2011 MBP freezing on external display in fullscreen

Hey all, had my 15" MBP for a few days now, and I'm experiencing a strange issue. When I have it connected to an external display and am playing a game (Starcraft II, EVE Online) or watching a video in fullscreen (Hulu, etc.) it will sometimes freeze and cause the computer to be completely unresponsive, forcing me to shut it down by holding the power button. However, audio will keep playing in the background. I'm using a miniDisplay port to VGA adapter and outputting to an HDTV. Ideas/comments/suggestions? I'm sure with using a new CPU and new GPU there are some driver issues to work out, just want to make sure it isn't more than that.

After doing some more tests of my own, I'm convinced that this is a driver issue. This kind of thing is common when a company releases a new GPU and CPU in the same model. (In this case the 6750M and Sandy Bridge i7) Correct me if I'm wrong, but each of you have either the top spec 15" or the 17" model, yes? By now, I guarantee Apple is aware of the issue, and I would expect to see a driver update by, if not before, 10.6.7 is released. Hold tight, my friends. Returning your computer or getting it replaced isn't going to fix this, and neither is complaining to Apple Tech Support (other than that it will make them more aware of the issue). The tech people you talk to have no direct interaction with the software engineers, and aren't going to be able to do anything. They may even recommend useless troubleshooting steps like an OS reinstall. I think we'll see resolution of this once they release a software update, and not before. I've given a link to this thread to a senior level tech advisor at AppleCare, so continue posting your reports here and they will be forwarded to the engineers. Being specific about situation, peripherals, programs, and timing will help them immensely, comments such as "THIS IS BROKEN, FIX IT" are less helpful. Cheers.

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15" MBP freezes w/ external display

I have an original 15" MBP. I usually use it with an external display (a 22" Envision LCD). Recently the MBP would freeze...a lot. I would still be able to use the mouse, however nothing else would respond and the only fix would be a hard reset. I've tried all the normal fixes (PRAM, etc..) with little success. The ONLY solid solution is to use it without the external display. When I use it just as a notebook it works perfectly fine. I had the same freezing issue when connected to a projector, so I don't think there's something wrong with my monitor.
Has anyone else had this problem..and if so, is there a fix?

I've had the same exact problem for months - good news - Here is Your Solution! - sorry for the long reply .....
I am a Mac User for more than 3 years. I got a new MBP on August 14th, 2006. I love it ! Recently started experiencing random problems with my MBP ( vintage - see above )
I have run my MBP in a dual monitor configuration while at home for as long as I have had the MBP ( about 3 years ) . I have never had any real problems until recently. IMPORTANTLY - the problem only happened while in using both screens - never if I was using the laptop in stand alone mode.
The problem - first a variety of colored horizontal lines would - apparently randomly appear on the screen. Next my MBP would suddenly freeze. The freeze almost always resulted in a hard restart in order to get going again.
The situation - after months searching the boards, talking to technicians, of trying various, tweaks and tunings and hours of frustration. The best anyone could come up with is that the video card or motherboard needed to be replace - " send it to apple " pay them 3, 4, 5 hundred dollars and they will send your computer back with a new board/ card.
The solution - As it turns out the problem was over heating and the solution was a little program - FREE - called smc fan control find it here -
http://www.eidac.de/?p=134 or here - http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31029
The best I can understand the sudden fan problem - there must have been a software controller change in one of the Apple updates - my guess to conserve power.
Just adjust your fan rpm's upwards. What I have found so long as I keep the internal temperature below 155 degrees F - everything is fine. Usually I am around 130 degrees F . The program has a handy temperature & RPM gauge that stays on screen.
It has worked like a charm and has solved all my problems.
Solution - update - I have since purchased a stand alone laptop cooling solution from Targus for about $35 USD. I did this to allow save my internal fans a bit.

HT5167 after I updated to 10.7.4 my macbook pro 2011 doesn't detect external display anymore what should I do?

after I updated to 10.7.4 my macbook pro 2011 doesn't detect external display anymore what should I do?

after I updated to 10.7.4 my macbook pro 2011 doesn't detect external display anymore what should I do?

Using a Mid 2011 iMac as an external display.

Hello, I was wondering if it would be possible to use my Mid 2011 iMac as a external display for a PC.
In the interest of gaming I am looking for a new gaming PC and I would really like to use my iMac as the display because I still want to use the iMac.

Yes, if it's a 27" model.
Target Display Mode 2011 & Later iMacs
iMac- How to use your iMac as a Target Display Mode display

IMac Retina 5K (2015) with 1xTDM iMac (2011) and 1x Dell External Display possible?

