Dead cinema display?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Can anyone help with this bizarre series of events?



I have (had?) a Powermac G4 1.25 Dual running a 22 Cinema Display and a 15" philips 150p plasma (from my pre-switcher days).



I have been working on a Final Cut Express project. When trying to load final cut express last night it kept crashing during the start up. I shut down the machine to try again - no change. Tried this several times and went to bed.



This morning - no different. After one attempt to restart the machine the Cinema display failed - the machine booted to the 150p and there is no power to the cinema display (keyboard not working , no power light). Final Cut Express still not working.



A call to Apple support ended up with the following:



1. CD pronounced dead. No power light means return to Ireland.



2. Final Cut Express fixed by upgrade (although no explanation of what caused the problem).





How do I test whether the problem is not the video card?.

Anything worth trying to see if it is a software issue before I have to lose my displaY?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 2 of 11
    33834e33834e Posts: 8member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AirSluf

    I have had my Cinema Display look dead and remain initially unresponsive a couple times. Each time completely shutting down the computer, unplugging both the computer from power and the display from the computer, then waiting a couple minutes before reconnecting and powering back up has solved the problem.



    Hope that helps!




    Friday morning - it all turned on first time - nothing wrong?. What is happening?.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 4 of 11
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AirSluf

    Stray trons, cosmic rays, butterflies winging in Tibet?



    Powering down overnight probably did the trick. Not unusual at all for something as complex as a computer.






    It has now gone wrong again. Whilst using FCE the apple display went dead and now I can't get it to work. The power on light at the front of the G4 doesn't light up either - even though the machine is on and working using the other monitor?.



    Help!!!
  • Reply 5 of 11
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 6 of 11
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,561member
    Wow. Sorry to hear about this.



    Can you verify that the fan on the video card is working? If the video card overheats it probably shuts itself off. Depending on how it does this it may require a shut down to reset. This is all speculation, not knowledge.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    Try repairing permissions using the OSX install CD. I've found that always helps my display-related problems. Don't know why.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i'm going to go with neutrino on this one. check a few things if you can.



    check the fans inside the case when it's powered off like it was before. you can run the machine with the case open no problem. if the videocard is overheating it could easily shut things down like you describe.



    also, because the display is powered through the videocard, your computer's power supply is pulling a lot of juice. make sure its fan is still working.



    sounds like something is overheating in your system. usually not a good sign. FCP would be a likely culprit too, since it's very CPU intensive.



    have you tried running something like SETI or the RC5 client to max out the CPU? i'm willing to bet if you did, the machine would experience the same problems.



    yeah, the more i think about it, open the case up and run it. make sure all the fans are working. please post back here what you find out.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    33834e33834e Posts: 8member
    Have opened it up - all the fans seem to be working although there does not appear to be a fan on the graphics card itself.



    The graphics card hasn't shut down fully - I can still use the DVI port to run the 15" LCD.



    The LED on the front of the machine lights up when it is on and the CD is not plugged in. It doesn't light up when the machine is on but the ADC is used.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    what happens if switch the DVI ports the monitors are using?



    (or is the one a real ADV and the other a DVI?)



    sorry, i know there are converters to ADV from DVI (or ADC? i forget)



    in any case, not sure if you have a 3rd party dual DVI card or not. i'm still thinking it's something with the video card overheating, that would be the most likely culprit. have you tried any games on the machine to see what happens?



    at little warcraft 3 a high rez setttings should tax your vid. card nicely.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    33834e33834e Posts: 8member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    what happens if switch the DVI ports the monitors are using?



    (or is the one a real ADV and the other a DVI?)



    sorry, i know there are converters to ADV from DVI (or ADC? i forget)



    in any case, not sure if you have a 3rd party dual DVI card or not. i'm still thinking it's something with the video card overheating, that would be the most likely culprit. have you tried any games on the machine to see what happens?



    at little warcraft 3 a high rez setttings should tax your vid. card nicely.






    The card is the original spec ATi card that came with the machine (1 ADC and 1 DVI). This evening tried the Cinema Display on the working DVI port using an apple DVI to ADC adapter and this made no difference - the CD remained dead, no power light etc.



    Looks like the CD is going on a trip to Ireland.



    Hope this isn't a common problem with them.
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