LG UltraFine 5K - Issues/bugs

[iAustralian]

For people who have switched over to the Belkin 2m Thunderbolt cables, one disadvantage is that these only provide 60W of power to the MacBook Pro rather than the 85W provided by the cable bundled with the display. Although this can be done, I'm not sure of the long term effects of consistently underwatting the power supply to the Mac.

How many have verified that the Belkin cables are an improvement? They do seem like an identical cable, maybe LG overspecing the cable to deliver 85W is the cause of some of the issues?

 

[hollandog]

The LG doesn't wobble on, say, my kitchen counter top, and my dell 4k doesn't wobble on the Ikea desk, but the Ikea desk + less than stable LG stand = noticeable wobble. I guess my question is, does the LG actually have a weak stand compared to other displays in this class, or do I have a defective unit? And if the stand just is poorly designed, are people having better luck with desk mounts?

Now that the software bugs are getting ironed out I am really liking this display, and would love to keep it if I can figure out a way to solve this wobble issue...



Did you compare this setup, by chance, to the display's built-in stand and notice it was significantly better? And if you don't mind sharing, what arm are you using?

I have the Human Scale M2. Won't move 1/10 inch.
[doublepost=1485400067][/doublepost]Today I had my 2nd attempt to wake the deep sleep MBP with the 5K connected. Glad to say it was success.

 

[dreamvillian]

I have the Human Scale M2. Won't move 1/10 inch.
[doublepost=1485400067][/doublepost]Today I had my 2nd attempt to wake the deep sleep MBP with the 5K connected. Glad to say it was success.

Awesome.

Can report the same with mine after 2 days of deep sleeps.

 

[mikerose]

For people who have switched over to the Belkin 2m Thunderbolt cables, one disadvantage is that these only provide 60W of power to the MacBook Pro rather than the 85W provided by the cable bundled with the display. Although this can be done, I'm not sure of the long term effects of consistently underwatting the power supply to the Mac.

How many have verified that the Belkin cables are an improvement? They do seem like an identical cable, maybe LG overspecing the cable to deliver 85W is the cause of some of the issues?

Fyi, This is only applicable for the 15" MBP. The 13" adapter is 61w, so it's fine.

 

[Brookzy]

Caldigit is now selling Thunderbolt 3 cables capable of 100W charging and 40Gbps. They seem to be the only supplier of such a cable aside from the one shipping with the LG 5K. So for people having cable troubles they might be worth a look.

 

[Majikthese42]

Hopefully this will help anyone having this same issue.

Thank you.

Had many of the same issues, flickering, black monitor screens, and finally the LG monitor just went completely dead and couldn't be resuscitated. I had called Apple several times, pretty much from Day 1 about the issues and when the monitor went dead they insisted that I bring it into the Apple store even though I had the monitor less than 14 days. At the Apple store they were helpful enough, tested the monitor and got the same black screen with their own MacBook Pro. They replaced the LG 5K and updated my software. Tried all sorts of things to foul the new monitor, unplugging it, replugging it, changing monitor settings, shutting the computer down with the monitor attached and not attached and it ran fine.

Took the new LG monitor home and in fact, it ran fine for the next 4 hours. But by the next morning, the poltergeists had returned, and the monitor awoke with an *orange* background. Restarting the computer and unplugging the monitor seemed to bring it back to the functional level of the original monitor -- random flickering, black screens etc. Then I came across your post.

I have on my desk a trash can MacPro, a Thunderbolt monitor, the MacBook Pro, the LG 5K display -- and an AirPort Time Capsule. It's pretty crowded. I was wondering how I could shield the LG monitor from the router -- and remembered the anti-static bag that the LG monitor was shipped in. I now have it loosely tacked to the back of the monitor with masking tape.

Now 24 hours and everything has been working fine. Not a permanent solution, but it seems to work.

I wonder what Steve Jobs would say?

 

[hollandog]

Caldigit is now selling Thunderbolt 3 cables capable of 100W charging and 40Gbps. They seem to be the only supplier of such a cable aside from the one shipping with the LG 5K. So for people having cable troubles they might be worth a look.

even with Caldigit you're taking chances. because they don't make the most reliable product. I've been using their TB2 dock. the first one was dead after couple days and replaced. The replacement has some issue with the ethernet cable not detecting upon wake up from sleep.
[doublepost=1485452987][/doublepost]

Thank you.

