athomas1

Q: Multiple display problem in OSX 10.9.2

I just updated to 10.9.2 on my 15" Macbook Pro (Mid-2010) and after the restart my secondary display will not work. When I plug it in to my mini displayport my secondary display comes up black and my primary display comes back with the background and settings that I had set for my secondary display. It seems as though the OS was confusing my primary display for my secondary. After messing with the settings I was able to get my primary display back to my primary settings, but the secondary display is still showing up black no matter how much I mess with the display settings in the system preferences (changes to resolution, mirroring, ect.). Anyone else experiencing this?

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010)

Posted on Feb 25, 2014 1:00 PM

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Q: Multiple display problem in OSX 10.9.2

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  • by James Brunner,

    James Brunner James Brunner Mar 5, 2014 1:48 AM in response to Eric Hildum
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mar 5, 2014 1:48 AM in response to Eric Hildum

    Eric, That would be for monitors which have a displayport connection.  As noted in my post, my monitor is dual-link dvi.  If there was a setting (which there isn't), it would have to be in the adaptor for my case.  It's a powered (smart) adaptor which converts DisplayPort to DualLink DVI.

  • by Eric Hildum,

    Eric Hildum Eric Hildum Mar 5, 2014 6:35 AM in response to James Brunner
    Level 2 (265 points)
    Mar 5, 2014 6:35 AM in response to James Brunner

    Apple has stated many times they do not read or monitor these forums for bug reports or enhancement suggestions. Apple has provided both a feedback site and a bug reporting site for suggestions and bug reports. Use one of those if you want Apple to be aware of your issue.

  • by tbartoncv,

    tbartoncv tbartoncv Mar 5, 2014 6:59 AM in response to Eric Hildum
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 5, 2014 6:59 AM in response to Eric Hildum

    James Brunner stated in a previous post that a bug report was filed.

     

    Apple may not directly monitor these forums (I find hard to believe), but they do have indirect contact through the press, employees acting unofficially and other ways that do read these forums and inform the general public of problems mentioned like poorly executed OS updates.

     

    James - I have this problem too on a late 2013 Mac Pro using two crossover q27 monitors connected via apple dev-d adapters. I have had a bug report in since late January. The only solution for me was to install previous, known working, drivers and bundle files. I have had very little traction from apple. 

  • by gullevek,

    gullevek gullevek Mar 6, 2014 7:25 AM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 6, 2014 7:25 AM in response to athomas1

    I have a smiliar issue, but not as grave as the rest here. My secondary monitor just doesn't want to go to sleep anymore. iMac 21inch Mid-2011 with NEC PA271W via display port. Not so critical, but still annyoing.

  • by Mr-Flibble,

    Mr-Flibble Mr-Flibble Mar 6, 2014 4:31 PM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2014 4:31 PM in response to athomas1

    Bought myself 2 new Thunderbolt displays, that seemed to fix the problem, working perfectly.

     

    Maybe this was Apple's plan all along.

  • by Sebastian Graae,

    Sebastian Graae Sebastian Graae Mar 10, 2014 5:32 AM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2014 5:32 AM in response to athomas1

    It seems most definately to be a Mini Display port issue. I have just updated to beta 19.9.3 and the issue is still there, unfortunately. However after changing the cabling from "mini display port" > "display port" to "mini display port" > "DVI", I briefly had a signal before the blackness kick in again, so the Mini display port is the devil here.

     

    My screen is a IIYAMA XB2779 and I also have a PS3 connected via the HDMI port. After updating to both 10.9.2 and 10.9.3 beta, the screen has massive troubles with switching to the HDMI input. disconneting all cables and only connecting the HDMI does the trick.

     

    This needs fixing ASAP

  • by Renarik,

    Renarik Renarik Mar 10, 2014 9:05 AM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2014 9:05 AM in response to athomas1

    Here's what I did to fix this issue for me. My set up is: mid-2012 MBP 15" Retina, with mini-DisplayPort direct to a 30" Dell U3011:

     

    Open your terminal with a user that has administrator permissions, then:

     

    cd /Preferences

    sudo cp com.apple.windowserver.plist com.apple.windowserver.plist~orig

    <enter your password when prompted>

    sudo rm -f com.apple.windowserver.plist

    Restart your Mac

     

    My hypothesis here is that there is a problem in the 10.9.2 upgrader that breaks older configurations (and with all the changes they've been making to the multi-monitor support, that's not a big surprise). Deleting the preferences file and allowing the system to rebuild it resets it to look more like a fresh 10.9.2 install.

