Chris, I don't have another PC with dual DVI-D, it is connected now to my Dell xps 1730M, which is fairly recent. What on my laptop would be a possible cause then?
We have several 3007WFP's and now two new 3008WFP's, and both types are prone to black-outs, but the 3007WFP's are very minor. The 3008WFP's are so severe that each are unusable.
To reliably reproduce the problem, open any window, grab the lower-right corner with the mouse cursor, and twirl around wildly resizing the window. If you hammer away like that, you can get the 3007WFP to eventually black-out for about a second, but you don't have to do anything more than barely resize the window to cause the 3008WFP to black-out. The 3008WFP blacks-out for 3.6 seconds. If you open multiple windows, and try to work amongst each of them, moving windows and changing which window is active, it will spend more time blacked-out that lit-up!
The 3008WFP systems...
Optiplex 755
Both with Windows XP Pro SP3 and all patches
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Both have the 3008WFP monitor driver installed, not just the video card driver.
One system seemed to be fine, originally. It was only the "left" computer that was blacking-out. So I swapped things between the good computer and the bad computer one at a time in this order...
- monitor
- video data cable
- monitor power cable
- video cards
- power supplies
But the problem persisted.
I tried a multitude of resolutions, but that didn't help.
I tried 5 different drivers, but that also didn't help (some provided all desired resolutions and some were missing at least the half-native resolution 1280x800)
If you read the monitor driver INF files, the 3007WFP claims 2560x1600 as the native resolution. Half-resolution works fine too.
If you read the 3008WFP INF file, it claims both 2560x1600 and 1920x1200 are native. I don't understand how it can have two native resolutions like that, but the 3008WFP did seem to be very barely better off at the 1920x1200 resolution.
So I brought a third system down (identical to the first two) and it was no better.
Bringing that third system back to it's 3007WFP original location, I disconnected the DVD drive and the video card fan. This reduced the power-drain on the system power supply very slightly. No matter how I tried, I could not make the 3007WFP black-out.
This experiment seemed to say the skimpy 305-watt power supplies that Dell puts in these cases are completely inadequate. The ATI web site claims that their Radeons require 350-watts minimum.
I tried the same experiment on the 3008WFP systems, but there was no discernable improvement.
I tried to navigate the Dell web site to buy a higher-wattage power supply, but the web sight is horrible for this sort of task. I tried searching "power supply" and "power supplies", but for some reason got a page full of speakers and power strips instead of PS units.
I tried TigerDirect, but their power supplies won't fit properly.
I don't even know for sure that a better power supply will fix this. Maybe an nVidia 8600 GT? I've wasted dozens of hours trying to make Dells 30" monitors work sufficiently, but these monitors require better hardware than Dell likes to offer. Still, there must be a solution somehow, right?
I forgot to add... The "good" 3008WFP computer didn't stay good. It is now as bad as the "left" computer. So both our 3008WFP systems have the same psky problems.
I have had my 3008WFP since March this year. It has now started to blank screen. The power button stays blue when it happens. I have to switch the power button Off-then On again to be able to see the screen. It happens when using either DVI-1 or DVI-2 connection ports.It is a UK supplied AO3 Revision CZ Model.
Changed my connection setting to Displayport ( I use the Sapphire 5970oc card ) but it blank screens on that connection also.I am very unhappy with this monitor
I use a MacBook Pro via DisplayPort-DVI-D connection with a 30" Dell 3008WFP at 1920x1200 without problem for about an year. Recently the screen would just automatically "blackout" after good connection for about 30 seconds or so. This problem persists for both DVI ports as well as the VGA port. I have read about this problem reported at DELL site, but didn't see anyone talking about this on Apple site. I guess I'm just lucky.
Today, just before I throw in the towel and call DELL, I thought I try a PC on it just to be sure. So I dug out a 3-4 year old Sony Vaio TX-750P and connected it to the VGA port. Lo and behold the monitor worked. With the VGA port working and connected to the Viao, I thought I plug in the DisplayPort and switch the display to DVI-1. Guess what? The monitor stays on without blacking out for about 10 minutes ... until the PC goes into screensaver, at which time the monitor immediately blacked out!!!
This is very interesting. So I woke up the PC and saw that the VGA display is working on the 3008WFP again, switching back to the DVI port and, sure enough, the MBP screen is displaying fine also.
Now, I have the Sony connected to the 30" monitor with the Power Save and Screensaver functions both turned off and the DELL 300WFP has not had a problem for the entire day with my Mac on DVI port.
Does this mean that my MBP is not sending some sort of signal to tell the DELL monitor to stay awake while this little Sony is doing just that? Any help is appreciated!!!
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
•
56.9K Posts
0
April 30th, 2008 13:00
Please try the 3008WFP on another PC.
