MacBook Air 2008 detects external monitor while not connected to one

When I put my MBA to sleep and wake it up, it detects and displays an external monitor. I checked the Display section in About this Mac, it shows that I'm connect to an external monitor when I'm not, and that I'm operating on Desktop 2. This is quite an issue due to a noticeable drop in performance and battery life. Has this happened to any one else? If so how did you fix it?

You wanted Extended Desktop, instructions on how to configure that are outlined in this article -
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5019

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MacBook Air w/ 4 External Monitors

I have a MacBook Air with 4 External Monitors:
Dell UltraSharp 30"
2 x Dell UltraSharp 20" - Rotated 90 degrees
Samsung Sync Master Commercial Display 55" Mounted on the Wall
This is the main monitor setup w/o the Samsung:
http://www.digitaltigers.com/ultraflex-powertrio30.asp
The 30" is connect to the air using a MiniDP to DP connector and the other monitors are using Sewell DisplayLink USB to DVI connectors:
http://sewelldirect.com/Sewell-Minideck-USB-to-DVI-Display-Adapter.asp
Everything seems to be working smoothly EXCEPT there are times when I bring the MacBook Air to the office and connect it and all the display settings do not seem to be saved. The arrangement and monitor rotation is not the way it was when I left. I have even tired shutting the computer down, restarting it correcting the configuration and then saving and restarting again. When it boots back up the rotation is correct (somtimes) but other settings such as arrangement or background may not be correct.
Any thoughts?
I love the Air and I would hate to go back to my ThinkPad but if this won't work then I will need to.

Quick update, I downloaded the mostt recent drivers for the Sewell adapter and that seemed to work. Which is strange because I thought i had done this previously.
None the less it looks like we are good to go now.

My new macbook air and new thunderbolt monitor will not work together. the keyboard will not engage and the monitor screen keeps going black. is it a problem with the monitor, connection, laptop?

my new macbook air and new thunderbolt monitor will not work together. the keyboard will not engage and the monitor screen keeps going black. is it a problem with the monitor, connection, laptop?

A new Mac comes with 90 days of free tech support from AppleCare.
AppleCare: 1-800-275-2273
Call AppleCare. They will help you.
Best.

My MacBook Air (OS 10.8.4) does not connect to projectors consistently using a VGA/Thunderbolt connetor. The Monitors/detect displays box that I am used to never appears. Intermittently the "arrangement" window appears in the Displays System Preferences

My previous MacBook Air running an older operating system synced up just fine with these same projectors using the same minidisplay to vga adapter. My new computer has Airplay on it, and Airplay shows up on my menu bar on the new laptop where the displays icon used to appear. I cannot get the displays icon to display (even when I turn Airplay mirroring off). It used to show up on the menu bar and if I had projector issues I hit "detect displays" and it resolved. None of that appears to be available with the new operating system and Airplay on. I am not sure why.

My previous MacBook Air running an older operating system synced up just fine with these same projectors using the same minidisplay to vga adapter. My new computer has Airplay on it, and Airplay shows up on my menu bar on the new laptop where the displays icon used to appear. I cannot get the displays icon to display (even when I turn Airplay mirroring off). It used to show up on the menu bar and if I had projector issues I hit "detect displays" and it resolved. None of that appears to be available with the new operating system and Airplay on. I am not sure why.

MBP does not detect external monitor on DVI connection...

(2007) MBP C2D 2.33 15", OSX LION 3gb. Worked fine till about 3 days ago (right after installing the last round of updates).
My external monitor now fails to connect on DVI cable. Since it also has VGA, I was able to test this way with a DVI to VGA adapter and that worked perfectly, but the vga gives a lower resolution. Having estalished that the graphics adapter and the monitor were okay, I looked for other issues.
Starting the MBP in clamshell mode, it found the monitor on DVI. Then restarting normally, it all worked fine, UNTILL the MBP went to sleep. when it awoke, no external. Plugged, unplugged, trashed display prefs, nothing, though it does still work via DVI-VGA.
I don't think having to clamshell everytime is a workable solution, but I NEED MY DESK SPACE!
Any thoughts?

Yesterday, having had the problem become far worse, I too tried PRAM/NVRAM clearing (SMC reset so many times I can't count them). Then, in desperation I purchased TechtoolPro 6 and ran it. Everything s working well now, and in fact the video issue cleared up while techtool loaded, it didn't even wait for me to run the thing!
More: About 3 weeks ago, I made a HardDrive image from an older white macbook so I could repair its hard drive. After doing that job, I (thought I) deleted the image from my MBP, but the disk still showed 80Gb used that wasn't before. So while I thought I had 130GB free, I was only showing 50. After running the directory rebuild, I now have 175gb Free! So the directory was keeping track of 95GB that WASN'T there! I suspect this had something to do with my problems. Then running the Defrag and Optimization routines, my 2007 MBP is running like a brand new machine. Other things that had been buggy (like the right click on my magic mouse) are now working like they should.
Recommended highly!

