M1 Mini with CalDigit TS3+ screens won't wake if display allowed to turn off automatically

[Fomalhaut]

I have a persistent problem with my M1 Mini running Big Sur 11.6.2 and a CalDigit TS3+ dock.

If my Energy Saver preferences are set to allow the screen to turn off after an inactive period, then on waking the computer the screen(s) do not wake, although the computer appears to be awake.

The only way I have found to restore the screen is to disconnect the CalDigit dock or to power cycle the computer.

I normally have 2 screens connected, one via the CalDigit dock, and one directly from the Mini's HDMI output. Both displays are affected when this happens, so it doesn't only appear to be a problem with the dock "going to sleep and not waking".

Interestingly, remote access to the Mini from another Mac also fails in this state, even though I can see it in the network devices on the other Mac.

Has anyone seen anything similar? I haven't yet tried without the CalDigit dock because I need it to connect other peripherals, but I am wondering whether the dock is somehow affecting the Mini and preventing it from waking correcting, receiving remote connections and waking the second screen connected via HDMI.

My workaround is to disable auto screen-sleep, e.g.

If I manually select "sleep" or use hot-corners to put the display to sleep it seems OK.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[TriApple]

I have this same issue albeit only with the display connected to my MacBook Pro 14" via the CalDigits TS3 dock and only the one connected via downstream thunderbolt (to DisplayPort).

My display connected via the TS3's DisplayPort does not have this issue.

And agree, I can replicate it 100% of the time if the device sleeps itself. If I manually sleep it I have no issue.

 

[gernot.kogler]

I had the very same issue using a displayport connection. I recently switched to usb-c and the wake up now works 100% reliable

 

[Fomalhaut]

I had the very same issue using a displayport connection. I recently switched to usb-c and the wake up now works 100% reliable

Do you mean the USB/TB3 output on the TS3+ itself? Are you connecting that to a DisplayPort connector on the other end, or HDMI? I haven’t tried that, but your experience seems to be the opposite of @TriApple above. It’s worth trying though. I think I have a USB-C to DisplayPort cable somewhere…

 

[Fomalhaut]

I have this same issue albeit only with the display connected to my MacBook Pro 14" via the CalDigits TS3 dock and only the one connected via downstream thunderbolt (to DisplayPort).

My display connected via the TS3's DisplayPort does not have this issue.

And agree, I can replicate it 100% of the time if the device sleeps itself. If I manually sleep it I have no issue.

At least you have one screen working! Is this sufficient to log in an resolve the problem somehow, or do you have to disconnect and reconnect the dock (or reboot) to get the second screen back?

 

[Fomalhaut]

BTW, what macOS version are you both using? I’m wondering if upgrading to Monterey would help.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Update: I have the identical configuration with my MBP14 (HDMI direct from computer, DisplayPort via DP connector on the TS3+) and it works fine if the display sleeps automatically. So it does appear to be related to the combination of M1 Mini and TS3+ . I'll try contacting CalDigit support to see if they have any ideas, but I need to test without the TS3+ first to confirm that it works normally.

 

[gernot.kogler]

Do you mean the USB/TB3 output on the TS3+ itself? Are you connecting that to a DisplayPort connector on the other end, or HDMI? I haven’t tried that, but your experience seems to be the opposite of @TriApple above. It’s worth trying though. I think I have a USB-C to DisplayPort cable somewhere…

No. I had my screen connected through the displayport output of the TS3+ using a displayport cable. Now it's connected with an usb-c cable, usb-c to usb-c. My screen has usb-c AND displayport. Wakeup with the usb-c connection works perfectly.

 

[Fomalhaut]

No. I had my screen connected through the displayport output of the TS3+ using a displayport cable. Now it's connected with an usb-c cable, usb-c to usb-c. My screen has usb-c AND displayport. Wakeup with the usb-c connection works perfectly.

Interesting. The USB-C connection to your monitor is (as I understand) an implementation of DisplayPort, so it's a bit odd that this works but the regular DisplayPort input does not.

I'm not sure if there is a "USB-C DisplayPort" protocol that is different to Thunderbolt3/4, but I suspect there is, with the DisplayPort being a subset of the TB3/4 feature set.

 

[Gnattu]

Some monitor does not wake up from sleep from original M1 but does wake up from M1 Pro/Max. I can verify that with my MBP 13 M1 and MBP 14 M1 Max on a same monitor, with and without dock. This is not a "Thunderbolt" issue but more likely a DisplayPort implementation issue. DisplayPort's hot plug feature made trouble for lots of vendors and Apple is not the only company facing it, HP even has a support page describing it. It seems like Apple provided a new implementation workarounds the wake-up problem for more monitors.