Mac Studio screen flickering

[MaskedCarrot]

So I got the base M1 Max Studio on Friday and am having an issue with screen flickering. I haven't had a MAC in a long time, so it was exciting to get a new one to play with.

I have an LG 27GL850 1440 144hz monitor, works just fine with my PC desktop. I went to Best Buy and bought a USB-C to Displayport cable to use on the MAC. But when I hook it up, I get terrible screen flickering to the point it's kind of like a blinking. I've tried various refresh rates and all the same.

Then I tried it with an HDMI cable I had laying around, but was only able to go up to 100 hz refresh rate, which I guess I could live with for now. It pretty much took away the flickering, but I think it might still be there a little bit because I found I was getting a little nauseated after a bit of web browsing. Oddly enough, if I set it to 60 hz with the HDMI cable, I get a little bit of flickering, but not as bad as with the USB-C to Displayport cable.

So I do what anyone else would do, I Googled it. I noticed that this seems to be a MAC issue in general going back awhile for some people, and especially with M1 MACs. Yes I know not everyone has this issue with their monitor, but the issue is still there for a lot of people.

On a PC, you can connect almost any monitor, even really cheap ones, and never have this issue, but it seems more prevalent on the MAC for some reason.

Any advice? I'll give it a week and try to see if I can solve this issue, but if not, then I'll just return the MAC Studio. I don't technically need it, my PC works just fine. I just bought it to have a MAC to mess around with.

 

[coot]

Not studio related but I had a flickering (more the brightness flickering, if that makes sense - again a Google throws up other occurrences) Dell 32in 4K curved monitor today.

Changing the colour profile to something else seems to work (will find out the settings later) and turning off something Dell specific in one of the monitor menus.

 

[dizmonk]

So sorry for you. I've got my studio on order and picked up a 4k 32 Dell curve also. I was having terrible flickering when connected with the M1 Macbook air. A USBC Displayport cable helped but didn't eliminate the problem. HDMI cable made it worse. Keep us posted, please. Good luck.

 

[coot]

No brightness flickering and I've been working on a split 50/50 screen of vscode and a browser for the past hour.
Colour profile for the Dell is Display P3 connected via HDMI on a Macbook Pro 14in.
Monitor menu has DDC/CI turned off.

Granted not a solution for the OPs issue but maybe gives some hope that a setting tweak here and there will help.

If it keeps working after a full day sat in front of it tomorrow then the money saved from a Studio Display goes towards the cost of the Ultra whenever that turns up

I was starting a returns process on the monitor this morning...

 

[Tanmay]

I have a Studio M1 Max working great with LG 27GN950 at 4K/144hz. There is no flickering. Your issue could just be with the cable, try one from a different brand.

 

[enricoclaudio]

LG monitors are very susceptible to flickering issues when you don’t use the cables provided with the display. I have a pair of LG 32UN880-B and they work perfectly fine but only when using the cables that came with the monitor. In fact, LG clearly states that you have to use the provided cables to avoid flickering issues. I have my pair connected to my 14” MBP M1 Max with the USB C cables that came with the monitors and planning on using the same cables with my Mac Studio when arrives.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

Well I factory reseted my monitor, and now using HDMI on the Mac Studio is stable at 60 and 100 hz. I don't really see much difference between the two with day to day type stuff while changing around with both, so I guess I'll keep it at 100. Any reason to keep it at 60? That is more of a standard refresh rate compared to 100.

The only reason I was using a display port cable on my PC was to get the 144 hz refresh rate, but I guess it's not that big of a deal since I won't be gaming on the MAC. There might be a setting on my monitor that could be causing the severe flickering when using the display port cable, so I'll keep messing with it, and if I find anything out I will report back here. It would be nice to have the 144 hz refresh rate on the Mac.

If anyone comes across anything they can suggest to try, I am all ears.

 

[cpnotebook80]

Flickering happened on my benq sw271 with hdmi on my base ultra MS so I got a usbc tb4 cable n see how that goes.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

Flickering happened on my benq sw271 with hdmi on my base ultra MS so I got a usbc tb4 cable n see how that goes.

So your issue is the opposite of mine.

You can hook up an expensive or trash monitor to a PC with whatever cables and they all work. But MACs seems to be very choosy.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

Well looks like I just can't get a USB-C to Displayport cable to work on this Mac Studio. The HDMI works so far, but I am wondering if there might be problems down the road with that. Although with HDMI I can only do up to 100 hz and not go all the way up to 144 hz as I would when using displayport.

When I hook everything back up to my PC desktop, everything works just fine.