Macbook Air stopped detecting external displays

My MBA (Mid 2011) has stopped detecting ANY external display. Have tried different leads (MDP > HDMI and VGA) with no luch, My MBA (Mid 2011) has stopped detecting ANY external display. Have tried different leads (MDP > HDMI and VGA) with no luck. It seems to have happened since I have updated to Mountain Lion a few days ago.
Has anyone had similar problems?

You should also ask this in the MacBook Air forum. This is the forum for the white and black plastic MacBooks that were discontinued in 2010. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_air
And the Mountain Lion Forum https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mountain_lion

External monitor suddenly not recognised

Hi everyone,
Not sure if anyone can help me, but thought I'd try here before progressing any further. I have an 11-inch 2010 Macbook Air with an external monitor set up (Acer LCD, if it makes a difference) through a mini-display port to HDMI converter. Up until yesterday it was working with no problems, the HDMI does sound as well as video and it was very easy to set up and use.
Yesterday I tried plugging in the converter to the Air and turned the display on and I got a "Cable not connected" message on the display. I checked the plugs and restarted my Mac, but the same message came up.
The Air's screen flashes blue when the display is turned on, so the cables must be working to some extent (at least enough to recognise the display has been turned on). But the display system prefs and menu doesn't show it connected, and there's no option to turn mirroring on or anything, as there usually is.
Unfortunately I don't have any other HDMI cables or a converter to test this, but I was wondering if I can try anything else on my Mac before tracking some down. Would appreciate any help.

deed wrote:
My Macbook Pro ran out of hard disk space, and suddenly stopped recognising my external hard drive
Hi, and welcome to the forums.
It's very unlikely these two things are related, even though they apparently happened about the same time.
As you probably know, OSX likes at least 10% of it's drive free, 15% is better, 20% optimum (although I suspect that on very large drives, you don't need quite as much free space, percentagewise).
As dechamp says, the best way to be sure the drive is dead is if another computer doesn't recognize it either. In theory, something like DiskWarrior might be able to deal with it, but it's pretty unlikely to be worth the money (about $100 for DW) if you don't already have one.

Apply MacBook display settings to external monitor

Hi. The display on MacBooks and other Macs is beautiful, and I wish I can bring those display and color settings to my external monitor, because no matter how much I calibrate using the one under system preferences or adjust the setting directly on the monitor itself, it does look as nice as it does on my MacBook Air to which the display is connected. I can see all the figues in System Preferences -> Displays -> Color tab -> Open Profile, of both MacBook Air and the external monitor, but is there a way I can manually change those figures of the external monitor so that they are same as those of MacBook Air?
Thanks.

Yeah, I've changed the Display Profile of my HDTV (connected as a monitor).
If you go into System Preferences > Displays then click Gather Displays and click on the Color Tab for your monitor, deselect "Show profiles for this display only." You should be able to chose the same Display Profile for you monitor as your Mac.

How to switch off internal macbook screen when using external monitor(s)

as far as i observed, adding external displays ( running different screens on them, not mirroring) to a macbook pro increases the gpu workload and with that comes temperature rise in the laptop and increase in ventilator noise - and probably increased hardware aging and risk of component faillure due to high temperature inside the laptop.
simply try connecting two external 27" screens and open some flash video on both of them. then run a temperature monitoring software and watch temps rise, compared to running same flash videos / demanding tasks only on one connected external screen or only on the laptop screen with no external monitor connected.
especially in mavericks, due to its increased background routines, such a set-up appears ever the more taxing, then again who does not love apple`s nice adds showing laptops with two 27” screens connected to it and the workspace vision they invoke....
i have seen temps around 100° to 102° celsius on a 13" macbook pro 2012 edition, which i would expect is territory where the cpu / gpu temp safety switches will trigger system shutdown any time soon ( hardware status before verified as fully in order by apple service and default osx installation)
imagine your anti-virus software starting some realtime content screening while runnign some demanding tasks already and the system shuts down easily (all such situation observed in reality)
(would be interesting to see how a retina display macbook fares with 2 external monitors running demanding tasks, considering the retina display already increased taxing for the gpu - any experience from users of such a setup would be very much appreciated as it will provide critical purchase decision intelligence for all of us envisioning a retina-book and two big screens adoring our desks...)
turning down the macbook`s built-in screen`s backlight may reduce power consumption but i have not seen any evidence that it switches off the gpu-to-screen feed and respective gpu load - it certainly did not prevent gpu, cpu, board, etc temps to rise to borderline levels.
so the key question here is, how to switch off the macbook pro`s built-in screen in order to avoid gpu cycles being wasted on that screen ( and the resulting heat developments) when working with big external screen(s) connected to the laptop ?

this thread talks about running several monitors as advertised by apple and running demanding task on them.
with the lid open, the keyboard offers a very efficiant heat escape vector, which is blocked when the lid is closed - this is a basic and commonsense insulation effect. this thread also mentions the use of temperature monitoring software and thus a repeatable test setup. the temps recorded were also mentioned. they rose when the lid was closed, the running task remaining unchanged. as far as i could track down the cpus in discussion will shut down around the 105 degree celsius range. i observed system shut downs when the system approached 103° celsius. not to mention that the fans will run loud well before that.
again this is on hardware checked and ok-ed by apple service.
the question still welcoming an expert answer: is there any way to switch off the built-in macbook monitor while the lid is open ?

