Q: 10.11.4 Window position off-screen after wake from sleep + external display

Hi,

I take that in System Preferences > Displays that Mirroring is On ?

What resolutions are both screens running at ?

How are you waking the laptop from Sleep ?

If this is by lifting the Lid is it on the Mac that you see this ?

If it is does the position bear any relation to the larger screen's layout ?  (i.e. if the laptop could match the larger screen's resolution would the "shift" appear in the same place, like the laptop was a cut out of the larger screen).

In System Preferences > Displays which is the "lead" screen ?

9:17 pm      Wednesday; May 4, 2016

This happens to me as well and I initially attributed it to an app in the App Store (Magnet) but have confirmed the behavior is consistent with or without that application running. I use a MacBook Pro Retina 13" running 10.11.4 in clamshell mode connected to a 34" Samsung SE790C display and it is driving me crazy at the moment. The applications I have seen this behavior (windows off the screen with just a 1/4" visible and in a completely different side of the screen) with are: Safari, Pages, Messages, Terminal, Mail (all thus far).

To be clear the pattern in as follows:

• MacBook Pro Retina connected to Samsung monitor in clamshell mode connected via HDMI or same connected via Vertical Henge Dock via Displayport
• Laptop and screen go to sleep
• Awake the laptop via bluetooth connected Magic Track Pad
• Application windows are positioned in different locations and mostly off of the screen entirely (apart from 1/4")

Seems like a bug that needs to be corrected.

Hi,

So the Smaller screen is never re-opened and therefore it cannot be said whether the smaller screen is mistakenly trying display things at the same resolution and only providing a "window" view of the larger screen's display.

Also the apps also have moved.

In that case are the screens or have they been run as if side by Side (no Mirroring) so that when an app is moved to the side of one display it also partially appears on the "other side" of the other ?

Can the Clamshell Mac be opened to check that ?
Or can that be checked in System Preferences > Displays ?

It sounds like the Mirroring is lost.

9:09 pm      Thursday; May 5, 2016

Correct on initially not opening the "smaller" screen a.k.a. the laptop screen

I am running the screens in side by side mode (no mirroring) and tested the following pattern after your reply:

• MacBook Pro Retina connected to Samsung monitor in clamshell mode connected via HDMI (no dock)
• Laptop and screen go to sleep
• Awake the laptop via bluetooth connected Magic Track Pad
• Application windows are positioned in different locations with one off of the screen entirely (apart from 1/4")
• Open the Laptop and thus removing the clamshell mode

Results:

• All application windows are positioned in normal non-full screen mode on the laptop screen only (samsung external display has no active application windows and only shows the wallpaper). Note that all applications windows are positioned within the laptop monitor with none attempting to hang off the screen or in an odd position.

System preferences show no mirroring checked and both monitors have a resolution of "default for display"

Hi,

So you are not mirroring but dragging all the Apps to the larger screen which is set up to be Side by side with the Laptop Screen.

The connection method and settings means the larger screen has no Dock showing.

It would appear that on wake the apps (or the computer) is only seeing one screen - the laptop's own -  and trying to place all the apps in relation to  it's screen.

In Displays, does the "Scaled" option give any hint as the the resolution that is being used ?

If you do set it up to Mirror does the behaviour stop ?

9:01 pm      Friday; May 6, 2016

I am not mirroring, nor am I dragging applications from one screen to the other on most cases. For my primary use I am doing the following (this may have not been clear in my initial response):

• MacBook Pro 13" connected to Samsung 34" external display in clamshell (closed lid) or docked (closed) in a vertical henge dock
• Connection to external display is via HDMI or DisplayPort (via thunderbolt) - I have tested both connections
• Thus, the following: only one primary display in this scenario (the Samsung external monitor)
• The OS X doc is displayed on the primary (Samsung) display in this mode

Resolution of the Samsung monitor as indicated in MacBook Pro system preferences scaled option "hint" is 3440x1440

I can try the mirroring option to see if the behavior is different, but that's not my primary use case. My primary use case is to use the laptop closed when connected to this external display.

Keith

Hi,

Does this mean that before the Mac has the Lid closed that the Displays have already been set to the larger external one as the main screen ?

Or does the closing of the lid make the remaining display the one that then automatically gets the Dock ?

I am trying to ascertain which is the "normal" Screen/Display and if that has any bearing at the point of waking up.

9:32 pm      Sunday; May 8, 2016

For the purposes of my primary use case, the laptop is in the closed position and the external 34" display is the primary display when docked. When undocked the laptop assumes the primary display (as it is not connected to the external display).

If I were in a scenario to have the laptop open simultaneously connected to the external display (rare occasion - as when I use the laptop display it is only when not connected to the 34" display), the dock is on the laptop and the external display is an extended desktop. When I close the lid of the laptop, the external display automatically gets the OS X dock.