I have 1 x 27" iMac Retina 5K (2015), 1 x 27 " iMac (mid 2011) and a Dell P2715Q. I'd like to know if it's possible to run the 2011 iMac in Target Display Mode and my Dell as a secondary display from my 2015 iMac? My desired configuration is the 2015 iMac running two external displays. The 2015 iMac has an AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB Gfx card and both iMacs are running Yosemite 10.10.1
I have verified that running the 2011 iMac only via TDM works. Also running the Dell as an external Display only works (either at 4K resolution or the same resolution as the external iMac (2560x1440) via SwitchResX). With the Dell running @ 2560x1440, trying to put the 2011 iMac into TDM, causes a slow grey screen, then some display artefacts when coming out of TDM. Going in and out again appears to refresh the screen. But it doesn't seem to work.
I was wondering if anyone else has a similar configuration working and if so what settings or configuration changes to make?
Thanks!

I stopped by the Apple Store yesterday, and they were nice enough to try the Screen Sharing solution with me.
Indeed, we were able to share the screen of a MacBook Pro and display it on the iMac Retina 5K over a Thunderbolt Bridge network. (should also work over WiFi)
As I expected, (based on the native resolutions) the MBP window maxed out at about 55-60% of the height and width of the 5K display.
I didn't try experimenting with lower resolutions on the 5K.
I'd actually be OK with that solution except as we increased the font sizes, (e.g. 48 pt) we noticed a *lot* of ghosting around the characters.
I will have to try it again at normal font sizes and decide if that is something I can work with all day long.
Otherwise, I am leaning towards buying last year's iMac, which kinda' grates me the wrong way.
Thanks,
n8

XP on my MBP and an external display

I am posting here because I got no love in the boot camp directory. Hi, I have a macbook pro (2.33 GHz intel core 2 duo) that I use for both work and home. We are remodeling our home and I am finally getting a home office put in. I have dreamed for years of getting a large external display for when I work at home. Some of my work requires Windows programs, so I bootcamped my mbp, installed windows XP (SP2) on the other side of my computer and everything is great. My question is once I hook my mbp up to an external display and external keyboard (and mouse) will I be able to reboot it in windows and have everything work (the external display, keyboard, and mouse)?
I searched somewhat through teh forums and couldn't find anything, but it is highly likely that I missed if this question has already been answered, so sorry about that.
Any help/suggestions is appreciated.

If your external display, keyboard, and mouse are all Apple products, then you should be okay, as you would have installed all of the necessary drivers when configuring Boot Camp on your Windows XP partition. Check the Boot Camp installation guide for more information.
If your external display, keyboard, and mouse are of another make, you may have to download the required Windows drivers from the manufacturers' website.
I have had a few different screens work on the XP partition of my MB Pro with no problems.
Good luck!

MBP not detecting external display

I encountered a strange problem today when I tried re-connecting my external monitor: it is not being detected by OS X.
I tried everything I could think of; I selected "detect displays" in preferences, I restarted the computer, I dis- and re-connected everything, I reset the PRAM, I tried connecting to a different monitor, and nothing seems to work. When I disconnect and reconnect the DVI cable, the laptop's screen flashes blue like it normally does, but nothing appears on the external monitor's screen. For the record I'm using the Dell 2209WA, and I haven't had any problems like this yet.
If anybody has any other suggestions as to what I should try doing, please let me know. Thanks!

Hey all, did a software update on my partner's mbp yesterday (10.5.8, security update 2009-006) and had the same thing happen where our external viewsonic display was no longer being detected. Plugging the cable in and out of the mini display port had the same effect already mentioned here where the mbp screen flashed blue like it was about to recognise the external display, but then nothing. Selecting detect displays from display preferences also had no effect. Tried resetting the PRAM and also the PMU, still nothing. So I shut down the mbp; disconnected the mini display cable; then turned off the viewsonic monitor at the power outlet and left it off for 10-20 seconds. Then I turned the viewsonic's power outlet back on, started up the mbp, turned the monitor on and plugged the mini display port cable in and the external display was back and working properly. Have shut down/restarted numerous times since then and it's all still working normally. Not quite sure how/why this busted in the first place, or why turning the viewsonic off at the power outlet seems to have fixed it, but it might be worth a shot for those experiencing similar problems... and it sure beats having to install/reinstall a different os version (which was going to be my next option)!

