PG27AQDM MCM110 discussion

[Cat7]

Yesterday, firmware MCM110 for the PG27AQDM was released: https://rog.asus.com/monitors/27-to-31-5-inches/rog-swift-oled-pg27aqdm/helpdesk_bios/

Bug fixed
1. Improve low grayscale dark area detail color gradation and color difference issues.
2. Improve the transient issue of flashing white lines appearing during power on/off.

The story so far, in my case: dark brown scenes in HDR had a purple tint until MCM107 which fixed it, but that update introduced color banding/posterization and "outline clipping". MCM108 and MCM109 reintroduced the purple tint issue so I never used them.

Now with MCM110, again in my case:

• The purple tint issue is fixed
• The banding/posterization is fixed, or at least better? I've tried a few games and couldn't find an instance of obvious banding like I used to
• The "outline clipping" issue is still present (for an example of what I'm talking about, see https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/gaming-monitors/pg27aqdm-hdr-looks-bad-with-orange-colours/m-p/1024567... which still shows the same problem in MCM110)

Other people have been having the same issues with HDR as me, if they see this thread I encourage them to do another round of testing.

Other users have had issues with the stability of the monitor in general, however I've been spared on that front.

[Cat7]

So unfortunately this update may not actually have improved anything when it comes to the banding issue. After making this thread I remembered the most egregious recent example I had was Black Ops 6 where many scenes are dark and lit only by an orange flame, which is the worst case scenario for this issue.

I booted the game back up and the issue is unchanged.

SDR:SDR

 HDR:

HDR

This is from the first campaign mission, at the second checkpoint. Not sure how visible the issue is in my photos, but the back of the character on the left appears normally gradated in SDR, whereas in HDR is seems like there's only 3-4 colors and it abruptly switches from one color to the next (so in other words, banding).

[da_Choko]

I have tested MCM110 and the purple red problem is fixed. The HDR Settings Gaming, Cinema and Console are also working again. (compared to MCM109) However we now have blown out yellow/orange and green in HDR 6500k. For Example in Oppenheimer @01:56:37. Those problems have already been reported in previous FW versions (e.G. MCM107) I haven't noticed those problems in Games yet so it´s an overall upgrade for me.

[Ovenchips]

Just updated from 109 to 110 this evening, and now my monitor image is extremely distorted and full of artifacts. My other monitor is fine and the OSD shows up normally so no idea what has happened. Have tried a reboot / cable replug / nvidia driver reinstall to no change. Happens on SDR/HDR, no OSD or windows hz/resolution changes seem to make a difference.

[Silent_Scone]

Hi @Ovenchips 

Was this directly after flashing the firmware?

[da_Choko]

Have you also tried a "All Reset" in the monitor settings?

[Ovenchips]

Ended up doing a full reset and left it completely unplugged overnight, and the distortion went away.

[JamesQ]

The MCM 109 messed up a couple things. I can't boot into my motherboard bios unless I'm in HDR mode. If I don't change display to HDR before rebooting into my mobo bios, the screen stays completely black. Even then, I'm unable to use msflash to install a motherboard bios update, because my monitor stays black.

So I tried installing MCM 110 to hopefully remedy this, and it straight up refuses to install on all 4 of my usb drives. I can't install with the one key update neither. 

I've tried renaming the img also, to ASUS_PG27AQM_USB_IMG_F8C1. Update still fails with usb using "magic combo" keys on monitor. I'm at a loss here. The only thing I haven't tried yet was a baseball bat.

[da_Choko]

I also had problems with FW updates. I always installed them via the USB cable that came with the monitor but that doesn't work anymore. It also didn´t work with several USB sticks. In the end i managed to install it from a laptop that is still on windows 10 via USB cable .