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Latest MacOS update causing monitor and controller issues

Chuong Nguyen
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Mac owners updating to the latest version of Apple’s operating system are experiencing problems with connectivity to select peripherals, including game controls, displays, and graphics cards housed inside eGPUs.

The problems stem from updates to the latest version of Apple’s MacOS 12.3, with people turning to various blogs, forums, and Reddit to report these issues. Apple has not acknowledged or addressed these complaints, and it’s unknown how widespread these problems are among MacOS 12.3 users.

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A detailed Reddit post that’s been active for at least the last nine days at the time of this writing suggests that the game controller issue is affecting controllers from multiple manufacturers. People on Reddit have reported that Xbox, PlayStation, and third-party controllers are not recognized by MacOS 12.3.

And given that one person is having issues with Bluetooth headphones that seemingly work well with their iPhone and iPad, the user speculated that Apple’s issue may be due to an overly aggressive Bluetooth power management flaw to conserve battery life. That information has not been onfirmed.

Some people who have had controller issues have tried various diagnostic and troubleshooting steps, and many have reported that none of these attempts have remedied the problem. Apple’s developer support thread revealed that once the issue appears, it continues to persist despite deleting the controller from their Bluetooth devices and re-adding these devices.

Another flaw with macOS 12.3 that Apple needs to address is support for external displays. Some people who have updated to the latest Monterey build have reported that some displays do not work, and the issue is affecting Mac owners who connect to single and multiple displays. According to MacRumors, this issue affects USB-C, HDMI, and DisplayPort monitors.

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Some people who rely on the DisplayPort standard to connect their monitors may want to check to see what version of DisplayPort is being used if they find that macOS is not recognizing their external screen. In a workaround, someone found success with getting their Mac device to recognize their monitor by lowering the DisplayPort version from 1.4 to 1.2.

Fortunately, unlike the controller issue, there are some workarounds for those affected by the display bug, including unplugging the monitor from power, reconnecting the display, and then plugging the display back into power, according to Mac Rumors.

Another issue that’s affecting both Mac gamers and creatives is macOS 12.3’s inability to recognize graphics cards both connected to eGPUs and housed internally in PCI-e slots. This means that the issue also affects Mac Pro owners with internal GPUs.

According to AppleInsider, the problem has appeared throughout various stages of Apple’s beta testing of the operating system, and some people noted that graphics performance declined by as much as 94%. Since M1-powered Macs do not have discrete graphics, this issue only affects Intel-powered Macs with discrete AMD-powered graphics.

Given the recently revealed instabilities, it is advised that Mac owners who have not made the jump to version 12.3 of Apple’s operating system continue to hold off until Apple releases an update that addresses these flaws. Creatives especially should not update at this time given that the display and GPU problems could have an adverse impact on their workflow.

These latest Mac flaws add to a previously reported and serious bug that hasaffected Apple’s macOS 12.3 since it became available for public download. We had reported that this bug had bricked Macs or caused an endless reboot loop for systems, in particular notebooks, that have had their logic boards previously replaced.

If you have experienced a bug since updating to macOS 12.3, you may want to let Apple know by visiting the company’s support site.

Even though the Monterey’s latest build appears to be laden with bugs, it also delivers some important new features, including Universal Control, head tracking for spatial audio support, the addition of new emoji, and more.

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