No, he’s just using a dock that lost compatibility in Monterey. He needs to try the ones suggested to him in this thread. This isn’t an Apple thing, it’s a third party product thing. I’ve dealt with the same situation where a product stopped working due to loss of compatibility due to lack of support from the manufacturer. If a product like a hub requires drivers to run in the first place, that’s a very bad sign, unless it’s from a reputable company, not some fly-by-night Chinese off brand. Hubs should not require drivers though. That’s a ghetto red flag.
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- Thread starter iHorseHead
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In all fairness, normal users will see Apple only specs the Mac to support one extra display. These kinds of work around a are never good, we used displaylink at work in the past and had bad experiences to the point where we banned them (and this was on Windows systems). Instead, we bout the product or a GPU if it’s a desktop that is supported by the vendor of said product to support more displays.
We've asked the OP for this information, and suggested a set of tests removing the hubs from the chain and then adding them back in a controlled fashion.
You need to have an "engineering mindset" to fix these problems, or at least be somewhat methodical in the approach to determining the cause.
Meanwhile we go through multiple USB C hubs for our Windows users because of issues with monitors, peripherals and the good old BSOD.
Don't kid yourself this is a Mac only issue.
To me it is an Apple thing, because they've totally punted on making great first party solutions their customers could rely on.
You also need to be accepting of the fact that your initial diagnosis of a problem may be incorrect.
Until @iHorseHead reaches that point they'll not be able to go further on their attempt fix it.
BS: we have issues with Dell hubs and Dell laptops.
I'm guessing that might be because the hubs are rebranded but not built by Dell.
Hubs are still a black art - and it's bloody annoying that that is the case today.
Is downgrade still an option? I've been postponing upgrading to new OS systems for a long time now, I only upgrade after the combination of system/programs I use is proven to be stable. I always upgrade personal Mac first, just to be sure. On a work Mac, sometimes I will wait many months before updating, but it's worth it (always problem free). Apple is good at many things, but they are absolutely not immune to early adoption issues, nobody is. Nothing more frustrating then trying to work on a machine with compatibility/software issues, not a single of new "candy" features is ever worth the frustration of experiencing basic things not working properly.
So plugging in your external drives directly into your Mac (not using hubs - I mean directly straight from the drive to your Mac) does not work?
If this doesn’t work - something is wrong with either your Mac or your drives.
As others have stated, first part of troubleshooting is making sure the ports themselves work (without docks).
I've had nothing like the issues of the OP, but there are enough annoying bugs on my M1 Mac that I do wish I'd waited... From my past experience I've little doubt Monterey will be just fine in a few months.
But I do seem to have improved things with a clean install of Monterey. Only 24 hours now, but it feels much more stable and less buggy. (No memory leaks yet! ?)
I was looking to go back to BS. But to be honest Apple have made it a real faff on Apple silicon, involving making and using a USB installer which is just about the limit of my ability. So I chickened out and settled instead for the clean install of Monterey.
But if it all worked before the upgrade then the hassle of downgrading would probably be worth it for the OP. There are videos of how to do this on YouTube.
Does the network install options still work? There is a key combination you can use to install the OS that came with your Mac.
I don't think so - but I'd be very very happy to be proved wrong!
(used to be "cmd shift R" I seem to remember for Intel Macs.)
I searched hard for this solution, but the only answer that I found to go back was using by a USB stick.
Once upgraded Recovery mode only seems to want to offer Monterey, and won't even let you go back via Time Machine. They really do seem to have made it difficult...
(Unless I'm being a bit thick! ?)
That would be my advice. If Big Sur is working for you, just downgrade and stay on Big Sur for another 6 months or so. Then check the forums and see if Apple finally got their connectivity issues on Monterey sorted out. No sense in pulling your hair out trying to get Monterey to work, if everything is working perfectly for you under Big Sur.
Edit: I would also open up a support case with Apple. The more complaints they get from a variety of different hubs/monitors/SD cards/etc the better our odds are that they will get this stuff working properly for everyone.
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I'm Timm Kook and I can tell you that the reason you're facing issues is you bought a ******* product. Those adapters have a tendency to blow out your ports you plug them into as well, or so I've heard.
Best to buy from well-known brands and check the manufacturer's website first, as "GreenCell"'s website states they don't work with Monterey.
So here are your options:
1. Go back to Windows
2. Downgrade to Big Sur
3. Buy a better adapter from a well-known brand (this is going to cost you, but could save your ports from being fried and also should actually work).
You're welcome, close thread.
Best to buy from well-known brands and check the manufacturer's website first, as "GreenCell"'s website states they don't work with Monterey.
So here are your options:
1. Go back to Windows
2. Downgrade to Big Sur
3. Buy a better adapter from a well-known brand (this is going to cost you, but could save your ports from being fried and also should actually work).
You're welcome, close thread.
Ok I don’t believe there is a way to connect that many displays to the MBA. This is what apple says.
“For Mac computers with the Apple M1 Chip: You can connect a single external display to your Mac. Docks don’t increase the number of displays you can connect. On a Mac mini with M1 chip, you can connect a second display to the HDMI port. See the Apple Support article Mac computers with Apple silicon.”
I believe it maybe different if you have thunderbolt displays but I’m not positive.
As far as the hub goes. What makes you say it’s not working. Is it just because the hub won’t run the displays and everything else plugged in? Or it won’t run something else alone plugged in?
A computer can only run so much. Sounds like you may be over loading it.
They are using display link which does allow you to connect more - but there may be a driver issue with the current version of Monterey, or something else going on.
FFS WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN
displaylink software on macOS is 100% garbage.
buy a real dock from owc or caldigit and your problems are over
until displaylink can learn to actually write software that works on macOS avoid that **** like the ****ing plague.
I've had zero issues with monterey on my 3 apple silicon macs using a caldigit ts3 plus dock, which also works great with my windows laptop.
displaylink software on macOS is 100% garbage.
buy a real dock from owc or caldigit and your problems are over
until displaylink can learn to actually write software that works on macOS avoid that **** like the ****ing plague.
I've had zero issues with monterey on my 3 apple silicon macs using a caldigit ts3 plus dock, which also works great with my windows laptop.
Is it by synaptics? Looks like they support macOS 12 maybe not 12.1
What's weird is that I connected my MacBook Air to the dock now and everything works. Including the USB + 2 external displays.
It was the same yesterday and I was so happy to get it working and then I rebooted my MacBook and it didn't work. Now everything works again and I didn't install any additional drivers or anything.
Make sure you read the rest of the post, cherry-picking isn't going to help you solve your issue.
I connected it now and everything works. It happened yesterday as well, but when I rebooted my Mac it stopped working. I guess I shouldn't shut down my Mac nor reboot it? It's weird.
Third party manufactures not updating their drivers to support a new operating system isn’t an Apple thing. This occurs in Windows too, and it’s not Microsoft’s fault either.
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