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M1 Mac Mini Won't Wake Connected Displays, Some Owners Complain

emmto said:
Hi folks,

Apple has just released macOS 12.3.1 which should fix issues with usb-c connected external display for Mac Mini 2018 (Intel based).
Maybe this should fix also M1…
Click to expand...
Hi Emmto,

I now have a Mac Studio and after a few days use I have noticed the the Bluetooth works, for the mouse/keyboard and AirPods (They would constantly disconnect, to the point I stopped using the AirPods) and the dell monitors now a work as intended. Well worth spending the money to get out of the Mac mini 2018 design bodge .
 
Parystec said:
Hi Emmto,

I now have a Mac Studio and after a few days use I have noticed the the Bluetooth works, for the mouse/keyboard and AirPods (They would constantly disconnect, to the point I stopped using the AirPods) and the dell monitors now a work as intended. Well worth spending the money to get out of the Mac mini 2018 design bodge .
Click to expand...
100% can confirm the same. I loved my M1 Mini, but I was hoping with the upgrade to a base Studio, some of the "glitches" I had been experiencing would go away, and I am pleased to say they have. Bluetooth is finally consistent and my dual monitor set up is stable and strong.
 
Got my Mac Studio M1 Ultra today. Connected to LG Ultrawide 30,5". I startet a Finder copy to get things going. It didn't even get to finish before the display went black and won't turn on again.

I tried disconnecting the display, both power and the DisplayPort cable. I tried changing resolution by going in via screen sharing. It's not working.

Anyone have a better workaround than a reboot when this happens?
 
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Various screen issues including waking up a screen after sleep are known issues across the whole line of M1 chips, thus affecting any Mac. I've had random screen wake failures with my M1 13" MBP and still have them on my M1 Max 16" MBP. I have also seen multiple Mac Studio users complain about the issue. It seems like there is some problem with the DCP firmware (probably affecting link training) that Apple somehow does not manage to fix.
 
hello, new m1 mac mini user here, I had the same problems with my screen just like the rest of you, I tried quick format with no luck.
I have managed to fix the issue by doing a full reinstall of the os.
After that, I did not had a single issue with my monitor.
So for anyone that still having issues try a full format.
 
stavrossant said:
hello, new m1 mac mini user here, I had the same problems with my screen just like the rest of you, I tried quick format with no luck.
I have managed to fix the issue by doing a full reinstall of the os.
After that, I did not had a single issue with my monitor.
So for anyone that still having issues try a full format.
Click to expand...
Maybe I should try this 👍 Once or twice a week my mini M1 won’t wake the display - and sometimes it even requires a hard reset (as opposed to just re-plugging the displayport cable).
 
Think77 said:
Maybe I should try this 👍 Once or twice a week my mini M1 won’t wake the display - and sometimes it even requires a hard reset (as opposed to just re-plugging the displayport cable).
Click to expand...
yes you should definitely try this.
My display wouldnt wake twice a day, and now i'm using it for about a month without any display issues.
 
stavrossant said:
yes you should definitely try this.
My display wouldnt wake twice a day, and now i'm using it for about a month without any display issues.
Click to expand...
That sounds promising. Did you re-install from a timemachine backup, or did you re-install everything (including apps and so on) manually "from the bottom"?
 
Think77 said:
That sounds promising. Did you re-install from a timemachine backup, or did you re-install everything (including apps and so on) manually "from the bottom"?
Click to expand...
Manually.
I tried at first a quick format, and did not made a difference.
 
anshuvorty said:
This isn't just a M1 Mac Mini issue, this also affects the M1 MBA, which I have. I have to disconnect my Thunderbolt dock connection and reconnect it and then the display works perfectly again.
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God, PTSD came back - I had this issue with MBP 2011 13” multiple times with few external devices like image projector or monitor (official mini thunderbolt - hdmi or vga )
🤣

But it was even worse as had to force restart by pressing Power + something during startup to fix cache.

