Big Sur 11.1 External Display Issues!

I have the same issues since upgrading too (on my MacBook Pro 16). I have 3 monitors plugged in externally using different USB-C adapters and have been having various problems since upgrading last week to Big Sur. Good to hear that it isn't just me, but wish Apple would fix them. HDCP has completely stopped working on one of the monitors and I can no longer get 4K on my Benq PD2700U. But if I reboot into Windows (I have bootcamp) all the monitors work fine. So now I have to reboot into Windows just to watch Netflix.

Does anyone else have their external display function properly at random for about a day? So strange, I am still trying to figure out what I do that makes the external display function at 4k once in a while. Goes back to a pumpkin after sleep.

My computer froze yesterday so I force restarted by holding the physical power button down (USB-C external display cable was plugged into the MBP), when it restarted the display was back to normal, showing 4k. Twilight Zone music here.

Then, this morning after MBP sleep, it was back to it's glitchy low-res self. I restarted (regular restart, not the power button) with the USB-C cable plugged in and the display was back to 4k. Not without a fight, the monitor was "off", it would not display anything, so in my display preferences and clicked on "gather windows" button at the bottom right, and switched the scale to something else and back and the display turned on.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason, I've tried restarting before and had no results, but the display has worked properly twice this week. It's so intermittent I don't understand it. This is not a solution, and I don't think it will work consistently, but I found it peculiar. The display shows up at 4k maybe once a week without having done anything at all, this time I tried to replicate it and got it to work this morning. No confidence that this will work tomorrow.

Same issue with BigSur 11.1: getting only 1080p when connected.

I read that changing the DisplayPort version on the monitor to 1.2 my help, but on my case it only gets 30Hz with 4K, feels incredibly laggy. Weirdly the monitor show as 61" on the About this Mac window, when it's actually 32".

I tried resetting PRAM/NVRAM, SMC, boot on safe mode… nothing works.

The monitor was working fine at 4K @ 60 Hz before the update, I'm still using the same Thunderbolt 3 cable that comes with it.

Monitor: BenQ PD3220U

Device: MacBookPro16,1 (MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019))

macOS Big Sur 11.1 (20C69)

I never even see the HDMI monitor to get the "calibrate" option in the system preferences panel.

This problem occurred on three different MacBook Air M1 with Big Sur 11.1

Yesterday none worked. This morning two of the three are working normal again with nothing being changed. Third one still not working.

Some other things to note. All three use different port replicators. One Wavlink, one OWC, one Hyperdrive. This morning my Air worked perfectly on all three. I had planned to reset NVRAM and if that didn't work Reinstall the OS. When I wiggled the mouse it woke up normally this morning.

The one that isn't working is the only one with an Apple Magic mouse, but it doesn't work on the other port replicators either so that one is getting the NVRAM reset now, but given that the other two started working after just sitting overnight, I am not sure we can call it a solution if it works.

Same here, been plagued by the lack of display stream compression support in MacOS 11.1 for months now.

I tried updating to 11.2 this morning in hope it would be fixed, but it wasn't. Even after creating a new APFS volume and doing a fresh install from internet recovery it did not help the issue.

Suuuuper disappointed, as @scottreder got my hopes up with firmware updates applied during the MacOS upgrade installation.

System: Macbook Pro 16" Radeon Pro 5500M

Display: Philips 346P1C connected via USB-C (DisplayPort)

Two MacBook Air M1, one is 11.1, the other 11.2 and a mac mini. Gave up on dual external monitors for now.

After going to system preference>energy on the mini and system preferences>battery on the Airs, checking the box for « prevent computer from sleeping when monitor sleeps », rebooting and checking the box again (first reboot, box was unchecked on all three) and they all failed to work. Now one 4k external monitor works fine on all of them. They all are a bit slow to wake up with magic mouse and apple keyboard. But at least they don’t wake up to a kernel crash any more either.

As I posted previously, the Air with the Hyperdrive USB-C port expander worked better after plugging in both the HDMI and Display port. Today I disconnected the display port cable and it appears stable.

To get the mini to work I plugged in a 27 » HP xga monitor I had in storage. After 2nd reboot, I plugged 40 » 4k in and all is well since.

Good Luck! It feels like Big Sur is the largest beta test yet.

Have finally installed 11.2 and still no fix. I got the correct recognition of the external display (LG43 4K) but found that I have to change port and restart (sometimes more than once). This is a shambolic performance by Apple. They contacted me soon after the issue began with 11.1 and they took system info etc. and admitted that they recognised that several users have the same issue.

I cannot.afford to waste my life testing and restarting hoping to get the correct resolution and Hrz every time I wake up the MBP 16. I have left the MBP 15 (other tasks and family) on 11.0 just because Apple cannot fix what is obviously and issue with Big Sur 11.1 and after.

One of the advantages and reasons I use Apple is that I usually do not have to mess with drivers and that usually everything is plug and play but I need the large monitor for my processes and right now after 7-8 weeks with no fix nor information coming from Apple I think maybe it has had its day.

Come on Apple - you employ the best talent in the world and you cannot fix this problem that YOU have created?

Fair enough, I get what you guys mean, it's far from ideal to have to shell out for an extra lead because of some incompetence on Apple's part. I'm just saying, if you're like me, and have sat around at non-native res, frustrated at apple since December, then you might as well give it a shot with a different lead to (hopefully) tide you over better until Apple finally fix the issue

Wait for apple to fix it. No other actual solution!

in the meantime contact apple for support in order to Let them to know how many people are experiencing this issue. Also leave a feedback in here https://www.apple.com/feedback/

Yesterday my new monitor was delivered. A LG 32UN880 ergo. It is hooked via DP to a link-up “apple certified “ (not sure what It does mean) thunderbolt 3 docking station. Surprise: it works at native 4K res at 60Hz. I connected also an XP PEN innovator 16 tablet display and had no issues so far (but it’s just one day).

however, no way to connect the monitor to the USB-C port of the docking, it is no seen by the system. Only if I connect it to the thunderbolt port is recognised. It could be normal, Maybe the usb-c port of the docking is only used for data other than video signals.

by the way, a little too many cables, but displays are running just fine so far, but I do believe that big sur has a problem in detecting certain types or usb-c peripherals

After Update - 11.2.1 - no changes - just went back to 30Hz - with Display Menu I can change to 60Hz - so Hardware and Software do support it - just not Apple Native Software - such crap! https://apps.apple.com/de/app/display-menu/id549083868?mt=12

Hi there,

The bug is still present on macOS 11.2 & 11.2.1. Since Apple is currently working on a future beta of macOS 11.3 you can report the problem using the feedback form, this might help developers and public testers to identify the culprit.

Hi dragontorc,

it was me who uses the HP dock. Just to clarify: it's not a USB-C dock (I tested two different USB-C docks, without success), but it's a Thunderbolt 3 dock, which is technically a different thing. USB-C docks (i.e. for external HDMI or DP connectivity) seem to have the same issue as USB-C direct connection. Just as an additional information...

Agreed. As I pointed out in this post, no external hardware or software solution can or will fix this problem. No "trick" will work. macOS fails at detecting the correct displays and display modes. No external solution can possibly fix that. People need to stop plugging those silly solutions. They are taking people for a ride, wasting their time and money. Only Apple can fix this issue. Apple should fix this issue quickly.

Curious, is it possible that having a hub between the computer and the 2nd monitor possible offload the work from the computer in terms of negotiating and handling the feed? It seems that a chip in the hub doing the processing first in some instances was a solution of sorts for a few people.