MBP and Display issue

John_V85 · 6 Apr 2008 at 22:29

Hi

Any help with the below would be greatly appreciated.

I run 30" Cinema Display of my MBP which usually sits on a shelf of the desk with the lid closed. To activate the display i use a key or click of the external mouse/keyboard which brings it out of sleep.

However, this weekend i took the laptop away and on plugging it back in now the display will appear when brining it out of sleep (click of the external keyboard/mouse), but then the cursor immediately disappears and the screen powers off.

Any suggestions what the problem may be?

Thanks

John

electric ant · 6 Apr 2008 at 22:47

Are you running Leopard, 10.5.2 by any chance?
In that case its a known bug and apple are hopefully getting it fixed for the next update.

thread with more info here http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6986472

John_V85 · 7 Apr 2008 at 17:48

Thanks. That would appear to be the problem. It is possible I updated to this version over the weekend.

Obviously a bit of a hassle. Do you know how long it should take for Apple to produce a fix for this?

Alternatively, is it possible to switch back to an earlier version of Leopard if this is going to persist for a while?

electric ant · 7 Apr 2008 at 18:40

it should be fixed for 10.5.3, which proly will be out in a month or so, as they have started seeding updates for it to developers.

Im not sure how to rollback to earlier versions. i think if you do an Archive and Reinstall option when you insert your leopard disc it takes you back to 10.5, it bascially backs up all your apps and data in the process.

did you try the workaround mentioned in the thread i linked?

"Temporary fix (as noted earlier today) Since this problem generally occurs on notebooks with external displays, one workaround involves the following: Press the power button on your Mac (with external display connected) then immediately shut the lid. Your Mac will continue booting and the external display should show the proper resolutions.

Now, open your Mac's lid and go to System Preferences, then select "Displays" and press the "Detect Displays" button. You may now be able to boot normally with all previously available resolutions."

John_V85 · 7 Apr 2008 at 19:28

Thats a pain. Looks like ill be going out with my display for a month whilst they sort out this balls up. I dont think the fix mentioned specificaly relates to my problem, but will give it go.

electric ant · 8 Apr 2008 at 22:55

Run software update on your MBP, theres a new firmware update which may solve your external monitor problem.

report back if it helps.

John_V85 · 10 Apr 2008 at 11:47

Only had the option of a firmware update for the keyboard, which unsurpisingly didn't solve the display issue. The work-around I have at the moment is to have the lid open sufficiently for the screen not to go off. It still fits under on the desk's shelf, so no real usability issue at the moment; just a little annoying.

Thanks for the suggestions though - your help is appreciated.