Monterey 12.0.1. Second Monitor Issue

Set all high resolution monitors to 30Hertz. Yes, that’s the fix.

System Prefs > Displays

Click on the high res monitor

Click Display Settings

Set Refresh Rate to 30 Hertz

This works on machines with M1 and Intel chip sets. Apple has had plenty of time to address this issue. But Apple never admits to issues without a class action. They might just tell you that your just not using your monitor in the right room, on the right desk, in the right light with the right power source. Sheesh.

It's a pain in the ***. You basically have to do a time machine backup, and then complete an internet restore by restarting and holding CMD + CTRL + Shift + R, and then reformat your hard drive to APFS, and then selecting the "Install operating system" option will install the original OS your computer came with. From there, you update to Big Sur, and then restore your time machine back up. This whole thing is such a disaster..

I got the USB C Digital AV adapter that Apple sent me. I connected it to USB C port and plugged in the USB C cable to it and to my Dell Ultrasharp. Same thing, no signal to the screen but USB devices connected to monitor's USB hub worked just fine. Also if you connect a HDMI cable to that adapter it works fine with display working fine. This is so annoying and no solution in sight.

The solution to this isn't going to help most of you, but for some of you who are using some video production solutions, it might.

At my church, on this 2017 imac, we use it to control the stream, and to apply a few titles to that stream. We use ProPresenter. Our needs are minor compared to a lot of churches, but it works well. We have a camera control unit to move and zoom, and a datavideo video switcher to take the camera and titling and output to the stream.

Before Monterey, we had a thunderbolt adapter that exported HDMI, and that fed into a SDI converter, which output 1080i into the switcher.

We accidentally upgraded to Monterey. (From years, going back to the original mac, I have learned to give it some time. On Apple ][ we didn't really have that issue, but switching OS wasn't quite the trauma.)

After Monterey, this no longer worked. Per the support from Blackmagic, Apple removed 1080i as an output option.

I went through the gamut of possibilities in this thread before finally punting and buying a Blackmagic Thunderbird to SDI converter. I did have to buy an official Apple cable to make it work, too.

Here's where I learned something. The Blackmagic box doesn't provide a second monitor. It provides an output stream of some description. I don't do video production on a professional basis, so the (very kind) support at Blackmagic was great. Unfortunately, my preferred version of ProPresenter, 6, would take a $99 upgrade to allow it to use this kind of stream. ProPresenter 7 can do it natively, but is daunting to use after using 6.

Regardless, the only way is forward. Upgrade or be forced to do so later. We're switching to 7. I'm learning it bit by bit. And I continue to wonder about Apple's plans. It is definite that the hobbyist who makes a computer endure has been priced out, and the continued pressure to do only things through the cloud has irritated me. I gave up my mac at the start of the pandemic, when I realized I couldn't afford internal storage options that would hold our iphoto library, and after dealing with the itunes changes, and many other small annoyances. After reading about the possible phone leasing options, perhaps Mac leasing would be an option. If you're going to sell me an appliance, it either needs to last many years, or be exchangeable.

Arbitrary changes like this possible removal of 1080i support sting. I don't know about professional level video editing, but I can't see why anybody would pay a premium for an Apple solution when the flexibility and affordability of a windows or linux solution would outclass it.

I love my iphone. It's a great appliance. It lasts and is supported longer than any other phone. So it stings to see a company who made their name with Personal Computers and flexibility rather than time-shared computers do this to their computer line. A professional BSD computer is a wonderful thing and I hate to see it become a terminal losing scope and capability.

(Thanks for enduring the screed: 5 months of failing to make this work have embittered me more than a little. I wasn't going to revert to the backups to solve it, especially after I learned recently that the OSX that isn't current may not get all the security updates. This is shouting in the wind, alas.)

I'll end by reminding you to do your backups, then eject the drive until the next backup interval. Time Machine is the one thing OSX absolutely does fantastic...

Apple called me as well. They want me to take a video and also type `sudo sysdiagnose` after freezing & rebooting, but now I can't reproduce the problem whatsoever. Ugh.

So just to add another data point my 2019 15” MacBook Pro has the same issue with external monitors since upgrading to Monterey, but only with HDMI. Using a VGA connection works just fine.

Did you try restarting while holding Option+R+P keys?

The only combination similar on that page, was Option-Command-P-R,. Is that what you meant?

Just did exactly that, but the second screen still flicks on and off. No change.

Me too. I did the same and it doesn't work It very annoying! Does somebody know if apple will solve this problem?

Nope, not working.

Anybody knows when Apple will solve this problem? Have they announced anything? I talked with Customer Services today and they don't have a clue about this issue.

Same issue here. So not only is Spotlight not working, but now my extended display isn't working either after updating to Monterey

Unfortunately, it hasn't work for me! arghhh!

How do you downgrade?