Multimonitor Screensaver bug in Ventura 13.3

[XMI]

Thing is, I'm not using a third-party screensaver. I'm using shifting tiles from the standard set, on a two monitor system, and it only works 5% of the time ...

That would be good if we could reproduce it (since it would 100% show that it's an Apple bug) but I'm not seeing it: I just tested Shifting Tiles with 2 and 3 monitors and it works 100% of the time. This is on 13.4 (22F62) - the latest version just released yesterday. Testing on a M1 macbook.

What OS are you running?

 

[XMI]

Update: I do see a bug with Shifting Tiles: when using the "Options / Source: Colors" (which doesn't use photos, just blocks of color) it seems to work fine on 2 or 3 monitor systems.

However, if I choose "Options / Choose Folder" or "Options / Photos Library" then I can see some sort of malfunction:

With 2 monitors: after the screensaver starts, I get 2 blank screens for about 20 seconds. After 20+ seconds, then both screens start working.

With 3 monitors: after the screensaver starts, I get 5 seconds of blank screen, then monitor 1 starts, then another 5 seconds, monitor 2 starts, then another 5 seconds and monitor 3 starts. With repeated testing, the pattern is somewhat random: sometimes 1 and 2 start right away, followed by 3 about 5 seconds later.

@Biffs : can you say more about your setup and what you are seeing?

 

[XMI]

This is also being discussed on Apple DevForums: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/727168?page=1#752908022

 

[totnesfirefly]

I do have a possibly related issue which came along with 13.3.1 update. I was using an old Marine Aquarium 3.2 screen saver at the time, across two monitors .

Since immediately after the 13.3.1 update, my Mac Studio now does not reliably detect the second monitor and that monitor switches and flashes on and off after startup on almost every occasion, about once per second. Occasionally, monitor resolutions and arrangement are also reversed on startup.

If I open Display Settings and select the monitors, or arrange them, or drag the window across to the second display it will often stabilise it, though as the monitor is intermittently displayed there this can be tricky. It's all a bit unpredictable in fact.

Have Philips 27M1N5500ZA as primary and Eizo EV2436W as secondary. Both connected by Display Port cable each separately at two of the Mac Studio's Thunderbolt ports.

This did not occur in 13.3 or before, only immediately after the 13.3.1 update. Seeing the screensaver comments, I reverted back to the standard Ventura one, but none of that really seems to make any difference.

 

[Hopefully]

We also have had this problem on a Mac Studio and 2021 M1 PowerBook ever since the 13.3.1 update. We normally use the Ken Burns screensaver function on a selected folder of multiple photo folders, a fantastic way for photographers to view their work while watching a movie (which unfortunately requires two computers because a full screen view shuts off other attached monitors - a fix for which would be nice for future enhancements). Several (most of the photo options) of the Apple screensaver programs cause the main screen to display "No Photos" and display the screen saver photos only on the second screen for 95% of attempts; about 5% of attempts will show both screens with a screensaver. Sometimes it seems to help if I change the "mirror" settings on the monitors system preferences, but it isn't consistent and doesn't last to the next attempt; a 3 monitor system always disables all of the screens. I've found that I can add the 2nd extra monitor only if I set it to mirror the main screen, in which case we're back to the 5% success rate. Hopefully they can fix such a wonderful feature which has worked for over 20 years.

 

[Cromulent]

I do have a possibly related issue which came along with 13.3.1 update. I was using an old Marine Aquarium 3.2 screen saver at the time, across two monitors .

Since immediately after the 13.3.1 update, my Mac Studio now does not reliably detect the second monitor and that monitor switches and flashes on and off after startup on almost every occasion, about once per second. Occasionally, monitor resolutions and arrangement are also reversed on startup.

If I open Display Settings and select the monitors, or arrange them, or drag the window across to the second display it will often stabilise it, though as the monitor is intermittently displayed there this can be tricky. It's all a bit unpredictable in fact.

Have Philips 27M1N5500ZA as primary and Eizo EV2436W as secondary. Both connected by Display Port cable each separately at two of the Mac Studio's Thunderbolt ports.

This did not occur in 13.3 or before, only immediately after the 13.3.1 update. Seeing the screensaver comments, I reverted back to the standard Ventura one, but none of that really seems to make any difference.

I'm having that exact same issue. Mac Studio with three monitors. I turn the computer on in the morning and then have to spend a couple of minutes in Display Settings getting one or more of the external displays to work.

This is on 13.3.1a.

 

[totnesfirefly]

I'm having that exact same issue. Mac Studio with three monitors. I turn the computer on in the morning and then have to spend a couple of minutes in Display Settings getting one or more of the external displays to work.

This is on 13.3.1a.

Interesting to know others are seeing the same, thank you. I had the vain hope 13.3.1a would fix it but it stayed the same. The odd thing is that sometimes the monitors start up ok, but more often than not the secondary monitor on/off switching occurs till I noodle with the display settings somehow, and I cannot figure out any logical pattern ... it's extremely annoying. Sometimes it'll even just fix itself after a little bit.

I've tried starting up with one monitor and then switching on the second, sometimes works, sometimes not, and a restart may result in the problem happening ... or not. Random. Really do not have a clue, it has been driving me mad ever since I updated to 13.3.1 from 13.3 I wanted to zap the PRAM etc, but you can't do that on an M1 !

