I regret getting a Mac

[iHorseHead]

I gotta say, I came in here expecting a classic MacRumors flamewar-bait thread but I honestly gotta hand it to the OP: asking for help with an informative technical title, getting no help, and then posting again about the same problem with an inflammatory thread title to get solutions is high-level forum posting. Hats off, hope you get it sorted.

Definitely agreed with everyone suggesting a downgrade to Big Sur if you know how to do it. That'll get you back to a known-working setup until Monterey and/or the dock manufacturer get their act together.

I think the only way is the 'old way' creating a USB drive or partitioning hard drives in disk utility and make one of them a bootable installation disk and then install macOS Big Sur and when it's done you can erase the installation drive. A bit disappointing that there's no 'downgrade' option available, but I understand that Apple wants everyone to be on the latest operating system.
Right now my dock works just fine. I don't even know why it works fine. I didn't uninstall nor reinstall anything. I just plugged it in and it just works. Even after rebooting. It also might be the fact that I shut my Mac down yesterday and this 'fixed it'.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Ethosik]

You keep saying “displays” only a single “display” is supported.

My mini supports two and my new 16” supports three (four with hdmi)

 

[Jorbanead]

To me it is an Apple thing, because they've totally punted on making great first party solutions their customers could rely on.

What specifically are you looking for? Apple does make adaptors and has a list of certified adaptors and hubs as well. OP just isn’t using those.

 

[Jorbanead]

I only have USB hard drives. I need an adapter or a dock or a USB hub to connect to my hard drivers. I just came back from work and connected my MacBook to the dock and everything works now. It happened yesterday too and I was stunned, but when I rebooted my Mac it stopped working.
I'll make a Time Machine copy while I can or maybe if I'm lucky the issue is fixed?

You should buy a good, passive USB-C to USB-A adaptor just to have. These don’t require drivers and theoretically should always work unless the hardware physically breaks. Make sure it’s a high-quality full bandwidth adaptor. Apple makes one.

 

[nastysailboat]

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.

Maybe the display link software is the problem then. Seems like maybe they’re not quite set up for 12.1 did it work on 12.0

 

[nastysailboat]

Dell isn't well known?

Wait is the hub green cell or dell?

 

[nastysailboat]

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.

To add, a normal user isn’t using 3 displays. If you’re going to add a bunch of stuff it’s probably important to know.

 

[dysamoria]

Most people that complain about Windows have no idea what they're talking about. Their opinion is based on someone else complaining about Windows and copying what the other person was saying and not on personal first-hand experience.

When I bitch about Windows, it’s entirely first-hand misery.

 

[Jorbanead]

Wait is the hub green cell or dell?

I believe they have both a Dell and a Green Cell hub. But that’s why people are getting frustrated because OP wasn’t clear in the beginning. And now multiple people have asked OP to just list all the hardware that’s not working and what methods they tried to see if we can help - but they haven’t done this.

To add, a normal user isn’t using 3 displays. If you’re going to add a bunch of stuff it’s probably important to know.

*a normal MacBook Air user. It’s not that uncommon to see 3 screens for a working professional or gamer though.

Most people that complain about Windows have no idea what they're talking about. Their opinion is based on someone else complaining about Windows and copying what the other person was saying and not on personal first-hand experience.

Many of us have first-hand experience. I can assure you any complaints coming from me came from years of using windows.

 

[IG88]

Hey!
The last year I got myself a MacBook Air M1 and I was really impressed with it. After upgrading to macOS 12 I started facing so many issues that I'm almost going insane here.

Why don't you do a fresh install of Mac OS 11 then?

 

[iHorseHead]

And now multiple people have asked OP to just list all the hardware that’s not working and what methods they tried to see if we can help - but they haven’t done this.

I have done it, if you scroll up a bit, you can see that I listed all of the devices I am using… I should probably update my first post. This thread has gotten too long.
Anyway, everything works now. One user suggested that it might work because I shut down my MacBook and it rested the pram and everything, since M1 MacBooks do it automatically.
If you scroll up and look at previous posts I've listed all of the hardware at least twice.

 

[usagora]

My mini supports two and my new 16” supports three (four with hdmi)

Irrelevant, because the OP is using an M1 MBA which only supports one.

 

[iHorseHead]

Irrelevant, because the OP is using an M1 MBA which only supports one.

 

[Ethosik]

Irrelevant, because the OP is using an M1 MBA which only supports one.

I have an air too. I was responding to someone that said I am saying monitors plural. Keep up with the conversation at hand.

I do not use more than one on my air, I do not use more than two on my Mini and I have three displays on my desk. So only my PC and 16" MBP uses all three displays.

 

[usagora]

I'm talking about official support (link I posted clearly states only 1 display is officially supported), not third party workarounds. Any time you try to push a machine beyond its design limits, you have to expect things will not be buttery smooth.

 

[Ethosik]

I'm talking about official support (link I posted clearly states only 1 display is officially supported), not third party workarounds. Any time you try to push a machine beyond its design limits, you have to expect things will not be buttery smooth.

