Problem Connecting external display

I Have a MacBook Pro 13" from early 2011, 2.3ghz Core i5, 4Gb RAM, Intel HD Graphics 3000 384mb with OSx 10.7.4 (11E53)
I'm having some trouble connecting external displays via the ThunderBolt port using a MiniDisplay Port to VGA adapter.
I have to go the settings -> Screens -> Detect Screens to connect or disconnect any kind of display.

Not sure.
All I did was plug my dell monitor's cable into the mini display adapter and boom, it worked.
Is there any way you can validate that the monitor is working, and/or try this out on another display. Sounds like its either not compatible, or something is defective. (monitor, mini-display adapter, MPB)

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Suddanly Mbp display has got inverted colors with black on white settings. in universal access. When I connect external display(tv), TV display is normal. I reinstalled os x lion. But it did not help.

Suddanly Mbp display has got inverted colors with black on white settings. in universal access. When I connect external display(tv), TV display is normal. I reinstalled os x lion. But it did not help. I had this problem before but it solved after reinstalling os x lion.
Did you have this problem? What should I do?

Sorry, its not an external display. I changed out THE display in my imac. When I hooked up my wife's display it was photo negative and the imac was color. I changed the Universal Settings and the external display went to color and the imac went to photo negative.

How to connect external display to iMac

which port do I use to connect external display to my iMac ?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Depending on the iMac you have, you have different ports: Mini-DVI, Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt. Mini DisplayPort is available in 2009 and newer iMacs, and Thunderbolt is available in the Mid 2011 and Late 2012 iMac.
You have to use one of those ports to connect an external display. You will probably have to look for an adapter, depending on the port the external screen has got

Mouse cursor problem when external display connected

When my external Apple display is connected to my MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012, 10.10.2) the cursor jumps to a spot on the external display and will not release from it. I move the cursor anywhere and it jumps back to that original spot. Cursor operates normally when the external monitor is not attached. I've used the monitor for a few years with no problem, but this started just recently. I do not use the external monitor daily and I cannot recall doing anything that might have triggered this problem. Any ideas on a fix? Thanks.
Bill

Just an update to close this. Call Apple Support. An advanced support tech walked me through several procedures. Eventually, the problem disappeared after deleting a bunch of plist files and startup items. Which particular file caused the problem we don't know. But problem gone and I will monitor going forward. Hopefully it was a one-time corruption of one of the preference files.

How can I disable the internal display on my MacBook Pro with connected external display?

I used this metod with the MagSafe power cable connected (see http://osxdaily.com/2012/06/15/yet-another-way-to-turn-off-internal-lcd-display- of-macbook-pro-with-lid-open/).
Open System Preferences and click “Mission Control”, then click on “Hot Corners”
Select a hot corner and pull down the menu to select “Put Display to Sleep”
Now connect the external display to the Mac and move the cursor to the newly created sleep corner to turn off the internal display
Close the MacBook lid and wait a few seconds before opening the lid again, the internal display should stay off while the external display will be powered on
This worked great under Mac OS X 10.7.4, but after the last update to 10.7.5 it doesn’t work more. The built-in display turns off really, but a few seconds after opening the lid it lights up again. Do you have any suggestions? Dimming the brightness or clamshell mode is not very useful.
MacBook Pro 13-inch,
2,7 GHz Intel Core i7,
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G56)
Thanks!

I have the same problem: not able to work with my external display mirroring the internal one - while shutting the internal display off.
I believe there is an issue with Mac OS X Lion 7.5 that Apple needs to solve, since apparently it does not happen with this version of the OS only...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4315808?start=45&tstart=0
Or any other way to solve it?
Mac Book Air, 13-inch Mid 2011
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 11G63
Thank you!

