Q: Mac Pro 2013 Multiple Display Issues

Not really... like you, mine stopped doing it for about 3 weeks and now it's back. It makes we want to pull my hair out. Sometimes I have to restart 4-5 times. I do have a SSD drive and I think that affects the restarts.

I have tried replacing all the cables, checked all connections. I turn monitors on and off, and unplug cables and plug them back in. Nothing fixes it.

The ONLY thing that seems to be helping is hitting the space bar ONCE and watching the peripherals light up (like my mouse) waiting 10 seconds and then hitting the space bar again. I noticed that when it is acting weird I have to hit the space bar twice (or any key twice). If I do it too rapidly it increases the monitor not turning on.

I think wiping the hard drive and doing a clean install might fix the problem but that is such a profoundly interruptive ordeal in my work-flow to do that.

This is clearly a bug that is now going on a year old.

IDEA:

Has anyone tried running the monitor through an HDMI splitter first?

Although it technically shouldn't change anything, I've noticed in the past that when I have HDMI issues, sometimes running it through an HDMI splitter "changes" the way the device or computer reads the signal. I'm not sure why, but using a splitter can "trick" the device (mac pro in this case) into thinking its a different HDMI input.

Basically this is the equivalent of plugging a "different" monitor into your Mac Pro. And because certain monitor models seem to have more trouble than others, its possible that the HDMI splitter is more friendly to the Mac Pro.

My monitor setup is working again ATM so I haven't tried this. But when it acts up again I'm gonna try a few different splitters and see if that makes Mac happy.

I did find a solution to the problem: using active adapters. It has fixed my problems. *knock on wood*

I am glad active adapters helped you...for me it only made the problem more frequent and worse.

vett93, what adapter are you using?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004071ZXA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF 8&psc=1

Just FYI, active adaptors may be worth trying. I spent $30 on one and it made my problem far worse and more frequent.

FYI, mine was a "Cable Matters" brand I bought on Amazon that was recommended to me in these threads.

You should have checked the approved adapters:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/recommended/eyefinity-adapters

No need to be didactic. How am I supposed to check something I don't even know exists? I bought the brand people recommended on here who had good luck with.

Memory: 32 GB

Im having the same problem with 2 Thunderbolt displays.  When I start it will go to gray screens after the apple logo.  I have to restart and unplug one display, after the system brings me to login I can plug in the other display.

Mac Pro Late 2013

8 Core

3GHz

32 GB Ram

D700 x2

So is there no official response on this?

Has Apple just ignored this completely?

Also, I'm curious of the percentage of dual monitor setups that aren't working. I mean from this thread it seems like they never work with dual monitors, but obviously people are only going to find this thread if it is an issue for them.

I'm just wondering if this happens to 90% of people, or just 10%, etc.

This seems to be the main thread on this issue on the entire net... and there seem to only be a dozen of us chiming in.

It's a Mac Pro, so it's not unlikely that if you invest in a computer like this you would get a secondary monitor. I imagine that around 20% of people who buy this computer will get a second monitor, maybe even more. My theory is that it's a powerful computer so people likely would get it for video editing, animation, pro audio, etc; things that a second monitor would help with. Not to mention a quality monitor is only a few hundred bucks these days.

My point is that there are likely more than the dozen of us that are using this computer with dual monitors.... a lot more. And if an investment like this is having such issues, most people aren't just going to roll over and take it. They'll at least research the issue; I'm assuming they know a decent amount about computers and their setup if they bought a Pro. If they researched the issue, it's very likely they would find this thread. I've researched it many times over the year and this one always is towards the top of my searches.

What I'm getting at is that I'm starting to suspect that we are a small minority in terms of Mac Pro Dual Monitor users.

Like I said, a second monitor is not a rare thing to have with this model of computer and there are only a handful of us chatting about it. And no peep from Apple.

I am technically on an iMac, but it's only a few months old and it's upgraded to the hilt and I am have the exact same issues as the Pro.

I am still under AppleCare. To have them fix it, I have to bring in my iMac AND the two monitors, and was told they would likely just do a clean install, which I can do myself. I can't be without my workstation for 5-7 days while they do this.

It's very frustrating.

I HAVE had alot better luck hitting the space bar once and than waiting 10 seconds and hitting it again to wake up the monitors. Now having the issue once a week instead of 2-3 times daily. Let's hope that holds. Still annoying as heck though.

I can't take this anymore. over a year now of this behavior. I have to restart my machine multiple times a day if I want my monitors and to get them back, sometimes it takes 3 -6 restarts and I have to save everything I am working on.

Simply ridiculous and it goes unabated from Apple.

FWIW...

Mid 2011 Mini server running 10.9.5. I have been running two displays for years with no problem. An Asus and a Samsung. The Asus was connected using an HDMI > DVI adaptor cable.

When reconfiguring my system, I changed the Asus cable to a straight HDMI cable and am now experiencing the above issues on that monitor on a system that DID work. Same OS, I only changed the cable.

I will obviously go back to the DVI cable but thought this may shed some light for others. Yes, it ***** that Apple is so typically silent and unresponsive. I'm a Mac user for 24+ years, and I'm over thier crap. My Windows 7 machines scream with very few problems.