Mac Pro dark screen and cursor at startup

Question

Level 1

4 points

Mac Pro dark screen and cursor at startup

My Mac Pro won't startup. It begins Startup but stalls on a black screen. None of the fixes recommended work (I've tried them ALL). What I finally figured out is El Capitan doesn't like more than one monitor (I have three). When I unplug two monitors, it starts up fine. Yosemite worked fine with three screens, ElCapitan started fine if I unplugged one of the thee monitors. The latest version requires me to unplug two monitors so it can start up.

MacPro, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Jan 27, 2016 9:43 AM

Reply

Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 27, 2016 9:51 AM in response to xeffer

What specific Mac Pro?

What specific graphics card(s) are installed?

Are those Mac-flashed cards? Do they require additional drivers?

How are the monitors connected?

Reply

Answer 2

xeffer Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2016 12:14 PM in response to lllaass

Illaass,

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it.

OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.3
Mac Pro (Late 2013)
Processor 3.7 GHz Quad- Corc Intel Xeon ES Memory 16 GB 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics AMD FirePro D300 2048 MB (came with Mac from Apple) I don't know if the require additional drivers, they worked fine with Yosemite
Two monitors are connected directly to Thunderbolt ports (with adapters), one is connected with HDMI

Reply

Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 27, 2016 12:20 PM in response to xeffer

What adopters are you using?

What is resolution of the monitors?

The mac has three Thunderbolt buses. The HDMI port shares a TB buss with two other ports. Is each monitor connected to a different TB bus?

For the TB buses see:

Use multiple displays with your Mac Pro (Late 2013) - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 4

xeffer Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2016 12:38 PM in response to lllaass

I bought the adapters from Apple (see pic attached)

All monitors are just regular resolution

My main monitor is a Viewsonic VX2770 SERIES Display (27") and is connected to the HDMI port

My second monitor is a Cintiq 22HD Display Connected to TB port 3

My third monitor is a Viewsonic VA902b 19" Display Connected to port 1

Reply

Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 27, 2016 1:02 PM in response to xeffer

What are inputs to the non-mail monitor? VGA? DVI?

Are all three connected to different TB buses?

Ports 1 and 3 are same TB bus (bus 1). HDMI is bus 0.

What else is connected to the TB ports?

What happen when you disconnect those?

Reply

Answer 6

xeffer Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2016 1:35 PM in response to lllaass

Not sure what a mail monitor is. They all look to be VGA connectors

The other TB ports have three external drives connected, they don't seem to make any difference at startup whether they're plugged in or not.

Reply

Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 27, 2016 1:42 PM in response to xeffer

Are all three connected to different TB buses?

Ports 1 and 3 are same TB bus (bus 1). HDMI is bus 0.

Reply

Answer 8

xeffer Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2016 2:05 PM in response to lllaass

I connected one monitor to the HDMI, One to port 5 and one to port 4, those should all be different buses. Then I restarted–got the dark screen with cursor in corner. Disconnected one monitor, same result on startup. Disconnected two monitors–starts up fine.

Reply

Answer 9

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 27, 2016 2:14 PM in response to xeffer

As the article I linked to said

TB Bus 1 is TB port 1 and 3

TB Bus 2 is TB ports 2 and 4

TB bus 0 is 5, 6 and HDMI

Yu said:

I connected one monitor to the HDMI, One to port 5 and one to port 4

Reply

Answer 10

xeffer Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2016 2:24 PM in response to lllaass

That's correct,

So If I have one monitor on port 4– that is bus 2 and 4

monitor two is connected to port 5– that is bus 5 and 6

HDMI is bus 0

Reply

Answer 11

notcloudy

Level 4

1,252 points

Jan 29, 2016 6:29 AM in response to xeffer

Do you mean sleep - wake -- if so and you allow the mac to wake up -- including going out to the internet to check for updates or email -- it may be that El Capitan is killing the software for your monitors - because they are not being used and it needs the cpu.

If shutting down and powering up it should recognize all of them.

You may want to set-up a support call with Apple referencing this thread 7439316 -- fill the form out rather than calling as that gives them time to research the problem.

Reply

Answer 12

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jan 29, 2016 7:58 AM in response to xeffer

There are only three TB buses and 6 TB ports.

You want each monitor on a different bust.

xeffer wrote:

That's correct,

So If I have one monitor on port 4– that is bus 2 and 4

monitor two is connected to port 5– that is bus 5 and 6

HDMI is bus 0

Reply

Answer 13

xeffer Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 30, 2016 9:49 AM in response to notcloudy

Sleeping seems to be no problem, It's just when I start up that I have to disconnect my monitors.

Reply

Answer 14

notcloudy

Level 4

1,252 points

Jan 30, 2016 10:40 AM in response to xeffer

xeffer wrote:

Sleeping seems to be no problem, It's just when I start up that I have to disconnect my monitors.

Before you power up the box - if your monitors have their own power - let them power up before you press the power button on your system (maybe 15 seconds would be enough).

Another thing to check - warm up time for your monitors -- have seen blurbs in the past that some of them needed time to warm up-not instant on.

Reply

Answer 15

Jan 30, 2016 10:46 AM in response to notcloudy

Powering up the display ahead makes sense, because the Mac wants to send each displays a query -- "what is your name and what are your capabilities" -- before it enables the display.

Reply