M1/M2 flickering, ghosting with external display [Merged]

[dr.zeissler]

My 30" is connected to a serpent canyon with arc 770m , so no mac.

 

[Tek5]

I have what I believe is wonderful news.

Back on the first of January 2022, I reported the bug to Apple after having issues occur with my Dell S2722QC monitor. I spoke to multiple people at Apple who all tried to work out why the issue was occurring. I contacted Dell support who kindly sent me a second monitor to see if the issue occurs on a different monitor. To great surprise, the issue was present on the second monitor too.

There were many "thought to be" solutions such as:
• Changing refresh rate from 'Variable 40Hz-60Hz' to '60Hz'
• Turning off 'True Tone'
• Changing the Colour Profile on macOS to 'Colour LCD'
• Being on the most recent version of macOS
• Using HDMI rather than DisplayPort over USB-C

2 days ago, after two and a bit years, two entire macOS versions later, I receive a response from Apple saying that there are changes to macOS Sonoma 14.4 which may fix this issue.

After countless hours using my monitor with my MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro through DisplayPort, I can say with some confidence that the issue is not occurring. I am on macOS Sonoma 14.5 (Beta) so it may not be fixed on Sonoma 14.4 as Apple said in their email. I won't be amazed if the issue shows up somewhere else now, maybe some colours in an image on Google somewhere may cause it but we will see.

I have tested to see if it is fixed by going back to my original 13" M1 MacBook Pro from late 2020. This good old laptop is running macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 which is the most recent version of macOS available to the public. During testing, the flickering occurs anytime comments on YouTube are shown or when watching YouTube Shorts. The trigger for the flickering changes all the time. Back when the issue first began, it was an image of a portfolio website on Google, then it was Rivian's website showing their R1T. The trigger has changed so many times over the past 2 years that I have failed to keep track of what has caused it.

With all this said, macOS Sonoma 14.5 may or may not fix the problem you are experiencing but I really hope it is the solution to end the problem for good for everyone. If you still have the issue occur after doing the next update when it is released to public (14.5), use Feedback Assistant on macOS to report the bug with as much detail as you can provide so the problem can be dealt with.

The email from Apple:

Updated to 14.5 yesterday and unfortunately can't confirm your results, actually it feels even worse for me now.

Will follow your lead and use the feedback assistant, but at this point I believe that it will never get fixed.

 

[LostProgrammer]

Updated to 14.5 yesterday and unfortunately can't confirm your results, actually it feels even worse for me now.

Will follow your lead and use the feedback assistant, but at this point I believe that it will never get fixed.

Hey, after further testing over the past month, I have come to the same conclusion. The issue was gone for around 3 or so weeks, before coming back randomly for no reason. Others have suggests an app called "BetterDisplay" where you can turn off "GPU Dithering." I found this didn't fix the issue either. Another app is "StillColor" where you can turn off dithering there too, but same results. Apple has a huge ongoing problem to solve and it's important that we all continuously report the issues so they know it is a wide spread ongoing issue.

 

[stevemiller]

Hey, after further testing over the past month, I have come to the same conclusion. The issue was gone for around 3 or so weeks, before coming back randomly for no reason. Others have suggests an app called "BetterDisplay" where you can turn off "GPU Dithering." I found this didn't fix the issue either. Another app is "StillColor" where you can turn off dithering there too, but same results. Apple has a huge ongoing problem to solve and it's important that we all continuously report the issues so they know it is a wide spread ongoing issue.

yup. its so frustrating. i'd filed feedback way back in the day and maybe a year ago gotten notice from them that the latest os update should address it. the problem is that for me it can go MONTHS without acting up, and then suddenly be really bad and happen frequently, and by then they probably assumed from not hearing from me for so long, that they'd addressed it, which drags things out even more.

 

[VitoBotta]

Finally disabling the GPU Dithering with the BetterDisplay app seems to have fixed the flickering issue for me.

