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Dr. Stealth

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 14, 2004
813
739
SoCal-Surf City USA
Well I've spent a few days setting up this new Dell 5k UP2715K. There were a couple well documented issues and I was able to get it working "fine" in Sierra 10.12.6 and Win 10 Pro. Beautiful 5K resolution @ 60 Hz, rich colors, super sharp text. I had everything working fine with only one last thing to check. Boot screens. I have NOT been able to get this display to show a boot screen no matter what I try.

I have a Apple GT 120 in my cMP to use just for this case. I tried to get to a boot screen with the GT 120 and a mDP to DP (Dell) cable and no joy. I believe it's probably because the GT 120 uses DP 1.1 (?) and the display requires DP 1.2.

So I popped in a flashed 680 (DP 1.2) and tried the same thing. No joy, black screen. Apparently this is an issue on both Macs and PCs as there is a lame FAQ from Dell that say's....

Screen Shot 2017-09-23 at 3.56.23 PM.png


Well that's not much of a solution for me. I run one display and I'm not about to swap out displays anytime I want to see, or need a boot screen. This would be a deal breaker for me. If I can't get this display to show a boot screen I'll be returning it and stick with my 27" Cinema Display for now.

So..... Question: Has anyone been able to get this display to show a boot screen? If so, what GPU, what is the trick ?

Thanks !
 
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William Payne

macrumors 6502a
Jan 10, 2017
931
360
Wanganui, New Zealand.
I don't know about this display, but I do know that some displays just outright can't show a boot screen irrelevant of the OS or gpu. Some displays appear to be dedicated secondary displays.

I could be completely wrong but I have seen displays that say no boot screen for mac os.
 
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Dr. Stealth

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 14, 2004
813
739
SoCal-Surf City USA
I don't know about this display, but I do know that some displays just outright can't show a boot screen irrelevant of the OS or gpu. Some displays appear to be dedicated secondary displays.

I could be completely wrong but I have seen displays that say no boot screen for mac os.


Thanks for the reply... I've never heard of that. I'll see if any of the Dell 5K owners chime in about their success with boot screens.
 

Hb86

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2017
1
0
Question: Has anyone been able to get this display to show a boot screen? If so, what GPU, what is the trick ?

I am using late 2013 Mac Pro with this monitor, Never see boot screen using Dual Display Port, But it does show boot screen using only the mini Display port.
 

mattspace

macrumors 68040
Jun 5, 2013
3,046
2,784
Australia
i get the feeling that the 5k has always been a bit of a compromise - ever use SCSI drives in the old days - having to power up all your devices in reverse order from the end of the chain, with the computer last - it's got a whiff of that era of computing about it.

they don't sell it in the Australian market, but I wonder if Dell's 8k display has solved any of these issues?

The replacement for the 5k seems to be their new up2718 HDR 4k screen.

While it's a bit of hack, perhaps having a small, cheap screen permanently plugged into the gt120 in a spare pci slot, just to be a boot monitor, is going to be the most workable combo, if you can't get it to output on minidp.
 

William Payne

macrumors 6502a
Jan 10, 2017
931
360
Wanganui, New Zealand.
i get the feeling that the 5k has always been a bit of a compromise - ever use SCSI drives in the old days - having to power up all your devices in reverse order from the end of the chain, with the computer last - it's got a whiff of that era of computing about it.

they don't sell it in the Australian market, but I wonder if Dell's 8k display has solved any of these issues?

The replacement for the 5k seems to be their new up2718 HDR 4k screen.

While it's a bit of hack, perhaps having a small, cheap screen permanently plugged into the gt120 n a spare pci slot, just to be a boot monitor, is going to be the most workable combo, if you can'y get it to output on minidp.

Why don't you guys get it? It is for sale (was until discontinued) here in New Zealand. Actually to correct myself on that. It is still in stock here in New Zealand.
 

Dr. Stealth

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 14, 2004
813
739
SoCal-Surf City USA
i get the feeling that the 5k has always been a bit of a compromise - ever use SCSI drives in the old days - having to power up all your devices in reverse order from the end of the chain, with the computer last - it's got a whiff of that era of computing about it.

they don't sell it in the Australian market, but I wonder if Dell's 8k display has solved any of these issues?

The replacement for the 5k seems to be their new up2718 HDR 4k screen.

While it's a bit of hack, perhaps having a small, cheap screen permanently plugged into the gt120 in a spare pci slot, just to be a boot monitor, is going to be the most workable combo, if you can't get it to output on minidp.


Thanks to all for your replies. After messing with this monitor for a week I'd say mattspace hit the nail on the head. I've never had any issue setting up any display. They are supposed to just work, especially a $2,000.00+ one. As a long time cMP user I'm used to jumping through a couple hoops to get something working. I'm fine with that as long as everything works when done.

I also thought about setting up a small 8" display to the GT-120 just for boot screens but it seems ridiculous to buy another display just to show boot screens.

One problem is, after working with this 5k display for a week I don't think I'll be satisfied with a 4k. So I'll return the Dell 5k and put my trusty Apple LED Cinema Display back on my desk and wait for something better to come along.

Again, thanks to all for your help.
 
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