Chosen Solution
I have a MacBook Pro 13" Late 2013 I’ve been using my system more as a desktop for a while now. I’ve been experiencing this weird issue: When I connect a miniDP monitor and I have at least one USB device connected, the system just freezes for a second every couple of minutes. If I use HDMI everything is fine, but I would prefer to use miniDP because it’s on the right side. Has anyone experienced this issue? Is there a fix for it?
This sounds like the Thunderbolt port is overheating! Let’s see if we can get some deeper diagnostics. Restart your system just after this has started to happen and press the D key to enter into the onboard diagnostics. Let us know of any errors. Reference: Mac startup key combinations If that doesn’t give us anything we’ll need to try to capture things using a good thermal monitoring app like TG Pro. Here you’ll need the full version as you want the logging function. Once installed run your system for a while using the HDMI port (give it a full day). Then on the next day run your system via the mDP connection. Post the logic output here as well as a snapshot of the main screen at the point you get the error (make sure you capture all of the sensors as some will be hidden needing to scroll up to expose). Update (02/28/2021) Here’s the difference between DP and mDP cables
And here is what a Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt2 cable looks like
They are mechanically the same! They use a different set of pins for DP Vs TB signaling.
