Unsolved
2 Posts
2
3294
U3223QE, USB-C, flickering randomly, #3
I'm having the exact same issue. And it's not just one monitor. I actually have two that are showing the same symptoms:
- the flickering is random, dependent on the content of the screen. seem to get triggered by large areas of light/gray or general mid-tones. not when it's dark, and using dark mode on macOS kind of hides the problem for most part
- I've tested it with two laptops: M1 based MacBook Pro 14", and Intel MacBook Pro 13" (last intel gen). both create flicker. it's hard to determine what triggers it, but it sometimes shows up immediately, and sometimes it takes a while/requires the content of the screen to be such to trigger it. both of my monitors are exhibiting the same symptoms.
- for a brief period I used HDMI I wasn't seeing it, but that's moot because I bought these monitors specifically for the USB-C functionality
- one thing that temporarily removes the flickering is choosing a different monitor profile in display settings. It doesn't matter which one. generally, the one that is currently selected will flicker and any other will not. I say "temporary" because it is a temporary solution: the flicker will eventually come back, and then you have to switch profiles again to get it not to flicker. so, then the original profile that flickered becomes the one that removes the flicker, and so on. it's super weird
- honestly, I don't know if this is an apple issue with profiles, or just some weirdness exhibited by the monitor, but whatever the case is, it repeating over two monitors bought at different times makes it very suspicious of monitors, because it does the same thing with two different laptops.
It looks like I might have to declare it as a warranty issue. It kind of works at times, but is supper annoying when it pops up and is distracting for a not a cheap monitor I bought for very specific functionality that is causing issues.
Jody Garnett
4 Posts
0
March 9th, 2023 16:00
Wow @goranb that is *exactly* my experience also; I have had some success changing USB priority from data to resolution which reduced how often this problem occurs during the day.
And yes MacBook Pro 16 M1.
nohamsale
3 Posts
0
March 19th, 2023 02:00
Same problem with my 14" M2 MacBook Pro. It feels like it's dependent on the content displayed on the screen.
Is there anything we could do?
Grumpyroller
1 Message
0
March 28th, 2023 02:00
Same here. I tried everything and I think it's getting worse lately.
Jody Garnett
4 Posts
0
March 28th, 2023 08:00
Okay I have a terrible terrible workaround that is foolproof (citation I am a fool):
1. Connect with to monitor with USB-C for power
2. Connect with USB-C to display port cable for display (shows up as second display)
3. Mirror the two displays in settings
4. Mess with monitor settings so Display Port is shown with KVM switcher assigned to USBC input
Using this configuration it is easy to verify that this is only a problem on USBC and not an issue with the panel. There is also one HDMI port left over for my gaming PC.
I have opened a support ticket and dell is sending another monitor; which should determine if this is a fault or a fundamental incompatibility.
Tip: An easy way to reproduce is to full screen the dell website, and select the drop down menus such as "support". It gives the correct ratio of bright white to dark to illustrate the problem.
Jody Garnett
4 Posts
0
March 30th, 2023 13:00
The second monitor has exactly the same issue; also tried using the USB-C cable supplied with the each monitor to no effect.
The cable are marked both:
Those are two different specs indicating the cable is rated for 1,250 MBps.
Based on reddit discussion I ordered an Apple Thunderbolt 3 cable (which the fine print has as USB 3.1 Gen 2) ... it offers the same flickering experience.
The problem occurs when using input color format YCbCr.
1) Using a second cable (USBC -> DisplayPort) causes the monitor to show up as a second monitor with RGB color space; cannot see a way to disable initial USB-C monitor.
2) Changing to USB-C Prioritization to High Resolution wile connected to the computer results in RGB color space
3) Reseting the monitor to factor defaults while connected sets to RGB color space
These workarounds do not last and must be done each day.
nohamsale
3 Posts
0
April 1st, 2023 03:00
I also tried different USB-C cables but didn't see any improvement. The below picture/colour is resulting in flickering and odd lines on my screen when opened in the Mac Preview app and when clicking on the picture in my browser.
hendrik_k
1 Message
0
April 7th, 2023 18:00
I have the same problem, using USB-C cable to my M2 MacBook Air. The flicker definitely is content dependent.
I am using the MonitorControl utility app to easily change display brightness via function keys. And when the flicker appears I can bump the brightness up or down a notch to make it stop (until some other content triggers it for that new brightness level).
Seems like this is a technical design flaw with this monitor. So no point in trying to send it in for a warranty exchange. But I wonder if we should be entitled to return it for a refund during the warranty period? It is super annoying and not acceptable for an UltraSharp monitor (or any monitor really).
