My MacBook Pro 2021 Apple M1 Pro is running Sonoma 14.1 and when I have it connected to my TV by HDMI it often crashes, the audio continues on playing as normal but the picture freezes and the keyboard is unresponsive. I have to do a hard shutdown to bring it back to life. Any ideas why?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.7
I bought a Thunderbolt mini dock and its completely sorted the problem. And i now even have 2 monitors connected. So both monitor HDMIs go to the mini dock and thunderbolt USB C to Macbook Pro. I think its some issue with HDMI going direct to the Mac and it crashing the Mac, and getting panic alerts etc. Been using it like this for weeks now and no more problems at all.
Apple repair centre said i needed a replacement motherboard for about €800-1000 (even though no faults found with their diagnostics). Instead €100 on the mini dock has solved the issue
I have the exact same problem. Thank you @AJSP for such a comprehensive effort at trying to get this fixed.
For me, my 2020 M1 Macbook Pro (Sonoma 14.4.1) consistently crashes when I'm watching a video in full screen and then move the mouse. After moving the cursor, all I/O will seemingly lock up, except it will continue playing audio for a bit. Then the computer restarts itself. Seems exactly the same as @PlantBasedChris's description.
@Apple Support, I only discovered this tonight since it was my first time using an HDMI with this computer, but it seems like this has been a problem for months. I think we would all appreciate some communication about the issue.
EDIT: Switching off Bluetooth does not fix the problem for me.
same, fully updated 2021 M1 MBP, crashes randomly when using external monitor over HDMI, and yes normally happens when i try some sort of input; esc to exit fullscreen, or move the cursor/mouse. So its like Finder is crashing? never had a single issue like this on my 2015 MBP, but sometimes Finder would freeze/crash which would result in the mouse/keyboard inputs not responding, would have to hard reboot finder or the whole system to get control restored.
Have this same very frustrating issue on my Macbook Pro 16" M1 Pro running latest Sonoma 14.5.
Pretty much unuseable now with a external HDMI display either via HDMI or via USB-C. Tried disabling Bluetooth and it worked alright for a little longer but the Macbook crashed after 10 minutes. Then it logs itself out and I can start over again, for about 5 minutes watching VLC / Youtube on Firefox / Youtube on Safari and it crashes again with a external display connected to it.
Really hope Apple fixes this soon, I pretty much can't work in my studio and a external display!
Exactly my problem too. And we've tried on tons of locations changing all possible settings on the video output. After 5-9 shown clips the Macbook simply freezes up causing too many laughs at Apple's expense...
Same issue with a Macbook Pro 16" Intel Core i9 (2019) 64Go. It becomes very slow and sometime freezes or reboots itself when I plug my Samsung 4K screen. The fan also turns on systematically. It is very annoying.
Do you have any idea ?
@Jimmyz10 - thanks - good idea; it works on the CalDigit I have here; using external HDMI as a secondary screen is not working for my type of co-creation. Could bring smaller dock for Masterclasses on the road. Which product works for you? Any recommendations?
Its a Caldigit Thunderbolt 3 mini dock with 2xHDMI ports. I'm not very techy nowadays, its the first one i've ever bought and cant compare to anything else, but its completely worked for me. I use one external monitor as the main screen and so the macbook screen is an extended screen.
When i was having the problem before the macbook screen would go completely black even though i could see it was alive, so i needed to have the external monitor classed as the main screen or it took hours to do a OS re-install...which sometimes was the only way to get the mac screen working again. I was close to just chucking the mac away, it was crashing multiple times a week and i couldnt work for hours/days.
You're welcome. Happy to help - the frustration and hours/days lost on this has been unbelievable.
Yes exactly, Apple know there is a problem and instead of just admitting it and even suggesting needing external devices, they prefer to let us spend hundreds of replacement parts.
Having this EXACT same issue on the same laptop and the same version with my HDMI. Googled to find this. Tried multiple HDMI cables and hasn't fixed anything.
I don’t have any Bluetooth devices connected at the point my Macbook crashes.
Did you solve it? I have the same issue. The local assistance said that they would replace the main board but I'm not sure if it will solve it.
Never heards of it and I don't use it and theres still an issue.
My M1 Macbook was stolen so I got a new M3 Max and can report it does NOT have the same issues as the M1.
Energy saver is off.
QT freezes the system in 10 minutes.
VLC-Player crashes the system in 15 minutes.
4K Videodowloader is not installed on my system. It's not causing the freeze issue.
Macbook Pro crashes when connected to external display with HDMI
