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M1/M2 flickering, ghosting with external display [Merged]
- Thread starter aednichols
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My Mac mini M1 2020 and Dell S2721Q have similar problem.
When the problem occurred, I called apple support and explained the phenomena. The logic board in the mac mini has been replaced. But apple's answer was "The phenomenon was not reproduced." ... orz
Hey apple, have you revised logic board? I want to believe that.
The flickering and ghosts on "second" S2721Q disappeared after keeping power on 5hrs.
I'm waiting for the "third" one now.
At the very least, I want to know combinations that do not cause any problems.
A long time ago, I received an Apple rework program on my PowerBook 5300. It was a good time...
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many moons ago with my new 24" iMac (2007), I had LCD burn-in. They replaced everything inside and it still was going on.
Do you have Apple Care+? I'd start getting that thing in the shop because if you have 3 major repairs in a year, they will give you a new machine. I got a new 27" upgrade for free and I just got my new 16" M1 Max upgrade for free! (2 separate issues) 2019 16" MBP was just crap. They replaced the logic board 3 times and still had issues.
It's a long process but yes you can still get Apple Care on the new machine as well and pay for upgrades as well. It doesn't happen often but thank god it's there!
I never heard about main screens having the banding. Freaking stuff!!!haha my main screen is broken. macbook air m1 8G 256
I am going to take a guess that you have not read this thread through.
Has anybody tried my link? It would be helpful to know, whether we can reproduce it on other devices. Maybe debugging of the webpage then would give further results.
I have a MacBook Air M1 connected to a Dell U2720Q via Thunderbolt and have gotten severe flickering + instant burn-in ONLY when visiting one particular website - Denon.com. Something about this website causes the monitor to freak out after browsing around and having it open for a while. For reference, I was viewing the D9200 headphone page, and the Support page and am using Safari on BigSur 11.6.5.
It's happened to me twice now on the same website. No other website or application has caused this after a year of use, although it's possible there may be other sites with the same issue. Also, I had the page open over several sleep/wake cycles. Not sure if that has any effect or not.
Once it starts, the flickering persists even after turning the monitor on/off, disconnecting the laptop, and completely unplugging the monitor. I also have an old Windows PC connected to the same monitor via HDMI, and the issue persists even after switching inputs. So, I don't think it is cable related, at least in my case. Something in the monitor has gone wonky.
The first time it happened (a few months ago), I left it off for a day or so and it returned to normal eventually.
The second time it happened (yesterday), I left it off overnight and there was still a faint flickering this morning. I just did a factory reset on the monitor while connected to my PC, and it looks like it's mostly back to normal. I feel like there might still be a very faint flicker on grey backgrounds, but I'm not sure if it's real or my mind just playing tricks on me after staring at flickering for so long.
I did also try several of the potential fixes in this thread, but they didn't appear to have any effect in my case.
Just adding my experience for reference.
It's happened to me twice now on the same website. No other website or application has caused this after a year of use, although it's possible there may be other sites with the same issue. Also, I had the page open over several sleep/wake cycles. Not sure if that has any effect or not.
Once it starts, the flickering persists even after turning the monitor on/off, disconnecting the laptop, and completely unplugging the monitor. I also have an old Windows PC connected to the same monitor via HDMI, and the issue persists even after switching inputs. So, I don't think it is cable related, at least in my case. Something in the monitor has gone wonky.
The first time it happened (a few months ago), I left it off for a day or so and it returned to normal eventually.
The second time it happened (yesterday), I left it off overnight and there was still a faint flickering this morning. I just did a factory reset on the monitor while connected to my PC, and it looks like it's mostly back to normal. I feel like there might still be a very faint flicker on grey backgrounds, but I'm not sure if it's real or my mind just playing tricks on me after staring at flickering for so long.
I did also try several of the potential fixes in this thread, but they didn't appear to have any effect in my case.
Just adding my experience for reference.
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Not that it will likely surprise anyone in this thread, but the issues still persists on MacOS 13 DB1.
BSOD? What do folks running Windows do to supposedly get so many blue screens? The only time I've got a BSOD was when I swapped my SATA emulation to IDE mode instead of AHCI by mistake after replacing the clock battery...
Same haha, I sometimes don't get the BSOD bashing on Windows. I think I have not seen a BSOD in more than a decade and my main gaming PC runs a fairly big overclock on both the cpu and gpu (i.e. not even stock).
I am returning my brand new Mac Studio Ultra because of this exact problem.
On the first day of use, my monitor began to flicker and eventually glitched out dramatically, forming a garbled mosaic, and leaving parts of the image 'burned in' to the screen for several hours.
Eventually, I discovered a way to reproduce the flicker on demand by viewing a specific image. I also experienced signal dropouts, where the monitor would go black for a seconds.
Of particular concern to me is the fact that the flickering, black pinstripes, and image persistence issues remain even with different machines going through different inputs. My Mac Studio has been packed up awaiting collection for several days now, and I still see remnants of this flickering and pinstripes on my Windows PC when viewing certain greyscale patterns.
