iPad external display randomly turns off (requires iPad restart)

[jayemery]

I haven’t been able to find a thread that talks about this, so I apologize if I’ve missed one. I just got the new M4 iPad Pro 13”, and have it attached to a Magic Keyboard and plugged into an external display (BenQ PD3220U). The monitor has a keyboard/mouse attached via USB as well (the monitor has a built-in KVM setup). At least once, but often twice or more per day, my external display goes black (can’t detect an input source) and I start hearing the iPad make the “you just plugged in a USB-C cable, I’m charging now” sound. The sound happens every few seconds, like it’s constantly disconnecting/reconnecting, even though I haven’t touched the cable (and I’ve tried two different USB-C thunderbolt cables so I’m pretty sure it’s not the cable that’s the issue). Unplugging/replugging in the cable doesn’t cause the monitor to turn back on. The only fix I’ve found is to restart the iPad, and then everything starts working again. This is really frustrating considering I‘m trying to do work on the iPad, and it’s just not reliable.

Has anyone else experienced this? I’m wondering if there’s something buried in settings somewhere that might help me resolve this.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Slartibart]

You have the iPP in some case which has a cut out for the USB-C connection? I had just one for mine iPP returned, which ever so slightly restrained the USB-cable I connected and the whole thing was then behaving as you described.
The problem disappeared when I used a cable with better fitting connector (as in: thinner plastic cover part around the connector) or I connected a small hub (again, via a cable with a thinner plastic part) which worked as an intermediate.

In my case it felt different when I connected the „affected“ cables to the „pure“ iPP vs „iPP in cover“ - there is a distinct latching of a USB-C connector to the iPP if the the connection is really stable.

 

[jayemery]

Thanks for helping me out! I don’t have a case on the iPad, it’s just in the Magic Keyboard (which leaves the USB-C port open). I have a Belkin cable, and a cable that came with my monitor, of which the latter is basically new because I haven’t used it until trying to troubleshoot this problem now So it definitely has a healthy “click” which I plug it in. The behaviour certainly seems like it’s a problem with the cable, as you say, but if that was the case then when I unplug/replug the cable it should start working again. Unfortunately once this ‘crash’ happens, no amount of unplugging/replugging fixes the issue. Part of me wonders if it’s a compatibility issue with my monitor, but I don’t own another USB-C monitor to try a different one.

 

[DGGoingUphill]

I’ve had the monitor disconnect occasionally while watching long videos but haven’t had any messages and it reconnects on its own. I think, at least in my instance, it might be related to what the iPad senses as inactivity. Turning off auto lock in the display settings has made a major difference, but I think there is a point (maybe an hour?), even with that off, that the iPad looks for your attention (I’m sitting away from the iPad, so it wouldn’t see me as paying attention) and if it doesn’t think you are there, cuts the display. The issues was really bad when doing regular work with an external display and having the iPad to the side when I had auto lock set to five minutes — I am pretty sure it was because I wasn’t looking directly at the iPad during that time and it thought I wasn’t paying attention, so it should lock. Since unlock with FaceID is immediate, it felt more like a display disconnect/reconnect.

 

[JGS312]

I have been having a lot of issues as well with my M4 13 Pro when it comes to display support. For me, my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse have been randomly cutting out for a few seconds as I am working. I have noticed A LOT of glitches since I downloaded the latest iPadOS. I am really hoping that the next update addresses many of the issues we are having.

 

[Danilamak]

I’m having same troubles it’s unpredictable and it’s frustrates a lot, i try everything and nothing helping, monitor start reconnect indefinitely and than work normally and than out of blue starts to reconnecting and so on

Most of the time it starts when safari opened.

 

[dr34mc4st3r]

i have exactly the same issue, attaching my 11 inch m4 ipad Pro to a thunderbolt dock which then displayport out to my gigabyte m28u monitor. I never had this issue with using my m2 macbook pro. There must be some bug in iPadOS causing this issue. For the record this happens also when I have my Magic Keyboard attached. I have not tried with A Bluetooth keyboard and mouse yet.