2011 MBP + Thunderbolt + DVI 30" Display

Hi,
Trying to attach one or two monitors to my 2011 MBP but have run up against a wall.
1) My one Thunderbolt port is attached to a Sonnet Thunderbolt-to-CardBus adapter. The adapter only has one Thunderbolt port, so no possiblilty of daisy-chaining.
2) I want to hook up a 30" NEC 2560 x 1600 DVI display (and if possible a 23" ACD as well)
3) There do not seem to be any Thunderbolt Hubs or Splitters available yet. Am I missing something?
4) The only solution I can see is to use a USB-to-DVI box. Took a look at the StarTech model which supports the high resolution. Is this my only option? What are others doing in this situation?
Can't wait till Thunderbolt is more widely adopted and the cable/hubs/enclosures/etc finally become more widely available.
(FYI- The Sonnet Thunderbolt-to-Cardbus adapter is great. I've got a 10-bay eSATA raid hooked up via this and it is WAY faster than FW800)
Thank you...

Yes by running a USB cable from the Mac to the HUB input port on the display.
The product disscription states the cable has connectors on it to connect to USB.
Connectors and cables
Apple Display Connector carries digital video, USB, and power
Two-port, self-powered USB hub

Mbp not recognizing external display

I have a 2010 MBP 2.8 and I'm trying to connect to a 24" Samsung LCD display to use as a 2nd monitor.   I'm using the mini display to DVI. And plugging a DVI to HDMI cord to that.
When I plug it into the tv and computer. The screen on computer flashes blue a couple times then nothing happens.   The computer is not recognizing the display.    I'm running Mountian Lion obviously and theres no option in "Displays" in preferences.
Am I doing something wrong? I had a old Powerbook G4 that I did this with all the time with Leopard OS.    Whats changed?

Hey all, did a software update on my partner's mbp yesterday (10.5.8, security update 2009-006) and had the same thing happen where our external viewsonic display was no longer being detected. Plugging the cable in and out of the mini display port had the same effect already mentioned here where the mbp screen flashed blue like it was about to recognise the external display, but then nothing. Selecting detect displays from display preferences also had no effect. Tried resetting the PRAM and also the PMU, still nothing. So I shut down the mbp; disconnected the mini display cable; then turned off the viewsonic monitor at the power outlet and left it off for 10-20 seconds. Then I turned the viewsonic's power outlet back on, started up the mbp, turned the monitor on and plugged the mini display port cable in and the external display was back and working properly. Have shut down/restarted numerous times since then and it's all still working normally. Not quite sure how/why this busted in the first place, or why turning the viewsonic off at the power outlet seems to have fixed it, but it might be worth a shot for those experiencing similar problems... and it sure beats having to install/reinstall a different os version (which was going to be my next option)!

2011 MBP 13" using external DVD drive for Bootcamp

I am trying to install Windows 7 on my bootcamp partition via an external Samsung Slim Drive (I swapped my internal with another hard drive). Boot camp assistant recognizes the drive and windows disk in OSX and sets it as boot volume prior to rebooting.
PROBLEM: After reboot, my mac hangs at a DOS-like screen with a blinking underscore as if waiting for user input (which it doesn't allow). I've installed many times using this method, but this is the first time using the 2011 macbook pro. So I assume there may be an issue with the chipset or something?
I should also note that it *does show* up as bootable when I hold the alt/option key during boot.
Message was edited by: Jay Blongz
Message was edited by: Jay Blongz

I've researched this problem heavily and I think I've found the definitive answer.
The 2011 MBP will not install via bootcamp using ANY external device. Also reFIT does not work either, so don't waste your time there. At least it didnt' work for me.
The only way to install Win7 is with an internal disc drive, since that isn't possible I came up with an alternative.
What I did was install Win7 via bootcamp on another Mac machine, used WinClone to clone the Win7 partition, then I took that clone and transferred it to my MBP.
This method worked perfectly.

MBP still thinks external display is connected when it's not

I have my MBP connected via DVI to an external LCD (HP w2007). Whenever I disconnect the DVI plug from my MBP, my MBP thinks the external monitor is still connected. I can go to Sysprefs > Displays > Gather Windows and it'll clearly have the HP's display pref window showing up.
This is a huge issue since any programs that were previously shown on the external display continue to think the display is still there and then I can't access them.

Had posted here because I figured the hold time for Apple support would be long because of Leopard's release. Hold times were not too bad. Problem is solved by resetting PRAM.