In decades of computer use and troubleshooting, I've never seen anything like this. Absolutely bizarre.
Thankfully the flickering on my monitor appears to be subsiding over time, but the possibility remains that these M1 machines may be capable of causing permanent damage to connected displays.
Tested on two monitors (Asus PG329Q, HP Omen X27) exact same behaviour on both. Both of these monitors were functioning perfectly before with several different PCs and Intel Macs.
As a side note: These are both 1440p, high refresh rate, adaptive sync capable gaming monitors. I've disabled adaptive sync on both monitors, but I'm wondering if the high refresh rate is part of the equation here. Has anybody experienced this problem on 60hz monitors?
By my estimation, something is seriously wrong and out of spec with the video output on these M1 machines.
I couldn't find any reports of this flickering occurring on the new M2 MacBooks.
Looks to me like Apple is hoping to sweep this problem under the rug by quietly addressing the issue on the M2 platform.
On the first day of use, my monitor began to flicker and eventually glitched out dramatically, forming a garbled mosaic, and leaving parts of the image 'burned in' to the screen for several hours.
Eventually, I discovered a way to reproduce the flicker on demand by viewing a specific image. I also experienced signal dropouts, where the monitor would go black for a seconds.
Of particular concern to me is the fact that the flickering, black pinstripes, and image persistence issues remain even with different machines going through different inputs. My Mac Studio has been packed up awaiting collection for several days now, and I still see remnants of this flickering and pinstripes on my Windows PC when viewing certain greyscale patterns.
In decades of computer use and troubleshooting, I've never seen anything like this. Absolutely bizarre.
Thankfully the flickering on my monitor appears to be subsiding over time, but the possibility remains that these M1 machines may be capable of causing permanent damage to connected displays.
Tested on two monitors (Asus PG329Q, HP Omen X27) exact same behaviour on both. Both of these monitors were functioning perfectly before with several different PCs and Intel Macs.
As a side note: These are both 1440p, high refresh rate, adaptive sync capable gaming monitors. I've disabled adaptive sync on both monitors, but I'm wondering if the high refresh rate is part of the equation here. Has anybody experienced this problem on 60hz monitors?
By my estimation, something is seriously wrong and out of spec with the video output on these M1 machines.
I couldn't find any reports of this flickering occurring on the new M2 MacBooks.
Looks to me like Apple is hoping to sweep this problem under the rug by quietly addressing the issue on the M2 platform.
You couldn't find much information about M2 Macs, because most them haven't arrived yet. First devices have been arrived this week (as far as I know), but how much? Who knows. Maybe a few hundreds? a few thousands?
Flickering does not happen instantly. Mine is running fine for several weeks since the last flickering, so what does it mean? Does it mean the issue is fixed for me? I don't think so..
Wait a few more weeks and we will see if M2 has the same problems or not. Since the M2 is just M1 with higher specs, I wouldn't expect much difference.
Flickering does not happen instantly. Mine is running fine for several weeks since the last flickering, so what does it mean? Does it mean the issue is fixed for me? I don't think so..
Wait a few more weeks and we will see if M2 has the same problems or not. Since the M2 is just M1 with higher specs, I wouldn't expect much difference.
Hi Servior, thanks for the response.
Of course, it will take a while for the reports to emerge.
Curious to see that you've not seen any flickers for several weeks. Can I ask, did you ever find a way to reproduce the issue on demand?
No sorry. When the issue appeared the last time, the website https://ieeexplore.ieee.org caused the flickering. Now I can navigate to the site and nothing happens.
I don't think this issue is limited to high refresh rate gaming monitors, although I do think that high refresh rate monitors do make this issue more pronounced. I've used the m1 macbook airs with my main monitor which is an LG38GL950 which is a high refresh rate monitor with a native gsync module and I've also used it with a benq 60hz 4k panel (gen1 adaptive sync, no native nvidia gsync). The benq exhibited the flickering issue to a significantly less extent than the LG38gl. Mind you, both these monitors were working perfectly fine for a long time with non apple silicon devices (and still do).
There are certain things that can help reduce the flickering/burnin issue although I don't think there is a way to eliminate it. As you've put it, there is something seriously out of spec with the whatever display controller apple silicon uses. Things like reducing overall brightness, reducing blue output, turning off adaptive sync seemed to help me although it may not for others.
Either way, I would be very surprised if this is fixed with m2. As I understand it, m2 is pretty much a higher specced m1, same silicon. A bit of a shame, that such a good chip in all other respect is let down by this and a greater shame that Apple silently ignores it (although not unexpected).
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Yes, unfortunately this is perhaps wishful thinking from me.
Regrettably, at this point, a silent sweeping under the rug (leaving existing M1 owners high and dry) is the best outcome I'm hoping for.
I got burned already with my trash can Mac Pro (crashing D300 GPUs, never officially acknowledged).
Fool me twice...
If Apple don't address this with M2, I'll be waving them goodbye for good.