Hi,

So the Displays pane is not being used to set the primary Display in the first place.

Other than this Wake issue the "Correct" Display is identified and the Dock and Menu Bar  appear on the active Display.

Nothing you have said and nothing I can see in the El Capitan version of the System Preferences > Displays suggests that you should decide, or can even do so, which is the default Display.

I have a G4 tower running Leopard and an MacBook Pro version 1,1 that can get up to Snow Leopard which I can connect to VGA displays as I have the DVI to VGA adapters.  These versions of the OS seems to need the default Display to be set.

At this point I would have suggested A NVRAM Reset https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063 and also checking the "More Like This" item listed below.

One seems to be close and also suggest a NVRAM reset Re: Wake from sleep resizes external monitor windows to macbook size?

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

7:38 pm      Monday; May 9, 2016

Note that I performed a NVRAM reset and the problem was not resolved and continues to persist.

hi,

And the List below ?

More Like This

 

• External Display Desktop 10.6.2
• Phantom non existent external monitor on Mac book pro
• External Monitor Won't Wake Up from Sleep
• Re: Display and Waking From Sleep for External Display
• Re: Wake from sleep resizes external monitor windows to macbook size?

This problem existed for me with Yosemite but only happened occasionally, but now on El Capitan it happens almost every time I wake the computer from sleep.  I've been trying to debug this issue (on and off) for months (years?).  None of the proposed solutions on this thread or any other thread made any difference at all. But just last week I discovered a partial solution!  Sorry for the longish explanation, I wanted to try and be as clear as possible.

My scenario (similar to OP):

• At work - MBP Retina connected to external LG IPS by thunderbolt, no mirroring and extended desktop, laptop set as primary display
• At home - Connected to external Dell 4K by thunderbolt, laptop in clamshell mode (ie laptop closed)

At work, no issues, ever - windows always left where I had them originally, and no difference whether it was screensaver/sleep/suspend.  So let's assume "work mode" is fine.  At home, however, if the computer went to screensaver or sleep mode, I'd wake it up to discover any number of random windows off the desktop/offscreen, with only 1/4" visible.  Windows would move off both left and right sides too, without any indicator or pattern as to which would be preferred.

But I realised last week that OSX remembers not just screen settings, but it also seems to remember desktop settings for different external screens (and, for me, different model/brand screens - I assume this is a feature, I've not checked/confirmed).

So, on that theory, I decided to see if I could set up the home situation with both screens active initially, to try and induce different behaviour after screensave/sleep.  At work, mirroring is off.  You can't change mirroring when in clamshell mode, so for this test at home I had both screens initially on.  The first important step was to make the external Dell the primary monitor by moving the dock over.  Second step was to turn on mirroring.  Then close the laptop lid and go into clamshell mode.

End result - for over a week, not a single window has moved off screen coming out of screensaver or sleep.  The problem is not completely solved - some windows still move occasionally, but they do so WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES of the external Dell monitor so they are much easier to reposition.  Changing these settings for the Dell (at home) has not had any impact at all on the work (non-mirrored) settings for the LG IPS.

Side note, changing the settings in order seems to be important - when I tried setting mirror mode first but didn't change the primary monitor (which you can't do once mirroring is turned on), then the random offscreen window issue would still continue.

Conclusion - something about mirroring isn't handling clamshell mode correctly, and partially ignoring primary monitor settings in some way.  It seems to be a sequence/order issue.  The partial solution is more than enough for me - dragging 10+ windows using only 1/4" of title bar to grab was seriously annoying every time I woke the machine up.  Now I only have to reposition perhaps one or two windows that have moved a little, but no part of any window now moves offscreen at all.  It's like the sequence I configured the settings in was important for setting the display boundaries, and now OSX knows how to honour them.

Again, sorry for the long reply, I hope this helps someone.

Hi,

Nice piece of work and about being clear how and why the logic of the steps worked.

That seems very similar to an issue that iChat had about using Blue Tooth head sets (And to some extent other headsets)

By Default the OS picks the Internal Mic (on those that have them) and it is set in System Preferences > Sound > Input tab.

If there are two device they show up.

However in iChat there was an Audio and Video Pane in the Preferences and the Input for the Mic would be a drop down and an extra option to set up a Blue Tooth Headset.

If you changed here without changing the Sound > Input > System Pane then the headset would not work.

To get it to work required needs the Headset to be set up in System Preferences > Sound > Input "first" and then in iChat.

If not done this way the Headset still is not recognised even if both are set to the "correct" settings.

It is order specific like choosing this Screen Layout seems to be.

As a note the Output part of the Headset needed to be set up the same way but seemed to be less critical.

I say again, nice work Jeff.

7:32 pm      Friday; June 24, 2016