Photo #1: Screen with yellow line issue.

Photo #2: Original cord has electrical tape on wire. (I bought it like this.)

THANKS!

⟐ Commented March 06, 2026 at 11:21 MST

⟐ Answer edited February 19, 2026 at 16:34 MST

2009 MacPro 2 x 2.26 Ghz Quad core Intel Xeon / 32 GB memory silver tower (Model No.A1289). 30” Cinema HD Display aluminum monitor with 2560x1600 resolution. Bought new - its a beautiful display and once a primo $5K workstation. I’ve been running OS 10.6.8 on it to continue using some obsolete legacy apps I happen to love. I also own a newer 27" iMac.

From the beginning, this display got very hot, so I’ve always had a small quiet fan blowing across the back of it. Starting years ago, for no apparent reason, the monitor would intermittently go “completely black”, usually after a few hours, while I’m doing nothing more than typing or moving the mouse. And the tiny green light in front bottom right goes out. After a few minutes, it might flicker back on and stay on, but eventually go black again. At first I’d restart the MacPro, which often helped. Then it didn’t help. I asked around, tried zapping PRAM and firmware updates.

Experimenting, I found the oval/racetrack-shaped plug connection (don’t know the proper term) in the 3-way cable that connects the monitor to the “Dual-link DVI” adapter brick (Apple HD Display 150W Power Adapter A1098) may be the problem, because unplugging and replugging it fixes the issue temporarily. But invariably, after some time, the monitor goes black again. As time goes by, I’d unplug/replug this adapter connection plug 3, 4, 5 times a day. Eventually after many mos. of unplugging & replugging, even that won’t get the monitor going again.

So I found a used adapter on eBay ($75+) and replacing it seemed to fix the problem. But after a few months, up to a year, the monitor starts to flicker/go black again. Frustrated, I buy another adapter, which gets the monitor going again, but eventually stops. I did this many times over the past 7 years. At this point, it seems likely I’m buying others’ problem adapters. Now my 5th used adapter no longer works after only 2 months, the plastic plug guard on the cable from the monitor has broken and it looks like replacing the three-way monitor cable is the only way forward.

I’m finally posting this request for help in exasperation. Thanks for reading it all!

Is there a way to confirm what the problem is, that replacing the cable would fix it? (e.g., could it be a logic or power board or graphics card?).

Is a cable still available? How to get the right one? Saw reports the 3 way cable is non-existent

Can I replace it myself without much tech experience? Checked this ifixit guide and viewed this Youtube video and think I could manage but never done anything more than swap in a graphics card and memory.

What I’ve tried:

- Unplugged replugged the cord from the MacPro to the DVI adapter

- Zapped PRAM

- Contacted Apple (“Obsolete hardware and systems aren’t supported”)

- Replaced the DVI adapter brick (5 times in 7 years)

- Asked for help on the Apple forum. Determined that its unlikely a graphics card or firmware issue

- Read numerous forum posts including:

• 27” Cinema Display turns off randomly

• How can I fix my display blacking out intermittently?

• I have a 30 inch Apple Cinema Display that just went blank

• Apple LED Cinema Display 27" LED Panel Replacement

• Apple Cinema HD Display 30" Teardown

- Shopped around for other 30” monitors, like this Dell UltraSharp U3014 But a reviewer states it requires a DVI dual link adapter system to work - which is apparently the same thing causing the issue with my Apple monitor

Heres my current adapter. I've kept the last 2 as well, thinking it may not be the adapters at all, but they are identical to this one. For all its life until only a few weeks ago, the (4-way) cord built into the monitor looked newish, but the plastic casing broke recently after I used a clamp to hold it in place into the adapter in frustration. It still worked for a time even with the guts exposed but admittedly it now looks like this is clearly the current reason for the problem even though thats not necessarily the case. I've cleaned the plug shiny many times over the years - and the hole as well - and that made zero difference, so now the metal is tarnished from constant plugging/unplugging.

Thanks for trying to help me!

Had high hopes posting my question here would lead to getting help to fix my monitor. Anyone?