I just read a long thread in the other section here where a lot of people are having the same issues on HDMI and Displayport. I don't know why Apple machines are so difficult with something as easy as a monitor.

M1 Air ghosting, flickering with external display

My M1 MacBook Air has a serious problem with external displays. Pinging the brains here in case there are any ideas more convenient than sending back to Apple. Connecting directly via a known-good USB-C to DisplayPort cable, my Dell U2713HM (1) flickers, (2) shows vertical lines, and (3) mixes...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[cpnotebook80]

I got this one for my Cinema Display and works fine

Amiroko USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter, USB 3.1 Type C (Thunderbolt 3) to Mini DP Adapter Support 4K, 1080P for MacBook Pro, Alienware, to LED Cinema Display/Dell Monitor etc, Gray https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07DRQYWPD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0GBT0H0J0EWRQQVGRE2G

 

[MaskedCarrot]

I posted this in the other thread about external monitor issues as well.

I was messing around with cabling this morning, and I plugged into the USBC-DP cable again, and at 144 hz it was really bad, it was more than just flickering, it was blinking. I knocked it down to 120 hz and the blinking stopped, but there was an every so slight flickering left though.

So I hooked it back up to the HDMI cable at 100 hz. It's pretty much normal again now, except although I can't really see any flickering per say, I still think something is still not right because not long after I use the computer, I start to get a little nauseous and get a slight headache. If I hook my PC desktop back up to the monitor, everything is perfectly fine.

I got my Mac Studio at Costco, so they have a 90 day return policy, so I have time to see if Apple fixes this with an update. I hope they do soon. I would like to finish the transition from the PC to the Mac, but I can't do that for now if the screen is making me sick to my stomach.

 

[Sirmausalot]

I posted this in the other thread about external monitor issues as well.

I was messing around with cabling this morning, and I plugged into the USBC-DP cable again, and at 144 hz it was really bad, it was more than just flickering, it was blinking. I knocked it down to 120 hz and the blinking stopped, but there was an every so slight flickering left though.

So I hooked it back up to the HDMI cable at 100 hz. It's pretty much normal again now, except although I can't really see any flickering per say, I still think something is still not right because not long after I use the computer, I start to get a little nauseous and get a slight headache. If I hook my PC desktop back up to the monitor, everything is perfectly fine.

I got my Mac Studio at Costco, so they have a 90 day return policy, so I have time to see if Apple fixes this with an update. I hope they do soon. I would like to finish the transition from the PC to the Mac, but I can't do that for now if the screen is making me sick to my stomach.

Did you try changing the display port settings on your monitor? Try going from 1.2 to 1.4 or vice versa. You can tweak other settings directly on the monitor that may solve the problem. My LG wouldn't work at all until I tweaked a few settings. Many have reported issues with the latest MacOS upgrade.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

Did you try changing the display port settings on your monitor? Try going from 1.2 to 1.4 or vice versa. You can tweak other settings directly on the monitor that may solve the problem. My LG wouldn't work at all until I tweaked a few settings. Many have reported issues with the latest MacOS upgrade.

Yes I tried switching to DP 1.2 on my monitor, that didn't help any.

I was also thinking there might be some other settings in my LG monitor to try, but I am not sure what would. This is a gaming monitor, it does G-Sync and ActiveSync at 144 hz, so there are all kinds of settings in the monitor.

I am using an Insignia USBC to DP cable I got from Best Buy. Maybe getting a different cable might help, but I hate to spend on a good cable from on Amazon and it not work, and have to deal with sending it back. I've bought many cables from Best Buy in the past and never had any issues with what I buy there.

 

[stingraybass]

Yeah I'm getting the same flickering issues. Also a little bit of ghosting / image retention.

Fine all day then acted up a bit last night for a few minutes.

Only flickered on one display, not both.

2 x 4K BenQ PD2700U displays plugged in Thunderbolt to Displayport.

Have changed DP 1.1 - 1.4 settings, have changed display settings from 'BenQ 2700' to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and now on Display P3. All at 60hz.

Currently in HDR mode all day today to see if anything is any better. If it starts flickering in this mode I'll swap the cables between monitors.

I had a 16gb Mini that I returned after 2 days because of this, it was even worse and more constant than this.

My Mac Studio M1 Max has just replaced my Mac Pro 5.1 (with RX580), which never had any issues.

So it seems like an M1 issue / software thing? I would have thought running 2 displays would be no issue for the Max..

This machine is literally 5 days old... dunno whether to take it back for a refund or get AppleCare and hope they fixed something in software updates soon.

