Macbook 2016 HDMI output flickering

Hi all,

I did receive a call from my Tier 2 support guy where he read back the Engineering teams response, it basically boiled down to:

- the one 24" Dell monitor you supplied the model for only has a DVI jack. The USB-C port does not support DVI only HDMI

- the one 27" Dell monitor you supplied the model for has a HDMI jack but has "known interopability issues" and should not be used

- I should have updated the firmware of the Apple Av dongle when I had it

I was furious. I am awaiting part of the engineers report being forward to me so I can response inline. I will be responding as such:

- DVI and HDMI are the *same* electrically. Barring HDCP support, digital audio transmission and EDID being a smidge different, they are the same. The issue occurs exactly the same in both HDMI-DVI and HDMI-HDMI cabling scenarios. All display devices logged work perfectly with 15" MBPs own HDMI port and numerous MBA's using both 1st and 3rd party thunderbolt to HDMI adapters, they have also worked with a wide range of Windows laptops from a wide range of manufacturers.

- do not say "not supported" without explicitly stating a comparable model which *is* supported and entirely compatible. I'm willing to buy any 27" 1440p model they recommend if it helps this conversation.

- I did update the firmware on the Apple dongle. It was still a garbage fire. Hence it was returned.

I've still not received this email from my Tier 2 man. He promised it last Friday PM. I did transform in one fall from "the nice MacBook owner who really is trying to help get this resolved" to "the angry man".

Will keep you all posted. It a good start with the engineering team.

I have also been in contact with Apple's engineering people; like others, they have had me collect log information and make note of dates/times when the flickering issue occurred. The person I spoke to did at least seem to take the complaints seriously, and he referred to this discussion thread during my discussions with him. Keeping my fingers crossed; in the meantime, daily reboots seem to keep the problem at bay.

Looking at the reviews on the Apple site: http://www.apple.com/shop/reviews/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter?p age=0&rf=1

This is obviously across multiple monitors -- has anyone else tried the adapter on anything but a 12" MacBook? Like on the new MacBook Pro?

Have people returned their 12" MacBook over this issue? Are people considering it?

Really wondering if this is a hardware issue on the 2016 MacBook that isn't going to be reparable in software. There have been several beta/stable updates released since this issue was discovered with zero improvement. I can't imagine how this got past Q/A. It simply isn't possible that Apple hasn't been able to replicate this internally. I have 3 2016 MacBooks purchased over the span of 5 months that all have the same issue with the Apple Multiport and 3rd party docks/adapters. We have literally spent over $1000 on different docks/adapters/cables even new monitors trying to solve this issue for our staff. NEVER have I owned an Apple product that has been this disappointing. Honestly surprised there hasn't been class action talk yet, The computer is a failure at this point.

Mhohman - I'm still hopeful that this can be resolved through a driver fix. That safe mode does not seem to suffer is to me heartening, but then perhaps I don't understand the HW-SW stack as well as I could.

With regards to Class Action this is definitely an option worth considering. I will wait until I've got eyes on my own actual response from the engineers but in the mean time shall we start collecting a list of adapters and displays devices on which we've experienced the issue?

Perhaps a Google sheet? I'd be happy to start it but would need help maintaining its updates from someone else in this thread. Anyone got the time?

Unfortunately I suspect the safe mode fix is only because the machine rebooted. I generally have good results with my adapters for up to 24 hours after a reboot depending on the number of times I dissconnect/sleep my machine. Sometimes rebooting only fixes the issue for 2-3 hours.

That could certainly be true :( my own safe mode test was only an hour.

In that case then it's definitely worth starting to capture all the details together in one place. The is issue as far as we can tell is indemic to this model of the MacBook.

So, as the solution is currently being found by ambanmba, our posts are censored by Apple bacause the solution is in a an upcoming (not released, not to say β version) of Sierra and we can't talk about this kind of things here. Yay! So much fun.

Hi snappath, is this information covered in this message thread or elsewhere? Please provide more info on this exciting news! :)

I have this same issue. I'm running the 2016 Macbook m7 with Sierra 10.12.1.

I've connected a Dell ST2420L via the apple official USB-C Digtal AV Multiport Adaptor, I have one at home and at work and they both flicker after wake from sleep and then intermittently throughout the day. Seems to occur sometimes when closing/opening apps, though this could just be coincidence. When doing a full reboot it seems to settle a little, but then after a few sleep/wakes it starts to play up more.

Having exactly same issue. I took my Macbook to a GeniusBar, they had it for 1 week, did all sorts of testing and came back saying it was normal behavior if I didn't reboot the laptop daily. There was nothing to do and I had to cope with it.

I can't believe Apple is asking me to reboot my laptop every single day. Back to the 90's. Shall I do the same with my iPhone? My iPad? My Apple Watch? I have not rebooted any Apple device in months, other than to upgrade.

I got that too...it does say in the email it's confidential so I can appreciate the censoring. Sadly my link in the email isn't working so have contacted them for help. Fingers crossed, I think there's a fix just around the corner.

I haven't received any email from apple, but will try beta 3 available today to see if it is fixed.

Fingers crossed 🙂.

Issue feels resolved with Apple adapter still exists on OWC and Dell usbc docks. Time will tell if it stays working but so far so good for the last 16 hours.

Hello.

Are you referring to sierra latest beta or something else?