How do I get my Macbook Pro to detect an external display?

Hi there.
I just bought a new MacBook Pro today.
Everything about it is wonderful, except:  When I plug an external display into the Thunderbolt port using a Minidisplay port to VGA adapter, it doesn't send a signal to the external monitor.  The screen on my Macbook will go blue for a second, and then the windows freeze.  The mouse will be movable for a bit (up to a minute), but nothing is clickable.  Strangely, it seems as though it's functioning as if there were a second monitor (I can move the mouse off-screen as though it's going over to another display).  But then the spinning rainbow wheel starts and never stops.  If I unplug the Minidisplay port to VGA adapter, the Macbook will snap back into professional mode and everything works again.
If I try to boot the computer up with the Minidisplay port to VGA adapter already pluged in, it simply won't boot up (I get a gray screen with an apple and nothing more).
I tried using gfxCardStatus set to "discreet only" and I still have this problem.  I tried to run a firmware update, but my comp seems to be entirely up-to-date already (just set it up today).
The monitor and adapter seem to be working fine, and function as an external display when pluged into the Mini-DVI port on my 2009 Macbook running Snow Leopard.
I guess my question is, what's causing this?  Is this an adapter problem?  Like, do I need a special adapter to use with a Thunderbolt port as opposed to the one I'm using which works when pluged into a Mini-DVI port?
Model Name: MacBook Pro
  Model Identifier: MacBookPro9,2
  Processor Name: Intel Core i7
  Processor Speed: 2.9 GHz
  Number of Processors: 1
  Total Number of Cores: 2
  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
  L3 Cache: 4 MB
  Memory: 8 GB
  Boot ROM Version: MBP91.00D3.B08

The only thing that I can suggest is trying a different adapter - such as this one from Monoprice.
I don't know if that's the root of your problem, though. Does the external monitor have DVI? You could get a Thunderbolt to DVI adapter from Monoprice - here - and give that a shot.
Clinton

Similar Messages

  • Since upgrading to yosemite my MacBook Pro want detect my external display

    Since upgrading to yosemite my macbook pro won't detect my external display ?

    Here's an Apple Discussions thread that might help. It suggests using Disk Utility to repair permissions to fix the following issue, which I just found on my system:
    User differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; user is 244.
    Group differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; group is 244.
    If Repair Permissions doesn't do the trick (because it doesn't stick across sleep and restarts), helpful user "lplacencia" has provided some Terminal commands to patch up the files as needed. With any luck a 10.10.1 update will address this soon!
    I haven't had a chance to test this fix yet, but I will do so later tonight. Meanwhile I can report that booting up in Safe Mode didn't make any difference for me. My system includes MacPorts (which includes some running services) so I might need to eliminate that factor, if Disk Utility doesn't help.
    A total clean install would have to be my next step. (And I might try that anyway just to see if it's a problem in Yosemite generally.) It's not possible to download the Yosemite full installer from Apple through a public website, but you can save the installer and use it to re-install without having to download it again.

  • How do I get my macbook pro to 'see' my external HD attached to Airport BS?

    Hi, I'm still finding my way around my mac and have come up against a wall!
    I have a Maxtor External Hard Drive attached via USB to my Airport Base Station (firmware 7.1)
    I can see the Hard Drive is listed in the Airport Utility, I have ticked enable file sharing.
    Problem is how to get my mac to see the drive wirelessly?
    Before I connected the Hard Drive I had connected a USB printer, by using the 'Printer & Fax' set up utility on my mac it soon was able to print with no problems.
    I can connect the Hard Drive directly to my mac and the disk appears on my desktop.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks.

    That's what I read here...
    http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/sharing.html
    "Instant drive sharing.
    New to AirPort Extreme, AirPort Disk turns almost any external USB hard drive into a shared drive. Simply connect the drive to the USB port on the back of your AirPort Extreme and — voila — all the documents, videos, photos, and other files on the drive instantly become available to anyone on the secure network, Mac and PC alike. It’s perfect for backups, collaborative projects, and more.
    A simple-to-use AirPort Disk Utility gives you more setup options. You could set the disk to become available whenever you connect to the network. You could set up password-protected accounts for everybody on the network, or allow read-only access to certain files and folders. The choice is yours."
    But have you looked/clicked on the Airport Icon, (if you have that in your Menu Bar), or in Network Control Panel>Configure>Airport Tab, to see if there is perhaps an "Airdisk" in the Network drop down?

  • TS3999 How do I get my Macbook Pro and iphone 5 to sync calendars in 2014? It worked fine in 2013, but the 2014 dates are blank on my Macbook.

    How do I get my Macbook Pro and iphone 5 to sync calendars in 2014? It worked fine in 2013, but the 2014 dates are blank on my Macbook. The all icloud is checked on my phone and the enable icloud account and push are selected on the Macbook.
    Thanks

    Do the events from your iPhone calendar appear on icloud.com?  If not, go to Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Default Calendar (in the Calendars section) and make sure you have selected an iCloud calendar as your default.  If you haven't, make this change, then add a new event on your iPhone calendar and see if appears on icloud.com and your Mac now.

  • How do I get my Macbook Pro to stream?  It is about 1 year too old.

    How do I get my Macbook Pro to stream?  It is about 1 year too old.

    Depending upon the available ports on your MBP you will need an adapter and an HDMI cable to connect to your TV (unless it is an older model). 
    These are example of an adapter and an HDMI cable:
    eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/CBLMDPHDMI/http://
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/MISC/CBLHDMI1406/
    One can find a single cable that combines the two.
    Since you have not indicated what MBP you have and the TV connections that are available, these may or may not be applicable in your situation.
    Ciao.

