Non-Apple monitor with DisplayPort not recognized by a Mac

I just got a new monitor: an Acer B276HUL. Its native resolution is 2560x1440. I didn't do my research before ordering it; that resolution is too high for single-link DVI! So I have yet to see it operate in its native resolution. But I'd like to try it.

I have a Mac Pro laptop, and a Monoprice adaptor for mini-DisplayPort to DVI, HDMI, or DisplayPort. And the monitor came with a DisplayPort cable. So I tried to connect the monitor to the Mac using DisplayPort. The Mac did not recognize the monitor.

When I use the DVI adapter and plug in the cable, the Mac recognizes the monitor: if I have the System Settings open to Displays, then when I plug in the cable, settings for multiple monitors appear. When I unplug the cable, those settings disappear. But when I unplug the DVI cable from the adapter, and plug in the DisplayPort cable, the Mac does not react to the adapter plugging and unplugging.

I have gone into the menu on the monitor and set it to "Input: DisplayPort" before trying the above experiment. No success.

I found a discussion page that suggested restarting the Mac in "Safe" mode, and I tried that. It didn't help; the monitor was not recognized.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/22842241#22842241

Isn't a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter just an electrical pass-through? So, shouldn't this trivially work?

Is there a chance that it would work if I got a simple adapter that only does mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort?

If I were to buy an Apple branded mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter, is that likely to make any difference?

Solution 1:

After much fscking around I came up with a solution, I think. At least it's working for me.

On Monitor OSD:

• Settings
• DP (scroll way down)
• DP 1.1

You might have to plug into a source that works in order to use the OSD, I had to plugin an HDMI source before it would let me do anything.

This should get you an image at 2560x1440.

If it's jaggedy and terrible looking try pasting the following xml and rebooting:

/System/Library/Displays/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-472/DisplayProductID-361

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>DisplayProductName</key>
  <string>Acer B276HUL (fixed)</string>
  <key>IODisplayEDID</key>
  <data>AP///////wAEcmEDjxWAMhwXAQS1PCJ4Ikt1p1ZLoyUKUFS9SwDRANHAgYCV
D5UAswCBwKlAVl4AoKCgKVAwIDUAVVAhAAAeAAAA/QAXTA9jFgEKICAgICAg
AAAA/wBMWjJBQTAwMTQyMDAKAAAA/ABBY2VyIEIyNzZIVUwKAKQ=
</data>
  <key>DisplayVendorID</key>
  <integer>1138</integer>
  <key>DisplayProductID</key>
  <integer>865</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Original comment:

I did the exact same thing, right down to plugging into the wrong DP input on the monitor. > Acer really should label these as input and output...

Anyway after plugging into the correct jack, I get the exact same thing... monitor is recognized but stays black or 'no signal'.

I was thinking it was maybe a hardware failure until I got it working at full res in windows.

So, it's a configuration issue... somewhere... just don't know where, yet.

Solution 2:

The Mac is now recognizing the monitor. The monitor doesn't work, so I might file another question, but this question has been answered.

The problem was: there were two DisplayPort ports on the monitor, not just one, and I was trying to use the wrong one. One is "in" which is what I should be using, and one is "out" (for daisy-chaining).

With the cable plugged into "out" the Mac didn't recognize the monitor at all. It acted like the cable wasn't even plugged in.

Now, the Mac recognizes the monitor. In Settings, in "Displays", when I plug in the cable the "arrangement" tab appears. However, the monitor reacts with "No signal" and then goes blank.

I tried booting the Mac to "safe mode" and that didn't help.

P.S. This latest round of testing is using an actual mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, not the adapter from MonoPrice. I should try that adapter out and see if it works the same as the actual cable.