 

[kaleidofuzz]

Hi, made an account on here to chime in and say I'm also having this issue. External display has intermittent vertical lines, flickering, image retention after a while. also, very occasionally, a flash of noise/static for a frame. I'm using a MBP M1 Pro 14" 8cpu 14gpu, HDMI cable plugged directly from the laptop into the monitor (Asus VG279, 1080p @ 144hz). Issue doesn't occur on any of my other devices (windows desktop and laptop). Sonoma 14.5.

Things I've tried, to no avail:
- Change the external display’s colour profile to Colour LCD / sRGB / Adobe RGB / etc.
- Disable FreeSync in monitor OSD.
- Use a DisplayPort cable instead of HDMI.
- Plug monitor into a DisplayPort USB-C dock instead of directly into the HDMI port.
- Use a different HDMI cable.
- Tried both StillColour and BetterDisplay's temporal dithering disable features, it seems to make the issue a little less prominent but ultimately it's still there.

Also, for what it's worth, I had the logic board & top case on this laptop replaced under warranty for a separate battery-related issue. The vertical lines / flickering were present both before, and after, the logic board & top case replacement.

As others have suggested, I submitted an issue using the feedback assistant. that's my only advice for anyone else reading this thread.

 

[name99]

Hi, made an account on here to chime in and say I'm also having this issue. External display has intermittent vertical lines, flickering, image retention after a while. also, very occasionally, a flash of noise/static for a frame. I'm using a MBP M1 Pro 14" 8cpu 14gpu, HDMI cable plugged directly from the laptop into the monitor (Asus VG279, 1080p @ 144hz). Issue doesn't occur on any of my other devices (windows desktop and laptop). Sonoma 14.5.

Things I've tried, to no avail:
- Change the external display’s colour profile to Colour LCD / sRGB / Adobe RGB / etc.
- Disable FreeSync in monitor OSD.
- Use a DisplayPort cable instead of HDMI.
- Plug monitor into a DisplayPort USB-C dock instead of directly into the HDMI port.
- Use a different HDMI cable.
- Tried both StillColour and BetterDisplay's temporal dithering disable features, it seems to make the issue a little less prominent but ultimately it's still there.

Also, for what it's worth, I had the logic board & top case on this laptop replaced under warranty for a separate battery-related issue. The vertical lines / flickering were present both before, and after, the logic board & top case replacement.

As others have suggested, I submitted an issue using the feedback assistant. that's my only advice for anyone else reading this thread.

I can't say who's to blame, or whether this is an acceptable solution for you, but have you tried forcing the External monitor to HDMI 1.4? That fixed my version of this problem.

I have no idea if this is a correct analysis, but it seems like HDMI 2 allows for a whole lot of negotiation of parameters between the display and the computer, and one side or the other (no idea which) seems to get some aspects of that negotiation incorrect.

 

[kaleidofuzz]

I can't say who's to blame, or whether this is an acceptable solution for you, but have you tried forcing the External monitor to HDMI 1.4? That fixed my version of this problem.

I have no idea if this is a correct analysis, but it seems like HDMI 2 allows for a whole lot of negotiation of parameters between the display and the computer, and one side or the other (no idea which) seems to get some aspects of that negotiation incorrect.

Thanks, I appreciate the suggestion. My external display only supports HDMI 1.4, so that's what I've been using. Just made my post to throw in my hardware config & what I've tried. it's kind of a hard issue to track because it will go extended periods without happening sometimes, and then other times will be a lot more frequent.

 

[Tek5]

Finally disabling the GPU Dithering with the BetterDisplay app seems to have fixed the flickering issue for me.

I want to cautiously confirm it, although I only use it for roughly a week, however before that (since the last macOS update) the flickering occured multiple times a day, but since going for BetterDisplay and disabling the GPU Dithering I didn't see that problem again.

In case someone wants to try it too:
1. Download BetterDisplay from https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay#readme and install it.
2. A new icon for BetterDisplay will show up in the menu bar, click it.
3. Right under the first two sliders (one for brightness another for screen resolution) you'll find a chevron icon, click it, then a bunch of more options should show up.
4. Go to "Image adjustments" and here click on "GPU Dithering" to disable it (icon of the entry is blue => it is enabled; icon is gray => it is disabled)

Hope that helps some of you or makes it at least a bit more bearable!