Yep I agree. Thats why my air only uses one of my three displays as that is what is officially supported.

 

[usagora]

Keep up with the conversation at hand.

It's snarky little condescending remarks like this that sour forums. Totally uncessary. I'm SO sorry I misunderstood where you were coming from, but you could've made your point just as easily without this remark. I mean, it would be one thing if I were rude to you first, but I wasn't.

 

[Ethosik]

It's snarky little condescending remarks like this that sour forums. Totally uncessary. I'm SO sorry I misunderstood where you were coming from, but you could've made your point just as easily without this remark. I mean, it would be one thing if I were rude to you first, but I wasn't.

Well it was unnecessary for someone to get on my case that I am saying MONITORS plural when discussing in this thread to begin with so that really irked me. Then you respond to my response to that question which made it worse. Plus you opened with it by saying "irrelevant" meaning I can't respond to some ones question?

 

[Isamilis]

Does MacBook's charger count? I don't have anything else besides a dock and USB Hubs.

Yes can. Are you able to charge? If yes then the problem is on usb hub.

 

[iHorseHead]

Yes can. Are you able to charge? If yes then the problem is on usb hub.

Yes, sir I am able to charge and as I said today (I know, this thread has gotten very long) everything started working today for no apparent reason.
I haven't tested my GreenCell USB Hubs, because someone here said that they might fry the motherboard. I won't stick it in anymore.

 

[TiggrToo]

Doesn't change ANYTHING.

The M1 MBA supports ONE SINGLE external monitor.

The video is for a Displaylink hub that provides the Ability to do more.

That's not the Air doing it.

 

[mr_roboto]

But again it’s not officially supported by Apple. So it might not work. Yes it’s a hack to bypass hardware limitations that force displays to use CPU. Maybe it’s not fully bug proof for arm chips? Still doesn’t make it Apple’s fault since they don’t advertise or list X more displays can be used with DisplayLink. Their specs state one external display. Using more than one is outside the spec which is not supported. Doing unsupported things results in just this type of issue.

I wish you and others would stop all this noise about Apple's specs. It doesn't contribute anything and it's irrelevant to the OP's problems. Apple's hardware specs also include USB ports, and their software specs include official APIs by which third parties can provide device drivers which consume a USB device and provide a display output - which is what's happening here. This isn't some unsupported hack.

It looks like as of right now, you need to install a beta version of the DisplayLink driver package to have support for Monterey at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are issues anyways. Where does the blame for this lie? Be careful where you point that finger - a legitimate criticism of Apple in recent times is sweeping changes to driver APIs with poor documentation and short notice. I happen to think they're right in their motivations for making these changes, but wrong in failing to provide adequate support for developers who are affected by them.

I'm talking about official support (link I posted clearly states only 1 display is officially supported), not third party workarounds. Any time you try to push a machine beyond its design limits, you have to expect things will not be buttery smooth.

There's no limit being pushed. All you people cluttering up this thread with this nonsense should just stop, you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[TiggrToo]

I wish you and others would stop all this noise about Apple's specs. It doesn't contribute anything and it's irrelevant to the OP's problems. Apple's hardware specs also include USB ports, and their software specs include official APIs by which third parties can provide device drivers which consume a USB device and provide a display output - which is what's happening here. This isn't some unsupported hack.

It looks like as of right now, you need to install a beta version of the DisplayLink driver package to have support for Monterey at all, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are issues anyways. Where does the blame for this lie? Be careful where you point that finger - a legitimate criticism of Apple in recent times is sweeping changes to driver APIs with poor documentation and short notice. I happen to think they're right in their motivations for making these changes, but wrong in failing to provide adequate support for developers who are affected by them.


There's no limit being pushed. All you people cluttering up this thread with this nonsense should just stop, you don't know what you're talking about.

DisayLink is a third party driver. Apple have nothing to do with it.

If the OP is using DisplayLink and then having issues then that's all on them and not Apple.

 

[Ethosik]

I wish you and others would stop all this noise about Apple's specs. It doesn't contribute anything and it's irrelevant to the OP's problems.

Actually it does because operating the M1 Air, Mac Mini or others that are outside spec (running three monitors on something that only supports one or two) is OUT OF SPEC. Meaning you cannot be guaranteed it to be working 100%. It is not in spec, not supported by Apple, therefore you are playing your own game if it works or not. Its not Apple's fault here. Apple labeled it within spec only one external monitor is supported. Hacks, or unsupported means are just that....unsupported. Nothing to do with Apple here. I am 0% surprised this was a problem for the OP because it is not supported.

 

[Bandaman]

Actually it does because operating the M1 Air, Mac Mini or others that are outside spec (running three monitors on something that only supports one or two) is OUT OF SPEC. Meaning you cannot be guaranteed it to be working 100%. It is not in spec, not supported by Apple, therefore you are playing your own game if it works or not. Its not Apple's fault here. Apple labeled it within spec only one external monitor is supported. Hacks, or unsupported means are just that....unsupported. Nothing to do with Apple here. I am 0% surprised this was a problem for the OP because it is not supported.

Quit spewing all this logic. You're making too much sense.