Dell ultrasharp 38" intermittent display detection

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Dell ultrasharp 38" intermittent display detection

I have a MBP (16" 2019) connected to an Dell external monitor via USB-c. Any time the computer sleeps and wakes up the signal is not detected but I managed to work around this by not allowing computer to sleep when plugged in. A more serious issue is that the monitor will sometimes get locked into a cycle where it will intermittently lose signal on a roughly 1 minute cycle. It appears to be related to whether the battery is fully charged or not. This is particularly annoying because the USB-c connection is meant to also power the machine. Dell is unwilling to provide support for their device and suggest seeking solutions on this forum.

Posted on Jun 5, 2020 8:44 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

karina184

Community Specialist

Jun 8, 2020 8:35 AM in response to jabran

Hey jabran,

I see you're having trouble with an external monitor not being detected, especially when waking the Mac from sleep.

Try resetting the SMC, which can sometimes help with power-management issues like this. Here's how to reset the SMC: How to reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support. Also, try the steps here to help with the connection issues that you're having: Get help with video issues on external displays connected to your Mac - Apple Support.

Have a great day.

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Answer 2

jabran Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 22, 2020 11:10 AM in response to karina184

Hi Karina,

Thanks for the suggestion, I reset the SMC but unfortunately that did not work. The current solution that appears to be working is to use the Mac charger in addition to the monitor. The monitor is USB-C and is meant to be able to charge the computer as well but for one reason or another, this seems to not work well with my Mac Book Pro. The issue seems to arise anytime the battery is not fully charged.

Best,

Jabran

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