2013 Mac Pro sleep issues

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Level 1

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2013 Mac Pro sleep issues

I'm having issues with my new 2013 Mac Pro. When I go to the Apple menu to put the computer to sleep the monitor (NEC PA272W) flickers for a second and then eventually will go to sleep. If I let the sceen saver go and then after X amount of time the display to turn off what happens is the the screen saver will run and then once it time for the display to turn off the screen saver will freeze and the screen will not go dark/into standby mode.

I tried the monitor on my 17" MBP with no issues. It worked as expected. I tried on my Mac Pro using an HDMI cable and it also worked as it should. So I'm at a complete loss as to what is happening. Is it the monitor or the computer that is messed up?

Nothing is connected to the MP but a USB keyboad and mouse. The monitor is hooked up via mini displayport to Displayport cable. I tried different thunderbolt ports too, same result.

In case it matters the specs for the MP are 6 core, D700, 32 Gigs of ram, 1TB

Any iteas?

Thanks!

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 19, 2014 10:10 PM

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Answer 1

wpwood3

Level 1

10 points

Mar 20, 2014 9:36 AM in response to puckhead193

I've got almost exactly the same setup as you. Same monitor and MP.

My setup sleeps fine.

Some things to check...

1) The PA272W has a powered USB2 hub. The only thing I have plugged into mine is an Apple wired keyboard and a Logitech wireless mouse. Obviously, the PA272W's upstream port is connected to the MP.

If you have a drive or something else connected to the PA272W then that may be the issue.

2) On the PA272W press the "Menu" button and go to "Tools". I have the "Off Timer" turned OFF.

3) Try resetting PRAM on your MP. (hold CMD-Opt-P-R after startup sound and release after second sound).

You must have a wired keyboard to do this.

I've had a sleep issue occur once and resetting PRAM fixed it.

Good luck!

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Answer 2

puckhead193 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 20, 2014 10:13 AM in response to wpwood3

Thanks for the response wpwood. The hub on the PA272W isn't connected to the computer/has anything connected. The Off Timer on the monitor is set to off.

I'm going to try resetting the PRAM when I get home frm work. Hopefully that fixes it...

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Answer 3

Mar 20, 2014 10:38 AM in response to puckhead193

On an older display, the only way to have a "frozen" picture is if the computer keeps sending the image. On a DisplayPort display, a "frozen" picture could be caused by a display malfunction.

DisplayPort displays have a screen buffer, older displays rely on having the screen data sent again and again, 60 to 120 times a second.

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Answer 4

Vic!

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2014 5:46 PM in response to puckhead193

I'm also having this problem! NEC PA271W and the 2013 Mac Pro over DisplayPort. The PA241W hooked up via DVI does not exhibit these symptoms.

It seems that NEC have posted a notice on this problem, it is caused by non-compliant mini-DisplayPort cables: http://www.necdisplay.com/documents/Miscellaneous/DisplayPort_Notice.pdf

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Answer 5

turbostar

Level 4

2,941 points

Mar 22, 2014 6:01 PM in response to puckhead193

in addition to the PRAM, also do a SMC reset

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Answer 6

Vic!

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2014 6:44 PM in response to Vic!

I can confirm that it is a non-VESA compliant mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable. I just modified mine by cutting the wire going to pin 20, and my NEC PA271W now works perfectly with the Mac Pro.

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Answer 7

puckhead193 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2014 7:02 PM in response to puckhead193

I figured I would update this. The problem has nothing to do with the Mac Pro or my specific monitor. It has to do with OS X. When the 10.9.2 update was release, Apple made some changes to the way it handles sleep. I spoke with NEC and they are aware of the problem and suppose higher up people at Apple are aware of it and are working on a solution. It should get fixed with 10.9.3 😟

Here's a more technical explanation of it.

http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2014/20140310_3-NEC-displays-OSX.html

Art Marshall, of NEC, Twitter feed has some updates.

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Answer 8

pprioroh

Level 1

25 points

Apr 22, 2014 5:40 PM in response to puckhead193

Just got a nMP and have an NEC PA271W monitor. It's very interesting because I have another NEC montior (PA241w) that is hooked up currently to my old (2008) mac pro and both are running 10.9.2

The new 2013 MP screen saver does not work (the screen keeps showing - if I push the space bar THEN the login/screen saver screen shows up, but otherwise although it's apparently "active" the screen doesn't actually blank at all.

The old MP runs the screen saver just fine. Again both on mavericks.

So I don't think it's just the 10.9.2, it must have something to do with the hardware as well.

I hope it's fixed soon, it's very annoying.

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Answer 9

Nov 26, 2015 6:21 PM in response to puckhead193

Was this ever resolved? I'm experiencing this on El Capitan (10.11.1).

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