intel mini flickering screen

godraj · 08-10-2006, 04:53 PM

(THIS IS ALSO POSTED IN LCD/DISPLAY)
So I have a flickering screen issue on my car when I use my intel mini. I used to have a G4 mini which also had a flickering issue, but I fixed that by using regulated power for the monitor. All my units for CarPc are now powered by carnetix PSU including the USB hub. These are a few things that I've noticed:

1) No flickering when using PPC g4 mini; yes flickering when using intel mini.
2) No flickering when using intel mini powered by household AC power (everything else is still car powered)
3) Limited flickering when usb devices are unplugged.
4) No flickering at all when itunes is importing a CD. (WTF???)

Any ideas on whats going on and how I can avoid this?

Thanks in advance.

jpennington · 08-13-2006, 11:51 PM

I have the same problem.

Pathfinder -- MacMini DualCore Intel -- MTSVO -- Carnetix PSU 2.2

It was drastically reduced when I started using a thicker VGA cable. I also have a USB VGA Line Driver made by extron installed, which helped. Now it only happens about 10 percent of the time and always after the car has been used a lot that day. (i.e. it is fine in the morning, but if I drive around a lot it starts up at the end of the day).

I will try the iTunes import test, interesting.

godraj · 08-14-2006, 08:59 AM

Run "Chess" on it, do computer vs. computer; see if that completely eliminates the flickering. I tried a core duo this weekend, the flickering was worse than it is on the solo. I find all this to be very strange. Please post how it reacts to "chess", I'm very curious.

DaPCWiz · 08-14-2006, 09:15 AM

another thing to check is your refresh rate... I'm not a mac guy, but on my PC I switched motherboards and I had alot of flickering with the new board I put in (which actually had a better video card) I went in and raised the refresh rate from 60 hz to 75 hz and now everything is crisp and clear, no flicker, no wierd stuff.

www.workingcars · 08-14-2006, 01:31 PM

Is it possible that the dvi/vga cable is receiving interfernece from electrical sources in the car...???

I know this is a major problem with audio is some setups, and i run my mac on rca but obviously don;t get the picture quality you guys do, but i get NO interference.... Will let you know if i do when i go over to vga on a 7in touch screen...

jpennington · 08-15-2006, 02:05 AM

It appeared to be worse with Chess running. It could have just been easier to see with the darker background though.

It might be electrical interference but I did some tests that make me think differently.

I will try the refresh rate, I play around with that during the install and didn't see much of difference. It is at 84 or something right now, it looked best there. That was before I switched out the VGA cable for a better one.

The Extron line driver helped, but it doesn't completely fix the problem.

It is strange, I can't figure it what is different when it is doing it. I thought it was the car usage but today when I turned it out it was going it.

I don't know, if anyone comes up with a solution or something to try I will be glad to try it and report back.

godraj · 08-17-2006, 08:21 PM

Strange, I thought using the CPU would make it better. Well I tried a core duo a few days ago to see if it made a difference; and it turns out that it is even worse with the duo. I'm not sure what else to try at this point. I have done as much as I can with the wiring as possible. In the meantime I've been running some commands through terminal that is cpu intensive and that has seemed to be working. I'm going to try 2 more things this weekend. Howerver it goes, I will post.

godraj · 08-24-2006, 11:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jpennington

I have the same problem.

Pathfinder -- MacMini DualCore Intel -- MTSVO -- Carnetix PSU 2.2

It was drastically reduced when I started using a thicker VGA cable. I also have a USB VGA Line Driver made by extron installed, which helped. Now it only happens about 10 percent of the time and always after the car has been used a lot that day. (i.e. it is fine in the morning, but if I drive around a lot it starts up at the end of the day).

I will try the iTunes import test, interesting.

Took your suggestion and bought my self a thicker and shorter vga cable. The flickering has diminished alot (a little bit still there) Thanks for the advice.

jpennington · 08-25-2006, 08:12 AM

The same thing happened with mine when I added a thicker cable, bettet, but not perfect.

That is what makes me think there is electrical interference somewhere.

godraj · 08-26-2006, 11:08 PM

Yup. That's exactly what I was thinking. I'm ordering EMI shielding tape and will use that on some cables, monitor, and possible mac mini if necesary. Will post results.

jpennington · 09-04-2006, 03:16 AM

Any luck yet, mine is driving me insane

.

godraj · 10-10-2006, 07:09 PM

Just an update on what's been going on:
I moved the PSU to the front of the car about 4ft. away from Mac Mini, and the flickering has decreased. The PSU was originally in the trunk about 10ft away from mini. I recently moved it even closer to the mini, now about 1 feet away; the flickering now is worse than it was before.

I think that it maybe the connections on the power cables leaving the PSU to the mini. Perhaps my connections are bad that is why it has become worse now that it is much closer to the mini. Playing with the wires changes the frequency of the flickering.

Those of you who are experiencing issues, are you using the macpack or did you make the connections from psu to mac mini on your own? Because, right now it seems that getting a macpack may solve my issue. I have also noticed that unplugging the USB decreases the flickering as well, but that is most likely due to using poor wires.

replicant · 12-16-2006, 10:48 PM

any other news on this? i've had this same problem on my windows based carpc for years, but never really did much to solve it... now that i'm about to move to a mac based setup (specifically a ppc mini for now), i'm definitely more interested in getting this lil problem fixed.

pepsibobby · 12-17-2006, 12:06 PM

the PPC mini that i have never flickers

godraj · 12-20-2006, 11:14 PM

The ppc version never had the issue. The intel does. I've tried multiple different things, and it just seems that the intel mini is not getting regulated power so it causes image on the video out put to flicer. My macbook connected to the car screen has no issues. Household power to the macmini using the car screen also has no issues. So it's related to the way the mini is being powered in the car.

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