Edit:
Found what it was, link below

Reset PRAM and SMC on Macbook Pro

Life can get weird and somethings seem to work by the "Shut-it OFF" and "Shut-it ON" way :-) Here is the way to do it for PRAM and SMC. It works on my Macbook Pro (Early 2011) edition. Resetting the PRAM * Shut down your machine. Yes, all the way down,
www.santoshsrinivas.com
 
Random curious question:
I have an M1 and have the sleep issues. Does anyone know if an "active" vs "passive" Thunderbolt cable could be causing the issue or somewhere in the mix?

I only ask because I saw a passive TB cable and some comments that mention it fixes some sleep/wake issues. Just wondering if anyone knows more about TB?
 
Hi there -

Just trying to revive this conversation. I have a number of 2018 Mac minis in an educational setting that still have issues with sending their video signal when the display is turned off (I even have the mini's set to not sleep). We're using large interactive displays (Legamaster Boards). Rebooting the machine almost always brings the display back, but this is obviously not a suitable solution.

I'm assuming there aren't any specific fixes that have been introduced, but figure I'd reach out to this board to see if anyone has come up with something.

Thanks -
 
qwertynyc said:
Hi there -

Just trying to revive this conversation. I have a number of 2018 Mac minis in an educational setting that still have issues with sending their video signal when the display is turned off (I even have the mini's set to not sleep). We're using large interactive displays (Legamaster Boards). Rebooting the machine almost always brings the display back, but this is obviously not a suitable solution.

I'm assuming there aren't any specific fixes that have been introduced, but figure I'd reach out to this board to see if anyone has come up with something.

Thanks -
Click to expand...
If your Mac minis are from 2018, then they’re running Intel Coffee Lake processors and UHD graphics; it isn’t M1. Although, as we suspected here that Apple just used existing electrical and other universal board pieces from this model on the M1 Mac mini.

I have a 2018 Mac mini i7 and have experienced this problem. Yes, there isn’t a fix as I bet it has to do with a component on the board. My fix has been an eGPU, but it hasn’t always worked 100% of the time.

Are you running your display via TB3? That’s where my problem typically happened rather than HDMI.
 
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Thanks @progx -

The newer M1's that we have seem to be working much better than the 2018's. I'm running the 2018's off of the HDMI port, and I've tried in a few rooms to switch to 3ft HDMI cables, which seems to have helped a bit, but definitely not 100%.

I'm at a loss for what to do with the 2018s (we have a ton of them). Sadly, at the moment it's just providing users with the basic knowledge of powering off the machine and powering it back on and/or leaving the display on for longer intervals then truly needed.
 
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qwertynyc said:
Hi there -

Just trying to revive this conversation. I have a number of 2018 Mac minis in an educational setting that still have issues with sending their video signal when the display is turned off (I even have the mini's set to not sleep). We're using large interactive displays (Legamaster Boards). Rebooting the machine almost always brings the display back, but this is obviously not a suitable solution.

I'm assuming there aren't any specific fixes that have been introduced, but figure I'd reach out to this board to see if anyone has come up with something.

Thanks -
Click to expand...

I have a bunch of these 2018 Mac mini’s at work as well. With some/most output devices (monitors, TVs, Projectors) they are reliable, but on some other brand/models they have issues. With those problematic displays I have had some success using a new USB-C to HDMI adapter from Startech - CDP2HD4K60H.
It could be worth getting one in as a test, and see if it helps at all.

This new adapter also helps with an issue with M1 Macs and certain model displays like an LG IPS display where it randomly goes solid blue (only way to get it back is to sleep the displays, wait until it goes into low power mode then wake the device again, or to unplug and replug the earlier model USB-C adapter)
 
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qwertynyc said:
Hi there -

Just trying to revive this conversation. I have a number of 2018 Mac minis in an educational setting that still have issues with sending their video signal when the display is turned off (I even have the mini's set to not sleep). We're using large interactive displays (Legamaster Boards). Rebooting the machine almost always brings the display back, but this is obviously not a suitable solution.

I'm assuming there aren't any specific fixes that have been introduced, but figure I'd reach out to this board to see if anyone has come up with something.

Thanks -
Click to expand...
I posted a solution in a previous post.
Four months have passed and I did not had a single issue, but you have to reinstall the whole os.
Thats what I did with my m1 mini, I suppose it applies the same to the intel ones.
 
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