Ongoing fatal crash and security bug related to connecting external display

The infrastructures in OS X to resume from sleep, to authenticate, and to change displays is fundamentally not working.
The security bug I have encountered has to do with connecting a cinema display exclusively to a MacBook Pro. This is a specific situation, but please note that I have experienced the same problem on no fewer than three independent laptop. Plus, the Genius in the Apple Retail Store was convinced of the general instability of this infrastructure. The security problem is that hot corners no longer function if I transition between two states in the same reboot. The first state is where I have the laptop powered on and using its own internal display exclusively (when I'm on the road). The second state is when I have the laptop displaying its output exclusively on an external display (when I'm at home). What happens is that an attempt to use hot corners fails. There is no response. I even added configuration on all four corners (whereas I originally had settings only for the rightmost corners), and even then, the hot corner action (of sleeping the display or entering locked screen saver mode) does not commence. This prevents the user from being able to secure the display on demand using standard methods that are supposed to work.
The instability level related to connecting the external display exclusively is high. Again, I've experienced this on no fewer than three independent laptops, and the Apple Genius at the Retail Store confirmed that this aspect of OS X did not work consistently. When I want to connect the cinema display to the laptop in such a way that the laptop's own display is not part of the active screen, the process I use succeeds about half the time. Supposing I have been on the road, where I am using the laptop display exclusively. I then put the laptop to sleep. When I return home with the lid open, I connect first the USB (power) from the cinema display to the laptop, and then I connect the Mini DisplayPort. When that step works, what happens is that the login screen shows on the cinema display despite the fact that my laptop lid is closed. This is good, and is what I want. At that point, I open the laptop lid and quickly log in.
With Apple being a mobile device company, I rely on the laptop for tasks that one traditionally may use a desktop for. This simply points to the versatility of the laptop. But I'd like the bugs resolved, so that I do not have to hesitate to make use of the inherent flexibility possible with the MacBook Pro.
Here's what happens when the process (of connecting the external display in a way that establishes itself as the only screen in use by OS X) fails. Firstly, when I connect the external display via Mini DisplayPort, the laptop doesn't even respond. Instead, it remains asleep. So to work around it I have to repeatedly disconnect and reconnect the Mini DisplayPort so that the asleep MacBook Pro will see that there is a display connected to it. Also, sometimes that isn't even enough and I have to open the laptop lid, and put it to sleep again so as to trigger whatever actions are necessary to recognise the external display (presumably by having the laptop recently awake). Around half the time, I have to play this game of disconnecting and reconnecting until it actually works. This high level of reproducibility (confirmed by the Apple Genius representative's confidence that this part of the system doesn't actually work) should make it easy for an engineer to look into the problem.
Fatally, and recently, OS X has completely crashed when I have attempted to connect the external display. The external display has gone completely blue, and after a half a minute, it blanked out and my entire laptop became unresponsive. I called Apple Support and was given a case number. I also took the laptop into the retail store to see if I could recover my current session without rebooting. There was no process suggested to make that happen and I was told to reboot the machine. I've had this happen before on other laptops, and it is frustrating that the kernel reaches such a state that it cannot be used. As I see it, this problem is not too unrelated to the way that I need to play a game in order to get the external display connected exclusively. Here are some workarounds that could be added:
Firstly, whenever I connect an external display, I'd like the laptop to see that this has happened, and to take action accordingly (such as resuming from sleep). Secondly, If I connect an external keyboard, and press a key on it, I'd like this to wake the laptop too (in the event that the first method fails for some unforeseen reason). I'd also like the connection of the cinema display's USB power not to cause the laptop to enter into a confused state between asleep and awake. Sometimes I need to disconnect and reconnect USB power in order to trigger the laptop into waking, but that's only because it's not doing it on its own properly. On the other hand, I also ensure that the laptop doesn't have the Mini DisplayPort connected without also having the cinema display USB power connected, because that also is an unsupported configuration.
I've also gotten the laptop to become confused about whether it is asleep or awake. When I open the lid, it seems to enter into sleep mode, but closing it seems to bring it into an active state.
Also, I've successfully logged on and authenticated with the screen showing exclusively on the external display. But just ten seconds after I start using the system, the laptop falls asleep--with the lid open! Whatever triggers that action doesn't seem to be on track. The laptop is open, there are incoming events such as mouse movements and key presses, and the external display is on and is in use. And then the laptop falls asleep! This has happened numerous times. Not only should this not happen; the instances where it does happen can cause further instability and put my system at risk of fatally crashing.
Also, the authentication system itself is highly buggy--far more than it should be. At times I have opened the laptop lid and caught a glimpse of a window before I have begun the login process. Also, an external authentication application that asks for Kerberos/AFS login credentials has been able to overlay itself on top of the primary authentication (whereas I should only see a single login dialog when I need to authenticate to the system). Also, I've had several of these authentication screens overlay on top of one another, although it's been months since I've experienced that one (so it may have been fixed). Also, around a third of the time, the window that authenticates me (on the black background) somehow transfers itself into the background (even though there's only one window!). What that means is what I begin to type my password, and now the laptop starts beeping at me and I need to manually click on the password field and begin entering my password again. This really shouldn't happen, and indicates too much complexity in this authentication process (such as, more OS X code is involved than is strictly necessary, which is likely to make the authentication system more difficult to test). Also, at times, I have been using too much CPU, such that the authentication screen takes too long to emerge. That also means that I'm not able to logon until I uncleanly shutdown the laptop. If the laptop has been asleep, and is revived in preparation for login, then that login screen should be given highest priority, even if there are other heavy CPU or I/O intensive tasks running in the background. And maybe the login dialog shouldn't disappear when the user is legitimately attempting to log in. So even if there is a possibility that the system is under heavy resource use (or there is a stall or minor deadlock), it shouldn't prevent the user from logging in altogether.
At the moment, the very fact that the system shut down uncleanly means that the full disk encryption suite that I used has entered into an undetermined state, suggesting I may lose access to all my data. It's my hope that I can rely on Apple's products to interoperate in a way that won't cause me to be fearful and restrictive in my use, so that I can freely connect an external display at times, and at other times carry the laptop on the road.

