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2013 Mac Pro: Video Glitches Gone for 3 Days Now, After PRAM and SMC Reset

See post from three days ago: 2013 Mac Pro: Video Card Going Bad? Display Signal Problems with Crackling Sound, Reader Confirmation.

Well, I’ll be darned. Resetting PRAM (cmd-option-P-R at boot) and the SMC controller (unplug line power for 15 seconds) seems to have done the trick: no glitches for 3 days now.

So I decided to go for broke: I added the NEC EA244UHD 4K UltraHD as a 3rd display. At first I had all kinds of glitchy problems, with the display losing signal constantly—unworkable.

Then I realized that that the NEC EA244UHD was on the same Thunderbolt bus as the NEC PA302W. Once I made sure that all three displays were each on a separate Thunderbolt bus, the glitches went away (see 2013 Mac Pro: Thunderbolt Performance Tips for a diagram of the busses; scroll to page bottom).

Because I did not want to use 3 of 6 Thunderbolt ports on the Mac Pro, the PA302W and PA322UHD were plugged in directly to the Mac Pro, but the EA244UHD was daisy-chained off a Thunderbay 4. Coming out of sleep, the EA244UHD sometimes does not receive a signal, and I have to unplug/replug the cable into the Thunderbay, and then it comes back.

But with that proviso, 3 displays are looking good.

At least one reader cannot get even two displays to work properly, so maybe PRAM and SMC are not a surefire cure. Or there is some other factor. Or maybe it’s one of those weird unexplainable Bermuda Triangle things. Time will tell.

Pushing the limits of displays on 2013 Mac Pro

 

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