New macbook air (2008) hinge installed; is this new hinge the same or a revision to address the problem? What should I afford to prevent a repeat of this?

I recently had my first macbook air (2008)'s hinge replaced by Apple after I found out about the quality program apple had for the supposedly weak hinges (had no idea until a genius happened to tell me about it while discussing my newest purchase (the new MBA); I use my old air as a backup anyhow).
My concern is whether or not this replacement Apple installed has been revised to address durability issues (i.e. a redesigned hinge) or simply the exact replacement hinge that originally shipped with the air in 2008?
Also, while we're on the topic of macbook air hinges; how should I make sure this does not happen again to either of my macbook airs (I recently got the i5 revision)? More specifically how far should I open the lid.
Thanks!

My understanding of the hinge issue is that the primary reason for the issue was the barrel assembly enclosure couldn't handle the constant repetition of opening and closing past the acceptable usage angle for the lid. Over time and with enough force applied it would just give out and then the tension coils inside would break out through the relatively thin plastic enclosure.
I do not believe anything was changed with the design or materials when the machines are serviced. The newer models with the "2nd generation" body styling fix this issue more than anything. Not to mention Apple shifted the exhaust vents for the fan to a more suitable place than the bottom of it.

HT2728 How would I transfer my information from my old Macbook Air (2008) to the new one I purchased today?

Today I ordered my new MacBook Air - and am looking for advice on how I might best transfer all the information off my old MacBook Air to the new one. There are not many ports available on the old MacBook Air (2008/9) and of course the new MacBook Air comes with more ports and connectivity.
Appreciate any advice that you can give me.
Many thanks in advance
Ed

Use an external drive with Time Machine or Clone your HD to the external.
When you start the new one, setup manager will ask if you want to migrate from another disk, time machine etc.
This will only require 1 usb port.

Why is it that when I plug my Macbook Pro to an external monitor, the external monitor turns black and shows the mouse only

Why is it that when I plug my Macbook Pro to an external monitor, the external monitor turns black and shows the mouse only

Hi, yes preferences sees there is a second display it recognises what make of monitor it is etc but I just get a blank blue screen on the monitor when I change it to the hdmi setting! I have tried with mirroring on and off, rearranging the displays in the preference window and lots of different resolution settings but with no difference.
An old MacBook connects fine so the monitor and hdmi port must be okay. I'm sure we have used the cable before but it could have been with the previous MacBook Air. The current one I'm using is a mid 2011 version running lion and is (according to software update) all up to date.
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated!

Problems connecting my MacBook Pro to an external monitor

For the past 2 years, I have regularly connected my MacBook Pro to an external monitor (Dell SR2320L) using a VGA cable. When I do so, the picture automatically comes up in the maximum resolution of the external monitor (1920 x 1080). However, just in the past few weeks, the picture on my external monitor automatically comes up in 1600 x 1200 instead. When I click on the display menu in the upper right corner of my screen, there isn't even an option for 1920 x 1080 anymore. I've tried restarting my computer and even unplugging and replugging in the cable, but nothing seems to fix the problem. However, on at least some occasions, the problem seems to fix itself after about a day or so of use, and the picture reverts back to 1920 x 1080. I should note a couple of things: when I connect another MacBook to my monitor, the display automatically comes up in 1920 x 1080. And when I connect my Macbook to a different display, I have the same problem as I have with my display. So I think the issue is definitely with my computer, not my monitor. Does anyone have a suggestion about how to solve this problem? Or, when the problem arises, is there anything I can do to reset the display to 1920 x 1080 other than waiting for the problem to fix itself? Any suggestions woudl be greatly appreciated!

Hi bonfig,
If you are having issues with the external display settings on your MacBook Pro, it may be worth going throught the following article, in particular the portion about resetting the SMC and PRAM:
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1573
Cheers,
- Brenden

MacBook Pro to my external monitor

How do I hook up my MacBook Pro to my external monitor if I don't have an HDMI connection or a DVI connection port on my laptop?

Of course! some of the adapters can be purchased at best buy but are usually kind of expensive. I saw an HDMI adapter at Home Depot the other day for $7 which is a good deal.
Although, im not even sure if youre in the U.S., so this information be irrelevant to you anyway haha.

MacBook Air 2008 detects external monitor while not connected to one

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