Q: After rotating my main display 180 degrees -> display preferences do not let mew in again
After connecting my Mac book pro 13 retina (Yosemite 10.10.2) to an oculus I had to rotate my screen 180 degrees (don't ask why). I did this with the special trick in the preferences pane for displays by holding the command and option key down and clicking on displays. After using the external and internal devices I wanted to go back to normal mode. My first try when clicking the displays button in the preferences pane showed the alert 'Could not open display preferences pane'.
From now i was locked into upside down mode. In the following you can find the characteristics about the special situation and my tries to get rid of them. Now about 8 hours in happily reading upside down. Please I need help.
Characteristics:
+ when restarting the login window is not upside down
+ after logging in, a bit before half of the loading time it switches to upside down
+ when creating a guest user, it is upside down there two
+ logging into the secured guest account (safari mode) it is not upside down!!!
Tryouts and fails:
+ Restart
+ SMC restart (shift + control + command + restart)
+ PRAM restart (shift + command + R + P)
+ I tried this cause they have the same prompt
+ and there solutions
+ after contacting apple numerous times I deleted all com.applename.plist files and restart -> nothing
+ going into the system library and deleting the com-apple-windowpref or something file -> nothing
+ Apple service guy (he was nice) telling me to restart and reset the OS (command R -> second option) -> after to hours -> nothing
So now I am writing this text upside down and seeking out to the light bulb that could rotate my screen.
I found this little script for the terminal, but it is not supported for my system. Of course I tried.
.
Thank you in advance.
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)
Posted on Apr 3, 2015 8:39 AM
If you restart with the Shift key held to get to Safe Mode, does the screen still display upside down and are you still unable to open the system preferences? If you create a new admin user account and log in to it, does the display flip on you, and are you able to access the system preferences? I know you have removed many plist files per other instructions, but which ones specifically have you tried? If any of the following are not those you have tried, then try removing them (note "~/Library" is your user library, accessed by holding the Option key and choosing Library from the Go menu in the Finder. This is different from /Library--without the tilde--that indicates the library folder directly in Macintosh HD):
- ~/Library > Preferences > com.apple.systempreferences.plist (and any file similarly named)
- ~/Library > Preferences > ByHost > com.apple.windowserver.NUMBER.plist (any file similarly named, where NUMBER is a long string of alpha-numeric characters and dashes)
- /Library > Preferences > com.apple.windowserver.plist
These may be the files you already tried removing (can't tell from your description), but it wont hurt to try again. Follow this by restarting, to see if the problem persists.
Lastly (and only do this if the other options I mentioned show no change), try enabling the root user (see here: Enabling and using the "root" user in OS X - Apple Support) and log in with this account to try opening the system preferences and then making your changes. After doing this, be sure to disable the root user per the instructions on that page, and only use the root account for accessing the system preferences for these changes (the root account is completely unrestricted for all aspects of the system, so it can be dangerous to use beyond specific troubleshooting steps).
Posted on Apr 4, 2015 7:30 AM