⟐ Answered January 21, 2026 at 14:07 MST

*Took out the chip in case I ever find one from a donor board, but would still like to know if it's worth the extra hassle.

got a Cinema Display from a flea market, without its original charger, and cause I love this screen event its very old I bought it, cut off the charger port in the screen, and plugged in a generic psu with 6, 10 and even one for 16a from a 3d printer

the screen works just fine, but sometimes turns off, but by powering it off and on, or unplugging the power cable it would work again for 20min 1 hours even no problem and then do it again, thinking it was the PSU tried different ones same result

lately tried unplugging just an xt60 between the screen and the 24v rail, and same thing, so thought maybe its something to do with something else, there's a third tiny cable in the same thing, just unplugging it and replugging and the screen works again

if anyone have any idea why it might be id really appreciate it very much

thanks a lot

⟐ Answered January 29, 2025 at 11:01 MST

I have an Apple cinema display 30-inch 2007. I can't get the resolution up to 1280x800. i changed all connections dvi, hdmi. I work with a 2013 Mac Pro 6.1 and a 2010 Mac Pro.

I have two 30-inch 2007 displays and one works fine at 2560x1600 resolution. The other connecting to the same computer only gives 1280x800 resolution.

Is there any new firmware someone could help me?.

What do you think is the fault?

Thank you very much. Regards Harry Macias

⟐ Commented November 24, 2024 at 13:35 MST

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8995...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8995...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8995...

⟐ Answer accepted April 19, 2024 at 19:23 MST

⟐ Answer edited March 28, 2024 at 14:55 MST

I have a faulty 23" Apple Cinema HD Display that powers up but no video is shown. However, led power light flashes 3 times. Does the 3 flashes of the power LED indicate the nature of the fault as I can repair if I know what was wrong.

⟐ Commented January 30, 2024 at 16:02 MST

The black area also shows ghosting, and without an impact, rarely it goes away by itself after some time of usage. I am using club 3d cac-1510a (non hdcp model) and the black region occurs also without the adapter (i.e. with a basic dvi to hdmi adapter).

Which card should I focus to replace or repair, what might be causing this issue? Any ideas would be more than welcome.

Let me try, thank you very much.

⟐ Answer accepted July 30, 2023 at 12:53 MST

⟐ Answered July 23, 2023 at 22:26 MST

I have no FireWire ports on my Laptop so i can’t try out the FireWire capabilities.

I tried the USB connector and Windows detects it as „generic USB Hub“ but doesn’t detect USB devices or flash drives plugged into the monitor.

I don’t have a DVI port and I ordered an adapter so I can’t test connectivity yet.

Does it need a video signal to turn on? I’ve been holding down the touch power button, Double and triple pressing it - no avail.

am i doing something wrong?

⟐ Answer accepted April 17, 2023 at 19:58 MST

First I thought it was a faulty PSU but swapping it for a different power brick (I knew was ok) did not help. It also failed!

Swapping the power brick back to power another 23 Cinema Display DVI (that I also knew worked), also failed to boot.

So I had a good monitor, a good power supply that wouldn't boot up as it should. Ether the PSU had just died, the monitor had just failed or something else was going on.

Leaving alone for a while, I returned to try and see if the original power supply would work with my good (now non-working) monitor and it did!, everything booted up fine. However, further testing revealed both power bricks were okay too and using the power supply I initially thought was faulty enabled my good monitor also to boot up fine.

So, I still have 1 dead monitor, but it's not the power bricks that are the problem unless they are both dodgy, this seems unlikely.

Just wanted to add the above to say the PSUs seem to power up if they start from cold, if warm they don't seem to power my second monitor and the screen remains black

⟐ Answered April 16, 2023 at 10:20 MST

What I find particularly weird is that whenever I plug the Cinema Display’s USB connector into my laptop and my external Apple USB Keyboard into the Cinema Display’s USB inputs, the external keyboard is fully functioning and able to control my laptop. I guess this could mean that the screen does get power to some extent and is not fully dead? I wanted to test the power adapter with a multimeter, but does this mean that I need to take the power adapter apart to do so?

I’ve tried ‘the Jacobeon method’ (covering the middle pin with tape) with no success. Furthermore, I’ve considered buying a 150W adapter to test if it can make the screen work, but as I’ve only spent 35$ on the screen and 90W adapter in total I’m a bit hesitant to spend more than 50 $ on Ebay on a used power adapter that may not fix the problem. It could also be a faulty logic board….

What should I do? Can I fix it myself (I’m a rookie in electronics), should I try to get it fixed by a professional or is it more reasonable to simply toss this beautiful yet fairly old screen?

⟐ Commented April 16, 2023 at 8:46 MST

⟐ Commented February 17, 2023 at 15:39 MST

⟐ Commented November 12, 2022 at 8:00 MST

I just purchased two Apple Cinema Displays - both "30". I checked each display before I bought it -- worked perfectly. However, after driving home with the displays and plugging each into my MBP M1 via a separate USB-C to Dual DVI adapter, one display works perfectly (and is detected as Cinema HD), but the other display is showing just a black screen, and the LED power indicator is also dark, and is detected, but not as a Cinema HD display, but as "Display". Any ideas on what I should do?

