BeeeLock

Q: macOS Sierra with three external monitors on a MBPr

In the past three versions of OSX I've been able to connect two monitors to separate thunderbolt ports and a third monitor to the HDMI port (latest MBPr) using all four displays (the retina display being the 4th).  After installing Sierra this hardware configuration crashes the computer (complete freeze up, have to power down with the power button on keyboard).

 

Any thoughts on how to remediate this or does this seem to just be a bug in the first release of macOS?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 26, 2016 7:48 AM

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Q: macOS Sierra with three external monitors on a MBPr

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  • Helpful answers

  • by jameson.h,Helpful

    jameson.h jameson.h Sep 27, 2016 8:15 PM in response to BeeeLock
    Community Specialists
    Sep 27, 2016 8:15 PM in response to BeeeLock
    Hey there BeeeLock,

    I understand that your setup of your external monitors may be causing some issues after your update to Sierra. Try the following steps to reset your NVRAM, which may help you resolve this issue:
     

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

    Thanks for coming to the Apple Support Communities!

    Regards.

  • by jorgercg,

    jorgercg jorgercg Sep 27, 2016 2:49 PM in response to jameson.h
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 27, 2016 2:49 PM in response to jameson.h

    Hi Guys

     

    Sorry to barge in, but I have the same problem, and, in my understanding, I would suppose that someone that uses three external monitors have already cleared the NVRAM by now, among other attempts....

     

    I think that it is time for Apple to face this issue more seriously!

     

    I use my MBP daily to work, and I miss the fourth monitor a lot! It was a lot of money invested in this setup and like it is right now, it is productivity lost every day.

     

    Normally when MS launches a new OS you have to wait for the first SP to start using it, I hope that Apple is not following the same path.... I am afraid so.

     

    But I still hope I will not have to downgrade to use the hardware I have been using so far.

     

    Please come up with some real work, stop wasting our time and money!

     

    Regards

     

    Jorgercg

  • by BeeeLock,

    BeeeLock BeeeLock Sep 27, 2016 8:17 PM in response to jameson.h
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 27, 2016 8:17 PM in response to jameson.h

    Jameson,

    Thank you for providing me this information, however I already had to do this when the macOS Sierra installer bricked my MBPr.  Do you have any other suggestions?  At this point I'm about to start researching how to roll back to El Capitain and praying I can get my settings back to the way I expect them.

  • by BeeeLock,

    BeeeLock BeeeLock Sep 27, 2016 8:23 PM in response to jorgercg
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 27, 2016 8:23 PM in response to jorgercg

    Jorgercg,

    I agree with you completely.  In this day in age the DevOps community at Apple should know better than to put out products where the features are untested.  This is clearly a common problem with no known fix.  Did no one at Apple think to plug in peripherals when testing prior to release?  Did no one in the alpha and beta communities have four monitors?  Apple should be following an iterative development and testing process where there is a list of all known features and functionality and each and every one should be validated before rolling to the masses.

     

    I unfortunately think I will be downgrading to El Capitain.  Any future endeavors into macOS will be installed onto an external hard drive first and foremost and put through my own stringent testing before even contemplating putting new versions into my "production" environment.

     

    This is rather unfortunate as this was my first foray into an Apple product.  This decision was made because I wanted something simple and easy.  It's not turning into a major time suck that has lost me numerous hours if not days of productivity.  This is not the only bug I've encountered which impacts my productivity and likely won't be the last.  I just hope that having to revert to El Capitain for days, weeks (!!?!), months (?!!!?!!!!!?), years (*&^@*#&%&^) doesn't leave me vulnerable.

  • by norm123,

    norm123 norm123 Sep 28, 2016 5:01 AM in response to BeeeLock
    Community Specialists
    Sep 28, 2016 5:01 AM in response to BeeeLock
    Hey again BeeeLock,

    Let's try another troubleshooting step for this issue. See if you can test this behavior in a new user and get back to us with your results:
     

    How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support

    You can also try the steps in this article, just to make sure that you have exhausted all the easy troubleshooting steps:

    Get help with video issues on external displays connected to your Mac - Apple Support

    Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities, and let us know how it goes.

    Regards.

  • by BeeeLock,

    BeeeLock BeeeLock Sep 28, 2016 10:08 AM in response to norm123
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 28, 2016 10:08 AM in response to norm123

    norm123,

    Thank you for your reply, however neither of these links apply to me.

     

    When installing macOS Sierra my system became completely unusable.  The installer started writing files to disk and then froze up.  Many hours later after nothing changed I had to hard-power down the system and restart it.  Upon restart, the OS would not boot and the system effectively was a nice silver brick.

     

    After this the only way I was able to use my MBPr was to perform an NVRAM reset, erasing the hard drive, reinstall El Capitan from the Recover OSX options, and then to upgrade to Sierra.  After doing this the 4th display would cause the system to crash.  After re-resetting the NVRAM, same problem.  As soon as I plug in the 3rd external monitor (making the total of 4) the system IMMEDIATELY becomes COMPLETELY unresponsive, even after disconnecting the 3rd monitor.  I had to hard-power down the system and boot back up.

     

    Since this was a factory reset and a fresh install I doubt using a new user would affect this behavior since there were no user profile settings beyond default that were set.

     

    Please let me know if this makes sense and if you have alternative suggestions.  At this point I've done a factory wipe and reinstalled OS X El Capitan and won't touch Sierra until I've tested the install on an external USB drive where I can check my own productivity workflows to ensure Apple hasn't inadvertently interfered with my productivity.

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Sep 28, 2016 11:58 AM in response to BeeeLock
    Community Specialists
    Sep 28, 2016 11:58 AM in response to BeeeLock
    Hey again BeeeLock,

    Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Due to the nature of your issue or question, you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - 

    Apple - Support - Product Selection

    Cheers.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 28, 2016 12:46 PM in response to BeeeLock
    Level 9 (61,130 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 28, 2016 12:46 PM in response to BeeeLock

    It is really interesting that your 2014 model was able to support three external displays under certain conditions. But according to Apple specifications, that model supports only TWO external displays:

    Graphics and Video support

    • Intel Iris Pro Graphics
    • NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and automatic graphics switching
    • Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors

    from:

    MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) - Technical Specifications


    .

  • by jorgercg,

    jorgercg jorgercg Sep 28, 2016 1:13 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 28, 2016 1:13 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Hi Grant

     

    Do not bother.... It is the same type of trainee that Apple has answering our questions here that wrote that spec.... Jobs must be turning in his grave in Alta Mesa!!!!!

     

    I am an Apple owner since the Apple II.... a long time ago....

     

    Eight complaints in Stackexchange for the same problem.... so far.... And support telling us to clear NVRAM....

     

    I know that Apple would say that the spec say they support just two external monitors.... but at least since the MBP mid 2012 model people have been using three external monitors! Mine is late 2013 and it worked perfectly with El Capitan.

     

    We all saw the problems with NVIDIA drivers during the beta phase.... I think they are still catching up!

     

    But these days, I think in the end we shall buy EVGA USB adapters and stop losing time with this pointless discussion! I think I am going down this road! Closing this post and logging to Amazon...

     

    All the best!