Such a pain 2 grand and it still flickers a bit

 

[bobcomer]

It's definitely an M1 issue, maybe hardware. My M1 MBA did it, especially when I had the dark theme active. It got better though once I went HDMI with a better cable and a monitor change. There's still a thread going in the M1 forum about it.

 

[stingraybass]

Very annoying. Such an amazing machine otherwise but kind of ruined with an issue like this :/

The Mini M1 16gb was the same, I loved it but flickering displays totally killed it for me.

Going to keep an eye today on HDR mode, but that's hardly a fix.

Might have to go back to the old 5.1

 

[MaskedCarrot]

I decided I am going to return my Mac Studio.

I get headaches every time I use it, and I am not sure whether it's eye strain from the screen, or the high pitched noise that comes from the fans. I kept thinking it was the screen, but I am starting to think now it might be the high pitched noise. I see other people noticed it in another thread in here. The fans are really quiet and I don't hear them at all sitting at my desk, but I can hear the high pitch that other people talk about.

As for the screen issues. It just seems like such drama to deal with. I can understand that a Mac isn't going to be as versatile as the PC when it comes to accessories, but something as simple as a monitor, there really is no excuse for issues like that. You can plug any crap monitor into a PC and it will work fine. Out of all issues a machine could have, monitor issues should never be one of them.

 

[stingraybass]

Don't blame you. Spoke to them today and they said they would replace or refund, but I am concerned it will happen again with a replacement.. Never had an issue with any other Mac plugging into whatever monitor I wanted.

Haven't had any flicker today but it's always at the back of my mind that it will start up again.

Other than that the machine is just awesome and silly fast.

I just wish there was a guaranteed way to not get flicker - that doesn't involve paying stupid money for a Studio Display...

 

[enbytv]

Yeah I'm getting the same flickering issues. Also a little bit of ghosting / image retention.

Fine all day then acted up a bit last night for a few minutes.

Only flickered on one display, not both.

2 x 4K BenQ PD2700U displays plugged in Thunderbolt to Displayport.

Have changed DP 1.1 - 1.4 settings, have changed display settings from 'BenQ 2700' to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and now on Display P3. All at 60hz.

Currently in HDR mode all day today to see if anything is any better. If it starts flickering in this mode I'll swap the cables between monitors.

I had a 16gb Mini that I returned after 2 days because of this, it was even worse and more constant than this.

My Mac Studio M1 Max has just replaced my Mac Pro 5.1 (with RX580), which never had any issues.

So it seems like an M1 issue / software thing? I would have thought running 2 displays would be no issue for the Max..

This machine is literally 5 days old... dunno whether to take it back for a refund or get AppleCare and hope they fixed something in software updates soon.

Such a pain 2 grand and it still flickers a bit

Mine arrived this morning and I'm now sat here with exactly the same monitors, using a Startech Thunderbolt 3 to Dual DisplayPort Adapter, and having the same issues. Was happening on one monitor this morning, then it stopped and has started happening on the other. Switching the frequency to 50Hz then back to 60Hz fixes it for about half an hour.

Not impressed...

 

[stingraybass]

I've changed to one HDMI out and 1 Thunderbolt to Displayport. No flicker as yet.

That said I'm going to get a replacement I think. Only a matter of time before it happens again.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

Well I returned my M1 Max to Costco this morning. To much drama I was dealing with.

I have been working on my PC all morning and no headache, so it was definitely something on the Studio causing that. I don't know if it was the screen issues or the high pitched sounds coming from the fans.

I think what I am going to do is wait until they refresh the iMac with the M2 chip and possibly get that.

 

[Random_Matt]

LG 4K monitor also had issues when connected to an M1 Mini, was said to be fine when sent back to the store. Apple wants you to buy theirs in all likelihood.

 

[dimme]

Well I returned my M1 Max to Costco this morning. To much drama I was dealing with.

I have been working on my PC all morning and no headache, so it was definitely something on the Studio causing that. I don't know if it was the screen issues or the high pitched sounds coming from the fans.

I think what I am going to do is wait until they refresh the iMac with the M2 chip and possibly get that.

Last summer when I needed to replace my Mac I first ordered a mini but after reading all the issues people were having with monitors I changed the order to a iMac. Sorry to hear the issue still exist. I guess it's a m1 problem.

 

[MaskedCarrot]

Last summer when I needed to replace my Mac I first ordered a mini but after reading all the issues people were having with monitors I changed the order to a iMac. Sorry to hear the issue still exist. I guess it's a m1 problem.

What iMac did you get?

The M1 iMacs are pretty nice, but I was thinking maybe the M2 version will be out later this year. Plus I like having 32 gigs of Ram, which you can't with the current iMac.