     

    Hope this helps.

  • by dankohn,

    dankohn dankohn Mar 10, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Renarik
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Mar 10, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Renarik

    Great, suggestion, but it unfortunately didn't help, with my Monoprice miniDisplayPort to dual DVI adapter connected to a 27" Crossover display. Note that your steps can be condensed to:

     

    cd /Library/Preferences

    sudo mv com.apple.windowserver.plist com.apple.windowserver.plist~orig

    <enter your password when prompted>

    Restart

     

    com.apple.windowserver was rebuilt and restart, but it didn't help any.

  • by trumpetmic,

    trumpetmic trumpetmic Mar 10, 2014 5:23 PM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2014 5:23 PM in response to athomas1

    Same problem here.  My monitor is a Crossover 27Q and I'm using an Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter.  This has been working for months, and now that I have the 10.9.2 update, it no longer works.

     

     

    Strange thing is that the MBP screen goes dark too, even after I unplug the external screen.  It only comes back online if I plug in a Mini DisplayPort adapter and then unplug that.

     

    Apple, can you please fix this bug?  Can't get my external monitor to work at all now.

  • by tbartoncv,

    tbartoncv tbartoncv Mar 10, 2014 6:14 PM in response to trumpetmic
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 10, 2014 6:14 PM in response to trumpetmic

    Mine are crossover 27q too. I filed bug reports in late January with no response. Last week I contacted apple support and opened a case. The guy I talked to was no engineer but did seem concerned (should be after a $4k purchase). He had me run their data collection util and I haven't heard back.  He did say that it's "rare" and has not heard of the problem.

     

    My suggestion is to contact apple support and report it. The guy I talked to suggested it was isolated to new mac pros.

  • by phjo,

    phjo phjo Mar 12, 2014 5:39 AM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Mar 12, 2014 5:39 AM in response to athomas1

    Not quite the same thing here, but similar : I use my mid-2012 retina macbook pro (15) with a svga (800x600) projector connected through hdmi when teaching.

     

    Since 10.9.2, even when not mirroring, using both displays forces the screen of the macbook to change resolution and to use the same (not native) 800x600 resolution, which is quite annoying.

     

    I had no such problem with 10.9.1 (only the change of resolution when mirroring, which is normal).

     

    Mirroring is working as usual.

     

    I tried on a 1080p television, and had no such problem with hdmi, so it obiously depends on the external display.

  • by zoranfromswe,

    zoranfromswe zoranfromswe Mar 14, 2014 12:43 AM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2014 12:43 AM in response to athomas1

    Joining the choir: iMac 27 late 2009, 2nd monitor not working after 10.9.2 upgrade.

  • by Eric Hildum,

    Eric Hildum Eric Hildum Mar 14, 2014 6:58 AM in response to zoranfromswe
    Level 2 (265 points)
    Mar 14, 2014 6:58 AM in response to zoranfromswe

    10.9.2 seems to have trouble with monitors using Displayport 1.2. You can usually set the monitor's mode with the on screen menu, try disabling Displayport 1.2 or setting the monitor to Displayport 1.1.

     

    And file a bug report with Apple at the bug report site.

  • by juliustayl,

    juliustayl juliustayl Mar 14, 2014 10:44 AM in response to Eric Hildum
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2014 10:44 AM in response to Eric Hildum

    I'm using a mini dp (that only supports displayport 1.1) to dual dvi adapter for my 27in Shimian and the display on my mbp and external display will no longer work when the monitor is plugged in.  I have ot kill windowserver (as mentioned above) to get the MBP display back up (or shutdown my computer completely)

  • by tbartoncv,

    tbartoncv tbartoncv Mar 14, 2014 11:57 AM in response to athomas1
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 14, 2014 11:57 AM in response to athomas1

    I have opened a support case for this problem, ran the data collection utility for apple engineers and submitted the data. I heard back today that they are aware of the problem of mini displayport to dvi-d adapter issues and have had other reports of the problem. I was told they are working on a fix and didn't have a timeframe. Reccommended sticking with 10.9.1 until the fix is out.

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