  • How do I get my macbook pro to mirror on apple tv

    how do i get my macbook pro to mirror on my apple tv?

    So you're only seeing video via airplay?
    How are you trying to access mirroring on the 4S? You need to double tap home button, swipe (left to right) to bring up airplay, tap on it and select Apple TV, only then will you see the mirroring option
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5209?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • How do I get my Macbook Pro to fill my name, address , state automatically when i fill in a form? It use to do it.

    How do I get my Macbook Pro to fill in my name, address, city, state and zip automatically when I start to fill out and online form? It use to do it, all I did was put in the first few letters of my name and hit the tab button. Now it no longer does that for me.

    The free MPEG Streamclip and the free component from http://perian.org can convert your AVI to a format understood by iMovie.

  • How do I get my MacBook Pro to recognize my Toshiba external hard drive?

    How do I get my MacBook Pro to recognize my Toshiba external hard drive? I'm working on transferring my music from our home computer to my new laptop and I already got all my music onto the hard drive but now, when I plug it into my MacBook Pro, it doesn't recognize it. There isn't an icon that pops up and nothing happens at all. The blue light on the hard drive that indicates that it knows it is plugged into something comes up but that's about it. Someone told me I might have to "format" it but I don't know what that means and I don't know how to do it. I just want to get my music from the hard drive to my laptop so please help!

    natgray17 wrote:
    I don't know about your first question... I went to finder, preferences, then general but I didn't see anything for the hard drive. 
    Huh, in the Finder menu, Preferences, you will see this:
    Nope, disk utility cannot see it. I've tried unplugging it and plugging it back in but it still won't recognize it.puter that's a Mac...
    If DU cannot see it then the preferences is just an academic exercise.
    If this is a USB drive then as mentioned above you may need a powered USB hub since there may not be enough power from the USB to run the drive.  What else do you have plugged into the USB ports?  If there's some stuff you can unplug it then do it and see if your drive mounts.
    What do you mean from a Windows machine? It's a Toshiba hard drive and I put my music on it from my home computer that's a Mac...
    Which is all I wanted to know, i.e., whether the drive came from a Winows machine.  So it's been formatted and created on a mac.  Therefore it should mount on this other mac machine.  So it most likely is a power problem.

  • How do I get my MacBook pro to play on my tv?

    How do I get my MacBook pro to work on my tv. I have the correct cables to connect it. I just keep getting the mac screensaver showing?

    You don't. The HDMI socket on your MacBook Pro is an output, not an input.
    What content source are you wanting to view? Your MacBook Pro may be able to view it directly.

  • I had an older iPhone 3 and just purchased the 4S.  How do I get my MacBook Pro to recognize it?

    I had an older iPhone 3 and just purchased a 4S.  How do I get my MacBook Pro to recognize it so I can sync it with my computer?

    Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on you MacBook then plug the USB cable into your iPhone 4s.

  • How do I get my macbook pro to recognize my android phone so I can transfer photos from the phone

    how do I get my macbook pro to recognize my android phone to I can transfer photos from the phone

    you could try this:
    http://www.android.com/filetransfer/
    there's something called "Airdroid" on the Play store (whatever that is)
    or if your files are on an sd card, you may wish to use an sd card reader. Just plugging it in via USB might possibly work. There's also something called DoubleTwist (basically iTunes for Android, which will allow you to
    sync your music , photos, videos, etc
    hope one of these works for you
    John B

  • How can I get my macbook pro running Lion to print on my HP photosmart 309a??

    how can I get my macbook pro running Lion to print on my HP photosmart 309a??

    Did you install the drivers? Or have Software Update install them? This printer is supported:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3669

  • How can i get my macbook pro too stay on and not sleep when lid is closed?

    how can i get my macbook pro too stay on and not sleep when lid is closed?

    If the machine is asleep, lid closed, and you plug in to an external monitor and an external USB keyboard, the machine will wake, anbd reconfigure the screen resolution for the external monitor, Once it has made this configuration change, you can open the lid and it will continue to address only the external monitor.  At least that's how my early MacBook Pro unibody 13" works. It seems to run a bit cooler this way. It gets quite toasty with the lid closed while doing anything demanding and you are more likely to hear the fan come on.  I have not seen any temps that would cause alarm, but I do get a high speed (6000 rpm), noisy fan sometimes with the lid closed, .
    If you operate in the open-lid, external monitor only mode, if you deactivate the monitor for any reason, when it reactivates it will be running both screens, with all the navigation hassles this entails, so I generally set it not to deactivate the screen when in this mode.
    Thus I agree with those who say that some of the cooling air is drawn in around the keyboard, the difference in cooling performance is observable.  If you activate istat pro, get the computer hot running in clamshell mode, and open the lid, you can watch the CPU temp drop by a few degrees C within a couple minutes.  It isn't a huge difference, but enough the lower the fan speeds.

  • How can i connect my MacBook pro to my 24" cinema display and my led tv?

    I sãs wondering if there is a way of connect my MacBook pro to my 24" cinema display trough mini displayport and my led tv trough the hdmi input. I know that is a lot of addapters but i never saw something that allows me to do it.
    Thanks for any help

    You can get a Matrox DualHead2Go:
    http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/dh2go/
    There is also one for 3 monitors if you fancy that too...
    and http://www.monoprice.com sells all kinds of cable adapters for your displays

  • How to turn on a MacBook Pro 15" from an external keyboard?

    Greetings,
    Is there a way to power on a MacBook Pro 15" from an external keyboard?
    Insights and assistance appreciated.
    Best regards,
    Pierson

    Nope. My setup is my laptop an external monitor with Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. I keep the laptop lid shut. If I have to turn it on, I have to open the lid and press the power button. But I rarely turn it off.

Maybe you are looking for