HDMI display issues after 10.8.2

Yeah, or maybe they should spend a bit less money and time sueing Samsung and more on development. This is a half-baked released supposed to improve a half-baked OS.

A few over-reactions here. Mountain Lion was fantastic for me up until this software update. One massive bug has just let me down when I needed it the most.

Has Apple acknowledged the problem?

No overreaction from me, I was experiencing 3 or 4 total crashes a week until 10.8.1 included. Maybe 10.8.2 has improved this but it has created this HDMI problem which is a major one as I used HDMI out a lot, it's actually one of the reasons I chose this computer!

Reset:ing PRAM on boot worked fine. Had the display plugged in on the first Display Port on startup (rMBP 2012) and it woke up when displaying the desktop.

Again: Restart, hold Cmd-Opt-P-R, hear startup sound three times (two might be enough) then release and startup as usual.

Unfortunately, like for many others, this technique doesn't work for me, problem remains.

Same problem here. Everything worked great until after 10.8.2 and then I saw the black screen with the large cursor that people are reporting. Fortunately I brought the thunderbolt to VGA adapter with me and that worked with the projector system I had to use on a trip this week.

Throughout the day I kept trying HDMI with different things, resetting PRAM, etc. Nothing worked until at one point I would plug in HDMI, the screen would flicker, the MacBook display would still look fine (no black screen anymore) but the projector system wouldn't detect the HDMI signal.

I went to the Apple store and they hooked it up to a TV they had via HDMI and it worked fine with that. The next day I was hopeful it would work with the projector system but still no HDMI signal after resetting PRAM, etc. Definitely a big problem.

I tried the PRAM reset while the HDMI cable was connected--it didn't work with my rMBP and the projector to which the HDMI is attached.

My Apple rep isn't back at work until Tuesday, so I don't expect to hear anything more until then. Of course, maybe there will be a surprise update of 10.8.3 and/or a new rMBP firmware before then.

I know that with some external monitors or projectors there is no problem, but I don't know what the variable is here. The answer may lie in that variable. Also the fact that a Thunderbolt-DVI connection works, but not, apparently, a TB-HDMI connection.

And it's still not clear to me whether this problem exists /only/ with the rMBP, or also in other MBPs using 10.8.2. And if the problem exists only with the rMBP, how do we know whether it is the 10.8.2 update or the firmware update that came along with it? The firmware update sort of installed itself silently along with the 10.8.2 update in most cases.

At the end of the day, this is a bug that Apple will have to figure out and fix. What makes no sense is that the OS update and/or firmware update were issued without sufficient testing of the rMBPs and an HDMI connection, and that they still haven't come out with a fix. Maybe they're too busy working on the iOS 6 maps.

Of course, the fact that it doesn't happen on every MBP-R with 10.8.2 and the firmware update doesn't help them debug it. There must be other factors at work.

"Of course, the fact that it doesn't happen on every MBP-R with 10.8.2 and the firmware update doesn't help them debug it. There must be other factors at work."

True enough.

Of course, before any software or OS is released, companies like Apple use alpha and beta testers. The percentage of MBP-R computers with this problem would have to be extremely low to be missed, or else the testers might not have tested the HDMI function.

As I posted before, this is not just happening with HDMI. I have the "black screen with big white arrow" problem when I connect my Samsung external monitor using a Thunderbolt to DVI adapter, and as I read the posts in this thread, the problem is occuring randomly across a variety of monitor and connection types. (When I connect my computer to an HP monitor with the Thunderbolt to DVI, it works just fine.)

The bottom line is that I had no problems before the update and if there was a way for me to remove the update I would do it. Is it possible to use a Time Machine backup to go back to the version prior to 10.8.2? If I saw some sort of indication that Apple is working on this problem I would be more patient about waitiing for them to fix it, but when I spoke with an Apple Care rep, he concluded that it was a Samsung problem, since I could get the computer to work with an HP. So I am worried that Apple does not see this as their problem.

123bart,

I don't know if Time Machine can go back to an older OS--I suspect not, but you could try it and then go back to the most recent day.

Also, if you DLed Mountain Lion, 10.8, from the App Store, I wonder if you could DL it again and try to reinstall it over 10.8? If so, and if you still had the issue, that would suggest that it's a firmware issue. I'm not going to mess around with the OS since it might interfere with the Apple support process.

I'm no apologist for Apple, but I do think they are taking this seriously and know that it's a bug in their software/firmware, even if it has varied modes of expression. I'm working with an Apple tech guy who is beyond the first level of support. I've already sent him two sets of capture data which he has forwarded back to Apple engineering. He's out until Tuesday. I could call tomorrow with my case number and talk to someone else to see if they came up with anything over the weekend, but am inclined to wait until he gets back to me.

This bug just happened to me tonight on OS 1.7.5 after letting software update install the firmware update for my Retina Macbook Pro.

I then installed Mountain Lion from the app store which upped me all the way to 1.8.2 in one go. That didn't fix it. HDMI output is still broken.

I should also point out that closing the lid makes the hdmi output work correctly. So I can still use my external display as long as I have an external mouse and keyboard plugged in as well.

Brpearce,

I think you've diagnosed the problem--it's got to be the firmware that's causing this.

I suspect very few Retina owners are or were still on 10.7.x when this firmware update came out a week ago, especially since 10.8 was issued not too long after the Retina. (I tried to get a Retina the first day and couldn't, so I waited a month or so, and by then it had 10.8 installed).

Most likely we'll all have to wait for a new firmware update, although since the rMBP in safe mode doesn't have the HDMI/DVI issue, maybe they'll figure out a software fix. Could be one of the kext files or something like that, which could be unchanged since 10.7.

I was on 10.7.x still because of the battery life drop that affected some people on 10.8.x. The funny thing is, now that I am on 10.8.2, I doubt I will even know if my battery life was affected. I don't use the machine all that much unplugged.