MBP15" (late 2016) and LG UltraFine 5K monitor

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Level 1

27 points

MBP15" (late 2016) and LG UltraFine 5K monitor

Hi, I have just (late December 2016) upgraded my system to the latest MacBook Pro 15" and paid with LG UltraFine 5K monitor (actually I got 2 monitors one at home and one at the office), anyway, as all my other computers I have always encrypted using Apple FileVault. I have tried this several times on my new set up and every time I have encryption on this causes havoc with connection MBP to the monitor. It seems that the correct way to connect MBP to the monitor is first powering off MBP then connecting the supplied Thunderbolt 3 cable (I love one cable setup) then just waiting for the startup process to show up on the screen, having MPB on and then connecting does not work, causes all sorts of problems. But having FileVault on and property connecting to the monitor causes problems, I list only several:

-the bluetooth keyboard, track pad and mouse do not connect, or just the mouse gets connected, and the keyboard on MBP does not work so no way yo type the password to log in, then I have to turn off all by pressing the power button for several seconds, then again if I start up by lifting the lid, MBP starts up but again most inputs do not work and the monitor has very often half space distorted or fuzzy picture etc,

Once the FV is turned off and the description completed all works fine. No other problems I have noticed. Both monitors behave same way when FV is on. So it seems that the team responsible for designing FileVault has not done good work as it is not compatible with LG UF 5k monitor which is endorsed by Apple.

Has any of you guys encountered this problem? or one may have a better solution than turning off FV?

The monitor has superb picture and the one cable connection is very handy too, but I should be able to use FV anytime I like, it is part of the deal, isn't it Apple?

Thanks

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 10.2, Paired with LG UltraFine 5k monitor

Posted on Jan 9, 2017 6:08 PM

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Answer 1

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 28, 2017 12:49 PM in response to flynblu

I am not sure whether you guys have downloaded LG Screen Manager App from the below link. It is not a very good app as I have tried it and the screen options do not work well at all but is has a check of the current firmware and updater so it is worthwhile having it installed but not running to check occasionally for firmware updates. It is also mentioned on the apple website on LG monitor too the second link. I wish the 5k monitor was done wholly by an Apple engineers team not subcontracted to LG I do not think they have done a good job and Apple too has a bit to do on the whole issue. there is a lot of unhappy customers who spent a lot of $$$$ on the new systems.

http://www.lg.com/us/support-product/lg-27MD5K

Use the LG UltraFine 5K Display with your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

flynblu

Level 1

11 points

Jan 14, 2017 10:18 PM in response to anaroo

Similar problem here. Could not figure out what went wrong from the beautiful display performance this morning, then after reading your post I realized Filevault just finished encrypting the drive midday, and after that is when everything went haywire. Did not even think of connecting the two. The MBP display will blank, then the LG 5K, then the MBP; this cycle continues until eventually both will end up blank making the MBP unusable. The LG will need to be disconnected and the MBP restarted to become usable again. Have currently turned off FV and am decrypting my drive; hopefully that will take care of it. The Apple Support tech I talked to (late night) did not know much about the new MBP nor the LG display. This needs to get to Apple so they can do something about it; this is a way too mega-expensive a setup to have these problems.

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Answer 3

flynblu

Level 1

11 points

Jan 15, 2017 9:35 PM in response to anaroo

Turned off Filevault, waited for the drive to decrypt, and rebooted. Right into recovery mode; had to restore from backup because turning FV off did a number on my drive. Sure enough, once the drive was restored and Filevault was off everything seemed to be fine, for several hours... Late in the evening after being on for several hours the blanking back and forth between displays happened again for several seconds, then went away. Definitely another problem there somewhere (although I have an external time machine drive in the midst of encrypting; I will have to wait for that to finish, decrypt it, and see if that makes a difference, although it should not).

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Answer 4

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 16, 2017 10:23 AM in response to flynblu

Same with my system, after turning off FV and decrypting all including external Time Machine hard drive all was going well but whenever I reconnect MBP to one of the LG monitors I get problems: during the process of staring up I get a black screen on LG monitor and MBP and can not do anything else but pushi the power button for several seconds until the system is powered off. After a restart all works fine. So even with FV off and all decryption done there is still some start up problem when connected with LG monitor. MBP on its own works fine whether FV is on or off. I am going to contact Apple support and lodge a problem with them as I did at the very start when I connected LG monitor for the first time with FV on. There must be some deep logical problem within the start up system. I wonder how many other people with same setup have the same problems.

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Answer 5

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 16, 2017 10:28 AM in response to flynblu

yeah and your re right blood expensive setup we have and it should work well with FV too which I would like to use for protection of my data. I do not see any reason why dedicated LG monitor should cause so much problems. it is rather annoying and disappointing.

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Answer 6

flynblu

Level 1

11 points

Jan 18, 2017 2:27 PM in response to anaroo

Still having the problem, but not as bad (only a few times a day and only 2 blank cycles or so each time). Found that the program Flux interferes with the display; if you have it, remove it and delete the flux profile from your display preferences. Had less intermittent problems after Flux was removed, and I am now trying the sRGB color profile instead of the LG UltraFine profiles the LG Screen Manager program installed. Apple tech support (after a LOT of troubleshooting) seems to have it narrowed down to LG's profile. If I have no further problems, we'll know that was it and let LG know they need to fix their profile.

