Ellyenne

Q: How can I force my display to mirror with a broken screen?

2008 Mac Book Pro, dead screen.  I've attached a Dell monitor, and I can use that.  BUT, I cannot force them to mirror because once I open the Mac to get control panel with the mirror button, the external display goes blank.  All the preference controls are on the dark screen. 

Is there any way to force the mirror?  Can anyone provide a terminal command to do it?

Thanks,

Ellen

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Dec 17, 2015 9:06 PM

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Q: How can I force my display to mirror with a broken screen?

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  • by steve359,

    steve359 steve359 Dec 17, 2015 9:56 PM in response to Ellyenne
    Level 6 (14,032 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 9:56 PM in response to Ellyenne

    Try Clamshell mode How to use your Mac notebook computer in closed-clamshell (display closed) mode with an external display - Apple Suppor…... external mouse and external display do all the work, the system is "closed".

     

    Is it worth paying Apple to fix the display or is "clamshell mode" enough"?  Try it and see.

  • by Ellyenne,

    Ellyenne Ellyenne Dec 18, 2015 10:46 AM in response to steve359
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 18, 2015 10:46 AM in response to steve359

    No, this didn't help me.  The article is wrong.  It says that once you have added the display, you can open the clamshell and both screens will work (in Lion).  That's NOT true.  When I  opened the clamshell, the external monitor reverted to the 2nd screen, and there is nothing there.  For some reason my displays were not mirrored.

    I couldn't mirror them, because when I went to display preferences, only the external screen was detected.  If I opened the clamshell, the preferences moved to the dark screen.  That's the problem I posted about.

     

    I solved this problem by hunting down and installing an old copy of SecondBar.  Apple added this option to Mavericks, and the developer stopped selling it, but it was lurking in a upload site.  Virus checked, installed.  And, the menu bar showed up on my external screen even when it was the 2nd screen. 

    I was then able to open the clamshell, but launch preferences FROM THE EXTERNAL screen which allowed me to mirror the monitors.

    So now at least I can leave the clamshell open (a bit) to keep it cooler.  Also, use FaceTime.