This happens occasionally, but doesn’t seem to have any sort of repeatable reason or schedule as to why or when it happens.
My Mac is connected to 2x Spectrum 4K glossy’s via USB-4 cables, and I then have various SSDs connected to the Spectrums (3 total).
From time to time I come back to my desk after being away from it for a break (or it also happens sometimes when I disconnect the Mac from the desk and work from the couch, for example) my screen gets totally filled with these notifications about a disk not being ejected properly.
Usually there are somewhere between 30-50 of the pop-ups (either for the same SSD, or sometimes for 2 or even all 3 of them), which takes a considerable time to clear from the side of my screen one-by-one.
It’s REALLY annoying. Before Spectrum I used a USB-C dock from HP, and I never experienced this issue on that dock.
What, if any, troubleshooting have you already tried? I have not seen this error with Spectrum, though from what I have read on it seems a few things could be causing it.
Errors in the OS (not sure if you have recently updated your macOS)
Defective USB ports or Thunderbolt port on the mac
Failing external drive cable
Problems in the removable hard drive
A couple of suggestions I found to assist with this error can be found here and here
Not sure about this being a Spectrum issue though I will ask the team about it and see if I can get more information for you!
Thank you very much Aethel for such a quick response, I will do some more digging on the links you have provided - I suspect as some other posters on this forum have mentioned, it may be due to the OS-level ‘power nap’ feature.
I’m not saying it’s a flaw with Spectrum, but rather wanted to see if any other users on here have experienced this issue. It could be SSD-related, but all 3x SSDs are different models, so that is highly unlikely. The most likely culprit (I am assuming) is probably the OS - but I didn’t have this issue on an old USB-C HP Universal Dock.
Okay so to provide more information on this is just simply the result of disconnecting an external USB storage device without “ejecting” it first.
This is an expected behavior when the monitor switches USB Hub host devices (manually changing USB input or having it automatically change along when changing video inputs). We do not recommend changing inputs when external storage devices are connected through the built in hub, and it is not a defect: it would happen with any USB switch device. So if this did not happen oh the dock from HP that would be an unexpected behavior.
Though…
If this popped up without disconnecting a drive and without changing USB input on spectrum then there may be an issue that is causing the connection to be lost that we are unaware of.
As @nkyadav states in the thread, there is a bug in the Dough spectrum USB hub which means it removes power from connected devices when it shouldn’t, which could result in data loss. Dough have stated that they cannot fix this bug with a firmware update.
I was about to jump in with this exact information
The USB hub is known for resetting multiple times when the Spectrum comes out of sleep. My keyboard backlights will initially come on, and will then turn off and on at least 2 times while the Spectrum wakes up.
Until this issue gets fixed (if it ever gets fixed), it’s best not to plug storage devices into the Spectrum’s USB hub. Things like keyboard and mice are fine, but nothing where a sudden disconnection could cause problems.
Yeah so I only ever have one device connected to each Spectrum; the M1 Max MacBook Pro 16". I never change the source; it’s permanently set to the USB-C option on both monitors. The pop-ups happen even when I leave all drives connected to the monitors; and leave both monitors connected to the laptop. In other words, I’ll leave my desk for lunch, come back, and find those 30+ pop-ups - when I haven’t touched anything - just put the Mac into ‘sleep’ or screensaver mode.
Ordered 12th April 2022. Arrived mid August 2022. Absolutely love them, aside from some issues I have when editingIt was suggested that it could be an OS-related issue on one of my other threads, but it can’t be OS, because it only happens on one of the 2 Spectrums.
Hope you receive yours soon, they were worth the wait for me as a filmmaker - you just don’t even get close to these colours with matte displays.
What do they mean, can’t fix it with a firmware update? If that’s the case, either they need to be replaced, or I’ll need to return these back to Dough and go with Apple Studio Displays (I would really rather not do that…). One of the MAJOR selling points for me of the Spectrum was the high-speed IO on the monitor - I use the ports exclusively for external media; but if there’s a chance this could be genuinely harming my drives, we need either a solution from Dough, as a fw update, or a replacement (non-defective) product that won’t damage our storage peripherals.
Also a bit unbelievable that earlier in this thread, it was suggested by Dough that my HP dock was faulty for not behaving this way - it was perfectly fine, and didn’t cut power to external media, like these Spectrums do!
There’s apparently something to do with the design of the circuit board, where certain things happening on one chip trigger a reset of another chip.
I think the situation has got worse with firmware updates - I seem to recall it only resetting once with earlier firmware versions, and now it resets multiple times. But that’s a very hazy recollection and it could be wrong.
You’ll need to check the purchase terms and conditions around whether you can return your monitors. I know that there’s a “trial period” built in, where you can return your Spectrum within a certain period. However, you will need to pay shipping for this and a restocking fee, so you will lose money. I also believe that the terms state that Hong Kong law is applicable, so taking further action could be difficult.
All that being said, I completely empathize with you here. The Spectrum has a bunch of unique “quirks” (e.g. super slow wake-up, resetting USB connections on wake, completely disconnecting inactive connections, inability to show on-screen controls unless there’s a video signal) to nobody ever expects to be an issue, because no other monitor has those issues. Never mind the non-technical issues around delivery and support. It’s not a great customer experience.
Agree. If you like me use this device daily for productivity and gaming and switch between host PCs frequently you’re in hell. When a host goes to sleep, 80% it won’t wake up. USB resets when it powers on. Sometimes during the process it gets completely stuck and I have to power cycle. Almost daily.
Not to mention having to disable GSYNC in order not to get blanking while gaming.
All on latest firmwares (107).
Forgetting about the shipping (7+ months in my case), this feels like a product which was badly engineered and badly QA’d but decided to be released anyway.
How could they ship a product RIDDLED with bugs for the most basic things which no other monitors have?
This is an issue that Eve has known about for over a year. This is what I raised back in March:
Eve never responded. In fact, if you read the post from @nkyadav that I quoted above, he seemed to be somewhat angry that customers are asking for a working hub:
When the glossy was announced, I asked whether they would fix the issue in that model. Again, no response. In fact, I think they even deleted my post.
It seems that Dough would prefer to hide the issue rather than try to fix it. You can ask, but no doubt you’ll receive the usual response of “We may fix it in the future” which they say for practically everything …
Unbelievable. I would have expected this to be part of QC as @NZgeek mentioned above. Finding out once the product is on my desk that it will cut power to SSDs 6-7 times during wake-from-sleep is just absurd.
Just kicking myself for not sticking with Apple hardware through and through. Just a shame the Studio Display was so, so, mediocre (and overpriced).
Looking like I now need to pick up a TB dock to get the same high speeds for my SSDs, without cutting power to them. To be honest, it makes the built in dock kinda worthless.
Let this thread be a warning to any future buyers of this product who, like me, are relying on using the advertised built-in dock for power-sensitive devices like storage drives.
(and overpriced).