M2 MBA with Apple 30" Cinema Display?

[dickiedunn]

I've seen online people getting the old Apple Cinema Display 30" to work with M1 MBA's, but have yet to see anyone post trying this with an M2 MBA. I recently purchased one and I'm trying to connect my old Apple Cinema Display to my M2 MBA and have not had any success at all. I just get a black screen.

I have the now discontinued Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter and from there I then have tried the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter and two different 3rd party Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapters I bought on Amazon and nothing has worked.

Is it something to do with the M2 chip? I would love to know if this is possible as I'd love to be able to use my 30" Apple Cinema Display with this new M2 MBA.

 

[joevt]

The Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter requires DisplayPort signal input.

Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapters only pass Thunderbolt signals. Thunderbolt 1/2 uses Mini DisplayPort connector, but the signal type is completely different from DisplayPort. The Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapters don't have the chips required to convert DisplayPort data that is tunnelled over Thunderbolt back into DisplayPort.

A Thunderbolt dock (or any Thunderbolt device with a second Thunderbolt port or a DisplayPort output) regardless of Thunderbolt version (Thunderbolt 1 is sufficient for Apple Cinema Display resolution) is required to convert DisplayPort data that is tunnelled over Thunderbolt back into DisplayPort. You may need a DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort adapter if the Thunderbolt dock doesn't have Mini DisplayPort connector.

Or you can skip Thunderbolt altogether and get a USB-C to Mini DisplayPort adapter like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V828R4Q
A USB-C to Mini DisplayPort adapter can also be used with Thunderbolt ports of a Thunderbolt dock. For example, a Thunderbolt 4 dock or hub might not have any DisplayPort outputs but you can get DisplayPort from their Thunderbolt ports.

Or you can get a USB-C to Dual Link DVI adapter, but I think the Apple adapter is better quality.
https://insights.club-3d.com/thread...a-and-apple-cinema-display-30-on-mac-mini-m1/

 

[dickiedunn]

Thanks for your detailed suggestion. I actually did try two different Mini DisplayPort to USB C dongles which I connected to the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter.

JSAUX USB Type C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter 4K@60Hz, C to Mini Display Port Dongle Cable, Compatible with MacBook Pro 2019 2018, Dell XPS, Samsung Galaxy S21 S20 Plus-Grey

JSAUX USB Type C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter 4K@60Hz, C to Mini Display Port Dongle Cable, Compatible with MacBook Pro 2019 2018, Dell XPS, Samsung Galaxy S21 S20 Plus-Grey

www.amazon.com

Amiroko USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter, USB 3.1 Type C to Mini DP Adapter Support 4K, 1080P for MacBook Pro, MacBook 12", Alienware, to LED Cinema Display/Dell Monitor etc, Gray

Amiroko USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter, USB 3.1 Type C to Mini DP Adapter Support 4K, 1080P for MacBook Pro, MacBook 12", Alienware, to LED Cinema Display/Dell Monitor etc, Gray

www.amazon.com

Neither of them worked. I then tried the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter and that didn't work either.

I saw on Craigslist locally an old OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock. It has mini display port on it. I'm thinking maybe that would work, if I then go to through one of these dongles to get to usb c. In either case, I'm still wondering if it has something to do with the M2 MBA as I've seen YouTube videos and threads where people have gotten it to work with an M1 MBA using essentially this setup.

 

[joevt]

Neither of them worked. I then tried the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter and that didn't work either.

I just get a black screen.

Is the USB connector of the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapter connected? Maybe try connecting it to a charger?
Is the display at least detected? If it is, then maybe use SwitchResX to switch to the proper 2560x1600 mode.

I've seen YouTube videos and threads where people have gotten it to work with an M1 MBA using essentially this setup.

I don't think there are any display support differences between M1 and M2.

I saw on Craigslist locally an old OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock. It has mini display port on it. I'm thinking maybe that would work, if I then go to through one of these dongles to get to usb c.

You mean connect the OWC Thunderbolt 2 dock to the Mac using a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter. A USB-C to Mini DisplayPort adapter cannot be used to connect Thunderbolt devices.