Ar3s
2 Posts
0
April 30th, 2008 13:00
JeffO-no
31 Posts
0
July 30th, 2008 17:00
I have this problem too.
We have several 3007WFP's and now two new 3008WFP's, and both types are prone to black-outs, but the 3007WFP's are very minor. The 3008WFP's are so severe that each are unusable.
To reliably reproduce the problem, open any window, grab the lower-right corner with the mouse cursor, and twirl around wildly resizing the window. If you hammer away like that, you can get the 3007WFP to eventually black-out for about a second, but you don't have to do anything more than barely resize the window to cause the 3008WFP to black-out. The 3008WFP blacks-out for 3.6 seconds. If you open multiple windows, and try to work amongst each of them, moving windows and changing which window is active, it will spend more time blacked-out that lit-up!
The 3008WFP systems...
Optiplex 755
Both with Windows XP Pro SP3 and all patches
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Both have the 3008WFP monitor driver installed, not just the video card driver.
One system seemed to be fine, originally. It was only the "left" computer that was blacking-out. So I swapped things between the good computer and the bad computer one at a time in this order...
- monitor
- video data cable
- monitor power cable
- video cards
- power supplies
But the problem persisted.
I tried a multitude of resolutions, but that didn't help.
I tried 5 different drivers, but that also didn't help (some provided all desired resolutions and some were missing at least the half-native resolution 1280x800)
If you read the monitor driver INF files, the 3007WFP claims 2560x1600 as the native resolution. Half-resolution works fine too.
If you read the 3008WFP INF file, it claims both 2560x1600 and 1920x1200 are native. I don't understand how it can have two native resolutions like that, but the 3008WFP did seem to be very barely better off at the 1920x1200 resolution.
So I brought a third system down (identical to the first two) and it was no better.
Bringing that third system back to it's 3007WFP original location, I disconnected the DVD drive and the video card fan. This reduced the power-drain on the system power supply very slightly. No matter how I tried, I could not make the 3007WFP black-out.
This experiment seemed to say the skimpy 305-watt power supplies that Dell puts in these cases are completely inadequate. The ATI web site claims that their Radeons require 350-watts minimum.
I tried the same experiment on the 3008WFP systems, but there was no discernable improvement.
I tried to navigate the Dell web site to buy a higher-wattage power supply, but the web sight is horrible for this sort of task. I tried searching "power supply" and "power supplies", but for some reason got a page full of speakers and power strips instead of PS units.
I tried TigerDirect, but their power supplies won't fit properly.
I don't even know for sure that a better power supply will fix this. Maybe an nVidia 8600 GT? I've wasted dozens of hours trying to make Dells 30" monitors work sufficiently, but these monitors require better hardware than Dell likes to offer. Still, there must be a solution somehow, right?
JeffO-no
31 Posts
0
July 30th, 2008 17:00
tinker18
2 Posts
0
May 1st, 2010 00:00
I have had my 3008WFP since March this year. It has now started to blank screen. The power button stays blue when it happens. I have to switch the power button Off-then On again to be able to see the screen. It happens when using either DVI-1 or DVI-2 connection ports.It is a UK supplied AO3 Revision CZ Model.
tinker18
2 Posts
0
May 8th, 2010 00:00
Changed my connection setting to Displayport ( I use the Sapphire 5970oc card ) but it blank screens on that connection also.I am very unhappy with this monitor
MacMaster
1 Message
0
May 11th, 2010 18:00
I use a MacBook Pro via DisplayPort-DVI-D connection with a 30" Dell 3008WFP at 1920x1200 without problem for about an year. Recently the screen would just automatically "blackout" after good connection for about 30 seconds or so. This problem persists for both DVI ports as well as the VGA port. I have read about this problem reported at DELL site, but didn't see anyone talking about this on Apple site. I guess I'm just lucky.
Today, just before I throw in the towel and call DELL, I thought I try a PC on it just to be sure. So I dug out a 3-4 year old Sony Vaio TX-750P and connected it to the VGA port. Lo and behold the monitor worked. With the VGA port working and connected to the Viao, I thought I plug in the DisplayPort and switch the display to DVI-1. Guess what? The monitor stays on without blacking out for about 10 minutes ... until the PC goes into screensaver, at which time the monitor immediately blacked out!!!
This is very interesting. So I woke up the PC and saw that the VGA display is working on the 3008WFP again, switching back to the DVI port and, sure enough, the MBP screen is displaying fine also.
Now, I have the Sony connected to the 30" monitor with the Power Save and Screensaver functions both turned off and the DELL 300WFP has not had a problem for the entire day with my Mac on DVI port.
Does this mean that my MBP is not sending some sort of signal to tell the DELL monitor to stay awake while this little Sony is doing just that? Any help is appreciated!!!
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
•
56.9K Posts
0
May 11th, 2010 20:00
Escalated but all you can do is keep getting exchanges.