 

[Chuckeee]

I want to cautiously confirm it, although I only use it for roughly a week, however before that (since the last macOS update) the flickering occured multiple times a day, but since going for BetterDisplay and disabling the GPU Dithering I didn't see that problem again.

In case someone wants to try it too:
1. Download BetterDisplay from https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay#readme and install it.
2. A new icon for BetterDisplay will show up in the menu bar, click it.
3. Right under the first two sliders (one for brightness another for screen resolution) you'll find a chevron icon, click it, then a bunch of more options should show up.
4. Go to "Image adjustments" and here click on "GPU Dithering" to disable it (icon of the entry is blue => it is enabled; icon is gray => it is disabled)

Hope that helps some of you or makes it at least a bit more bearable!

This process also worked for me using an M2Pro mini with a 4K Dell display via HMDI

 

[stephersiu]

Ran into flickering yesterday. M1 Max Macbook Pro with Eve Spectrum 4k monitor over USB-C thunderbolt. I was using an Android emulator and the external monitor snapshotted the open windows and left a burn-in image plus flickering.

Solutions tried and failed:
1. Power cycling laptop and monitor
2. Tried HDMI cable instead, cables are not faulty
3. BetterDisplay and options to turn off GPU Dithering
4. Turned off auto brightness, true tone, dark mode, and set refresh to 60hz

Solutions that worked:
1. Adjusting color profile and the gamma, but the colors are messed up and the flickering didn't fully go away and the burn in was still visible over brighter colors. Partially worked.
2. Updated to Sonoma 14.5 - this fully fixed my problem.

 

[stephersiu]

Ran into flickering yesterday. M1 Max Macbook Pro with Eve Spectrum 4k monitor over USB-C thunderbolt. I was using an Android emulator and the external monitor snapshotted the open windows and left a burn-in image plus flickering.

Solutions tried and failed:
1. Power cycling laptop and monitor
2. Tried HDMI cable instead, cables are not faulty
3. BetterDisplay and options to turn off GPU Dithering
4. Turned off auto brightness, true tone, dark mode, and set refresh to 60hz

Solutions that worked:
1. Adjusting color profile and the gamma, but the colors are messed up and the flickering didn't fully go away and the burn in was still visible over brighter colors. Partially worked.
2. Updated to Sonoma 14.5 - this fully fixed my problem.

A month of no flickering on Sonoma 14.5, then today it just started up again while using the same apps as last time: Android emulator and Discord.

Updated to Sonoma 14.6 beta and the burn in is gone but there is still a slight flicker. Hopefully it goes away.

 

[LostProgrammer]

A month of no flickering on Sonoma 14.5, then today it just started up again while using the same apps as last time: Android emulator and Discord.

Updated to Sonoma 14.6 beta and the burn in is gone but there is still a slight flicker. Hopefully it goes away.

Sonoma 14.5 also worked for me for around a week, then at random, the flickering returned at full force. No matter what is changed, the flickering and burn-in just doesn't go away. It's almost like this is a literal bug that can develop and change itself, solutions that used to work just don't work after a while. Hopefully someday in the future, the devs at Apple find a way to solve it for good. Would also be fantastic if Apple talked to the community about the problem rather than shutting us out and keeping it secret.

 

[Surrix]

I want to cautiously confirm it, although I only use it for roughly a week, however before that (since the last macOS update) the flickering occured multiple times a day, but since going for BetterDisplay and disabling the GPU Dithering I didn't see that problem again.

In case someone wants to try it too:
1. Download BetterDisplay from https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay#readme and install it.
2. A new icon for BetterDisplay will show up in the menu bar, click it.
3. Right under the first two sliders (one for brightness another for screen resolution) you'll find a chevron icon, click it, then a bunch of more options should show up.
4. Go to "Image adjustments" and here click on "GPU Dithering" to disable it (icon of the entry is blue => it is enabled; icon is gray => it is disabled)

Hope that helps some of you or makes it at least a bit more bearable!

