Mac Pro with X1900 & Dell 3007WFP-HC HELP!
 

I have a Mac Pro with the ATI X1900 video card (it was an upgrade) and I just upgraded from two 20" Dell monitors to one 30" 3007WFP-HC. However, there are red "sparkling" pixels all over.

Now, originally I assumed it was a monitor problem, however, the pixels don't always sparkle, only when there is a dark color (like black or dark blue, etc). It makes watching a movie impossible, not to mention it just sucks. If you move a white background in front of the sparkling pixels it works fine so it isn't that the pixels themselves are damaged.

I'm under the impression that it has to do with my video card, but I installed the latest firmware update to no avail. Also, when I boot from a system disc (10.4 or 10.5) no problems can be seen (maybe the backgrounds weren't dark enough, but there were no problems).

Has anyone else encountered this problem? I read somewhere else that I should blow compressed air on the video card but I did that and it didn't work. This monitor is awesome, I just don't want to be stuck with these horrible problems!

There could be 'stuck' pixels, instead of dead pixels. A pixel is made of 3 colors, red, green, and blue. When all 3 of them are off, you get black. When all 3 are on, you get white. A dead pixel is where none of the colors ever turn on. When a pixel gets 'stuck', one or two colors is always on, or always off. In this case, it sounds like a lot of pixels are 'stuck' with red always on. That's why when the green and blue turn on, you can't see the red 'stuck' pixels anymore, as it makes the pixel white.

Is it possible to attach the monitor to another computer, to rule out the possibility of the video card being the problem.

Its the video card. 100% sure of it.

I just connected it to my Mac Mini and everything was fine. These pixels aren't stuck though, they just flicker. But if you move something over them it is fine.

I guess I need to wait for a driver update or something.

Those are called "artifacts." They are a sign of timing and/or VRAM problems and will not correct with a drive update. You're right though…*It is the video card.

Thank you for the terminology, it helped me find some other posts. For the sake of anyone that may have similar problems down the line I will post the info here. But in the end it seems like time will solve this issue.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....readID=1195969
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=5645204

A potential fix for the time being (i haven't tested it yet though):

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....readID=1204995

Same problem
 

I got the exactly the same problem as you have.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marclin/2365071775/
It happens only in dark gray area. I just called dell technical support today and they ask me to do monitor test (just unplug the monitor). It works fine. Seems they don't know what's the problem, so they asked me to test it with other computer.
After I read this, I think it is not necessary to borrow my friend's mac book anymore.

Does Apple care take care of this problem? I spend lots money to buy this two dream items but they end up disappointed me....

Sadly I have just lived with the problem for the last two months or so (since I got the monitor).

I have read nearly every single thread out there that mentions this problem in some way or another with no solution.

With that said, I am just going to buy a new graphics card and sell the X1900. The card worked fine with two monitors at 1600x1200 so I am sure it is just an odd situation with this ultra high resolution.

It may be a step backwards (I never really needed all that graphics power anyway) but at least it might work:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...?find=MB198Z/A

Once I get this I will let you know how it goes. It may take me up to a month to get it though, just an FYI.

that's the card I have
 

ATI Radeon HD 2600 is the card I have. I bought the 8-core 3.0G mac pro during January 2008.
Unfortunately, this card doesn't solve this problem...:mad:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/...50eddfbe33.jpg

I searched internet as well, but seems not a lot of people encounter the same problem like us.
Is that the Dell monitor not compatible with Mac's video card?

I also post our question in apple's forum, FYI:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....67434&tstart=0

Crap. Well, you saved me time and a headache.

Maybe it is just the card? I think I may try to just pull the card (I have a laptop I can work on) and see if a replacement will do the job, that is unless you have tried this already as well.

I feel like we are just getting shafted here.

Are you going to get the card replacement from Apple?
How to pull the card from mac? Does it break Apple care if we did that?
I really don't want to carry this heavy mac to apple store...

I'm planning on just pulling the card out of the mac pro (its really not that hard). Considering the fact that Apple provides us with 4 slots for graphics cards I don't think it will 'break' the applecare. Then again, I'm really not too concerned about applecare either.

If you were to call Apple up though they would certainly require you to bring in or mail your mac pro to them. This will cost you a ton of money as the damn thing is a beast.

