Big Sur 11.1 External Display Issues!

Same problem. Just installed 11.2.1 - No Joy.

I'm running a Macbook Pro 2016 - 2019

32GB ram 4TB.

I'm connected to a J5Create JCD543. Via USB-C

2 DELL SE 2719HR displays.

Also tested on a 2019 Macbook Air. - No joy

Prior to Big Sur, my set up was solid.

Work Arounds: As of Feb 16 2021

Option 1: j5Create just launched a driver. But...well... as of now, it's not useable. It works. Kind of... but it's DJTVirtualDisplayAgent and some other USB virtual software that needs to be approved by security. It enables the second display, but with a 1 or 2 second screen lag. So any interaction with items on that display are slow. Like using Virtual PC in the 1990's. Maybe they will improve this.

Option 2: Use 2 USB-C ports. So, one cable goes into the j5Create hub and the second goes into an HDMI to USB-C adapter. Not the end of the world, but does require an extra USB-C port. results in normal use of 2 displays.

Option 3: I tried other hubs (prices may have changed since posting this.)

USB-3 Hub 123.99

https://amzn.to/3jV4aYp (both displays worked, but requires a special USB-C dual port cable) - returned

Portable USB-C hub pro $59

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0855GZ7PT (both displays worked, but also requires 2 ports, plus, it's a short cable, all cables must be visible on the table. I'm sure you know what I mean.. messy. - returned

Docking Station OKX $149

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HLXLW1Q (Yes, best choice so far. only requires 1 cable and has lots of ports. BUT It does require a driver.

https://www.displaylink.com/downloads

It's still a hack. requires you to be logged into the user account that you have installed the software. So, that means 1 display will be active while rebooting, up until you actually log in, then after about 15 seconds, it launches the second display. No lag, it works well as a work around. This one I'm keeping.

Oh, to save you time, I tried installing this displaylink software to use with other hubs. No dice, it looks for it's own hardware. sorry... (as of the time of this posting. Maybe that will change)

Summary:

I kept the OKX docking with displaylink for my home office. It's nice and clean, with the hub hidden and a 1 simple cable into my USB-C port (also provides power). Nice... but cluncky when rebooting. Must wait for software to load.

At work, I kept the j5Create. 1 USB-C cable from the hub, and all my devices are neatly tucked away. Requires a second HDMI-USBC cable to power 2 monitors, and takes 2 ports. Hopefully Apple will figure out the conflicting software or someone will find a terminal hack to help us all out.

Ethan-

@soctic,

After three calls with Apple Support, I did a downgrade / recovery via internet to Catalina without a complementary restore via TimeMachine (all my data is in the cloud, all apps like Adobe Photoshop / Office 365 I made a fresh install).

My issues with the displays are solved with this (I have a Dell U3417W and a BenQ SW271, although the Dell did work ok after the BigSur update, the issues were with BenQ-monitor).

I lost way to much time with this bug, I don't understand how this could happen.

Good luck!

Jos

Sadly, i had the same issue. I have a Macbook Pro 16" 2019 with MacOS Big Sur version 11.1.

I use a Startech Usb-c to DP adapter on the macbook to connect my LG external 4K monitor. After the update i have the formentioned problems. I couldn't use 4K anymore at 60hz. only 1080P or lower.

I have done everything that is suggested at no luck. Then i frustratingly started to fiddle with the settings in the monitor itself and found a solution that worked for me.

Step 1: Find the setting in the monitor on-display menu to set the version of displayport. Mine was originally set to version 1.4. After i changed that to version 1.2 4k suddenly went on. It was working again. I set it back to version 1.4 and stopped working So i changed it back to version 1.2 and have no problems anymore!

Hope this helps for someone!

The release of MacOS 11.2 on Monday February 1st has returned the use of my external display.

I have seen a several barely visible flickers and one much longer blackout that lasted for ~2 seconds, but it seems to be working.... at least for a few minutes. If the display was a TV, I'd guess the flickers last 1 or 2 TV frames, at 30 frames/s.

I have a late 2016 MBP connected to a CalDigit TS3+ Thunderbolt hub using an Active Displayport-to-DVI-D cable. The monitor is an HP ZR24w at a resolution of 1920x1200. This monitor is about 10 years old.

I see many people suggesting the use of additional hardware or third-party software. Don't be fooled into buying hardware or using possibly malicious software. You don't need it.

Additional hardware will not change the results. All available cables, dongles, docks, and hubs use what's called DisplayPort / HDMI Alt Mode, which is a standard that allows for video signals to be passed through a USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 connection. All that the available cables, dongles, docks, and hubs can do is change the connector type to offer you DisplayPort or HDMI connectivity. This will not fix your problem, because display detection in macOS is the problem. Additional hardware can not and will not magically help macOS fix this problem.

Third-party software will not change the results. Third-party software can only reveal the display modes that macOS hides from the user (for generally good reasons, actually). However, the issue here is that macOS does not correctly detect the display and for that reason does not know which display modes are available. Third-party software can not and will not magically help macOS fix this problem.

Display detection is broken in macOS 11.1 and onwards. The problem is in macOS and can only be fixed by the Apple engineers that make macOS. It is literally impossible for additional hardware or third-party software to fix this problem.