This is what the System Information shows:

Apple M1 Pro:

  Chipset Model: Apple M1 Pro

  Type: GPU

  Bus: Built-In

  Total Number of Cores: 14

  Vendor: Apple (0x106b)

  Metal Family: Supported, Metal GPUFamily Apple 7

  Displays:

Cinema HD:

  Resolution: 2560 x 1600

  UI Looks like: 2560 x 1600 @ 60.00Hz

  Main Display: Yes

  Mirror: On

  Mirror Status: Master Mirror

  Online: Yes

  Rotation: Supported

Display:

  Resolution: 2560 x 1600

  UI Looks like: 2560 x 1600 @ 60.00Hz

  Mirror: On

  Mirror Status: Hardware Mirror

  Online: Yes

  Rotation: Supported

⟐ Commented November 10, 2022 at 8:27 MST

First of all thanks everybody for the very helpful answers on this forum. I am experiencing very strange behaviour on a recently adquired 30' Cinema HD Display (a1083, 2007, HDCP not supported according to SwitchResX) and hoping somebody can help figure out the problem.

I have a 2021 14' Macbook Pro M1 Pro I am hooking up this monitor to via the Club 3D Dual Link to USB-C adapter everybody recommends. I bought both the HDCP version and the HDCP-Off version as part of my troubleshooting, but both exhibit the same behaviour:

When connected, the monitor LED light lits up for a second, the monitor is recognized by the computer, and it turns "on": the screen shows no image but there is backlight, so it is a faded black, as when you are watching a movie and a fully dark scene comes up. The usb ports work. The resolution is automatically set by my mac to 2560x1600 so it is not a problem with the resolution configuration. The computer acts as if the monitor is working perfectly.

So, the tests I've done so far:

1. At first, I thought it was an internal problem: LCD, main board, t-con, all the issues that other people have had. But then I decided to try a SINGLE link DVI to Mini-Display port adapter that I had lying around, just for the sake of it, and plug it in to my older 2015 Macbook Pro. And to my surprise, the screen lit up with the image, and it works. The main issue, however, is that the resolution is capped at 1280x800 by the adapter's bandwith, naturally. But apart from the resolution, the monitor looks fine, so I think I can rule out logic board, t-con, backlight, etc...?
2. I tested the Club 3D adapters with a 20' Cinema HD Display (a1081) I have and they work, delivering the right resolution on my M1 Mac. So I'm led to believe the adapters work fine and my M1 computer is also not the problem.
3. I also tested the 30' Cinema HD Display with a Microsoft Surface with the Club 3D USB-C adapter and the behaviour kinda confirmed that I learned before: It works, if the resolution is left at 1280x800. As soon as I bump that up, the screen goes "black" as in, backlit but with no image. Notice that with my M1 for some reason I can't even get it to work at 1280x800, it remains black no matter what resolution I pick at Display settings.
4. I did the flashlight test and when the monitor is black theres no image at all.

Additional info: The PSU is the 150w original one. I don't know how to use a multimeter to measure it, all I could do is try using it for the smaller 20' monitor and it works fine at all resolutions. But I also know that monitor has a much lower power consumption.

So the question is, what kind of issue could be making the monitor to go dark at 2560x1600 but to work fine at 1280x800 when using the Dual Link to USB-C adapter, which should have enough bandwith for full resolution?

Could it be that the power supply is not giving enough power for higher resolutions and I need to change it (is that even a thing?)? I don't have a 150w spare so couldn't try with a different one and I'm hesitant to go out and buy one ($$$) without confirming this. I have a multimeter but have no idea how to use it to measure my power supply.

Could it be that the logic board is faulty somehow and that makes it work only at lower resolutions?

Any ideas? I would love to get this one back to life! It looks so good on the desk and I can't afford a newer one right now.

Thank you so much!!

⟐ Answered November 06, 2022 at 11:00 MST

I would like to know the pin assignments for the power adaptor of an Apple Cinema HD Display.

I need to know the Voltage Supply for each Pin of the 5-Pin connection-cable for the original Cinema HD Power Adaptor.

I need to test this display as the original adaptor is broken. I would like to supply power with another adaptor accordingly.

I guess the pin assignment is the same for the 20", 24" and 30" models.

Any help is much appreciated.

⟐ Commented November 04, 2022 at 15:17 MST