This seems to have also worked for me. Cautiously optimistic.

 

[kaleidofuzz]

After my post in June my setup just seemed to decide to start working & I went a little over 2 months without any sort of flicker at all, under almost daily usage (used Stillcolour, DP1.4 -> USB-C dock). But today, out of the blue, flashing/flickering just came back:

I was doing a Cycles render in Blender so the GPU was basically maxed out, though I'm not sure this has any correlation with the GPU usage or not because I use Blender all the time. Still on 14.5. I'm assuming this is just a hardware issue with M1/M2. 🙃

 

[majkom]

M3 solved that or not?

 

[Populus]

M3 solved that or not?

I was actually wondering this… because my future Mac mini will probably be an M4 or M4 Pro.

Ran into flickering yesterday. M1 Max Macbook Pro with Eve Spectrum 4k monitor over USB-C thunderbolt. I was using an Android emulator and the external monitor snapshotted the open windows and left a burn-in image plus flickering.

Solutions tried and failed:
1. Power cycling laptop and monitor
2. Tried HDMI cable instead, cables are not faulty
3. BetterDisplay and options to turn off GPU Dithering
4. Turned off auto brightness, true tone, dark mode, and set refresh to 60hz

Solutions that worked:
1. Adjusting color profile and the gamma, but the colors are messed up and the flickering didn't fully go away and the burn in was still visible over brighter colors. Partially worked.
2. Updated to Sonoma 14.5 - this fully fixed my problem.

I’m probably buying an EVE/Dough Spectrum One. Is it prone to burn-in, despite being an LCD screen?

 

[kaleidofuzz]

M3 solved that or not?

Considering Apple hasn't even acknowledged that this is an issue, I'd be hesitant to assume that this has been fixed on M3 or M4.

 

[majkom]

I mean by chance, not by purpose by apple

 

[tigger0jk]

I want to cautiously confirm it, although I only use it for roughly a week, however before that (since the last macOS update) the flickering occured multiple times a day, but since going for BetterDisplay and disabling the GPU Dithering I didn't see that problem again.

In case someone wants to try it too:
1. Download BetterDisplay from https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay#readme and install it.
2. A new icon for BetterDisplay will show up in the menu bar, click it.
3. Right under the first two sliders (one for brightness another for screen resolution) you'll find a chevron icon, click it, then a bunch of more options should show up.
4. Go to "Image adjustments" and here click on "GPU Dithering" to disable it (icon of the entry is blue => it is enabled; icon is gray => it is disabled)

Hope that helps some of you or makes it at least a bit more bearable!

Note that since BetterDisplay version v3.0.2 released 3 weeks ago, the "GPU Dithering" option has moved to be under "Color Mode" (not "Image adjustments")

 

[Surrix]

Has anyone disabled GPU Dithering via Better Display and ever had the flickering come back? Still working great for me.

 

[dr.zeissler]

Got my dual-link dvi adapter with mini-display port from apple today...checked my 2009 macmini 9400m 10.6.8 and all I can sell is, that on black backgrounds lot's of horrible blue lines from left to right are visible....it's on every resolution like 640x480 up to 2560x1600....BUT! it's completely gone with 1280x800!....this is the ONLY resolution that is not effected...so what do you think? I am pretty confused...

 

[bonebrightd]

Still no issues - it's been 3 months so far. Active/powered cable for the win!

Still going strong with no issues?

 

[Populus]

Now the only thing left is to ask Apple themselves to implement the same exact toggle — which already internally exists within the OS — in their own System Settings. File those feedback radars y'all! Even mention iOS, as this same issue occurs on iOS display output and there isn't a way to solve it there yet.

Hey! Given that I’m currently running the iPadOS 18 beta, I’ve used the Feedback App to ask them to add a toggle to disable temporal dithering on iOS/iPadOS Accessibility Settings, ideally in the Reduce Motion panel.

My feedback entry has a code. Would it be useful to share such code here?

 

[f41lbl0g]

Theres a lightweight app on github called Stillcolor, which fixed the issue for me. Disables dithering just like betterdisplay but its very lightweight https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor