Okay, so awoken by the crazy early morning thunderstorm I tried to go on my computer to check Languish.
But my monitor was acting all wonky. There was no image. If I turned if off, then on it would show an image - but only for one second, then the image would shut off. It was as if it went into power saving mode. The problem took place in both OS X and Windows.
I didn't have a ton of time to trouble shoot the problem, so I'm hoping it goes away tonight. This monitor has occasionally had problems wakening from sleep, but a quick on-off would always solve the problem.
It is possibly important to note that this was during a thunderstorm, and while the problem was already happening, we did have a momentary power black out.
Any ideas?
Yes. Stop buying Mac. :P
Is the monitor power cord connected to the computer or to an electric power bar? is the bar ok (no reset, no damage from the thunderstorm)?
Recheck your cables, connection to the computer, to the power outlet, etc.
If your monitor has a menu, check it for possible leads. Maybe the monitor was resetted during the storm, you never know.
Fuck.
It's not the monitor. It's something with the Mac.
I hooked up another monitor, and it displayed the same problem - it would shut down after 1-2 secs. Actually this monitor was more helpful, as it displayed the message "going to sleep". So for some reason my computer is sending a message to the monitorto go to sleep.
And because it happens under both OS X and Windows I suspect it is hardware based - likely the graphics card.
At least I live in a town with an Apple Store - I predict an expensive trip in my future. <_<
is this the computer that you paid and upgraded the video card for?
Aye. Went from 8800 GT to a 5770 bout a year ago. Nah - must've been longer ago than that - baby wasn't born yet.
I predict they give me grief because the 5770 isn't technically supported in my Mac Pro. Never mind the fact it worked flawlessly until now. <_<
If you still have your old 8800GT, put it in place instead of the 5770, you will see if your monitor still shuts down. I don't suppose Macs have integrated video cards, do they?
Quote from: viper37 on July 19, 2011, 10:48:55 AM
If you still have your old 8800GT, put it in place instead of the 5770, you will see if your monitor still shuts down. I don't suppose Macs have integrated video cards, do they?
Nope - the 8800GT was fried. That's what led to the new card.
Many macs used integrated graphics, but not the Mac Pro.
What I will do is take it down to the Apple store. If it is the video card (as I suspect) that can diagnose it better than I can at this stage. But still it's a weird problem - because before the monitor goes to sleep for that split second I can see the screen image is flawless.
If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:20:30 AM
If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.
But the computer itself continues to run. Because I can see the screen for a second at a time if I power the monitor off then back on.
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 11:26:29 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:20:30 AM
If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.
But the computer itself continues to run. Because I can see the screen for a second at a time if I power the monitor off then back on.
I mean, with your power supply or somewhere in the motherboard. Something isn't getting enough voltage so the chipset is turning to sleep.
But it's just an opinion. I don't know anything about MACs.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:28:02 AM
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 11:26:29 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:20:30 AM
If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.
But the computer itself continues to run. Because I can see the screen for a second at a time if I power the monitor off then back on.
I mean, with your power supply or somewhere in the motherboard. Something isn't getting enough voltage so the chipset is turning to sleep.
But it's just an opinion. I don't know anything about MACs.
No, you could be on to something. Remember the Mac Pro in particular is just a big PC workstation. There's very little that makes it uniquely a Mac. I could list off the specs for it and only the EFI would give any hint that is a Mac rather than a Windows PC.
SOmething on the motherboard though? That makes me shudder.
So if you suspected that was the problem, is there nything I could do at home to try and fix it, or at least diagnose it?
I'd try a different PSU first but it's something I have on hand, you might not.
IIRC correctly you have an insane amount of ram, try reducing it to see if anything happens.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:28:02 AM
I mean, with your power supply or somewhere in the motherboard. Something isn't getting enough voltage so the chipset is turning to sleep.
But it's just an opinion. I don't know anything about MACs.
Actually, that's not a bad idea. I haven't heard of it being a common problem in a few years, but I'm suddenly remembering some ATI cards had fragile capacitors that resulted in black screens when blown. Wonder if the power surge fried a capacitor on the vid card...
I thought bad capacitors were a thing of the past, or at least I really hope that's the case. It's easy to visually inspect your video card, though. Look at the cylinders sticking out of it, and if some of them look popped with goo escaping from the top of them, your card is fried.
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:42:26 AM
I'd try a different PSU first but it's something I have on hand, you might not.
IIRC correctly you have an insane amount of ram, try reducing it to see if anything happens.
10GB of RAM is hardly insane. :P
No Mac Pro compatible PSU on hand. Taking out some RAM is pretty trivial so I could give that a try.
I'll take a quick look, but I'm almost certain it is not a blown capacitor. For whatever reason the monitor is being forced into sleep mode - not that it isn't receiving an image at all. When I power the monitor up I can see a perfect screen image - for all of one second, before the monitor goes back to sleep.
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 12:01:01 PM
Quote from: Grey Fox on July 19, 2011, 11:42:26 AM
I'd try a different PSU first but it's something I have on hand, you might not.
IIRC correctly you have an insane amount of ram, try reducing it to see if anything happens.
10GB of RAM is hardly insane. :P
No Mac Pro compatible PSU on hand. Taking out some RAM is pretty trivial so I could give that a try.
I'll take a quick look, but I'm almost certain it is not a blown capacitor. For whatever reason the monitor is being forced into sleep mode - not that it isn't receiving an image at all. When I power the monitor up I can see a perfect screen image - for all of one second, before the monitor goes back to sleep.