Ive got the same problem with Samsung UE225010 monitor too, its full hd but it looks terrible, could it be Displayport adapter issue, because couple month ago Ive tryed with some IPS display, and it looked same bad.

Update to 10.6.8 colour problems with external display

I have a mid-2010 13" macbook pro. I use a mini DVI to HDMI adaptor to connect to my Philips LCD TV. It has always worked perfectly including audio. Since update to 10.6.8 (yesterday) there is a colour-cast on the external display that makes it unusable. I have tried a hard reset of the mac with no effect except that the colour cast changed from green to red (strange!).
Anyone had a similar problem or have any ideas how I could solve it? (no time machine so I can't downgrade unfortunately)

Though I am using and iMac 27 and not a macbook, I have the similar issues since the 10.6.8 update.
I too am using the adapter to connect to a Philips 42' LCD.
You can see my post here: (has a pic of what my TV image now looks like since update.)
https://discussions.apple.com/message/15488605#15488605
I ended up going back to 10.6.7, not a fix, but no other alternative..
I used to have this problem a year ago on a PC that happened to have the same ATi Graphics card. I just used the ATI control center and changed a setting to YBR component or something like that in some color settings. But unfortunately we don't have the ATI control panel for mac, least I don't think we have any kind of alternative, but would prolly fix it..

Problems swapping external displays

I use my MacBookPro with two external displays (not simultaneously), with the MBP lid shut. I have an Apple 20" cinema dispay in the office and an Acer (can't remember the model) at home. When I take my MBP home and plug it into the Acer the MBP does not properly recognise the external monitor and it just stays black showing the spinning "busy" wheel. The same thing happens when I plug in my Apple display after using the Acer. Sometimes, after about one or two minutes, the display finally appears as it should. Otherwise I have to switch the power supply off and on again to put the MBP to sleep and then wake it again to refresh the screen.
For two years, I was using the same two monitors with my G4 Powerbook without any problem whatsoever. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a solution to it?