 

[dickiedunn]

Yes, if the laptop is plugged into power and the USB connector of the Dual Link DVI adapter is also connected, it will recognize the monitor. And the cursor will even move off of the laptop screen, but the cinema display is totally black. I can't see to get an image. The same thing happens with my 23" Cinema Display.

Yes, you are correct. If I were to try this OWC TB 2 dock, I would need to connect it via a TB3 to 2 adapter.

It's just odd that I can't get an image on the screen. It's just totally black, as if it's not getting a signal

 

[joevt]

It's just odd that I can't get an image on the screen. It's just totally black, as if it's not getting a signal

Use SwitchResX to view the list of resolutions. In the current resolutions tab, double click the currently selected resolution to view the timing info (pixel clock, active pixels, refresh rate). These displays require a specific timing.

Use SwitchResX to get the EDIDs of the displays. Do the EDIDs indicate support for HDCP? Older Cinema displays do not support HDCP. I think the Apple Adapter should work with or without displays that support HDCP? Or maybe not. If your display doesn't support HDCP then maybe get one of the HDCP-OFF adapters from Club-3d.

 

[dickiedunn]

Thanks for your ongoing help. I download SwitchReX and was able to generate an EDID report. My display was made in February 2008. The only reference I found re; HDCP was in the DI-EXt: Digital Interface Extension. DVI Dual Link - High Resolution. It says HDCP is supported. I'm not sure if that is referring to the monitor or the Dual Link mini Display Port adapter. So not quite sure what to do now.

 

[joevt]

It says HDCP is supported

That is for the display.
Since the display supports HDCP, it shouldn't matter what adapter you get.

Anyway, you didn't show the timings that SwitchResX lists in the Current Resolutions tab or the timing info for the 2560x1600 modes (pixel clock, active pixels, vertical and horizontal blanking numbers, refresh rates)

You're not using any USB-C docks? DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapters usually require 4 lanes of HBR DisplayPort connection to do 2560x1600. They won't get 2560x1600 with a 2 lane HBR2 connection from a USB-C dock that supports USB 3.x. A Thunderbolt dock, on the other hand, won't have that limitation.

 

[dickiedunn]

No, I'm not using a USB-C Dock. I'm going from the cinema display to the dual link dvi adapter to the mini display port to the adapter to my MBA. Here is the timing info. Does this tell us anything interesting?

Descriptor #1 - Timing definition:
Mode = 2560 x 1600 @ 59.860Hz
Pixel Clock............. 268.00 MHz Not Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active.................. 2560 pixels 1600 lines
Front Porch............. 48 pixels 3 lines
Sync Width.............. 32 pixels 6 lines
Back Porch.............. 80 pixels 37 lines
Blanking................ 160 pixels 46 lines
Total................... 2720 pixels 1646 lines
Scan Rate............... 98.529 kHz 59.860 Hz
Image Size.............. 641 mm 401 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines

Sync: Digital separate with
* Negative vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

 

[joevt]

No, I'm not using a USB-C Dock. I'm going from the cinema display to the dual link dvi adapter to the mini display port to the adapter to my MBA. Here is the timing info. Does this tell us anything interesting?

Descriptor #1 - Timing definition:
Mode = 2560 x 1600 @ 59.860Hz
Pixel Clock............. 268.00 MHz Not Interlaced

Horizontal Vertical
Active.................. 2560 pixels 1600 lines
Front Porch............. 48 pixels 3 lines
Sync Width.............. 32 pixels 6 lines
Back Porch.............. 80 pixels 37 lines
Blanking................ 160 pixels 46 lines
Total................... 2720 pixels 1646 lines
Scan Rate............... 98.529 kHz 59.860 Hz
Image Size.............. 641 mm 401 mm
Border.................. 0 pixels 0 lines

Sync: Digital separate with
* Negative vertical polarity
* Positive horizontal polarity

That's the timing info in the EDID. Does it match the timing info in one of the modes that SwitchResX shows?

 

[dickiedunn]

It seems to match. I'm not sure what I'm looking at though and I don't see a way to change it.

 

[joevt]

It seems to match. I'm not sure what I'm looking at though and I don't see a way to change it.