A blown capacitor doesn't necessarily mean no power to the card at all, but yeah, defective capacitors seem to be a thing of the past- that doesn't include damage from surges, though. All those capacitors and resistors are there to get it to specific voltage within a really small tolerance range; it could be any electrical damage to the card- capacitors, resistors, voltage regulator... another possibility is a burnt-out fan; a lot of cards will stay in standby if the fan isn't working to prevent heat damage.
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 12:01:01 PM
10GB of RAM is hardly insane. :P
No Mac Pro compatible PSU on hand. Taking out some RAM is pretty trivial so I could give that a try.
I'll take a quick look, but I'm almost certain it is not a blown capacitor. For whatever reason the monitor is being forced into sleep mode - not that it isn't receiving an image at all. When I power the monitor up I can see a perfect screen image - for all of one second, before the monitor goes back to sleep.
Could it be overheating? Have you cleaned out the air intake and exhaust on your vid card cooler?
Quote from: grumbler on July 19, 2011, 05:09:27 PM
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 12:01:01 PM
10GB of RAM is hardly insane. :P
No Mac Pro compatible PSU on hand. Taking out some RAM is pretty trivial so I could give that a try.
I'll take a quick look, but I'm almost certain it is not a blown capacitor. For whatever reason the monitor is being forced into sleep mode - not that it isn't receiving an image at all. When I power the monitor up I can see a perfect screen image - for all of one second, before the monitor goes back to sleep.
Could it be overheating? Have you cleaned out the air intake and exhaust on your vid card cooler?
I haven't opened the case. I've had cards fail before and the symptoms were nothing like this, but it certainly couldn't hurt to clean out the computer.
Cleaned out the dust. Removed some RAM - symptoms are identical.
Took out the vid card - couldn't see much due to the large plastic shroud, but nothing obviously out of order. Same with a visual inspection of the motherboard.
This is about as far as I can take this myself. Taking it to an Apple authorized shop tomorrow. Heading out of town on Thursday anyways, so hopefully they can fix it fairly cheaply before I get back.
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 10:58:19 PM
so hopefully they can fix it fairly cheaply before I get back.
"cheaply" and "Apple"? Well, I suppose you do believe in miracles.
Quote from: viper37 on July 20, 2011, 10:14:46 AM
Quote from: Barrister on July 19, 2011, 10:58:19 PM
so hopefully they can fix it fairly cheaply before I get back.
"cheaply" and "Apple"? Well, I suppose you do believe in miracles.
The Apple Certified technician couldn't find anything wrong with my machine either. Cost me $60. <_<
So I tested two different monitors, and both showed the same symptom. And apparently it's not a problem with the Mac itself.
But I just had a eureka moment.
The only common element when I tested both monitors was the DVI cable. And in fact when I went to hook up this old POS Dell that was sitting in the closet (which only has a VGA out, not DVI) I initially went to use a DVI -> VGA adaptor using the same cable, and I couldn't get a signal. But I didn't think anything of it, as I just grabbed a simple VGA cable I had sitting in a big box of miscellaneous computer stuff.
I'm 99% sure I have a bad DVI cable.
As soon as the baby wakes up, we're off to a computer store. :cool:
Well fuck, it isn't the DVI cable.
I'm going to get methodical about this. Try every possible combination of components to see if I can isolate where the problem is.
So I'm still trying to match up why the Mac repair shop couldn't find any problem, but I clearly do.
I wonder if the problem is the DVI out from my graphics card. The Apple branded 5770 has both a mini-DP and a DVI connections. I don't have a mini-DP monitor, so I've only used the DVI. Maybe the repair shop only connected using mini-DP?
:hmm:
Any suggestions would be most appreciated by the way.
Quote from: Barrister on August 01, 2011, 12:11:48 PM
So I'm still trying to match up why the Mac repair shop couldn't find any problem, but I clearly do.
I wonder if the problem is the DVI out from my graphics card. The Apple branded 5770 has both a mini-DP and a DVI connections. I don't have a mini-DP monitor, so I've only used the DVI. Maybe the repair shop only connected using mini-DP?
:hmm:
Any suggestions would be most appreciated by the way.
I was going to suggest maybe a messed-up DVI port.
Btw have you tried swapping in a different video card yet? Even if you have to buy an el cheapo card to do it, it might be worth doing, assuming you can find one that is Mac-compatible.
edit: or get one of these puppies to hook up your monitor to the mini-display port.
Quote from: derspiess on August 01, 2011, 12:49:08 PM
Quote from: Barrister on August 01, 2011, 12:11:48 PM
So I'm still trying to match up why the Mac repair shop couldn't find any problem, but I clearly do.
I wonder if the problem is the DVI out from my graphics card. The Apple branded 5770 has both a mini-DP and a DVI connections. I don't have a mini-DP monitor, so I've only used the DVI. Maybe the repair shop only connected using mini-DP?
:hmm:
Any suggestions would be most appreciated by the way.
I was going to suggest maybe a messed-up DVI port.
Btw have you tried swapping in a different video card yet? Even if you have to buy an el cheapo card to do it, it might be worth doing, assuming you can find one that is Mac-compatible.
edit: or get one of these puppies to hook up your monitor to the mini-display port.
When in doubt, go back to square one.
I retested both monitors, and both computers (the Mac Pro and an old POS Dell). My initial suspicion had been a bad monitor, but I know I couldn't get a signal from the Mac to the older monitor. But when I went back today, now I can get the old monitor to work, and can't get the new monitor to work on either computer.
So as it's only a year old, I get to fight with Samsung over warranty. Of course I seriously doubt I kept my old receipt - but it's supposedly a 3 year warranty...