Macbook Pro 2.4 Won't Wake From Sleep

Question

I know quite a few people are having this problem. More than half the time when I try to wake my Mac from sleep, it refuses to wake. The keyboard will light up, the Airport connects, and the volume controls work, it just won't draw the image. The only solution I have found is to do a hard reboot by holding down the power button. Is there any solution to this?

Answer 1

When I am at home I've so far always been able to cure this by plugging in my external monitor and then hitting Fn-F7 twice.
Plugging in shows that while my laptop shows nothing on its LCD it is showing content on the monitor.
Once the external screen is plugged in the Mac is happy to take Fn-F7 to switch from the external screen and back to the LCD.
This seems to be related to Detect Displays, an icon for which can be left on the Mac's top line status screen.
MacBook Pro display issue related to "hot-plugging" - Article: 305607 - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305607
Now, none of this is new, and in particular it doesn't help me when this issue is most likely to affect me: when I am away from home.
I've taken to carrying an DVI to VGA adapter with me. Sometimes plugging that in helps, but more often than not it does not. It seems to realise that there is not a monitor at the VGA end of the adapter.
So, I wonder, *is the Mac is smart enough to switch to an external monitor when present, can it be fooled into thinking that there's an S-Video sink?*
Apple sell their:
{quote:title=Apple DVI to Video Adapter}
Use the DVI to Video Adapter to connect the DVI port on a Mac Pro (with ATI X1900 XT), MacBook Pro, or Mac mini to any S-video or Composite enabled device.
http://store.apple.com/ca/product/M9267G/A?mco=MTIxODk3Mw
{quote}
I wonder - while the Mac can see a VGA monitor, surely it can't tell whether there really is a s-video sink? If it can't tell mustn't it obey the Fn-F7 key when this adapter is plugged in?
Just thinking out loud. Maybe someone can try it?