How to Eliminate Monitor Artifacts When Loading Scene?

I am seeing static-like artifacts on my external monitor when transitioning between scenes, as if the monitor was plugged in/out or turned on/off very quickly. I would very much like to eliminate those.

Additionally, if I exit full screen mode and switch scenes, the app goes into full screen mode automatically. I am not using Screen.fullScreen anywhere.

Important facts. This is running full screen on MacOS with an external Samsung monitor. LoadLevel() and LoadLevelAsync() both issue the same problem. My OS version is 10.6.8 and the Unity version is 4.2.2f1.

I would like to at least understand what kind of OS operation Unity is doing between scene changes that would cause my monitor to behave this way.

I’ve searched a lot for an answer and in the process figured out other artifact issues in the game but I can’t find anything on this one.

I don’t know why it does it, but I’ve found transitioning to a scene with just one big loading screen (GUITexture) doesn’t flicker at all.

My best guess is that unloading and loading all those objects takes its toll.