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Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Intermittent horizontal lines, snow, noise on black...

Written by RV from San Francisco

Sep 10, 2009

... just like so many others are experiencing.

Other issue is that waking up the MacBook 17" from sleep will result in the 30 inch Cinema Display to wake up first, causing that monitor to be the default controller/finder monitor (#1).

7 of 8 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Firmware version 1.02 fixes the problem

Written by AS from Beaverton

Sep 4, 2009

I bought this adapter 4 months ago for my MacBook aluminum (bought Jan 2009) and Dell 3007WFPHC 30" LCD. The adapter had firmware version 1.01 and had the same issues many users reported: intermittent flickering, color speckle noise, blurry text, and analog-like color "snow". I could fix issue temporarily by putting the display to sleep and waking it back up.

Today I took the adapter back to an Apple retail store, where a manager gave me a new replacement that has firmware 1.02. The new unit has performed flawlessly over the past several hours. If you have problems and have firmware 1.01, see if a retail Apple Store will also give you a free replacement.

Fyi, find your adapter's firmware version:
Finder -> About This Mac... More Info... Hardware -> Graphics/Displays -> look for "Adapter Firmware Version: 1.xx"

Rating: Start with 5 stars because firmware 1.02 works, minus one star because the adapter costs too much, then minus two more stars because Apple released the product without adequate testing, wasting hours of my time trying to get it to work and eventually driving around town to get a replacement. 5 - 1 - 2 equals 2 stars.

29 of 33 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Bad Apple...

Written by TB from Lewes

Jul 29, 2009

MBP + 30 inch ACD. As a Mac user for over 20 years this is the worst Apple product I've used. The picture quality generally is okay but on black I get horizontal flickering, which is simply unacceptable. As someone else remarked, I wouldn't mind paying the $99 if it worked but this is way below Apple's usual standards. Shameful.

31 of 36 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Flickering problems!

Written by RT from Belmar

Mar 26, 2009

I bought this adapter so I could plug my new unibody, 17-inch MacBook Pro to my 30-inch Cinema Display. The problem is that my monitor flickers unpredictably during use. I've had this Cinema Display for over a year, and it was hooked up to two other MacBook Pros. This problem only occurred after this adapter was used to hook up to my computer.

23 of 24 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Works most of the time.

Written by JR from Tucson

Mar 7, 2009

Apple 30" Cinema Display, Macbook 13" unibody 2.4Ghz, 4GB mem

I experience flickers (so far only right after the computer starts up), inserted DVD, DVD player automatically opened and full-screen, just got black screen, everything besides the mouse cursor became unresponsive. Had to power-off via holding power button.

Its just doesn't seem stable, but what choice do I have if I only have a MB and want to use my 30" display (used to have a PowerMac G5, but sold it)

Hopefully this is something Apple could address in the future with a software/driver update.

$99 to use my $1600 laptop with my $1800 display. A complete rip off. I might possibly have been able to overlook the $99 if it worked perfectly without problems, but that is certainly not the situation here.

11 of 13 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

DisplayPort Adapter (or Nvidia driver) Freezes/hangs macbook or causes snow

Written by GV from Chatsworth

Mar 3, 2009

I, like many here, am having problems where one of these behaviors occur when I connect the DisplayPort adapter:
- There's snow on my external display (Samsung SyncMaster242MP)
- The external display blinks on then off.
- After returning from display sleep, the monitor continues to display nothing (black).
- The MacBook hangs when removing the adapter and then plugging it back in. But not every time I do this. And I'm usually doing this to get the MacBook to re-detect the display due to one of the aforementioned issues.

There was mention of an Apple update to the MacBook Pro Nvidia drivers that occurred in late January. That update has since been removed by Apple from their support site.

I'm giving the adapter a two star rating because it does work, for as long as I keep the MBP from not sleeping the display, once I convince the MBP that there is a display attached and it syncs up without snow.

Soooo...I'm anxiously awaiting news from Apple in some form (support KB, new driver, new adapter, anything!).

10 of 11 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Apple changes product description

Written by RK from Toronto

Feb 26, 2009

This product description use to state this adapter would work for any monitor that required a dual-link dvi connection.

After receiving multiple complaints, Apple has changed the description to include only their 30" cinema display instead of fixing the real issue.

The adapter WILL work with my 30" Dell display, but I occasionally will experience issues (static, snow, etc) - only a reset (computer, display, settings, sleep) will bring it back. A serious nuisance.

43 of 46 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Working fine after 3 days...

Written by CW from Toronto

Feb 10, 2009

I have no doubt there are significant issues with some or most of these adapters, but unfortunately it is the only way to hook a new MacBook / MacBook Pro up to a 30" monitor; anyone who has such a display is unlikely to give it up.

I bought one of these from the local Apple store, and tested it in the store with a Macbook Air + a 30" cinema display they had there - worked fine. After 3 days of 8+ hr/day use with a MacBookPro purchased in Early Jan connected to a Dell 3008WFP it is just fine - display rock steady, no issues whatsoever. The MacBook is plugged in (powered), one of the MacBook's 2 USB ports powers the adapter, the other goes to the USB hub located in the monitor. Energy saver is set to "better battery life" (ie 9400M); haven't bothered to enable the 9600.

Yes, this is far too expensive, large, and generally a ridiculous solution - particularly compared with the direct-connect dual-link DVI on the previous generation. And yes, why is there not a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable available, 4+ months after the product introduction? However, the particular unit I appear to have works just fine. If you really need one of these things, perhaps you can get lucky and wind up with an operational unit as well.

Otherwise, sticking with a previous-generation MacBook with a more immediately useful display connector, or perhaps a different brand of laptop all together would serve as a better solution.

22 of 28 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

It works, but...

Written by PB from Oakland

Jan 30, 2009

I have it attached to my 30" Apple Cinema HD display. I don't get any flicker and the screen always comes up, but any areas of the screen that are completely black display a rapid faint flicker of horizontal lines (think film noise). It's subtle but definitely noticeable.

I'm on the fence about returning it.

20 of 21 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

$100???

Written by LL

Jan 26, 2009

You're joking me? $100 for an adapter for a perfectly good working and relevant 30" ACD monitor??!

Not to mention i cant use the firewire on the back of the ACD. and it barely works most of the time which is just the kicker.

I mean, its not that hard to create something that looks simple and elegant, but put some craftsmanship and quality into it really!

You have access to a multitude of Apple products in your factory, do a bit more grindstone testing before we pay the burden of failed products that dont get the quality assurance customers that are willing to pay for apples premium.

Good luck next time.

(dont get me wrong im not here to bash Apple at all, I'm just reluctant with all these quiet changes and no realization that customers are offered standards and are now being kicked high to adapt or get nothing)

10 of 12 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Failure when laptop goes to sleep

Written by RB from Heemskerk

Jan 16, 2009

I'm using this cable for connecting to matrox triplehead digital.Works fine, only when computer going to sleep resolution get sometimes corrupt. Disconnecting the cables and connect again solves the problem most of the time.
When it works it's great, but it looks like the os got some bugs with this adapter.

17 of 17 people found this useful