MacBook Pro 2011 Won't Detect External Dell Display

I have a brand new 2011 MacBook Pro, 17" that I use with a 24" Dell E248WFP monitor. I purchased a Moshi HDMI to DVI adapter, and at first everything worked fine--I would use the MBP with the lid closed, everything would show up on the display, and everyone was happy. Then I disconnected my MBP one day and took it somewhere, and when I came back I couldn't get the external display to connect. But then I tried some things and it did. The next time I disconnected my MBP from the display I had problem again, but after 10 minutes of fiddling around it finally worked again.
Over time, I found that different things would work, but not consistently. That is, sometimes I could merely click on "detect displays" and that would fix the problem. Other times I would put the computer to sleep, then shut the lid and move the external mouse or press a key on the external keyboard, and that would work. Sometimes if I just left it alone for a half hour I would come back and the external monitor would suddenly work for no apparent reason. But it was rarely consistent. What worked one time would not work the next.
This week, I went somewhere with my MBP, and when I came home I couldn't get it to connect. I have now been trying to fix this for two days and although I have tried hundreds of things I can't get the monitor to connect. Yes, the monitor is on. Yes, the monitor works otherwise and appears to be in fine functioning order.
I have tried restarting, resetting PRAM, shutting down, starting up with the monitor unplugged and then plugging it in, starting up with the monitor plugged in, shutting the lid while restarting, not shutting the lid while restarting, putting the MBP to sleep and then shutting the lid and then pressing a key on the external keyboard (it wakes up my MBP but nothing comes up on the external monitor), I've verified that the internal and discreet graphic modes are both working, and many other things. I have no idea what else to try, but I do know it doesn't seem to be working.
What I have not tried is connecting the MBP to a different monitor, but given that I already had problems before wherein the monitor would work, not work, work, not work, etc., I'm inclined to believe it's a software issue with the MBP, as opposed to any hardware problem with the monitor, although I suppose it could be something with the MBP.
I've examined many other threads from people seeming to have this problem, except none of them seem to have run into such a dead end as I have. And while I would love to have an excuse to buy a 27" Mac display for $1,000, I'd also love to have an excuse not to. If anyone has more things I can try to fix this, please let me know.

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!
^_^

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    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.
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    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?
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    ^_^

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