Big Sur 11.1 External Display Issues!

I’ve been working with a senior advisor for a week and a half now since I have AppleCare. Nothing had worked so far. Now they’re telling me to create a new volume on my hard drive and install the OS on that and see if it will connect to my external monitor. Is that even worth doing at this point?

No,

that’s not how it works. Operating system version has little to do with

compatibility with a given display. So you are going about this in the

wrong way.

Displays attach to computers with cables and connectors.

Some

computer models have different display ports than others. So you need

to know what kind of display ports your particular computer has first.

Likewise,

often different displays have different cables and connectors as well.

So you’ll need to know what options are provided for the particular

display in question.

In general, as long as the particular model computer you have has a

matching display port or connector, you can connect and use the display

with that computer.

In general, as long as the particular model computer you have has a

matching display port or connector, you can connect and use the display

with that computer.

No,

that’s not how it works. Operating system version has little to do with

compatibility with a given display. So you are going about this in the

wrong way.

Displays attach to computers with cables and connectors.

Some

computer models have different display ports than others. So you need

to know what kind of display ports your particular computer has first.

Likewise,

often different displays have different cables and connectors as well.

So you’ll need to know what options are provided for the particular

display in question.

Your statements are 100% false.

An OS system has drivers/firmware and makes calls to the displays. The problem here is that Big Sur has changed either the drivers/firmware/calls to the display resulting in multi display issues.

This has NOTHING to do with physical connectors or cables.

Guys, we can all go home. Big brain here solved it!

All of our cables that have been working perfectly for years, coincidentally got swapped for the wrong cables right as we each independently upgraded to 11.1.

It's all so obvious in hindsight, I bet the deep state did it! /s

Apple Cinema Display 20" (via DVI - USB C adaptor) more issues.

Since I upgraded my 2017 13" MacBook Pro ( 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports) to Big Sur, my older, but still lovely Apple 20" Cinema Displays (I have 2 monitors, one at home, one at my partners) have become somewhat demented.

90% of the time, the screen works fine, UNTIL either the screensaver comes on or I put the MacBook to sleep. When I wake it up, the Cinema Display screen flashes on and off and on and off, etc etc. The only solution is to shut down and restart the MacBook. If I just restart, the screen won't reset.

Also, my monitors are identical, same model number, etc but one allows me to see some more options for it under the display settings, one doesn't.

I cannot afford to replace these displays and don't want to, they are great screens for what I need.

any ideas?

So first, I would be interested to hear what happens after wednesday. For reference, I’m plugging my 20” Cinema Display in, using a Comsol USB-C to DVI-D adaptor, and Ive also connected the USB ports with a genuine Apple USB-C - USB adaptor.

I thing it is highly unethical for Apple to deliberately “break” functionality, if that’s what has happened. Yes, in a perfect world I would dump my old 20” cinema displays and get new ones. I don’t have that option. I live on a disability payment and for me to upgrade any hardware is a multi year saving program.

‘There is nothing wrong with my existing displays. They work perfectly, until apple changed something. If this is deliberate, they need to either

1) admit what they have done, apologise and fix the problem

2) admit what they have done, explain why and tell us why they won’t fix the problem

3) figure out what the problem is.

Yes, shame on Apple

With Apples resources it is an insult to their customers not to have fixed this problem within a month. Obviously this is not a priority for Apple. Meanwhile, I am handicapped by working only on the screen of my laptop rather than having a big external monitor to keep a few windows open, and or to see something larger. Buying Apple products has ceased being a priority for me.

Just had this problem with a brand new Macbook Air 2020. Out of box with Big Sur (not sure which version), it worked fine with external Viotek 34" GNV34D (3440×1440 ), connected through QGeem USB C Hub HDMI 7 in 1 Adapter. After update to Big Sur 11.2.2 last night, computer no longer recognized the monitor correctly, believing it to be an apparently generic 17 inch 1920 x 1080 monitor. After trying a number of workarounds on this forum, none of which worked, I moved the HDMI plug from the HDMI 2.0 to the HDMI 1.4 input, and the GNV34D was recognized again.

I will not dare apply another update until I know that Apple has fully fixed this issue.

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 went the exact same route, left the mini with them for 2 days due to covid...when I was called to pick it back I was told they do not have 5k monitors to test it so they only did a 4k test over hdmi and it worked.

they tried to blame it on the monitor, but I told them the same monitor works fine with my 16 inches MBP over a Usb-C-DisplayPort cable, so it’s definately not the monitor.

at the end of the conversation, the “tech guy” as I cannot call him a genius as Apple would like me to...said that the M1 is still fresh technology and kind of experimental so it is normal to have some issues...

I was speechless as this was the second tine I got this dumb excuse from a company representative, after the Tesla technician told me it is normal for the Summon function not to work most of the time because it is a Beta version therefore is in tests...

I don’t know how these companies are allowed to sell (charge money for) these products which are not fully developped/tested...

Anyway, if you decide to waste your time and go for the so-called-genius appointment, be prepaired to hear lame excuses, recommendation to buy the XDR display (which costs the same as 5 mac minis + 1 grand for the stand...)or to return your mini is elligible (I only had mine for about one week when I had it checked).

Same issue with MacBook Pro (13 inch, 2020, four ports Thunderbolt 3). Display is working, keyboard connected may be not, webcam do not switch on anymore. Apple Thunderbolt Display connected with genuine cable and apple connector (not exotic hardware so). Same behavior with a brand new thunderbolt cable ordered with Apple. My previous Macbook pro on Catalina DOES NOT works perfectly well : display, keyboard, webcam OK. Apple please correct this...we are working from home we need our displays/keyboards/webcams...

I'm in the same situation. Running on a 16" MacBook Pro 2019. After upgrading to big sur I can't use my benq designer monitor anymore on native resolution and 60hz. I have the option to run it on 1080p with 30hz which is too sluggish for any use. This is seriously impacting my work and quite frustrating to pay 4k € for a "professional" machine and suddenly having these issues by a pushed update from Apple which after 3-4months is still not resolved..

The monitor works perfectly fine when I boot into bootcamp on the same computer. So it's absolutely not a hardware issue. I've even tried with different cables.

its not your cables, it’s not your machine, it’s that Big Sur update after 11.0.1. Leave it to Apple to ruin things that weren’t broke. I feel they break something with every update. I can say I have never experienced something like this on the other side of the fence. My trashy work issued sell laptop has never had any issues connecting to the same set up meanwhile my 3k laptop is something else. To me having to go back to Catalina after everything was working somewhat fine on the first Big Sur release is like going from Windows 10 back to 8.1.