Occasional Freezing/Lockup with/2nd display

Everyone reading this thread needs to report their problem to Apple, so hopefully we will not get any more "we have never heard of this problem before" from apple. Also, it would be helpful to enter feedback into:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

Cheers,

Brand

I too am a professor with similar issues. Apple has replaced my logic board but it made no difference. I then spent an hour on the phone and they insisted that the problem is a compatibility issue. They pointed me to a page that shows what display are compatible. Mine is not on the list so I guess I'm SOL as Apple is covering their backsides. The page is here if anyone is interested. http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/monitors.html

I have another workaround, that at least works for me:

Since I have no problem if the mac has seen and external display before I first put it to sleep after a restart, the obvious answer is to always show it one as soon as you turn it on. How do you do this if you don't happen to carry an external display around with you everywhere? Plugging an empty DVI-to-VGA adapter does nothing as the mac know's there's nothing on the end of it. My solution: use DVI-to-Video adapter.

The recipe is this:
Turn MacBook Pro 15" on.
Plug in DVI-to-Video adapter, wait for screen to go blue and change.
Unplug the DVI-to-Video adapter, wait for screen to go blue then back to how you started
Put mac to sleep and wake mac up as many times as you want.
Plug in external VGA device, with no problem.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M92 67G/A

(p.s. This also cures the strange and annoying problem whereby the gamma of my in-built display is completely wrong until an external display has been plugged in and out. I mean completely wrong - so high in fact that no amount of calibration can get it sensible, let alone usable for photo editing. Same as described here- http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83258 )

I wont be very helpful but i just want say that ive been having this problem too. like almost 80% of the time i connect my MBP to a projector it freezes and i have to force power off. I usually have no apps on when i connect to the projector via the vga. However i just want to note that i do have FileVault enabled on one of the accounts on my MBP.

I have had this happen to me twice right before doing a presentation to customers. I was the butt of jokes for my Wintel co-workers.

Unfortunately, my system froze when I hooked up the projector. I had to hit the power button because it was absolutely DEAD. I thought I could do this and have it backup before anyone figured out there was a problem. Unfortunately, it started to boot and it would shut down. I had to postpone my presentation as a result.

It gets worse;)! After dealing with this embarassment, I had to fix the computer! I brought it up in single user mode and the disk would not FSCK. I ran the disk utility off of the installation disk to no avail. I got this message about an "invalid siblings link". I searched Google and saw an article on this from "Disk Warrior". Bottom line it was not looking good. I searched around a bit more and came across the following article:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070204093925888

It has some different options to FSCK that (thank the Lord) worked! It fixed the disk errors!

"Supposedly" you need to plug the DVI-VGA cable into the projector BEFORE you plug it into the computer. BTW, this was on the new MBP (SantaRosa).

This has LITERALLY happened to me 50% of the time right before doing a customer presentation. Honestly, I have no faith in the MBP's ability to NOT FREEZE when connecting into a projector. Judging by the other issues in the forums, it sure seems like there is a problem.

Until fixed, I will pass a USB drive to my Wintel co-workers and use their machines for presentations.

I have also had this problem. It is very frustrating and was not a problem with my 2004 Powerbook. I am now embarrassed to use my MBP for presentations. I hope that there is a fix soon for this! BTW, I do not have FileVault enabled.

let me add my "me too" to keep this topic going; I have had this happen with my SR MBP and have seen it happen with another; total freeze, needs forced shutdown and then very slow reboot (probably running an fsck after the shutdown).

I was going to call Apple tomorrow

And yet another "me too".

I have successfully attached my HD TV directly to the video port without freezing, but whenever I use the VGA adapter it freezes.

Is there an official channel for making this known to Apple?

2.4 GHz MBP 4 GB

This seems to work:

The order for connecting a projector is this:
Turn on projector, plug the vga cable into the dvi-vga cable while its not in the macbook pro... then connect whole converted cable into macbook pro while it is on.

Not pretty, but at least you do not need to reboot!

Same exact problem - I am a college teacher and twice in the first 3 weeks of school, when I connect it to a display projecter, the machine totally locks up. There seems to be no importance to the order of connecting it (the adapter to the projector cord, then to the computer; the adapter to the computer, then to the cord) or anything to do with software, since PPT is the only thing open. I open the computer from sleep, turn off the wireless network, connect it and zsst. Nothing. Someone commented that their '04PB didn't have the same problem - my 2002 Titanium Powerbook NEVER had this problem and I used it in the classroom for 3 years!!!! Which makes me think it is definitely something with the adapter or the stupid new display port they've put in. I'm going to have to bring out my old computer from the mothballs, so why did I spend $2,000 on this new machine?????

This is really annoying me as well...Ditto to all that's been said, aside from the "solution" of plugging in DVI to VGA adapter in a particular order, which I have yet to do. I have tried it from sleep, which someone on another site suggested to the sme lockup.

For the person (or people, I can't remember) who posted the order of connections (projector on->adapter to projector VGA end ->adapter to awake MBP), has it seriously worked for you? I hate when people post solutions that they haven't themselves tried (I'm not assuming you didn't, and your post may say that you have, but still).

Anyways, I hope we get this crap sorted out.

I also have the same issues, and definitely embarassing in front of customers!

It has happened to me a few times, but can’t duplicate the issue at home, etc. It always happens while I am using the DVI-VGA adapter. If I remember correctly, I plug the adapter into my laptop, then the external display into the adapter. When I do this, it doesn’t automatically show up, so I click “Detect Displays”. When I do this, my laptop becomes unresponsive and I have to hold the power button down to force power off then reboot. When I reboot, it comes back up in “Extended Desktop”.

I think I may need to plug the adapter into the external display first, then into my laptop? I called Apple today, and was advised to "shut the lid on my laptop" first! I absolutely love my new MBP, but this one issue could negate all of the value. I do presentations in front of customer all of the time.

I am going to try the recommended order tomorrow to see if I get a different result.

I lecture at NCState, and have used my Powerbook G4 for years on all of their classroom projectors, works great every time. My new MacBook Pro almost always locks up solid on connection, as described above. I have tried every combindation of adapter to VGA, then to MacBook, Adapter to MacBook, then to VGA, Setting screen resolution to 1024 by 768 first, closing the lid first, nothing makes any difference, as soon as it tries to detect the monitor, the computer locks up. I called Apple, they said to reset the memory manager and PRAM. That didnt do anything, as you can imagine.

So I think Ill just continue to use my old Powerbook as my classrom computer. This is just plain silly.

For me, not freezing is the exception rather than the rule when trying to use a 2nd display with the VGA adaptor. The only reliable way I have found to use my 2nd display is to shutdown the MacBook, plug in in the display, and then restart. This is not acceptable solution for me, especially when I had no such problems with my TiBooks after years of use.

{quote:title=astillman wrote:}
This seems to work:
Turn on projector, plug the vga cable into the dvi-vga cable while its not in the macbook pro... then connect whole converted cable into macbook pro while it is on.

{quote}

Alas, no joy -- I tried this and it still froze. Embarassing and time-consuming. No one else in the audience (plenty of whom had MBPs) had ever had the problem...

Andrew