 

[jayemery]

After a ton of troubleshooting I figured out exactly what the issue is (for me anyway). I detailed my steps in a post on this thread. Essentially the external display shuts off if the iPad battery is fully charged. If the battery is not at 100%, the external display works. Once the battery hits 100%, the external display dies. Unfortunately I have no idea how to fix this, and might just be a compatibility issue between the iPad and monitor. I have the PD3220U so I’m going to reach out to BenQ and see if they have any ideas.

 

[jayemery]

The BenQ PD3220U has two USB-C ports - one supports thunderbolt, and the other doesn’t. Connecting the iPad to the non-thunderbolt USB-C port (the one with just the charging icon) solves the issue; the display doesn’t shut off after the iPad is fully charged. It would seem that something about the thunderbolt connection is the culprit, so if your monitor has multiple USB-C ports, try them all!

My thanks to BenQ support for helping me out with this. I didn’t even know the second USB-C port could be used for display purposes because it only has the charging icon (whereas the other port has a picture of a display).

 

[yonz1138]

The BenQ PD3220U has two USB-C ports - one supports thunderbolt, and the other doesn’t. Connecting the iPad to the non-thunderbolt USB-C port (the one with just the charging icon) solves the issue; the display doesn’t shut off after the iPad is fully charged. It would seem that something about the thunderbolt connection is the culprit, so if your monitor has multiple USB-C ports, try them all!

My thanks to BenQ support for helping me out with this. I didn’t even know the second USB-C port could be used for display purposes because it only has the charging icon (whereas the other port has a picture of a display).

Hi @jayemery, thanks for your posts, I have just bought a BenQ PD3225U (the successor of your 3220) and have had the exact same problem as you: once it reached 100% of battery charge on my iPad, the screen went all black and the iPad kept making the ”charging” sound. Connecting to the other USB-C on the BenQ has “solved” the problem, but I have a few doubts:

In fact, the two USB-Cs are Thunderbolts, not just the ”one with the screen icon” you mention. The ”ray” icon is in fact Thunderbolt´s logo, not a charging icon. It is only that Thunderbolt can have different ”form facts”, and in this case it is USB-C interface. The one that has the “screen icon” means that it is the main one, while the other is only meant to be used with a second monitor if you daisy chain. That´s why in the BenQ manual it´s specified as “Thunderbolt out”. So, no idea on why connecting to this second Thunderbolt solves this specific issue :S

Also, this ”Thunderbolt out” is specified as 15W, and that is so weird since your iPad Pro M4 (as well as my M1) won´t admit power sources lower than 20W.

I haven’t found much info on the internet about this issue nor this second Thunderbolt input/output real functioning.

Cheers!

 

[jayemery]

Thanks @yonz1138 for clarifying that the two USB-C ports are both Thunderbolt. The manual refers to both USB-C ports as either "Thunderbolt" or "USB-C" depending on which model you have, which confused me. But as you said, it still doesn't answer why the 'main' port with the display icon causes the iPad to shut off when fully charged.

I found the part in the manual you're referring to regarding the power delivery, and yeah it seems that second port has lower power delivery and can only do 15W. As a side note, BenQ needs to do a better job of conveying that "Thunderbolt 1" and "Thunderbolt 2" in the screenshot below are "Thunderbolt 3" ports, but in this case they're referring to the physical port number (which is represented by the brackets). So confusing!

Regarding low power sources, any iPad will admit power sources lower than 20W. Even the older 5W chargers Apple used to include with iPhones charges the iPad - it just takes several hours to get a full charge. I plugged one into my M4 iPad Pro and the battery icon turned green. So at least that makes sense as to why the second Thunderbolt port is able to charge the iPad!

I hope you're enjoying your new monitor