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I have a late 2013 Mac Pro (the desktop tower! not a MacBook) running on Monterey. I can successfully connect two monitors but if I add a third monitor then one of the first two disappears. I am connecting them all with the Thunderbolt cables and have tried various tricks so far:

  • Switching around the ports where the cables are plugged in
  • Switching one of the thunderbolt cables to HDMI
  • Restarting, unplugging, reconnecting
  • Detect displays under Display preferences

Please any help would be gratefully appreciated. The monitors are all Lenovo L24e-30; I’m starting to wonder if these are just not compatible with Mac.

Tried the same setup with a previous Mac Mini and also couldn’t get that to work.

agarza
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Kai
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  • What resolution are the displays? – Tetsujin Dec 21 '22 at 16:34
  • All 1080p, exact monitor is Lenovo L24e-30 – Kai Dec 21 '22 at 16:40
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    Hmm… OK, then it ought to 'just work'. You only need the 2xTB 1xHDMI trick for 5k displays. – Tetsujin Dec 21 '22 at 16:43
  • Could it be the cables I am using? Have the Amazon Basics ones – Kai Dec 21 '22 at 16:44
  • 1080p screens should work with anything, they're not 'high tech'. I wouldn't really like to guess, tbh, I don't want to have you spend money that might not fix it. – Tetsujin Dec 21 '22 at 16:46
  • https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0134V29UA?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title – Kai Dec 21 '22 at 16:46
  • Have linked the exact cables I got - still within the returns period so I could try a different brand etc if this could be the issue – Kai Dec 21 '22 at 16:47
  • Ah, they're DP to HDMI not thunderbolt cables. That might change the game but I'm not good enough on video specs [& that particular Mac Pro GPU] to be certain. – Tetsujin Dec 21 '22 at 16:51
  • https://www.amazon.co.uk/QGECEN-Thunderbolt-Displayport-Microsoft-Supports-Black/dp/B08HYM3155/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=2GIG73PW3IWMC&keywords=thunderbolt+to+hdmi&qid=1671641687&sprefix=thunderbolt+to+%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-5 – Kai Dec 21 '22 at 16:56
  • Is this a thunderbolt cable? Not sure what I should be looking for other than just the description calling it TB. Thanks so much for all your help btw – Kai Dec 21 '22 at 16:56
  • Neither Apple spec - https://support.apple.com/kb/SP697?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US - nor Everymac - https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/specs/mac-pro-eight-core-3.0-xeon-e5-gray-black-cylinder-late-2013-specs.html - gives actual cable requirements & I don't have enough experience with TB->[any]. All my old Macs are still on DVI or DP-DP, no adaptors. – Tetsujin Dec 21 '22 at 17:00
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    Ahhh…converting from mDP to HDMI. The cables you linked are not TB; they are DisplayPort to HDMI and unfortunately, they are passive. You need an active adapter. TB cables are at least 3x the price. Also, the proper DP to HDMI adapter will be about 2x the price of those cables. – Allan Dec 21 '22 at 17:49
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    Just to update - I ordered new active connector cables and now works perfectly as expected. Big thank you to Tetsujin and @Allan for solving this – Kai Dec 23 '22 at 15:36
  • Glad you got it sorted! – Allan Dec 23 '22 at 16:29
  • \o/ Glad it got you fixed [sorry, been away for xmas] – Tetsujin Dec 31 '22 at 15:26

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