Mac Pro with Dell UP2414Q Sleep Wake Issue

Yeah, no doubt the wakeup problems are still there. The problem is still very intermittent. So far the power button on/off is working for me.

It's weird that the MacPro has no issue putting the monitor to sleep. Just the waking up part, at least for me.

I really do hope that there is something that Apple can do. I also hope that the existence of the new 5K iMac doesn't put this issue on the back burner. It really is affecting a bunch of folks.

Just to be clear, you're turning off the power to the UP2414Q by pressing the front panel power switch, then pressing it again to turn it back on, and that wakes up the display and the computer? If I do that, when I hit the monitor power button the second time to turn it back on, I hear the Mac startup chime and the Mac reboots. I'm perfectly happy to only have to deal with toggling the power, but I can't have to reboot the computer each time it has to be woken.

EdAnuff wrote:

Just to be clear, you're turning off the power to the UP2414Q by pressing the front panel power switch, then pressing it again to turn it back on, and that wakes up the display and the computer?

Yes, exactly. I am pressing the front panel button on the monitor. When I do this, the MacPro mostly always detects the display and I get a picture. I usually have the MacPro on always, not sleeping (I've tried it both ways). So the exact sequence is:

1. Press a keyboard key to see if the Mac will wake the monitor naturally.

2. If it works, great (7 out of 8 times it's ok). If not, power cycle the monitor using the front button.

3. Repeat the power cycling until it wakes up.

4. If none of this works, then press and hold the MacPro startup button to force a reboot.

5. That always works, lol.

The problem that you are having with the rebooting is strange. I haven't heard of that one yet. Do you have the monitor's built in USB hub connected to the Mac? Mine is not connected.

The only solution is to use DisplayPort 1.0 mode at 30Hz.

DisplayPort 1.2 enables multi-stream transport, which effectively fuses two display streams into a single display. When the Mac sleeps the display and wakes, it sends the sleep and wake commands on the first display transport. The Dell monitor incorrectly looks at the second display transport. It only sleeps because the monitor automatically sleeps when a source subsequently stops sending video.

Most Windows drivers send sleep and wake signals on both transports, which is why the Dell works there. Most Linux drivers have now been updated to do the same, or to provide an option for doing so. You can google for debates on whether/how to handle this. Apple would need to update their own drivers to send sleep and wake on both transports in order to deal with Dell's implementation.

Unfortunately, this is not an issue that can be fixed with a field update on the Dell monitors. When/if Dell corrects the issue with a firmware update, Dell would need to exchange users' monitors for another monitor that has been re-flashed at a service center. Unless the user has a service program beyond Dell's warranty, shipping would be at the user's expense, and there is no guarantee that the used replacement monitor will not have cosmetic or other minor defects that are not covered by Dell's warranty.

As of November 2014, Dell is still shipping monitors with the problematic implementation of multi-stream transport support. Their second tier support engineers' response is that they "do not test on or support Apple's proprietary hardware."

@McGroarty

Excellent synopsis. This makes sense. So, if I'm hearing you right, this could be fixed either by a driver update from Apple, or firmware update from Dell.

Interesting. We can always hope for a fix from Apple. It would be much less hassle than requesting a replacement from Dell. Getting a Dell monitor replacement is truly a nightmare for so many reasons (no service tag for monitors!!). Their support staff know absolutely nothing about Macs and this issue. I've already tried one replacement that I had to send back because the power "touch" controls were broken (it took a ridiculous amount of pressure to get them to recognize my touch.. clearly defective)

I guess this is the roll of the dice you take when messing with non-Apple stuff.

As of Yosemite, turning the monitor off and on with its power button always works properly. The monitor is rediscovered by the MacPro with no ill-effects. The downside is that I need to leave the MacPro on and powered up (sleep disabled) and that the usb hub is powered down while the monitor is turned off.

I can live with these things for now.

Thanks for the write up.

