still there.
Comment by Pissed — 5/6/2009 @ 2:41 pm
—-It only happens after the screen resumes from sleep——-
exactly same problem, I think it is the graphics card is not able to supply enough power through the connection at times… just a hair underpowered, and restarting it resets power… i don’t think it is the screen, for instance the length of the cable matters, and unplugging the DVI cable and plugging it back in will work 70% of the time.
i have a GeForce 8800GT, with TWO 30″ cinema displays, one displays the problem with the green dancing pixels, but clears itself with the dvi unplugging, and the other displays a ghosting, which also clears itself with a restart, and these two things happen about 20% of the time after screen sleep, not a deep sleep.
Comment by Jon — 5/17/2009 @ 10:40 am
[...] Blogarithms Major Defect Apple 30 Cinema Display Monitors Posted by root 2 hours 28 minutes ago (http://www.blogarithms.com) It seems like the problem is in either the cable or the logic board inside the display but not sure comment by masahiro 4 10 2008 10 46 am 30 display with red ixels that swam the screen and search for powered by wordpress Discuss | Bury | News | Blogarithms Major Defect Apple 30 Cinema Display Monitors [...]
Pingback by Blogarithms Major Defect Apple 30 Cinema Display Monitors | Wood TV Stand — 5/31/2009 @ 4:51 pm
Guys it is a problem with certain mac graphics cards. Usually having to do with running multiple monitors and an old OS. Getting a certain card (only certain ones will fix the problem), and I did it and can’t remember which card it was now, but check online there is much talk about it. It’s not the monitor it’s the power supply from the apple. And it is fixed in newer versions of the OS as they reallocate power. In fact I haven’t heard of this problem for a cple of years. I thought it was solved already fro everyone. Google and u’ll find the answer. Meanwhile make sure you have the most recent update of whichever OS u are using (I’m in Tiger 4.2 for eg), or Leopard and u should be fine. also turn off the power save mode, that gets it started, and turn off your screen saver.
Comment by Tony B — 7/3/2009 @ 3:26 pm