MacOS Detects Incorrect External Monitor

Okay so I have a 2019 Macbook Pro 16in running Big Sur. I have BenQ PD2700U (27in) external monitor that is supposed to be 3840x2160@60 and every time I have to disconnect my external monitor, I'm in for a 10-15 minute battle with my OS.


My Mac will detect the same monitor as a 30.5in at 1920x1080@30/60 or as a 61in TV at 3840x2160@30, and rarely does it actually detect my monitor as what it actually is (27in). After about 10-15 minutes of restarts, unplugging and replugging my monitor in, trying different ports, etc, it will eventually detect my monitor as the 27in - 4k@60 and I can get to work.


I'm kind of at my wits end, when I was running Catalina the monitor worked fine for like a whole year, and the second I was forcefully upgraded to Big Sur I had no end of problems with this monitor.


Here are some things I have tried:


Change settings and refresh rate manually - When it detects the 30.5in the max resolution is 1920x1080@60, so that doesn't help me, and the detected 61in has a max resolution (and refresh rate) of 4k@30... so that doesn't change anything.


Different Cables - I'm using Display Port to USB-C, it's the only cable that I could ever get to actually display the monitors default resolution (4k@60). I have tried HDMI cables, different Display Port Cables, tons of adapters and nothing seems to change anything.


Display Port 1.1 VS 1.4 - I read somewhere that Big Sur had an issue with Display Port 1.4 so I changed my monitor back to 1.1. This made my Mac exclusively detect my monitor as the 61in at 4k@30, I could never get it to detect anything else. Changing it back to 1.4 resulted in my daily battle, but I can eventually get it to detect the 27in.


Zap The Pram! - Nope


Reset SMC - Nada


I've tried different monitor settings galore and nothing changes. The same monitor works fine on my Windows 10 Laptop/Desktop as well as Bootcamp Win 10 on my Macbook, not to mention it worked fine on Catalina, so I don't think the monitor is the problem.


I've seen some people say "wElL jUsT wOrK iN 4k@30" and I did that for the first few months of having this problem as I waited for a Big Sur update. Problem is that I edit videos that are usually 4k @ 60FPS for my job, and having a monitor at 30hz makes editing properly difficult, and honestly this is an unacceptable solution after dealing with this problem for months.


As I said, I'm at my wits end, I'm more of a Windows guy. I worked IT L2 & L3 for a few years at Windows based companies, I know enough MacOS to solve most problems, but not for something like this. Is there something I'm missing? Normally I would just go into device manager and manually change the device drivers or force 4k@60, but I cannot seem to find anything like this for Mac. Is there some setting or something that I could change the detection manually?


I'm really kind of done with this, I just want my monitor to work, lol. Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Posted on Apr 23, 2021 9:49 AM

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Apr 27, 2021 2:32 PM in response to yakbutter

I'm glad I'm not alone, and it's not just me being bad lol. I guess there's a little solidarity there.


For display port version changes you open up the settings menu on your monitor and go to SYSTEM and then go all the way down to the very bottom, the second to last option is just "Display Port" and it lets you change the version. It should default to 1.4.


Hopefully someone has an answer for us, or a new update will fix it, but that'll probably just make it worse. I'll just keep digging I suppose.

Apr 27, 2021 7:45 AM in response to Jarrodeus

I don't have a definitive answer for you. What I can say that might help is that you're just coming into this issue that has been going on for MONTHS now. Honestly, I'd disgusted by Apple's lack of response and I'm a die-hard Mac guy (graphic designer) for over 20 years. Do some more digging on these boards for this issue. I know I've read a ton of other troubleshooting things people have tried. Some successful, some not. ALSO, would love to know how to change my BenQ (same monitor as yours) from 1.1 to 1.4


I've heard this works SOMETIMES, but have not been able to figure out how to do it. Good luck, and from a fellow human having this same problem, I'm sorry!

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MacOS Detects Incorrect External Monitor

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