HDMI kill switch?

[Expidia]

I'm running a 2018 32 inch Samsung SD850 32" WQHD LED monitor with my new MacBook Air.
Looks great but has an annoying glitch that sometimes in the AM upon awakening it won't awake.
I have to unplug the HDMI cable (it's a new 2 ft high speed Monoprice cable) from the back of the monitor and replug to awaken the monitor.

I also have a Ugreen hub and I've read it's not a good idea to keep unplugging the HDMI cable from the hub side.

I've searched around for solutions to isolate the issue and have exhausted most of them.

My thought now is to buy some type of kill switch so I can disconnect the HDMI from the monitor without having to unplug when it won't awaken. I thought the 2 ft cable solved the issue, but no cigar. Plugging the monitor directly into the MacBook (no hub) I still get the issue from time to time.

Anyone know of a kill (on/off) switch. I see many on Amazon but they are the splitting of the source signal variety. Yes, some have power buttons, but there must be a simple on/off HDMI switch?

Thx

P.S. there are no driver updates for this monitor. I've also fiddled with the monitor settings like Auto/Manual detect source settings with same glitch results.

 

[Expidia]

Update: A kill switch won’t work. an hour ago monitor would not go on at all. Only a fast flashing power light. Slow flashing just means it's sleeping. Even with disconnecting the HDMI from the monitor. The only way I could get it on was to unplug it’s AC cable. So I just installed a battery operated remote AC on off switch. That will probably solve my problem. It just reboots the monitor when it happens. If rebooting wears the monitor out, I’ll just spring for a new 32 inch monitor they have really dropped in price. I have indoor versions of the ac battery on off switches and one outdoor one pictured.

 

[Honza1]

Try different cable and check tv hdmi version setting. My tv had two hdmi settings and auto was having similar issues, switched to higher hdmi version, which was not the default, and it wakes correctly. With cables, there are many hdmi versions and some cables are more reliable and some less. Get cable for highest hdmi standard you can afford and from different company. I bought 3 to find one which works reliably… i think one more was ok and third was unreliable.

 

[Expidia]

Thanks for your reply Honda. It’s not a Samsung TV it is an LED computer monitor. This new high speed 2 ft cable I bought was a recommended brand to solve issues like I’m having. I probably have HDMI cables and many of them higher quality high speed ones. I can try a few more, but it’s takes so long to try and isolate the issue because sometimes it goes a week without replicating the issue.

As mentioned above in my post update I installed a remotely operated AC on/off switch and will see if rebooting the monitor when it won’t awaken is the easiest fix.

One of the problems I think I also have was upgrading to Tahoe 26.1 which I’m sure is not allowing the 7 yr old Samsung monitor to play well with my MacBook Air. I should have known better than to install the latest operating software update. They have already started releasing 26.2.

 

[Honza1]

I would seriously consider replacing the monitor, if cable replacement does not help. But that is obviously most expensive…

 

[Expidia]

Sad part is I'm coming off of a 9 year old 27 inch 5k iMac which works fine and it has a gorgeous monitor (but now it's boxed away in my closet). I was going to give it to one of my grandchildren, but they use windows for school stuff.

The iMacs days are But it's are numbered anyway. Apple of course, no longer supports it and the new iMacs only go up to 27 inches. My iMac won't even let Time Machine work on it anymore. So I replaced it with a new MacBook Air and I'm using this Samsung monitor with it for now. The array of 32 inch monitors and price ranges is daunting, but it won't be an overpriced Apple monitor.

If this Samsung 32 burns out from too much rebooting then I'll get a 4 or 5k monitor and a new Mac Mini.
Then I can use the MacBook back on my kitchen island again instead of the ipad I'm using there now.

 

[JayKay514]

I think you're going to be putting too much strain on the monitor's power supply if you do that.

If this is the correct model, not only does it have HDMI, but it also has a DisplayPort input, and an older-style Dual-Link DVI input. HDMI can be a bit flaky, but DisplayPort is a more solid protocol, so I would try using another input and see if that works better.

Your MacBook Air, if it's a current model, has Thunderbolt ports, so you can simply buy a Thunderbolt-to-DisplayPort cable. CableMatters has one you can get from Amazon for $18.

 

[ignatius345]

So I just installed a battery operated remote AC on off switch.

I guess you already bought something, but if it was me I'd get a basic HomeKit AC plug and just toggle it off and on with that. You can usually get them for about $10 each.

 

[Expidia]

I think you're going to be putting too much strain on the monitor's power supply if you do that.

If this is the correct model, not only does it have HDMI, but it also has a DisplayPort input, and an older-style Dual-Link DVI input. HDMI can be a bit flaky, but DisplayPort is a more solid protocol, so I would try using another input and see if that works better.

Your MacBook Air, if it's a current model, has Thunderbolt ports, so you can simply buy a Thunderbolt-to-DisplayPort cable. CableMatters has one you can get from Amazon for $18.

Is the one next to the hdmi a display port? I think I might have one in stock.

Also, the macBook only has two usb-c ports. I have the hub plugged into one and the Time Machine drive into the other. Can I plug a display port cable directly into the hub?