Can MBP drive 2x external displays?

its not clear to me from reading the text on apple site, so i'm asking here...
can a 15" or 17" macbook pro drive 2 external displays?
will the "dual link" port drive 2 displays?
is this remotely possible to do?
thanks in advance...
http://NoteToSelfDontDie.com/
edit: oops, just realized there is a special section for video/displays... can this post be erased? sorry guys!
Message was edited by: Note To Self: Don't Die!

can a 15" or 17" macbook pro drive 2 external
displays?
Alas no, it can't.
will the "dual link" port drive 2 displays?
Nope.
is this remotely possible to do?
As far as I know, no.
edit: oops, just realized there is a special section
for video/displays... can this post be erased?
S* happens

2010 MBP 13" and External Display

I have just purchased a new 2010, 13.3"MBP, 2,4GHz, C2D, 4GB RAM, 250GB Drive. Works well on/off power, after sleep, etc. No issues as at all. I plugged in an external HP1908w using an Apple Mini Display Port adapter [VGA]. I can use the system [plugged in] for about 20 minutes or so, then it just goes blank. The MBP goes black, and the external goes to a weird beige/pinkish screen.
I can't wake the system, or anything. I even tried unplugging the monitor, thinking it was a that. I plugged in the adapter only, no monitor, to see if it was that, and it works fine. No problems. I've run all the software updates, and everything. The only difference I see is that the resolution on the MBP is 1280x800, and the external goes to 1440x900. Other than that, I can't see what could be causing it? I've repaired permissions, did the PRAM, all that stuff...HELP!!!!

Take a look at this discussion (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2439927). No solution, but I think you both have the same problem.

Trouble with MBP 15" and external display

ahh, the joy of a new display...
I just received my NEC 20wmgx2 (20" widescreen 1680x1050), a fantastic little monitor, with a little problem.
I cannot get this display to work properly with my macbook pro.
If I use DVI (DVI out to DVI in)
The external stays blank, and says no signal, the laptop display blinks, like it sees something is there, but even after clicking 'detect displays' nothing shows up.
If I use VGA (DVI->VGA adapter->VGA in)
Ok, now I have a picture, however the correct resolution is not on the list, all I have are typical non-widescreen resolutions.
Using third party software (switcresX) I am able to force the correct resolution option to get it to run at the right res.
However this is not an ideal solution by any means, and I would like to be able to run this monitor from dvi, no adapters, as I suspect that would be the best quality, and also avoid odd third party resolution hacks.
My question is then, does anyone have any idea why the macbook would not register the monitor correctly, or what I might try to do to get things on track?

I'm on looking for a solution, but I can only get my external Viewsonic working if I methodically unplug and replug in the monitor cord to the MBP 4-5 times. Try unplugging it (wait for the flash) and replugging it in (again - wait for the flash and a few more seconds for good luck) a few times.
I've been reading some posts about it not sending a signal to projectors and TVs properly. I think that may be it - it knows the external monitor is there, but isn't sending the external monitor enough signal to wake it up. Check your System Preferences -> Displays to see if it knows it's there.
Amy

Macbook Pro 2011 won't detect external display.

Firstly - I've searched this problem several times now and I've found this problem in four of five discussion topics on this board, each with 4 or 5 pages of people adding "I'm having the same problem" but in all of that there wasn't a single response from Apple, instead they just 'archived' the discussions and hoped that people would just go away.
That's pretty ******* disgusting customer service, considering the amount of money we're paying for your products. You owe us at least for them to ******* work properly - not just ignore major problems, which are clearly present for quite alot of your customers.
For months I've had no problems just plugging my MBPro into an external monitor by DVI using the Apple certified DVI-thunderbolt connector.
For some reason, a few weeks ago, the MBPro stopped detecting the monitor.
I have to spend about 20 minutes ******* around, unplugging and replugging in the leads, restarting with and without the leads plugged in, resetting the p-ram, reinstalling OSX 10.7 and it always seems to be just a random time when it decides to start working.
I'm not just some kid ******* around with an expensive computer for the fun of it. I make a living using this system and I need the big screen for the work I do. I don't have the time to spare every sodding day to be ******* around with **** that doesn't work properly.
At first I thought the problem was restricted to just my work display as it appeared to work fine on all other displays. However, last week I was giving a presentation at work to a company who were potentially about to spend mega bucks giving us some work. I turn on the screen and plug in my computer to show the presentation. Nothing happened. luckily I was able to quickly transfer the presentation to another working computer (a PC) and continue on.
But seriously, please justify spending over £1000 on a computer that can't perform the simplest of tasks without spazzing out?
And secondly - stop ignoring this problem and get fixing it. Now!

Hi, I'm having the same problem, tried to connect both a Viewsonic and a Hanspree. Was happy to find your response here, but I just got the Moshi adapter with the macbook pro so it seems silly it would have gone bad. :/
I suppose I'll take it into the Apple Store and see what they say. Thanks!
^_^

2011 MBP freezing on external display in fullscreen

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