That looks fine. Did you try the 1280x800 unscaled mode? The one under the selected 1280x800 HiDPI mode.
Otherwise, there's not much else to do.
You could try unplugging the Mac and power it off before trying again.
Or connect the adapter to a dock.
Or get a different adapter.

 

[dickiedunn]

Thank you again for all of your attempts to solve this. No, I wasn't able to try the 1200x800 unscaled mode as for some reason it keeps defaulting to the cinema display as the main display, so I can't see any dialog boxes. Very frustrating. I also will never use 1200x800, so I'm not sure what that would do for me. I've tried two separate mini displayport to TB3 adapters and neither worked. I'm going to assume this just doesn't work. I'm out of ideas.

I did find a cheap OWC TB2 dock with mini display input on Craigslist that I will try this weekend. Perhaps that will be the magic fix. This has been frustrating as I thought it would work.

Thanks again for all your efforts! They are very much appreciated.

 

[joevt]

I've tried two separate mini displayport to TB3 adapters and neither worked.

You mean USB-C to Mini DisplayPort? There's no Thunderbolt involved with such adapters, unless you're talking about Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapters, in which case there's no DisplayPort involved.

A USB-C to Mini DisplayPort will pass DisplayPort signals which the Thunderbolt ports of the M2 MBA supports.

A Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter will pass Thunderbolt signals to a Thunderbolt device up to 20 Gbps.

The Thunderbolt device (any version) can extract a tunnelled DisplayPort stream from the Thunderbolt signal and output a DisplayPort signal.

I did find a cheap OWC TB2 dock with mini display input on Craigslist that I will try this weekend. Perhaps that will be the magic fix.

That might work. 50% chance. It should have worked from the M2 Thunderbolt port directly but maybe it has issues that a Thunderbolt dock might solve, since a Thunderbolt dock won't be using the same Thunderbolt controller as the M2 Mac.

No, I wasn't able to try the 1200x800 unscaled mode as for some reason it keeps defaulting to the cinema display as the main display, so I can't see any dialog boxes.

If you have another Mac, then use screen sharing to control the M2 MBA while playing with display adapters in case the display adapter doesn't like a display mode.

I also will never use 1200x800, so I'm not sure what that would do for me.

The point is to see if the adapter can pass a signal even if it's not the one you want. 1280x800 uses single link DVI. If it works then maybe you have a dual link DVI problem.

 

[dickiedunn]

Ok, so I bought this OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock off of Craigslist on a whim and tried it out. It works! I used the Dual Link to mini Display Port adapter I had, and fed that into the Thunderbolt 2 input on the OWC Dock. From there I used the included TB2 cable to an Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter and into the M2 MBA. The only thing I noticed is the Cinema Display is not as bright as when it's hooked up to my Mac Pro. I don't think I can control the brightness from the MBA, so I just did it manually on the side of the Cinema Display. I'm not sure what that is about, but it does seem to work.

 

[joevt]

Ok, so I bought this OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock off of Craigslist on a whim and tried it out. It works! I used the Dual Link to mini Display Port adapter I had, and fed that into the Thunderbolt 2 input on the OWC Dock. From there I used the included TB2 cable to an Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter and into the M2 MBA. The only thing I noticed is the Cinema Display is not as bright as when it's hooked up to my Mac Pro. I don't think I can control the brightness from the MBA, so I just did it manually on the side of the Cinema Display. I'm not sure what that is about, but it does seem to work.

If the USB of the Apple 30" Cinema HD Display is connected then brightness control should work from the keyboard (at least with an Intel Mac) or from the Displays preferences panel.
Since the display is connected to a MackBook Air which has its own display, then you may need to use different keys. Maybe Control-F1, Control-F2, or F14/F15 (if they exist).

 

[EugW]

If the USB of the Apple 30" Cinema HD Display is connected then brightness control should work from the keyboard (at least with an Intel Mac) or from the Displays preferences panel.
Since the display is connected to a MackBook Air which has its own display, then you may need to use different keys. Maybe Control-F1, Control-F2, or F14/F15 (if they exist).

To add to that, on my Intel Mac mini, I found that sometimes keyboard control in Monterey doesn’t always work properly if the Apple Display’s USB connection is thru a USB hub. It always works fine directly connected to the Mac.