StefKis
2 Posts
0
April 11th, 2023 08:00
I am at my 2nd monitor as I returned the 1'st and the same thing happened after 30 min of use. I called in and now I'm going to receive the 3'rd one. symptoms:
- screen burn in, even in self diag mode, although no cables are attached
- super annoying flicker and artefacts while using usb -c , hdmi or dp.
- the fix someone marked as FIXING the issue, does not fix it in anyway, and even if it did, it's unacceptable to use this monitor at 30 hertz..this is clearly an engineering issue, and I assume this is commonly known issue, although no one bats an eye.
Jody Garnett
4 Posts
0
April 12th, 2023 21:00
1) Dell passed me over to apple support after sending a second monitor and troubleshooting over the phone. I also tried an apple "Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) Cable (0.8 m)" cable just to see if it would make a Difference.
2) Apple cited U3223QE product description noting text under "A more organized workspace: Single cable USB-C connectivity offers the flexibility of connecting to multi-vendor USB-C systems (i), reducing cable clutter and enabling quick transitions from the desk." where the (i) indicates "Compatibility and performance with multi-vendor systems will vary."
Also looked at dell support page which does not list U3223QE despite being updated in January 2023.
The conclusion amounted to DisplayPort being the correct way to connect the two devices rather than USBC.
3) I then had an interesting experience of being able to reproduce the effect ... using just the monitor on-screen display menu (wot?): see video
The video uses the USBC-to-DisplayPort adaptor, the color input is recognized as RGB, and the flicker is introduced just using the monitor on-screen-menu.
So I am not sure what to make of this? Not an incompatibility if the monitor can do it on its own...
goranb
2 Posts
0
April 18th, 2023 11:00
Wow, there has been a bunch of updates since I posted this.
The other day I finally decided I don't care about the charging or hub capabilities of the monitor (the exact same things I actually purchased it for), so I switched over to HDMI to avoid the flicker. To my great surprise, it came back. For some reason it took it a few days, or at least I didn't notice it originally, but yeah, it's there, reproducible.
This basically means than none of the input options is capable of running the monitor without flicker: DP, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 3 are all affected.
One of the culprits I suspected was True Tone on Mac, but even when I turned it off the flicker returned quickly.
I fear I'll have to initiate return of this monitor as it's completely unusable for the purpose, but just in case anybody from Dell is listening: any other suggestions?
Caesar7
6 Posts
0
April 22nd, 2023 08:00
I have the same problem with the U3023E besides, I have never seen a monitor with uglier ghosting - black shadow that disappears in 0.5 seconds (not ms) - terrible response time! On top of it all, it's not 10 bits but 8 bits!
(edited)
Michael Swart
1 Message
0
May 2nd, 2023 07:00
Adding my +1 here as well.
I have a MBP M1 Max and a U3223QE. USBC connection, using the monitor as a hub. Same symptoms - flickering dependent on the content shown on screen. Sometimes I am able to 'fix' it by moving things around, but overall it has been getting to the point that I am dealing with it at least once an hour. I've gone through this thread and tried some of the suggestions, but they do not seem to help. I'm well out of the replacement window at this point, but the performance of this monitor has been pretty disappointing overall - this issue just makes me want to replace it asap.
manuelsteiner
1 Message
1
May 3rd, 2023 12:00
Hi,
just venting in regards to the same issue. So glad I found this thread and my monitor is not the only one exhibiting the problem. I'm also out of the replacement period.
If Dell ever decides to look into this issue, here's my hardware that produces the issue.
Mac Mini M1 using USB-C.
Briefly tried it on a Lenovo Thinkpad T460 with HDMI and could not reproduce the issue but tried it for an insufficient time-frame.
Pretty disappointing considering the acquisition costs of the monitor to be honest.
Leko12345
1 Message
0
September 18th, 2023 23:35
This issue just happened to me for the first time and that's also how I found this thread.
U3223QE & 16" M1 MBP. I noticed everyone else here also have Macs, so:
Try turning off Night Shift (System Settings > Displays > Night Shift)
It worked for me, although I can't say if it's just blind luck.
Notice that Night Shift settings warn that warmer colors may affect screen performance.
Funny enough, I later turned Night Shift back on, which initially brought back the flickering, but after 10 more minutes the flickering went away.
Hope this helps. To me this feels very much like a Mac software issue.
(edited)
Arne_SpringTree
1 Message
1
September 20th, 2023 12:43
We are a company with 10 of the Dell U3223QE at our workplace used by MacBook Pro M1/M2 users and unfortunately getting reports of this flickering behaviour from our people. So far no structural workaround or fix is found on our side. Sometimes the flickering goes away and returns later. It does seem to occur more frequent when using dark mode system wide.
Extremely annoying and disappointing for a product manufacturer like Dell. Hopefully this can / will be fixed by a software update or anything. Will monitor this thread...