I'm going to try to get an RMA from ATI and just send it in to them. Hopefully they will just send me a new card and call it a day. Even then it may still have the same problem. Who knows.

Please keep me updated. I will follow your solution. Appreciated~

Any good news?
 

Any good news?

Well, I finally got around to buying the Nvidia 8800 GT card and after popping it in and hoping for the best... the same problem showed up ON A DIFFERENT CARD!

I think I'm going to take it into Apple for my next step because this is insane.

As usual, I will keep you posted. Have you tried anything else or are you just sticking with it for the time being?

Well, I just took the Mac Pro into Apple, they connected their 30" monitor and... (I can't believe I'm saying this) it worked.

Now, that is to say that it worked on their monitor. When I got home it still had all the red pixels everywhere.

So, my last hope is that the cable is somehow faulty,which seems illogical, but at this point I'm willing to try anything.

I will keep you posted, as usual.

Get a new DVI Dual-Link cable to replace the one you're using now.

Note: I'd strongly advise buying this cable online, as brick-and-mortar stores drastically overcharge (to phrase it nicely) for DVI cables. If you must buy at a brick-and-mortar store, I'd advise buying at the Apple Store, which had a suitable DVI cable for about $20 the last time I checked. A rip-off store like Circuit City charges around $80 for the cheapest DVI cable possible.

Trevor

Oh don't worry Trevor, I have learned to buy EVERYTHING online. I get my cables from mycablemart.com. They have good prices and literally every kind of cable you could want.

They have one for about 10 dollars or so which I will be ordering today.

I have tried seriously everything on this computer and nothing seems to be working, the cable really is the only thing which sort of makes sense at this point.

Sigh.

Thank you for update this. I can't believe it still happened after you changed your card and I feel so weird if the cable is the one which causes the flicking dots. You are using the cable came with your monitor right? It should be a good cable though...

Cables fail far more often than we think they do. It's not uncommon for companies, including Dell, to cut costs on the cable and bundle one that just barely meets specs. If, during manufacturing, one of these cheap cables is made a little out-of-spec and gives you problems such as sparkling pixels, that would not surprise me at all.

When replacing a video card doesn't fix the problem, and the problem does not appear to be with the monitor itself (as in this case), the cable is by far the most likely suspect.

Trevor

How to tell if it's a good cable or not?
 

If it is the case, how can I tell if it is a good cable or not? by price?:confused:

No, from whether it does what it's supposed to do or not. Price has no relationship with whether or not something works, and too many companies really rip you off for cables.

If you replace a cable which is giving you sparkling pixels with another one, and with the new one the sparkling pixels go away, then the one you replaced was bad, and the new one is good.

On the other hand, if you have replace a cable where you get sparkling pixels, and with a new cable you still get sparkling pixels, the problem is probably elsewhere.

Trevor

I tried another cable (dual link) which still shows the problem...
Can it be a monitor problem?

I'm not sure, but if possible that would be unusual. Sparkling pixel problems that I've seen have always been video card or cable.

Trevor

I found that the new cable which I just changed works sometimes but not always. So, changing cable did work~

That's odd. Do you have some strong source of radio frequency junk nearby? Perhaps a microwave oven, or something with a large motor?

Trevor

I have 2 studio monitors (speakers) Alesis PROLINEAR 820

Those Alesis monitors are shielded for use with CRTs, and shouldn't be a source of radio frequency junk unless they're completely broken.

Trevor

I think so... Those dots really bothered me... should I try different cable?

Maybe if you can find a cable with extra shielding, or that uses a braided shield rather than a foil shield, you should try that. It's still very odd that you get the problem sometimes but not always with the new cable, it makes me think that there's another factor involved as well.

Trevor

same problem here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....readID=1204995

I'm sure a lot of you were hoping for a fix with this thread bump but alas, I don't have that for you.

I will say this though. I went and bought a 30" Apple Monitor and I am no longer having any problems.

So there you go, if you want the problem to go away just buy a new one. Certainly not a fix, but hey, it works.

I think we need to consider this thread DEAD. This is not something that will be fixed.

Re Open thread
 

Try using a different PCI-ex slot. This worked for me I used the second slot from the bottom.

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