macOS Catalina 10.15.4 - MacBook Pro Retina, mid 2015 - dual screen bug

Question

Since updating to Catalina two months ago I have had this problem: My MacBook Pro HDMI output is attached to a NEC monitor. Every time I log in on my standard account the monitors are mirrored and Catalina only recognizes the MBP screen. There is no way to turn off mirroring or select the second screen-it doesn't show in system preferences, which only detects the MBP retina screen.

****About this Mac****
  Chipset Model:    Intel Iris Pro
  Type: GPU
  Bus:  Built-In
  VRAM (Dynamic, Max):  1536 MB
  Vendor:   Intel
  Device ID:    0x0d26
  Revision ID:  0x0008
  Metal:    Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily1 v4
  Displays:
Color LCD:
  Display Type: Built-In Retina LCD
  Resolution:   2880 x 1800 Retina
  Framebuffer Depth:    24-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Mirror:   Off
  Online:   Yes
  Automatically Adjust Brightness:  No
  Connection Type:  Internal
**P221W:NEC Monitor ---**
  Resolution:   1680 x 1050 (Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array Plus)
  UI Looks like:    1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
  Framebuffer Depth:    24-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Display Serial Number:    07104621NA  
  Main Display: Yes
  Mirror:   Off
  Online:   Yes
  Rotation: Supported
  Automatically Adjust Brightness:  No

The problem didn't exist before the Catalina upgrade.

Answer 1

I don’t recommend HDMI for any sort of compute type of environment. It’s a consumer electronics video technology and very flaky (IMO). My recommendation for connecting your monitor to your MacBook is as follows:

• DisplayPort to DVI (Active Adapter)
• HDMI to DVI (Active Adapter)

The reason I recommend active adapters is because DVI and even the analog VGA signals have very different signaling from HDMI. Most of the time, the issue is a missing clock sync. The passive adapters can’t recreate this signal where the active ones can.

Many times, you’ll see the same setup in Windows (even on Bootcamp!) work without a problem. Windows drivers have a wider “tolerance” for these idiosyncrasies where as Apple doesn’t. The active adapters fix that problem.

Answer 2

Besides trying the normal stuff like Resetting NVRAM and SMC, you might want to double check your Energy Saver settings and make sure "Automatic graphics switching" is enabled.

If you still have trouble, check under the About This Mac--> System Report--> Graphics/Displays. Then take a picture of that and send it over. I'm curious if your MacBook Pro is having trouble with the AMD Radeon card or the drivers that support it.