I'm testing as many MacBooks as possible. Here are the results.
@NewDwarf that didn't work for some reason, it gave the following;
log show --process 0 -last 15m | grep ahkinject
log: unrecognized option `--process'
usage: log show [options] <archive>
or: log show [options]
description:
Show the contents of the system log datastore or a log archive.
Output contains only default level messages unless --info and/or
--debug are specified.
options:
--[no-]backtrace Control whether backtraces are shown
--[no-]debug Control whether "Debug" events are shown
--[no-]info Control whether "Info" events are shown
--[no-]loss Control whether message loss events are shown
--[no-]signpost Control whether signposts are shown
--color <mode> Control color output (valid: auto, always, none)
--end <date> Display events up to the given end date
--last <num>[m|h|d] Display recent events up to the given limit
--[no-]pager Paginate output using less.
--predicate <predicate> Filter events using the given predicate
--source Annotate output with source file and line-number
--start <date> Display events from the given start date
--style <style> Output format (valid: default, syslog, json, ndjson, compact)
--timezone local | <tz> Use the given timezone when displaying event timestamps
--mach-continuous-time Print mach continuous time timestamps rather than walltime
valid time formats:
'Y-M-D H:m:s+zzzz', 'Y-M-D H:m:s', 'Y-M-D', '@unixtime'
predicate usage:
Filter predicates follow the NSPredicate format described at:
For predicate field/type details, see `log help predicates`.
Btw I think it would interest everyone to say I am actually using the new Dasung Paperlike Color and I've been working on my non symptomatic MBP all morning, having just switched to the symptomatic one I can see the general overall image is way different I need to find time to post this and take photographs of the differences I'm seeing.
@macsforme my comfortable MPB has Bootrom: 1037.147.4.0.0 | iBridge 17.16.16610.0.0.0
uncomfortable identical MBP: Bottom 1968.100.17.0.0 (iBridge: 20.16.4252.0.0,0)
I spoke to someone at Apple and gave up in the end but he was saying that was the only difference in the machine aside from the fact that my comfortable one was bought in the UK and uncomfortable one turns out to be a US Machine.
GBowler Thank you! So the GPU information in the system profile is identical between the two? That info seems to be the most pertinent. I know display panels can come from different vendors as well, which could certainly be a factor (although I don’t know of a way to identify the panel manufacturer on modern Macs).
NewDwarf thankyou!! I have no clue about these Terminal commands
Yes I got a long read out very similar to the one you shared! so it has worked thank you!!!
There seems to be something other than dithering going on that is giving me symptoms (this is all connecting to a 10bit Eizo monitor btw)
Really appreciate your help and it is good to know that dithering may not be the sole thing I need to focus on!!
macsforme Yes I've just checked and the Graphics/Displays details are identical between the two!
And I'm going into an Eizo 10bit external monitor
So it seems to be this Bootrom, I spoke to a guy who was advertising on eBay and he said he could replace the chip, is it the EFI chip? and that I just needed to give him the firmware version, I think it was around £300 so I think I may try that as an experiment.
On a total tangent I'm finding the Dasung Paperlike Color to be super helpful, tough going to get used to but I managed a half day video editing on it this morning!!
GBowler My understanding is that for Macs up until around 2017 (where I am focusing my research), the firmware/ROM is on a ROM chip which is accessible for read/write using a diagnostic port on the motherboard and a special cable and programmer. So, you can dump the ROM, extract the necessary parts and inject them into an older ROM update file (from Apple), then flash that back to the motherboard. I have done this a few times. Notably, the main firmware/ROM is only one component of several which can be updated, but this is where I have focused so far.
For later Macs, my understanding is that BridgeOS runs on the T2 chip, and like an iOS device you can only flash an older BridgeOS while Apple is still signing it (so only recent versions). I believe the firmware/ROM resides on the main SSD with the OS and user data, but the NAND flash is encrypted by the T2 so I do not see how you can manipulate it (other than perhaps erasing the entire NAND flash chips). You can use Apple Configurator 2 to "revive" or "restore" the firmware and operating system, but again, only recent versions still signed by Apple. So, I am curious if this person can actually flash an older firmware version on a T2 Mac, and whether that includes the BridgeOS.