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Answer 7

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 18, 2017 5:49 PM in response to flynblu

Thanks for the feedback. I do not have F.lux app on my system but had LG Screen Manager app on for a while, do you have it, you can download it from LG website. Anyway it does not seem to help as I still have intermittent problems with the MBP and LG 5k monitor setup with both monitors. Every time I connect MBP to the monitor the first startup has problems all goes black and even track pad on MBP stops working at the end I have to force shut down the whole system and restart. After the restart all works again fine no problems whatsoever. Today I will be lodging a case with Apple support and see what they have to say. If as you say it is something with LG drive/profile then LG would have to remedy it after Apple prompted them to do so. Hope there are more people comparing about it.

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Answer 8

flynblu

Level 1

11 points

Jan 18, 2017 5:59 PM in response to anaroo

Unfortunately, using another color profile (I tried 2 of the most common, sRGB and Adobe RGB) only made things worse. After locking the computer (which turns off both the external and MBP screens) to give up awhile, the cycling actually reversed, and they came on at first all by themselves and then did the on-off cycling until I was able to wake the computer with my Apple Watch. I went back to the LG Profile, which is installed by the LG Screen Manager (which I have). By all means contact Applecare; I told them that someone else was having a similar problem, and I am sure there will be more of us as the monitors get into people's hands.

I start up with the monitor already plugged into the MBP, and I have not seen the problem you have. I have now been talking to one of the senior techs at Apple and even he is baffled; they are researching the problem to see if they can come up with something. I opened the LG UltraFine color profiles in display preferences, and they say they were created by Apple, so hopefully they can figure out what is going on. No fun being beta testers, huh?

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Answer 9

logicito

Level 1

52 points

Jan 18, 2017 6:34 PM in response to anaroo

Thunderbolt 3 is hot swappable, you shouldn't have to turn off the computer to connect/disconnect the LG 5K monitor, I have one of them and I connect/disconnect it all the time while the MBP 15" 2016 turned on

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Answer 10

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 18, 2017 8:26 PM in response to flynblu

Thanks, I have just been for 1.5 hrs with the apple support team sorting out the problem but after resetting SMC (system management controller) and memory things got worse actually so they will be getting back to me I hope soon. Glad you lodged the case too.

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Answer 11

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 18, 2017 8:31 PM in response to logicito

Thanks for that tip this is what I thought too should work but the first problem I had when FileVault was on I was told by an Apple support person that I should be connecting LG and MBP when MBP is powered off. I have tried now while MBP is on and all is working fine. Maybe this is the key to connect them when MBP is on. Later when I have more time I will turn FV on and try connecting LG when MBP is on. Cheers

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Answer 12

Jan 27, 2017 3:42 PM in response to anaroo

I just returned my 5k LG monitor to Apple. Took it to a genius appointment and they couldn't get the monitor to connect and work with any reliability. Even tried another monitor in the store with similarly poor results. I just wish I hadn't sold off my old apple Thunderbolt Display as now I am limited to my laptop screen.

I did have FileVault turned on on my machine but didn't want to wait an hour at the Apple Store to decrypt and retry with the monitor. Will sit on the sidelines until there is actually a reliable and easy solution. So disappointed in Apple lately.

I have the 2.9Ghz i7 with Intel HD Graphics 530 1536 MB...

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Answer 13

flynblu

Level 1

11 points

Jan 27, 2017 8:09 PM in response to anaroo

Read on a MacRumors forum several problems and possible solutions people have discovered. One guy said after reading something somewhere else he realized he had his Mac and LG Monitor close to his router, so he put the silver bag the monitor was wrapped in out of the box behind the monitor to shield it from the router and that worked. Thought that was the craziest thing I ever heard of, but I tried it by putting the bag behind my monitor and all the problems have gone away (at least for a few days, now). Wakes from sleep, screensaver OK, just liked nothing had ever happened (and, of course, Filevault is still off). Hope that helps. Here is the link to the LG Monitor issues on Macrumors:

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lg-ultrafine-5k-issues-bugs.2024679/

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Answer 14

anaroo Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 28, 2017 11:37 AM in response to Travis Rummel

I now connect my MBP15 with either of my 2 LG monitors (one at the time) when MBP is on and the lid open (TB3 cable/connections meant to be hot swappable ) and all works fine so far, I close the lid after all is connected. The only problem sometimes I notice that a USB-C hub connected to the monitor which connects many peripherals including an external HDD sometimes does not connect well and have to undo physically the cable and re-conenct. however FV is not on yet. Next week will, if I have more time, try with FV on so will see how the encryption will effect all. Also have upgraded OSX to the latest update 10.12.3 (have not studied the details of this upgrade and do not know whether issues with LG monitor were addressed). Even after restarting the whole system all worked fine. When finishing work with the monitor I shut down the whole system then disconnect MBP, it is easy to unhook MBP while it is on and forget about peripherals especially HDD. Your problem seems rather serious, but putting some silver bags behind the monitor for a shield as cited below sounds a bit like computer voodoo but if it works then it works.

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Answer 15

flynblu

Level 1

11 points

Jan 28, 2017 12:21 PM in response to anaroo

The bag is not a perfect solution; I had one of the short 2-cycle black screens on both displays this morning. Sad when I am happy about it only happening once in 3 days versus several times a day. Am getting a new Thunderbolt 3 cable from CalDigit today and I will see if that also helps. Apple and LG have quite a bit of work to do, I think.

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