Yet Another Black Screen Problem

[Octavean]

Systems specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Asus P5G41C-M LX
8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600
8800GTS 640
1TB WD HDD
Auria EQ276W 2560x1440 LED IPS 27" Display

This system worked fine in OS X Lion but was using a 9500GT. UniBeast would start the ML installer with a black screen. I used the following to get past the blank screen for the installer:

-V
PCIRootUID=0
npci=0x3000
GraphicsEnabler=Yes

The installer then was able to launch and go to completion. I was able to reboot and use multiBeast. However the Blank screen returned after multiBeast install.

I tried a number of different things including a reinstall as well as removing the 9500GT and swapping it for the currently installed 8800GTS 640. I eventually realized that it wasn't just a blank screen like before though. This time the screen was presumably receiving a signal and wasn't in suspend mode.

So I tried turning off the monitor but it wouldn't turn off via the power button. Therefore I unplugged the monitors power and reconnected it. After that I was getting full 2560x1440 and everything was working (NIC, audio, Bluetooth and so on).

Every time it boots it the same thing though. I tried starting the system with the monitor off thinking it was the monitor not being able to switch resolutions or something but in that case the monitor wouldn't turn on. I had to again unplug the power source before it would work.

Now I'm thinking that maybe if I could force the resolution to something lower it would be fine at boot but I'm not sure if the new scaled option in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion truly lowers the resolution or does some funky pixel scaling thing. Maybe using HDMI would force a lower resolution or I could try the monitor on a different system but as I said before it was working fine in Lion.

Not sure how I'm going to fix this.

 

[Octavean]

Im starting to wonder if Apple has done something different with video that would cause this problem with this monitor. As I stated before, OS X 10.7.x Lion worked fine with this Auria EQ276W 2560x1440 LED IPS 27" Display. The Mountain Lion upgrade has it displaying a blank screen after the Apple logo screen until power is disrupted and reconnected to the monitor. After that it displays fine at 2560x1440.

I tried the Auria EQ276W 2560x1440 LED IPS 27" Display on a Windows 7 system and it worked fine as long as I used the included Dual-Link DVI cable. It Booted into Windows 7 without issue at 2560x1440 (repeatedly). That system uses an HD 3470 video card.

I tried it on the above OS X Mountain Lion system again but this time with an ATI DVI to HDMI adapter and HDMI cable. It again displayed a blank screen until power cycle.

I tried the Auria display on a third system this time in a triple monitor setup on an HD 6870 video card. It worked but only at the native resolution of the smallest display which in this case was a 22" Viewsonic VX2235WM with a max resolution of 1680x1050.

I'll try isolating it as the only monitor on this system using the Dual-Link cable.

Maybe its an oddity in combination with the 8800GTS and Mountain Lion? If so then a video card upgrade might help.

Anyone else having problems with a non-Apple Cinema display at 2560x1440 in Mountain Lion,.......?

 

[vienna01]

Same Problem-Black screen after multibeast reboot Mountain Lion

WOW! The Monitor/video card combo causing this behavior is strange.
Especially after the video card is widely used w/o problems [both yours and mine]

How did you guess that it is the monitor?
Doesn't look like a clean solution to that problem unless a guru comes up with a conditional[like -s -x PCI RootUID something] that we can use from Chameleon boot screen or put into the plist. Maybe we new a wizard to create a kext?

You idea about disconnecting the monitor during the boot is worth a try.
What exact sequence do you suggest -when disconnect -when on -when off...?

As the title says: Seems to be the same problem.
All the details are here:
[URL="http://www.tonymacx86.com/mou...ntain-lion-screen-flash-restarts-startup.html[/url]

Display preference screen indicates actual resolution now is 1920 x 1080 60Hz.