@AppManCan

I have the same MacBook Model (16", Intel i7, 16GB). After installing BigSur, no external display had been working (I have tested all cables, adapters, nearly 10 displays). They even have not been recognized by the device. Reinstalling Catalina made them working again.

So I would highly recommend to NOT upgrade to BigSur, if you are using external displays (also think of presentations using projectors).

This bug is a disaster. I'm curious about to know if it will be fixed until xcode drops support for deploying iOS apps on Catalina, which usually happens half a year after the new macOS release.

Resolved for me...

Same issue for me was finally resolved when I could switch the monitor's Display Port back to v 1.2 using their Philips OSD.

It had somehow reverted back to v1.1 (not sure when, assuming during a Big Sur update?) which does not support 4K despite the right cables and everything set up on the Mac side. Hence why 1080p, 1080i and 1920x1080 were available as the max res. Once switched on the Monitor side, I could then in Mac Prefs, switch to the correct resolution (3840 x 2160) via the "Scaled" option and 'More space' (far right) selection.

Had the same issue with my Philips P-Line 346P. On Catalina it was working fine at native 3440 x 1400 and after the update to BigSur the highest resolution macOS offered was 2560 x 1080. In a footnote on the product page of my external monitor I then found the following hint:

When connecting to USB-C, if your PC doesn't support HBR3, please switch

the USB hub setting to USB 2.0 and the resolution will support

3440 x 1440 @ 100 Hz.

After switching the integrated USB hub to USB 2.0, the native resolution of 3440 x 1440 was available again in macOS and works since then. Looks for me like the current version of BigSur has a bug in its HBR3 / DisplayPort imlpementation.

I had the same problem after my macOS was upgraded from 11.2.1 to 11.2.3 today. The external Display was working fine before.

Here is my setup, a MacBook Pro 2019 <<--- USB-C ------ DisplayPort--->> a Dell 4K monitor.

Reset PRAM and Reset SMC didn't work for me.

Interestingly, it worked when I tried it with another Dell HD monitor using the same cable. So I was focusing how to better configure the monitor to be compatible with this version of macOS. (Seems to me macOS 11.2.3 has some issue with its DisplayPort support)

Here is how I solved it by following some document on Dell's website. Hope you can find similar docs on how to change DisplayPort version of your monitor.

"If your system only supports DP version 1.1, monitor may get No Video condition. With older video drivers, there is a chance of getting No Video when the monitor MST is set to "Off" or "Primary".

• The following "Hot Keys" will change the MST settings to MST Secondary. You are basically changing the monitor’s Display Port modes from DP 1.2 to 1.1Press any key (excluding power button) to show the following dialogue box "There is no signal coming from your computer"
• Press any key again and the "input source" menu will appear.
• Press the green check mark (√) button for about 8 seconds and the following dialogue box will appear, "Set MST option to secondary"
• Press the green check mark (√) again the DP mode will change from DP 1.2 to DP1.1
• The monitor is now set to MST secondary and Resolution will be 3840x2160 @30hz."

After some power down and up of the monitor, finally the monitor could detect signal and work.

One thing I noticed is, the previous display(in macOS 11.2.1) settings in the macOS > Display settings were all gone. I needed to reconfigure things about font size, etc.

Hi everybody,

I updated my MacBook Pro yesterday and I woke up today with the same problem as you, after trying many things, this worked:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210742

I basically changed the Resolution of my external monitor, choosing an option from the SCALED menu.

Hope this works!

Hello,

I have just updated to 11.3 and FINALLY they've fixed it !!!

My USB-C to DisplayPort adaptor finally works again with DisplayPort 1.4 at 4K 60Hz and with HDR.

I have a 2019 MacBook Pro 16' and an Asus 4k 60 Hz HDR monitor.

It finally works again for me.

After the Update to Big Sure 11.3 everything works now fine for me with my 4K Benq 32" and 24" Huion Pro PenDispaly on Mac Book Pro 16" 2019. There are no problems with black screens and I get also the 60hz. I use one cable USB-C to USB-C. And the Huion is connected on a USB-C Hub with HDMI.

Now I can get back to regular work without switching the cables.... Bohhh - that takes a long time for this update solution...

I hope you all can solve your problems in a similar way with the update. I keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the daily support and tests to all who have written in here.

Finally.... Problem solved!

It looks like 11.3 solved the problem for me. MacBook Pro 16" 2019 AMD Readon PRO 5500M 8GB with two external displays, Dell U3417 (never had a problem) and BenQ SW271 (is up and running again after the update to 11.3).

I've restarted it several times, no problems yet, fingers crossed.

Jos

Good news, after update to 11.3 this issue has been resolved (for me at least). I now have 4k @ 60Hz working with my LG 32UD99 monitor via USBC cable. I'd suggest trying it again, and perhaps changing any monitor settings related to display port 1.2/1.4 (eg: enable or disable) and restart/reconnect just to make sure.

Have you upgraded to macOS Big Sur 11.2 that came out today, Monday, February 1, 2021 that is supposed to fix the external monitors being plugged into M1 Macs though?