Mac mini M1 screen flickering.

[Feriluce]

Is it a hardware fault? It was working fine and now all of a sudden I turn it on today and it's flickering. I've tried everything but it's still doing it, the monitor works perfectly on everything else, just all of a sudden not this Mac Mini. I've done some googling and it seems to be a widespread issue, but I cannot see a fix.

 

[pigoo3]

I've tried everything but it's still doing it, the monitor works perfectly on everything else, just all of a sudden not this Mac Mini.

Please let us know what "everything" is. "Everything" covers a lot of ground.

Remember...could be anything between the Mac-Mini and the monitor/display.

Could be anything in the "chain" from the Mac-Mini to the Display:

* The Mac-Mini itself.
* Video cable connection at the Mac-Mini port.
* Video cable itself.
* Video Cable connection at the monitor end.
* Could be the monitor/display itself.
* Could be a video cable adapter at either end of the cable (if using a video adapter).

Nick

 

[MacInWin]

Could also be some conflict between the display settings and the display capabilities. Hard to tell.

 

[Feriluce]

What's weird is there are no resolution or frame rate settings, it's just locked to 60hrz despite having a HDMI 2.0 cable that worked fine on the 2018 Mac mini. So I have to do all the settings in the monitor menu, it'll run at 120hrz 1440p with HDR 600 on, but it doesn't matter what I set it to, it still does it. Then it'll go away for awhile, it'll come back randomly :/ I have four monitors here and I have several cables, but it does it with all of them.

My two Windows PCs work perfectly fine, I'm switching it all around, but I know it isn't a hardware fault.

You can never tell with Apple and external monitors though, my last Mac mini would crash on sleep for 2 years, then one day it magically went away..... I never did another update on it again lol.

 

[TotalSolutions]

The monitor may not be up to modern standards. You mention 1440p. These new Macs output :

• One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt and one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0
• HDMI 2.0 display video output
  • Support for one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz
  • DVI output using HDMI to DVI Adapter (sold separately)

 

[Feriluce]

Nothing to do with my monitors, they work on everything just fine, just not this Mac M1. When I google the issue it's so widespread and the solution is to always blame the user.... typical Apple fans.

Any ways the "Genius" told me today it is a known issue, so I opted to send it back to the retailer.

 

[krs]

@Feriluce
In your first post you said:

It was working fine and now all of a sudden I turn it on today and it's flickering.

How long was it working fine with the Mini M1?
Seems strange that it was working fine for a while, then it started flickering and then the "Genius" guy says it's a known issue...
If it was a known issue it wouldn't have worked fine for a while - the flickering would have been there right away with the Mini M1 and this monitor.

 

[chscag]

As we used to say in the repair business..... it's OBE now. (Overcome By Events)

@Feriluce has already sent the M1 Mini back to where he purchased it from. It's no longer a problem.

 

[krs]

Yes, I know - I read that.

I would still like to understand how a problem that only appears after a while can be a known issue.

 

[LeoYK]

I had similar issues but was able to find a workaround. Its by no means a real "fix" and I obviously can't guarantee that this will work for everyone.

My workaround was: go to "Display" within "Settings" and turn on HDR.

I just got my M1 Mac mini today, and i immediately noticed my monitor switching on and off repeatedly during the "Migrate from another Mac" process. It didn't really bother me at the time, but after everything was set up, i noticed the monitor would show what looks like radio interference, especially when displaying dark colored content. The monitor stays on, but the brightness would flicker around the edges.

I tried changing cables, I tried different ports (HDMI-HDMI, HDMI-Thunderbolt, HDMI-Display port, Thunderbolt-Display Port etc.) but nothing solved it.

So then I started messing around with the display settings and turned on HDR and BAM, no issues whatsoever. My monitor supports HDR, and its a bit straining on the eyes but certainly a lot better than screen flickers.

Hope this helps someone...

 

[techiesteve]

Yes, I know - I read that.

I would still like to understand how a problem that only appears after a while can be a known issue.

Intermittent problems can be known issues, I've seen many over the years since I first became qualified to service Apple kit.