How to resolve daisy chain failure of Studio Display XDR after update on MacBook Pro M4?

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Level 1

12 points

How to resolve daisy chain failure of Studio Display XDR after update on MacBook Pro M4?

bought a couple of Studio Display XDR's earlier this month and was able to get them to work in a daisy chain fashion from my 2024 Macbook Pro M4 Pro for a couple days, but then after upgrading the software on both the Studio Display's and my Macbook Pro to go to Tahoe 26.x + the display will only show on one display. I called tech support one Saturday and spent the better part of 4 hours troubleshooting with their tech support and escalating from one rep to another repeating the same steps and trying a myriad of connection configurations. Keep in mind, this should be pretty simple, plug Thunderbolt 5 to the upstream port of one display then downstream to next upstream port. I thought I wasn't understanding what was going on, but felt better when Apple tech support couldn't help me either.

After reading forums here and my experience of getting it to work prior to updates made me believe this problem is a software problem, but now on my personal computer (work is also mac) I'm on release 26.1 and the issue is not resolved. My wife's computer which is a 2023 M3 (non-pro) and both display's work on her computer it's also a smaller 14" model versus my 16" model, but it's on macOS 15.7. I'm starting to worry I made a mistake or this will not get fixed.

What's the best way to ask Apple for a refund? I called them and troubleshot before the return period so there is record of my problem existing and even the tech support agent told me it seemed to be a bigger issue. I would like to keep the monitor, but at this point it's too expensive to just sit on a desk and not be used.

Symptoms:

When plugging in both XDR in daisy chain only one monitor turns on
Both monitors show up in audio drop down so I can play and use camera's from either monitor even the one that doesn't display anything
Seemingly random choosing of which display is active after unplugging thunderbolt from my laptop and plugging it back in, sometimes left monitor comes up and other times right monitor comes on

Are there any other steps I can take? I haven't seen workaround. It truly is a beautiful screen, but again, useless until we can get engineering to acknowledge the bug, which I have not seen.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: M4 Pro: Studio Display XDR daisy chain fails after update; @engineering please fix some of your most expensive displays

Studio Display XDR

Posted on Apr 21, 2026 5:37 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

v1v3km

Level 2

266 points

Apr 21, 2026 8:20 PM in response to sarms11

Hey, that sounds incredibly frustrating, especially after spending 4 hours with tech support. I completely understand wanting a refund at this point, but before you go that route, here are a few things you could try.

Since the daisy chain worked before the update and it works on your wife's M3 Mac, this really does seem like a software issue specific to the Tahoe 26.x update on the M4 Pro. I'd suggest filing a bug report through the Apple Feedback app. Be super specific about the Thunderbolt 5 daisy chain setup, the macOS version, and that it works on macOS 15.7 but not on 26.x. The more engineers that see the same report, the more likely it is to get prioritized.

One thing you could also try is creating a new user account on your Mac and testing the daisy chain there. If it works on a fresh user profile, it might be a settings or config issue rather than a core OS bug.

Also worth trying is resetting NVRAM and SMC on your Mac, even though it's an M4. For Apple Silicon Macs, you can do this by shutting down, waiting 30 seconds, then powering back on.

Regarding the refund, since you already have a support case on record, you should definitely be able to return them within the return window. You can start the return process at apple.com/shop/orderstatus or call them directly. Since tech support acknowledged the issue, you should have a strong case.

I really hope this gets fixed soon. These are expensive monitors and daisy chaining should just work. Keep us posted on what happens!

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Answer 2

Apr 22, 2026 10:20 AM in response to v1v3km

<< daisy chaining should just work** >>

Should just work on Macs with the ThunderBolt bandwidth to support it

That set is Thunderbolt-5 Macs ONLY

---

The bug that may be intruding in this case:

Even though Thunderbolt-5 pathway is available, in certain cases the Mac appears to choose TWO display-generators to support each XDR display. On that specific Mac, it runs out of display-generators, and can not connect to the second display, daisy-chained or not.

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Answer 3

sarms11 Author

Level 1

12 points

Apr 24, 2026 10:46 AM in response to v1v3km

during troubleshooting with Apple they had me go into safe mode to make sure it’s not anything on my laptop causing this. I also have 2 other MacBooks which this is happening on.

I called apple support again, this time asking for a refund. They did more troubleshooting, had me send them some diags and opened a case for m (which I’m surprised they didn’t do that the first time).

im mostly frustrated because Apple doesn’t seem to be taking ownership and Ive always had great experience with them.

That said, my rep said she’d follow up with me after she hears from engineering and I also requested some sort of compensation/reimbursement for essentially having one of their most expensive displays as a brick on my desk.

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