Connect Spark to Apple Studio Display

Accelerated Computing DGX Spark / GB10 User Forum DGX Spark / GB10
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I can’t figure out how to connect my Spark to my apple studio display monitor. I believe I have to convert from the Spark HDMI to Apple Thunderbolt monitor port since the back of the apple studio display monitor only has thunderbolt. No idea what I’m doing here. Any help would really be appreciated.

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I have ordered a KVM switch (amazon) that takes HDMI in / usbC out but have not tried it on my Apple Studio yet. I hope to be able to switch between the Sparc and the Apple Pro Max to the single display.

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Thank you for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate it.

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Try going from Spark USB-C to Apple Thunderbolt input with a cable that has male USB-C on both ends

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I can confirm the Spark works with the Apple Pro Display XDR, but not sure about the Studio Display since it has an integrated camera.

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Good news! The official Apple thunderbolt 5 cable got it done for me. It works! I also tested on a Dell monitor and it works there as well via Thunderbolt connection.

BAD NEWS UPDATE: Well, I don’t know. I spoke too soon during boot up. I start to see the green NVIDIA logo or whatever and then it’s done and over with. Not for sure why, but it’s clearly not working. I do have the the apple studio display with the camera.

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Hi Folks,

We are aware of this issue with the Apple Studio Display and have worked on an upstream fix to Mutter to resolve the issue.

Thanks,

Rahul Rameshbabu

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For Passive USBC Cable, I think only 0.5 meter MFI (Apple Certified) cable work with TBT 4 and 5.
Was the official Apple thunderbolt 5 cable 0.5 meter passive or Apple Active USBC cable?

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Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. Here is the link to the cable I purchased. Amazon.com: Apple Thunderbolt 5 (USB‑C) Pro Cable (1m) ​​​​​​​ : Electronics

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I faced similar issue.. First time after booted, connected to Ethernet and then I connected to hotspot and on iPhone, created account and updated it. I tried connecting Apple Studio Display and it did display Updates till 50% and then blank screen. I rebooted and then Nvidia Logo and spinning icon .. and few seconds later blank screen.. I thought my OS is corrupted. (BTW connected DGX to Apple Display using Thunderbolt cable that came with it)
I picked my old Dell Monitor and connected with HDMI <> HDMI and it basically worked and I could see login screen.. I logged in and it worked. With Apple Display same blank Screen
I then installed NoMachine (remote desktop) on both Macbook and DGX .. and I was able to remote into it. I then connected to Macbook and DGX with Apple Studio Display connected via USB-C to USB-C thunderbolt connection… I somehow was able to view Screen on Macbook.. but it was very high resolution. I then changed screen resolution to 1920x1080 (16:9) and viola .. I was able to view Screen on Apple Display. !!
Having said that Apple display doesn’t always show screen, sometime I needed to unplug USB-C from DGX and re-plug to see display on Apple Studio.
May be some firmware update on the way, that resolves this issue..

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The blackscreen is due to the fact that the Apple Studio Display is a USB4 tiled monitor, DGX Spark does not support USB4, and Mutter has a bug where if pieces of tiled monitor are missing, the tiled mode is still used instead of the non-tiled mode, which leads to the black screen seen.

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@rrameshbabu Rahul, I am able to connect to Apple Display with USBC thunderbolt cable, but sometimes screen goes blank and doesn’t come back with keyboard/mouse movement. I need to take out USB-c cable and reinsert it, it then comes back. What is reliable solution for DGX to work with Apple Display ? Is something be available through software update ? Or any display driver I need to download/install ?

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received my Spark today and ran into a problem — I’m using an Apple Studio Display (the 5K one with the camera), and it doesn’t work with the OS over Type-C: the screen goes black. I waited for the setup hotspot to appear, but it never did. At first, I thought the device was bricked, so I reflashed it. But then I started to suspect that the issue occurs after the OS installation — during startup. The monitor worked in BIOS and also during the OS installation, but now, right after the NVIDIA logo, the screen goes dark and that’s it. It would really help if the device had some indicators or status lights to show whether it’s actually running.

Is there a way to connect via SSH over a LAN cable? The OS probably still boots — is there any way to verify that? Would buying an HDMI adapter help? I’d really prefer not to buy a separate display just for setup, and I’d like to know as soon as possible if my unit might be defective.

Thank you very much — I’d really appreciate any advice, since I’m almost out of ideas.

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@propellerheadvij there are some onboarding scripts in /opt/nvidia/dgx-oobe/ and functions.sh has this snippet:

  10   │
  11   │ FIXED_IP="10.92.7.127"
  12   │ DHCP_START="10.92.7.128"
  13   │ DHCP_END="10.92.7.200"

so your Spark could be reached at 10.92.7.127 during the hotspot phase.

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Unfortunately, my Spark didn’t start the hotspot (I though it was bricked and reinstalled the firmware)

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Few Pointers :

  1. If you already setup Wifi, then Hotspot won’t be enabled/available.
  2. Try connecting Ethernet connection or if wifi is available, check router what IP address you got. Try SSH into it.
  3. I was able to connect to DGX using NVIDIA Sync and Remote Desktop (Nomachine arm64)
  4. If nothing works, visit your friend who has old HDMI cable Monitor, that will allow you to interface with UI.
  5. If you are able to get in then Logout and change the Display type.. For me X11 worked with Apple Display. Right now running KUBUNTU that works fine with Apple Display.
  6. HDMI Cables are uni-direction and only available USB-C (Source) and HDMI (Target), not the other way that we need. Although found one cable on Amazon, that will arrive tomorrow.. will test it out.
  7. Best will be either take your Apple Display to your friend’s place or bring their monitor at home.. to test all these things. Ultimately you may want it to work with Apple Display.
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Good News ! Following cable worked with Apple Studio Display : (Just to verify, I re-imaged my DGX using Recovery Steps by Nvidia, it worked without changing any settings)

“BENFEI HDMI to USB C Cable 6 feet 4K@60Hz, Unidirectional HDMI (Source) to USB-C (Display) Adapter for MacBook, Steam Deck, PS5/4, Nintendo Switch, AR/XR, Portable Monitors”

Keep in mind that it is very rare to find HDMI to USB-C cables, few HDMI to USB-C adapters are found but haven’t bought/checked any of those. So when you select check for HDMI to USB-C and make sure that it is HDMI port and not Display port (I made mistake and wrongly had ordered this)

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Not sure what the refresh rate is on Apple Studio Display’s.

But I found out the GB10 has a limitation on resolution and refresh rate.

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Hi, it looks like some changes were made– is this fix ready to roll out?

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We are working with Canonical to backport the change.