MacBook Pro not recognizing monitors with Corsair TBT100 dock

Thank you for posting your question and solution. I too purchased the Corsair TBT100 DP Thunderbolt 3 dock along with two DP->HDMI cables that would not work. I found this thread and purchased two Active DisplayPort to HDMI adapters and they worked for me as well. Cheers!!

The Mac does not rely on Windows-like side-loaded "Drivers" which are actually packages of resolutions and settings for a specific display. Instead, it goes straight to the immutable source -- it asks the display itself.

To get a Mac display to become active, you need the Mac to query the display, and the display to answer with its name and capabilities. Otherwise, the display will not be shown as present, and no data will be sent to the display. "No signal detected" is generated by the DISPLAY, not by the Mac.

This query is only sent at certain times:

• at startup

• at wake from sleep — so momentarily sleeping and waking your Mac may work

• at insertion of the Mac-end of the display-cable, provided everything on that cable is ready-to-go

• hold the Option key while you click on the (Detect Display) button that will appear in Displays preferences (from another display)

so try doing some of those things and see if the display comes alive.

DisplayPort Dual-Mode (DP++), also called Dual-Mode DisplayPort, is a standard which allows DisplayPort sources to use simple level-shifting adapters to connect to HDMI or DVI displays. Dual-mode is an optional feature, so not all DisplayPort sources necessarily support sending DVI/HDMI signals, though in practice nearly all devices do.[58] Officially, the "DP++" logo should be used to indicate a DP port that supports dual-mode, but most modern devices do not use the logo.[59]

Devices which implement dual-mode will detect that a DVI or HDMI adapter is attached, and send DVI/HDMI TMDS signals instead of DisplayPort signals. The original DisplayPort Dual-Mode standard (version 1.0), used in DisplayPort 1.1 devices, only supported TMDS clock speeds of up to 165 MHz (4.95 Gbit/s bandwidth). This is equivalent to HDMI 1.2, and is sufficient for up to 1920 × 1200 at 60 Hz.[60]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#DisplayPort_Dual-Mode_(DP++)

From what I could find that display has Analog VGA and HDMI, only (no DisplayPort). But 1920 by 1080 should be easy to hook up, and no 'magical' adapter should be needed.

Just make sure your Thunderbolt cable is the one provided with the device, which might be up to 0.7 meters, or limited to 0.5 meters for Brand-X with the Thunderbolt symbol (PowerBolt with tiny arrow) on each end.

did you try:

in displays preferences:

hold the Option key to see of the (Detect Displays) button will appear?

HDMI has a lot of restrictions in it and the parts are not clearly identified. Often users find taking one more step causes their HDMI adapter/cable chain to collapse. That has led many users to refer to HDMI as "Black Magic'

There is a deep 'knee in the curve' for HDMI displays that support HDMI 2.0, and those that support higher using HDMI 2.1 HDMI 2.0 is good for up to 4K at 60 Hz (8 bits/color=Millions of colors).

The POWER required by HDMI adapters (which use higher voltages than DisplayPort, USB-C or Thunderbolt) makes adapting to HDMI for displays above 4K at 60 and/or 10 bits/color VERY difficult, and is only provided inside a Dock that can support the higher power.

--------

When adapting display data from USB-C, each display interface uses a different set standard speeds, as part of their standards. Each allowed speed must fit inside the maximum speed of USB-C, which is 20 G bits sec.

For HDMI, the highest standard speed that can be supported by the protocol (when starting with USB-C) is 14.4 G Bits/sec. That allows a 8 bits/color 4K display to run at up to 60 Hz.

You can connect one display with an HDMI cable 'for free' to the direct HDMI port that can not be used for anything else.

For the displays you are using, the other display could be driven with a USB-C adapter to (modest resolution) HDMI, which is not magical.

HDMI cables you want for HDMI-only Displays (higher resolutions than 720p TV sets) are marked as Certified with an anti-counterfeiting tag and are labeled:

"PREMIUM High Speed HDMI cable" or that + "with Ethernet" (up to 4K at 30Hz) --OR--

“ULTRA High Speed HDMI cable" or that + "48G" (supports higher resolutions and backward-compatible)

Cables with No Certification tags are good for your standard 720p TV set, and not much more.

Cables 'shipped in the box' with many displays can be "lowest bidder" cables that are not up to high-end display use. Cables with no markings 'found' behind your TV set are unlikely to be good enough.

HDMI was invented for HD TV sets. it works great at its original resolution of 720i or 720p. At higher resolutions, it quickly develops issues that are complex to solve, and the cables and adapters required to solve are NOT intuitive.

<< I recently purchased a Corsair TBT100 DP Thunderbolt 3 dock (the price was the deciding factor), which has 2 DP ports for monitors. >>

¿Why didn't you buy the two-HDMI-port version if you wanted to hook up HDMI displays?

.. or if your displays have DisplayPort inputs, just hook up two cables under 1 meter In length?

Consumer Reports magazine reviewed and recommended ASUS Pro Art display PA248QV by as a computer monitor.

It scored all on their tests, in not too expensive, and has HDMI 1.4 AND DisplayPort 1.2 AND Analog HDMI inputs.

I am glad you got is sorted out!

Most Docking devices that purport to support one or more displays do NOT require an Active HDMI adapter For HDMI under 4K at 60 Hz.

To me, that suggests the docking device you purchased was not up to the job of supporting ordinary displays.

What make&model Samsung displays?