Are you sure that the external power supply is properly connected to your MBP? I have occasionaly wondered why my external monitor was not working when connected to laptop with lid shut. Then discovered that it will not work unless the laptop is connected to the external power supply.
A phone call to a very helpful Apple support technician solved my problem. Apparently the memory needed to be refreshed (or something like that). This was done by rebooting the computer and holding down the following four keys together: AppleAlt+pr.
You hold down these four keys while the computer boots and release them after the second chime.
However, as I am not an expert, I have no idea if this is relevant to your issue.
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Mouse skipping problem when external display connnected

I recently purchased a Macbook, and I connect it to a Dell 3008 display using the mini DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adaptor. My issue is that when the Dell is connected and in use, the mouse pointer skips across the screen when I move it, like something is interrupting the input for a very brief period, and it's being interpolated wrongly when the input comes back.
The problem doesn't occur when the external display is disconnected, and it happens with wired USB, wireless USB and wireless Bluetooth mice.
No adjustment of mouse sensitivity options seems to fix it, and the interruption in the pointer movement seems to happen at semi regular intervals of between 5 and 10 seconds apart, although I can't be 100% sure.
Interestingly, it doesn't happen when I connect a lower resolution external display using the same adaptor. So it only happens at 2560x1600. I'm wondering if it's a problem with a hardware accelerated mouse cursor and the NVIDIA graphics driver.
Anyway, it's a real barrier to me using the Macbook, so hopefully someone has a solution.
Thanks!

Same problem here: wireless MS Laser Mouse 6000, either a samsung or LG external display connected via mini adaptor. Have the MS intellipoint drivers installed. It began to happen about a fortnight ago, and seemed to coincide with the Java update 4/Bluetooth Firmware/ Safari update applied on 24/6. This may have been around the time I changed display preference to 'best performance', so could well be a graphics driver issue?
In my case, it tends to happen in certain spots on the screen, and the likelihood of a skip seems to depends on the speed I'm moving the pointer. Faster = more likely.
It's messing up my tanking in warcraft something terrible.

Problem with external displays

I've an issue with my MBP 15'' Early 2013. Recently I'd the GPU problem and my logic board was replaced. Everything worked fine as usual but I never tried to connect it to an external display.
When I first connected a projector after the logic board change via a VGA adapter I wan unable to make it work, the computer had one of this two problems:
Screen goes black and nothing works
Computer gets too slow and I can't do anything but move the cursor
Then I tried with a TV via HDMI and everything worked fine. I tried then with an external monitor, another projector and a TV with VGA and nothing worked.
I searched in internet and most of the people has this problem with both VGA and HDMI. But I didn't found anyone with only the VGA problem.
I tried resetting the PRAM, changing resolution to all the available ones and nothing worked.
Before the logic board was replaced the external displays worked great.
Any idea?
Thank you!

Hey, I had something similar happening with my i5 going to a Dell U2410, but my connection was via HDMI. When I got that distortion however I could not recover from it and had to reboot my laptop. I switched to an analog connector & noticed the occasional flicker to black, almost like my cable was loose and got bumped, but it recovered fine each time. I'm testing now with a dvi cable, and so far no issues *knock on wood*. Sorry, no fix, but maybe try a different connection and see if it improves things for you.
Cheers!

Connecting external display to 2009 iMac 27" - resolution?

I have a late-2009 27" iMac and am trying to connect to it a 27" external display (ASUS PB278Q). Both the iMac and the Asus have resolution of 2560x1440, but when I connect them, the best I can get on the ASUS is 1920x1080.
I am connecting via the Mac's monitor port with a Mac dongle to a cable that is DVI on both ends.
Do I need a different cable type? The monitor allows DVI, Displayport and HDMI connections.
Grateful for any insights, thank you.