 

[joevt]

To add to that, on my Intel Mac mini, I found that sometimes keyboard control in Monterey doesn’t always work properly if the Apple Display’s USB connection is thru a USB hub. It always works fine directly connected to the Mac.

Hub connection seems to work fine with my 30" Cinema Display, Monterey 12.4, Mac Pro 2008. The USB connection has been acting up recently so I've been leaving it disconnected. But I connected it now and the keyboard brightness controls are working. The hub is USB 2.0.

 

[sweettango]

Thanks so much for all this info! May I ask confirm which OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock worked for you? Is it part number OWCTB2DOCK12P ?

I too am struggling to get my M2 MBA to power my beloved 30" Apple Cinema Display. I also have the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter. I have tried the Hyper ULTIMATE 11-in-1 USB-C Hub, which has miniDisplayPort.

I can get a signal intermittently only at 1280 x 768 resolution. 2560 x 1600 does not appear as an option in System Preferences. Show all resolutions box is ticked. I have also tried using the Apps BetterDisplay and SwitchResX to add 2560x1600 as a custom resolution. So far unsuccessful.

Also curious if anyone has had success using the Club 3D dual-link DVI to USB-C adapter.

 

[dickiedunn]

Thanks so much for all this info! May I ask confirm which OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock worked for you? Is it part number OWCTB2DOCK12P ?

I too am struggling to get my M2 MBA to power my beloved 30" Apple Cinema Display. I also have the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter. I have tried the Hyper ULTIMATE 11-in-1 USB-C Hub, which has miniDisplayPort.

I can get a signal intermittently only at 1280 x 768 resolution. 2560 x 1600 does not appear as an option in System Preferences. Show all resolutions box is ticked. I have also tried using the Apps BetterDisplay and SwitchResX to add 2560x1600 as a custom resolution. So far unsuccessful.

Also curious if anyone has had success using the Club 3D dual-link DVI to USB-C adapter.

Correct, the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock that I found on Craigslist is P/N: OWCTB2DOCK12P. It works very well and I highly recommend it if you can find one. The only issue is I haven't figured out how to adjust the brightness via the Apple bluetooth keyboard. I have to adjust it manually on the side of the monitor. If anyone has any thoughts on how to do that, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[rsamms]

I connected a Mac mini to my ACD 30" using this adapter

Worked fine.

 

[chouki]

I connected a Mac mini to my ACD 30" using this adapter
View attachment 2112548
Worked fine.

Same here with M1Max MBP, this Club 3D adapter works fine

 

[sweettango]

Thanks for sharing! I picked one up and am happy to report that the club3D adapter is working to power my 30" ACD from my M2 MacBook Air as well. I'm able to adjust brightness using the keyboard too.

 

[EugW]

Correct, the OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock that I found on Craigslist is P/N: OWCTB2DOCK12P. It works very well and I highly recommend it if you can find one. The only issue is I haven't figured out how to adjust the brightness via the Apple bluetooth keyboard. I have to adjust it manually on the side of the monitor. If anyone has any thoughts on how to do that, please let me know. Thanks.

Have you tried installing MonitorControl.app?

I connected a Mac mini to my ACD 30" using this adapter
View attachment 2112548
Worked fine.

Everyone is getting this model with HDCP off but note that many people don't need it. If your 30” ACD is a later model with HDCP support, you may actually be better off getting the cheaper Club3D one with HDCP on.

Mine is a later model (2007 IIRC) which supports HDCP, so I got an HDCP-on CableCreation adapter (which looks identical to the Club3D one), and that works. The benefit of course is full HDCP support, with full 1080p support for Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, etc.

You can tell the date of manufacture from the serial number, but if you plug in the USB plug from the monitor and look under the USB section of System Report, you can also check the monitor's Product ID. Mine is 0x9221, which AFAIK corresponds to the HDCP-compatible model.

 

[joevt]

Mine is 0x9221, which AFAIK corresponds to the HDCP-compatible model.

Right,
9221 is the newer 30" that can use HDCP ON.
9232 is the older 30" that requires HDCP OFF.
HDCP support is indicated in the EDID of the displays.