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NewDwarf There are two versions of that drug, a 10mg version and a 5mg version. Fortunately, with the 15" macbook air, I only need the 5mg dose. Of course I would prefer not to take medication however I don't have a laptop that doesn't cause migraines right now.
When I work from home, I connect the mac to the 27GR95QE-B (27" 2K OLED 240hz) monitor and with this combination I have no migraine problems so I take the medication when I have to work from clients. So 0 to 5 times a week.
If i connect the same monitor to my gaming PC 13700K + 4070 + W11 21H2 gives me migraine problems after one hour of use.
I bought a PWM detector:
The modulation depth is worse with gaming PC but I don't think that is the problem. My current smarthphone is iphone X which has 240hz frequency and 99.5% modulation depth and I can use it for hours without any problem..
Lauda89 When you took the measurements with your Opple LightMaster, did you test the same color for both devices? I'm guessing you tested a brighter color (like white) for the Macbook and a dimmer color (like gray) for the gaming PC.
It would be best to use the same colors for both. And also to try using a handful of different colors, comparing the same color on one device with the same color on the other device.
Here's a handy page that lists all 256 shades of gray, red, green and blue. Obviously you don't need to test all 1000+ colors, but testing 20 different colors might produce interesting results. https://pixelinversion.com/AllColors.html
Also, it would be interesting to see the waveform from your iPhone X. 99.5% modulation depth is pretty crazy for a screen.
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Lauda89 That's really fascinating… is that measurement from the Opple taken on the Macbook Air M2 15 inch? I thought Notebookcheck had found that it doesn't have PWM, but that measurement is showing 240Hz PWM? I wonder if it's picking up FRC dither? But I thought FRC was typically half the frequency of the refresh rate?
Edit: Sorry, I didn't realize you were using an external monitor for the test.
I can absolutely confirm this. MacOS Ventura update from 13.2.1 to 13.3 changed something on firmware level of my M2 MBP 13". I was able to use it for hours, but it added some high frequency flickering that's best seen with white text on black background. It's completely unusable now. I can see this flickering even I take my eyes off the screen, it takes maybe 15-30 minutes to get my sight in order after using it.
What’s worse that is seems to be irreversible. I downgraded to earlier Ventura and even Monterey. I went to service and asked them to downgrade the firmware to 13.2.1 which they did (it could be done with recovery from another mac) but nothing changed.
DigDeal To clarify, you actually downgraded the firmware, not just the operating system (macOS) version? Downgrading the firmware involves putting your Mac in DFU mode, connecting it to another Mac via USB-C/Thunderbolt, and restoring a specific macOS version using an .ipsw file using Apple Configurator 2. If only a recovery USB stick with an earlier macOS version was used, this would not downgrade the firmware. It sounds like you described an actual firmware downgrade, but I just want to be sure. I am also curious if you observed a firmware version change in the System Information app after the downgrade.
For the record, an Apple silicon MacBook Pro was where all of my vision problems started as well. There is definitely something harsh going on there.
macsforme Hi, yes, that is exactly what they did. I read an article on mrmacintosh.com about downgrading firmware to a specific version, downloaded 13.2.1 ipsw file and brought all this to a service center, where they uploaded the entire image using another Mac. As a result both "system firmware" and "OS loader" reported by system information matched the ones for Ventura 13.2.1.
I finally was able to execute on a 2019 MBP 16-inch w/ Intel and AMD Radeon Pro 5600M. I got the below from terminal (the Intel response a lot longer than your above). It seems like dithering is disabled on both, right?
My eyes are a bit tired from messing with so hard to tell right now on symptoms, but…
For the AMD:
And for the Intel:
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GregAtkinson For comparison I used the white ledstrain background from chrome. I will try some other colors.
In the meantime, I will add these graphs:
Iphone X IOS 14 (perfect for my brain):
Ipad air 2 (ledstrain white with safari) the only ipad tried that does not give migraine problems but I am stuck with IOS 13 for fear of updating:
Finally the business laptop which is an HP elitebook 840 g8 that destroys me in an hour of use (again ledstrain white with chrome):
From these graphs I cannot find any logical explanation with my symptoms. Because the HP should be the best and the iphone X the worst instead for me it is exactly the opposite.
The only thing I know is that it is a software problem.