The standard Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter only supports monitors up to 1900 x 1200.
see > http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/B/mini-displayport-to-dvi-adapter?fnode =53
If you want a higher resolution you will need a Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter.
see > http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A/mini-displayport-to-dual-link-dvi-ada pter
Or because your ASUS monitor also supports DisplayPort input, a simple Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.
For example's, see > http://www.newegg.com/Mini-DisplayPort-Cables/SubCategory/ID-2823
and > http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-32AWG-Mini-DisplayPort-Cable/dp/B0034X6SCY

Macbook Air 13" (Oct 2010) Locks up when connecting external display

Since I installed Lion my Macbook Air needs to be restarted nearly every time I connect an external display. This did not happen prior to Lion and wondering if anyone has a solution.
Details:
- 13" Macbook Air (October 2010 version)
- Dell 27" LCD display
- Mini-Displayport <-> Displayport cable used to connect

OK. It was a guess anyway.
I changed my screen resolution and then did a search of system files to see what was changed today.
I sorted by descending date/time and that file was at the top of the list.
I opened it with the Property List Editor program and saw it contained the changed resolution, so I took a guess that deleting that file and rebooting would set you straight.
You might look for recently changed files with likely names in your personal settings folder:
~/library/preferences
and try deleting and re-logon (you don't need to restart if you're only changing your own files - a re-logon picks up the change)
Sorry - I don't have a better guess. Good luck

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I have a macbook hooked up to an external monitor. I made the external display the primary display so it has the menubar and main desktop, but for some reason the dock wont move from the macbook's display, which is the secondary one. I tried restarting the dock, using killall in terminal and restarting, unplugging and replugging, switching to mirroring and back again, and all sorts of other things. My friend has the exact same setup and his works fine; what's going on here? Thanks so much

I was able to fix this problem on my iMac using your suggestion. It appears that if the external display is arranged to touch either the left or right side of the Mac display, then the two displays are handled as a single desktop. "Left" places the dock on the left side of the combined desktop, "right" places it on the right.
When I changed the arrangement so that the external display was touching only the top or the bottom of the Mac display, "left" and "right" became the left and right of the Mac display, and my dock is back where I like it.

Connecting external display to PreAluminum MacBook

My MacBook does not recognize any external display that I connect via a USB port. What am I doing wrong? Is there another port connection I should be using? My MacBook is the pre aluminum model so it may have different ports than the new generation aluminum MacBooks. Thanks.

Do you have a white or black MacBook? If so, depending on the monitor you're trying to connect to, you'll need something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-M9320G-Mini-DVI-VGA-Adapter/dp/B00011KHTM/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&qid=1250262610&sr=8-1
Do you know what connections this monitor has? (DVI, VGA, HDMI) How old is your computer?
~Lyssa

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When I connect my Apple HIFI External Speaker to the audio out at the back of my iMac with the apple RCA optical cable, I can no longer control volume with the apple keyboard.
I can only control the volume with the apple remote.
1. Any suggestions to maintain keyboard control as well
Thanks

When you connect the third-party monitor, you can use System Preferences -> Displays to control the external monitor. You may have your preferences set to Mirror the iMac's display. But if the resolution (pixels supported by the external screen) does not match the iMac display, then it will not display properly. You need to uncheck the Mirror option in that instance. When the display is not a 'mirror', you need to drag some content (windows) to the external display to see what you want to work on there.
Once the system detects your external monitor, you can make that change. You also need to line up the two monitors in the way you wish to move content between them and which monitor you want to display the Apple menu bar. For example, the iMac display may have its right side aligned with the left side of the external display so you can drag windows through the right side of the iMac screen and they'll appear on the left side of the external display.
You also drag the Apple menu bar to the external display if you'll be working with programs using the external display. You can set resolution and other things on the two displays independently.
Hope this helps.

Problem Connecting external display

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