Mac OS Thinks I have:

ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series:
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x8
VRAM (Total): 1024 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x68b8
Revision ID: 0x0000

Monitor:
DELL U2311H 23"
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Display Serial Number: N0WV70BP3M5L
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Connected via DVI from my ATI Radeon MSI r5770 video card [same card used for Lion & Win 7]

I might be able to try a VGA connection to my current Dell monitor to see what happens-haven't looked yet.
VGA won't be a useful solution though.
I have another VGA monitor. It's an old[2007 mfg.] 19" LG L196WTQ-BF Poor resolution!
Might see what happens using it.

 

[Octavean]

Sorry I didn't think anyone was responding to this or otherwise I would have responded faster.

Basically the monitor would give every indication that it is receiving a signal so I suspected it wasn't the same black screen / white screen issue others have reported. That is to say that the LED on the Auria EQ276W 2560x1440 LED IPS 27" display remained green rather then going red when it went blank.

Oddly enough I couldn't turn off the monitor using the power switch so I was left with unplugging the power brick which works. If the monitor is off but receiving power it won't turn on when connected to the system in question. So leaving the monitor unplugged until OS X boots seem to be the only option.

The monitor works fine with any other system as expected.

I suspect if I just replaced the video card to an HD 6870 or something i would work fine.

 

[cwoods]

I too have this same problem with the EQ276W. Same as you I have to unplug after boot-up to get the monitor to work. I tested it on my real 13" Macbook Pro and it works the way it's suppose to. The problem only manifests with the hack-a-mac. I tried using a 9400GT and a 8400GS, both cause the monitor to lockup. Wonder what the problem is? I got to say this monitor is stunning by the way.

 

[vienna01]

I re-installed 10.8 from scratch again. Sometime during verbose bootup that I got a "magic number error" which I have been told is likely corruption of the HDD-SSD in my case. That doesn't seem likely cause because when it boots up I see the gray background and spinning wheel for a fraction of a second before it goes black.


From folks experience with their monitors:
Exactly what is done to disconnect the monitor:
Disconnect the DVI cable?
Disconnect the monitor's power cable?
When should I disconnect?
How long should I wait before I reconnect?

I'm still using myt MSIi r5770 card. Have others found changing card solved the problem?

 

[Octavean]

The problem I am experiencing with the Auria EQ276W and 9500GT / 8800GTS seems to be a monitor / video card problem under Mountain Lion only. As I stated before I suspect switching to an AMD / ATI video card like the HD 6870 for example will sidestep the problem. Not sure but the new nVidia cards might do the trick as well such as the GTX660.

If you already have an AMD / ATI video card and a re using a monitor other then the Auria EQ276W then this may not be your problem.

For reference though, I disconnect the power cable from the monitor and leave it that way. I only reconnect it after I have started the system and am sure the OS has had time to start. When I am done using the system I turn off the system and the monitor. Then I disconnect the power to the monitor. All other connections are left alone.

I'm starting to suspect that if I had a KVM switch it could act as if I power cycled the monitor. Still annoying but a little easier to deal with. Not all KVM switches can do 2560x1440 though,....

 

[cwoods]

I have a KVM switch I will hook it up tonight and see what happens and report back.

C

 

[Octavean]

Thanks its very good to know that there are other people with the same monitor out there having the same problem. At lest I know I am not alone in this and yes the Auria EQ276W is an amazing monitor for an amazingly low price.

I have a KVM too but I don’t have one that will do 2560x1440. Or actually I might but it’s a 4 port model and I am using it with other systems / monitor.

 

[BigMacPro]

Sounds like you guys are having the same problem I was having several days ago with my Dell U2711 monitor. Right after the grey apple screen, it would go black and not allow me into the desktop without rebooting the monitor. It worked fine on lower resolutions but when I tried 2560x1440 all I got was a black screen. A forum member here advised that I add my monitor's native resolution in org.chameleon.Boot.plist which fixed the problem for me.

Try this, put the following in org.chameleon.Boot.plist:

<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>2560x1440x32</string>





Reboot your system to see if it loads to your logon screen/desktop after getting past the grey apple screen.