Had many of the same issues, flickering, black monitor screens, and finally the LG monitor just went completely dead and couldn't be resuscitated. I had called Apple several times, pretty much from Day 1 about the issues and when the monitor went dead they insisted that I bring it into the Apple store even though I had the monitor less than 14 days. At the Apple store they were helpful enough, tested the monitor and got the same black screen with their own MacBook Pro. They replaced the LG 5K and updated my software. Tried all sorts of things to foul the new monitor, unplugging it, replugging it, changing monitor settings, shutting the computer down with the monitor attached and not attached and it ran fine.

Took the new LG monitor home and in fact, it ran fine for the next 4 hours. But by the next morning, the poltergeists had returned, and the monitor awoke with an *orange* background. Restarting the computer and unplugging the monitor seemed to bring it back to the functional level of the original monitor -- random flickering, black screens etc. Then I came across your post.

I have on my desk a trash can MacPro, a Thunderbolt monitor, the MacBook Pro, the LG 5K display -- and an AirPort Time Capsule. It's pretty crowded. I was wondering how I could shield the LG monitor from the router -- and remembered the anti-static bag that the LG monitor was shipped in. I now have it loosely tacked to the back of the monitor with masking tape.

Now 24 hours and everything has been working fine. Not a permanent solution, but it seems to work.

I wonder what Steve Jobs would say?

Steve would tell you to clean up your desk.

 

[sziehr]

Thank you.

Had many of the same issues, flickering, black monitor screens, and finally the LG monitor just went completely dead and couldn't be resuscitated. I had called Apple several times, pretty much from Day 1 about the issues and when the monitor went dead they insisted that I bring it into the Apple store even though I had the monitor less than 14 days. At the Apple store they were helpful enough, tested the monitor and got the same black screen with their own MacBook Pro. They replaced the LG 5K and updated my software. Tried all sorts of things to foul the new monitor, unplugging it, replugging it, changing monitor settings, shutting the computer down with the monitor attached and not attached and it ran fine.

Took the new LG monitor home and in fact, it ran fine for the next 4 hours. But by the next morning, the poltergeists had returned, and the monitor awoke with an *orange* background. Restarting the computer and unplugging the monitor seemed to bring it back to the functional level of the original monitor -- random flickering, black screens etc. Then I came across your post.

I have on my desk a trash can MacPro, a Thunderbolt monitor, the MacBook Pro, the LG 5K display -- and an AirPort Time Capsule. It's pretty crowded. I was wondering how I could shield the LG monitor from the router -- and remembered the anti-static bag that the LG monitor was shipped in. I now have it loosely tacked to the back of the monitor with masking tape.

Now 24 hours and everything has been working fine. Not a permanent solution, but it seems to work.

I wonder what Steve Jobs would say?

Wow that is some serious EMI shielding mistake on the part of LG.

I wonder when they will release a mark2 version of this screen.

looks like I will hide out in the non 4k cheap seat screens till this all blows over

 

[pookitoo]

I'm so depressed about apple right now....

I've ordered the 13 inch MacBook Pro 2016 => very buggy with big graphic glitch => returned
An other 13 inch MacBook Pro but after some review with the 5k lg display => exchange for a 15 inch
The 15 inch have leak light => exchange for a new one
Change my mind and go for the 13 inch because of portability => pinky screen
Finally receive the 5K lg => leak light (and big one), and with the 13 inch some little lag !

I don't know what to do, my bank don't understand what I do, I'm going to be crazy, I want to go back to windows with a cheap computer ...

 

[hollandog]

I'm so depressed about apple right now....

I've ordered the 13 inch MacBook Pro 2016 => very buggy with big graphic glitch => returned
An other 13 inch MacBook Pro but after some review with the 5k lg display => exchange for a 15 inch
The 15 inch have leak light => exchange for a new one
Change my mind and go for the 13 inch because of portability => pinky screen
Finally receive the 5K lg => leak light (and big one), and with the 13 inch some little lag !

I don't know what to do, my bank don't understand what I do, I'm going to be crazy, I want to go back to windows with a cheap computer ...

keep exchanging until Kaby Lake comes out to MBP. Dada, free upgrade!

 

[kevlee]

No wobble I put mine on an arm.

Did you uncheck any of the energy saving setting for when its plugged in?

 

[mwalter]

The camera and all USB-C ports on my display dropped again when on a Skype call. I was hoping that the update to 10.12.3 would resolve this, but it didn't.

I encounter this problem every time I try a video call (using Skype or Google Hangouts). Are many other experiencing this as well? I figured that it was a software issue, but perhaps it's hardware related, in which case I will exchange/return my display.