 

[Biffs]

That would be good if we could reproduce it (since it would 100% show that it's an Apple bug) but I'm not seeing it: I just tested Shifting Tiles with 2 and 3 monitors and it works 100% of the time. This is on 13.4 (22F62) - the latest version just released yesterday. Testing on a M1 macbook.

What OS are you running?

I'm using 13.3.1 on a M1 iMac, with a DELL S2124H second monitor. Initiating shifting tiles from a selected folder of artworks (Jackson Pollock .jpgs) it works fine straight away on the Dell, the Mac stays blank and then about 20 seconds later 'No photos" appears.

 

[Hopefully]

This seems to have been resolved with the 13.4 update, I can now see a total of three screens with the Ken Burns screen saver function on 2 different Macs.

 

[Cromulent]

I can confirm this has fixed the issue for me as well.

 

[Eduardot]

3 monitors, Mac mini m1, wavelink adapter for third monitor. Only macOS original screensavers can be seen on all 3 screens, the ones I have bought in the APP store cannot be seen at all, only if I turn off the wavelink software, and return to two monitors. They all used to work before the 13.* updates. Bummer........

 

[Nellius Corp.]

There is a serious bug with screensavers on macOS Ventura 13.3:

If you have two monitors on your mac, when the screensaver starts, the content of the main screen will show on the second screen, and the content of the second screen will be missing completely.

• The bug affects third-party screensavers (such as iScreensaver and Aerial )
• it also affects some (but not all) Apple screensavers: for example, Apple's "Hello" screensaver is not affected, but the "Message" screensaver is affected
• the bug is random, so if you test, be sure to test multiple times -- we are seeing failure rates of between 10% and 90%.
• This has been reported multiple times to Apple (Feedback cases FB12023530 and FB12007471 )

We are seeing it with yesterday's RC release (13.3 22E252) and are worried this will make it into the public release.

Unknowns:

1. does it happen on systems with 3 or more monitors?
2. does it happen on Intel or is it an Apple Silicon bug only?

Cofriming for 3 monitors set up. Apple M1 Max chip

 

[ldjpy]

Hi, for those of you that updated to Ventura 13.4 Final (released a few days ago), do you still encounter multi-monitor screensaver problems/issues ?

 

[jasnw]

No. The screensaver on my two-monitor system (M2Pro Mini) is working OK now.

 

[ldjpy]

No. The screensaver on my two-monitor system (M2Pro Mini) is working OK now.

Thanks, finally some positive news.

 

[wilywagtail]

Glad I found this thread. Thank you everyone for your input. This screensaver issue had me scratching my head.

 

[totnesfirefly]

12.4 also seems to have improved things with the flashing second monitor or swapped screens that I see on my dual monitor Mac Studio setup since the 13.3.1 update.

It's not entirely gone, some flashing on Screen 2 after restart / startup or wake from sleep still happens maybe 10-20% of the time, but it usually seems to stabilise after a few flashes. Very occasionally I need to open display prefs and click the screen arrangement to make it stop.

Still feels to me a bit like some kind of race condition on startup that randomly falls the wrong way.

Edit : also, still starts up with the displays in reversed arrangement sometimes, a restart fixes it, but still a nuisance not present prior to 13.3.1

 

[Biffs]

SO upgraded to 13.4 and all's good - screensaver acts as it should, every time so far....

 

[lankox]

SO upgraded to 13.4 and all's good - screensaver acts as it should, every time so far....

Give it a few days, it still fails periodically.

 

[XMI]

FYI, the multiple screen behavior has regressed quite a bit in the first Sonoma 14.0 beta, see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/multimonitor-screensaver-bug-in-sonoma-14-0-beta.2391727/

 

[nlited]

Hi all!
Still have this issue on Ventura 13.4.1
The setup is MBP 16" M1 Pro with 2 external monitors.
Using the popular flip clock screensaver called Fliqlo — it is partly displayed on 1 of the monitors and others have just black screen.

 

[Cromulent]

I spoke too soon in my previous post. I have macOS 13.4.1, but when I turn my Studio on, one of the external monitors does not turn on until I have spent five minutes playing around with Settings > Displays. It works after that, but it is very frustrating.

 

[totnesfirefly]

I'm still getting the same tedious issue too as reported previously here for 13.13.1 and still present on 13.4.1, though the incidence of failure is perhaps a bit less. When I switch on my my Mac Studio dual monitor set-up, or restart it, one of three things happens :

1. (About half the time) I'm lucky and all is well, main monitor and secondary monitor show up in correct order with correct resolutions
2. (Common) Main monitor comes on, while secondary monitor switches on and off about once per second while intermittently showing in Display Settings for some time till it settles and eventually 'sticks' ... which sometimes may need fiddling with display arrangement to fix.
3. (Less common) Monitor displays are 'swapped', and resolutions are all messed up (too low, huge icons) on main monitor which is acting as secondary, while secondary has become the primary display with Finder. Requires restart.

It's so very random, it still feels like some kind of timing race condition at start-up ... I had no such problem on this setup prior to 13.3.1

 

[Cromulent]

It's so very random, it still feels like some kind of timing race condition at start-up ... I had no such problem on this setup prior to 13.3.1

It is so weird. I wonder what they were trying to do after 13.3.1 that broke everything.

 

[totnesfirefly]

It is so weird. I wonder what they were trying to do after 13.3.1 that broke everything.

Not sure, it was working for me at 13.3 on my brand new system, but all started acting up with my first system update to 13.3.1. Both monitors connected via DisplayPort. Sounds like it was already present with 13.3 though, wish I knew what was going on.