I created an account here to contribute to this thread.
I have a MacBook Pro 14" 2021 and I have had problems with flickering and image retention on the external monitors I am using.
I have two DELL monitors connected to the MacBook Pro. Both models are the same - S2722QC - 27" 4K and connected via USB-C connection using provided DELL cables. I have them set to "Default for Display" so they are effective 1920x1080 at "retina" (easy on my old eyes).
I had an issue where I had Netflix open in Safari, and suddenly both monitors displayed graphical issues - a sort of interlacing; whole blocky areas of the screen flickering badly - much worse than the previous issues I had experienced where it would flicker for a small period of time usually when scrolling dark content.
The issue this time was much more severe, and I almost immediately unplugged one monitor from the laptop, which caused the layout of windows to adjust - and the other monitor started having graphical issues with the same severity, so I unplugged that monitor too.
Both monitors went into "Scanning for signal..." and then "No USB-C signal from your device" mode but the image retention and flickering appeared even though they were unplugged from the laptop! This caused me to freak out a bit - I had never seen something like this previously. And, it was happening on BOTH screens, just slightly different kinds of things were being persisted.
I turned the power off to the monitors completely, and waited a few minutes before turning them on again - and the image retention and flickering was still there, on both monitors.
I found this thread, and read through it, and tried changing some settings. Over a period of about 20-30 minutes, the image retention and flickering faded away.
I have a MacBook Pro 14" 2021 and I have had problems with flickering and image retention on the external monitors I am using.
I have two DELL monitors connected to the MacBook Pro. Both models are the same - S2722QC - 27" 4K and connected via USB-C connection using provided DELL cables. I have them set to "Default for Display" so they are effective 1920x1080 at "retina" (easy on my old eyes).
I had an issue where I had Netflix open in Safari, and suddenly both monitors displayed graphical issues - a sort of interlacing; whole blocky areas of the screen flickering badly - much worse than the previous issues I had experienced where it would flicker for a small period of time usually when scrolling dark content.
The issue this time was much more severe, and I almost immediately unplugged one monitor from the laptop, which caused the layout of windows to adjust - and the other monitor started having graphical issues with the same severity, so I unplugged that monitor too.
Both monitors went into "Scanning for signal..." and then "No USB-C signal from your device" mode but the image retention and flickering appeared even though they were unplugged from the laptop! This caused me to freak out a bit - I had never seen something like this previously. And, it was happening on BOTH screens, just slightly different kinds of things were being persisted.
I turned the power off to the monitors completely, and waited a few minutes before turning them on again - and the image retention and flickering was still there, on both monitors.
I found this thread, and read through it, and tried changing some settings. Over a period of about 20-30 minutes, the image retention and flickering faded away.
Welcome to the apple silicon club. Yes, the image retention can persist even when you disconnect your monitors from the m1 macs. It can even persist when you connect the monitor to a different device even on a different input. The only way to get rid of it is to leave the monitor powered off for a while.
So I actually managed to fix this somehow, at least for now.
My setup is:
www.dell.com
Also I left the monitor turned off with just the power cable for about 10 minutes.
Strangely enough when the flickering started, it affected both the M1 MacBook, and a PS4 via HDMI.
My setup is:
- Dell P3222QE
- MacBook Air M1 2020
P3222QE, MacBook Pro M1, backlight flicker | DELL Technologies
I just brought the P3222QE monitor 3 days ago after use for a long day 8 hrs the screen have occur backlight flicker issue bright and dim flashing appear as I recorded the video and attac...
www.dell.com
Also I left the monitor turned off with just the power cable for about 10 minutes.
Strangely enough when the flickering started, it affected both the M1 MacBook, and a PS4 via HDMI.
Where is the fix? The link you post, the last post by you seems to suggest the issue is still unresolved?So I actually managed to fix this somehow, at least for now.
My setup is:
I troubleshooted using these steps.
- Dell P3222QE
- MacBook Air M1 2020
P3222QE, MacBook Pro M1, backlight flicker | DELL Technologies
I just brought the P3222QE monitor 3 days ago after use for a long day 8 hrs the screen have occur backlight flicker issue bright and dim flashing appear as I recorded the video and attac...
Also I left the monitor turned off with just the power cable for about 10 minutes.
Strangely enough when the flickering started, it affected both the M1 MacBook, and a PS4 via HDMI.
I troubleshooted using these steps.
P3222QE, MacBook Pro M1, backlight flicker | DELL Technologies
I just brought the P3222QE monitor 3 days ago after use for a long day 8 hrs the screen have occur backlight flicker issue bright and dim flashing appear as I recorded the video and attac...
www.dell.com
Also I left turned off with just the power cable for about 10 minutes.
Sorry I should have been clearer, in that instance, what they suggested worked for me.
I unplugged all cables from the monitor, plugged in the power, ran the screen diagnostics a few times, powered off the monitor again for about 10 minutes, turned it back on, factory reset it, and the flickering has since gone.
I don't know why it worked for me and not them, but it did.