I spoke with Apple Support and they suggested that it may be due to the external drive (Seagate Backup Plus Hub) that I have connected to the 5k. I've only tried it once, but so far it works fine with the drive unplugged. Very odd.

What make/model external drives do people have connected to their 5k? Have you had any issues? I'm particularly interested in finding out which drives *don't* cause issues when on video calls (assuming that is indeed the issue).

 

[hollandog]

Did you uncheck any of the energy saving setting for when its plugged in?

I have everything unchecked except dim screen on power.

 

[Weaselboy]

What make/model external drives do people have connected to their 5k?

I'm using this enclosure with a Seagate laptop drive inside it attached to the LG 5K and having no issues. I have it Velcroed to the back for my Time Machine backups.

 

[mwalter]

I'm using this enclosure with a Seagate laptop drive inside it attached to the LG 5K and having no issues. I have it Velcroed to the back for my Time Machine backups.

Thanks. I was hopeful that my issue had something to do with the lack of shielding since I keep my external drive behind the display, but that seems less likely if yours is literally attached to the back. Either way, I'll wait till my next Skype call to see if moving the drive resolves the issue.

 

[sziehr]

So this all sounds very very EMI related. If a drive can set it off I am concerned something is a miss

 

[pete1961]

So this all sounds very very EMI related. If a drive can set it off I am concerned something is a miss

Nothing is amiss! I have multiple RF devices within a foot of my monitor, including an Airport extreme. I see some people are having RF problems but it seems to be hit or miss. You can search a couple of my other posts. I had a bad monitor when it was first delivered. Returned it and received a replacement from Apple. It now works perfectly. I suspected it was a bad cable but couldn't say for sure. It have many of the same symptoms others report flickering screen, failing to awake from sleep, etc. I saw no reason to use an inferior lower watt rated Belkin cable purchased at my own expense when the remedy was a complete replacement from Apple that solved the problem. I certainly don't see why someone would purchase the Belkin cable assuming or hoping it fixes any problems. The LG cable if not defective works perfectly.

 

[hollandog]

Failed to wake from sleep once today and succeeded twice. getting random now.

 

[sziehr]

So after reading a solid review of the DPI breakdown of OSX. I have 3 options it seems for a display
a 1440 monitor like the acer unit
a 4k display in the 21 range
a 5k display at 27 range.

The 5k is looking pretty sickly sadly

I want size so by the lack of LG being able to create a monitor that does not fall apart after 2 days of use it falls to Acer 1440 unit or wait for a dock and get a Display-port 1440.

 

[muziq]

I so badly wanted to keep this.. 3 Days of use..

• 5 non-wakes from Sleep
• 2 reboots for no reason
• random flickering

Reset PRAM, read all the "fixes"...

Wanted so badly to keep this, but when 3/5 times using this with the new MacBook Pro results in some sort of error, it has to go back..

Get your **** together LG and Apple... Fix this, and I'll gladly give it another chance..

 

[sidewinder]

And I have zero problems with my 5K display since I received it a couple of days after they started shipping.

 

[mikerose]

And I have zero problems with my 5K display since I received it a couple of days after they started shipping.

One full week since receiving my replacement from Apple, happy to report all good, no issues.

 

[inmotionnow]

Is anyone running the latest Sierra Beta with Nightshift? This worked well at first but out of nowhere, my machine started beach balling (and slow one at that). Unplugging the screen had my machine working fine again. Took me a while to figure what was happening but turning off Nightshift solved the issue. I've reported the bug to Apple but would be interesting to see if anyone else is having the same issue.

 

[kid2010]

Is anyone running the latest Sierra Beta with Nightshift? This worked well at first but out of nowhere, my machine started beach balling (and slow one at that). Unplugging the screen had my machine working fine again. Took me a while to figure what was happening but turning off Nightshift solved the issue. I've reported the bug to Apple but would be interesting to see if anyone else is having the same issue.

Yep can confirm. The issue seems to occur when brightness adjustment stuck in a loop blocking other operations. So far only disconnect display and then disable night shift fix the issue. However, it doesn't look like to be a problem that is 100% reproducible.

 

[Weaselboy]

https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/30/lg-ultrafine-5k-display-router-disconnecting/

9to5Mac is reporting on the issue of nearby routers causing issues with this display. I think some of you have already discovered this, but the article has an official acknowledgement from LG confirming the problem.