There was a good blog post with a teardown of the monitorand it details why a user-installable firmware update is unlikely. However, there's no reason why Apple couldn't fix it in a driver update, particularly given the diagnosis above.

Yeah, no field firmware updates are a problem in other areas as well. There are some interesting bugs, such as the contrast setting only affecting one half of the screen when using DisplayPort 1.2 multi-stream transport. Odds are that could have been fixed in firmware as well.

Also if anyone came here searching: Use on a 2014 Retina iMac is affected as well.

Well, I have come back to post some good news (and keep a record of this for other searchers).

My sleep/wake issues with my UP2414Q seem (fingers crossed!) to have been fixed in 10.10.1.

I can now sleep the monitor and the Mac Pro and they wake up normally.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have added an older Dell 30" (3007WFP-HC) that is connected via MDP to Dual DVI using Apple's adapter. This monitor is also working properly.

Using this diagram: Mac Pro (Late 2013): Using multiple displays - Apple Support

I am using Port 1 for the UP2414Q and port 2 for the 3007WFP-HC

If there is any other weirdness to report, I will do so.

Also, just for the record, I have the lowest specced Mac Pro: 4 Core, D300 video cards and the Apple 1TB ssd. I have 32GB ram.

10.1.1 didn't fix it for me.

Also: once in a while my HDMI projector acts the same way (albeit at the same time when the Dell is doing it, so there's a connection). But that does make it seem like something OS X could/should fix.

10.1.1 seems to have introduced a new variation: sometimes when it DOES wake successfully, it (and the HDMI projector) show empty gray, and there's no mouse cursor, no volume buttons work, and you have to hard reset. Not good.

P.S. A tip that SEEMS to help (but not solve) the issue: whaling on Command-F2, over and over, for far longer that it seems would help. Sometimes after a while it works!

Same issue here with Mid 2014 MBP on 10.10.1 - very frustrating. Hot removal and replacement of the Display Port cable seems to work although clearly not an elegant solution.

Given Apple specifically mentioning this monitor as supporting 60z MST - one would hope that they update the driver to send relevant commands on both channels.

Hot-plugging works occasionally... for me, not often

Repeatedly hitting Command-F2 helps more often... but still not all the time.

Plugging in a second display USUALLY works (may not wake the Dell, but at least I can see to shut down cleanly). But again not 100% of the time.

So I'm still having to force shutdown on my "professional" computer regularly! Data loss is inevitable eventually.

I'm trying to remember to quit all apps and log out (which itself often crashes to black!) every time I use my computer. Great workflow....

Well, unfortunately, I'm back to post some bad news. I still have to power the monitor off and on every now and then to wake it up from sleep.

10.10.1 definitely made things much better for my configuration. I went for 3 or so weeks before the problem resurfaced, so big improvement, or maybe just luck!

Still happens for me in 10.10.1 too.

And worse: it sometimes wakes up the display just fine, but the Mac itself awakes crashed to black and dead. (Dies on black when logging in or out of a user account too sometimes.) This is new with Yosemite, and may be unrelated, but it's a similar result, and display-related in some way.

I seem to be able to fix this by going to the display's menu, "Energy settings" and the turn "Monitor sleep" off.

>>I seem to be able to fix this by going to the display's menu, "Energy settings" and the turn "Monitor sleep" off.

I now have 2 of these monitors, one of which has this option. The other one has earlier fiirmware and no option for "Monitor Sleep On/Off."

My issue is that setting this has no effect for me on anything! What, exactly, is this supposed to prevent or even do?

The name of the setting makes it sound like it should prevent the monitor from going to sleep, but these monitors never sleep by themselves unless my Mac tells them to. Even then, I can still put this monitor (with the setting set to: Off) to sleep by sleeping the MacPro.

With this setting enabled or disabled, I still have to occasionally power cycle this monitor (or the other one, it's pretty random) in order to wake it up after sleep.

This setting seems completely inert. Maybe it's a PC thing?