MBP13‘3 and External Monitor Problem (screen goes pink/ laptop hangs)

Hmm thats interesting because i have been running with an external wired keyboard from day one and still had this problem.

I just made the same test as well. I plugged both external monitor and wired keyboard. It crashed anyway (after roughly 2 hours).

Well i was frustrated with this problem so i tried everything possible, cleaning the ram modules, resetting the nvram, smc and at last i turned off the bluetooth and strangely enough the problem didn't occur again. It's been two days with no crashes, hope it stays that way.

That's the most encouraging reply so far. I hope they meant it. Is "keep an eye on software update" a quote?

Yes, "keep an eye on software update" was indeed a quote.

The literal (Dutch) text was:

Het probleem is inderdaad in onderzoek op het moment, ik kan u alleen verzoeken om de software update regelmatig in de gaten te houden en/of onze Apple Support website.

We are experiencing this issue only on our most recent shipment of MBP 13". We've got ~ 50 MBP running our image without issue, but these last 3 laptops will lock up randomly -- even with a fresh install.

It only seems to occur when plugged into an external display -- sometimes it's fine for more than an hour, other times it only takes 5 or 10 minutes. One of the displays usually turns pink or gray.

I need to explain to our users why their macs keep randomly freezing. It makes them question if Macs are the right choice for our business. I firmly believe so if it wasn't for this issue.


This error shows up in the console log consistently before the crash:
<Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.


I've spent all this week rebuilding our images and trying to hash it out through software preferences. Three trips to the apple store have yielded no results -- a couple techs told me my Snow Leopard build number was incorrect, but we have the same results even with their image.

Hope apple is working on a fix

I contacted Apple Hotline about this issue (as stated in my previous post) and was connected to Australia. The engineer on the line did like he wasn't aware about this problem which I strongly doubt. Anyway and to make it short, I contacted them last week Thursday (Oct. 7th 2010) and they told me they will call me back early next week. Well, it is Wednesday now and still no call. The MacBook Pro 13" is nor freezing almost every 5 minutes when connected to an external monitor. The customer returned it to me and I sit on that faulty device now having Apple still not making any decision as to whether I can return it or not or they can offer a fix. I am sure it's the same issue as with the 15" and 17" models but why the 13" doesn't get an update? And as the previous poster mentioned, it is just the newest line of these 13" MacBook Pro's which are affected. And even there not all. I have 2 Units here, 1 is working. The other one has been exchanged once already. Still same issue. Pretty sad how slowly Apple responds on that issue.

I just purchased a MacBook Pro this last weekend. While I'm working using my external monitor suddenly the external monitor will only display snow. The MacBook display is fine but only shows the desktop. I got the external monitor to work by shutting it off and back on again but this is now happening more frequently. How do I report this to Apple?

Well, I don't like to tempt providence, but since I switched from using Airport to using Ethernet for my LAN connection, the problem has not recurred. That's a whole week using an external monitor with no system hangs.
Is this coincidence or has anyone else noticed this?

That will teach me a lesson. It's hung again. Nice shades of pink and green this time. Oh well. The man at Apple said they would take it back and look it if I had the problem again, so back to Apple it will have to go.

Hey, i didn't switch the airport off instead i switched the bluetooth off and it's working for me, i know it's totally absurd but what the heck it's working.

OK, Lord Sumptuous, I tried your trick of plugging in a network cable and my machine crashed within an hour! So that's too bad, would have been nice to be able to tell Apple a possible cure for them to pursue.

Fez 27, I could not try your trick since I have only bluetooth mouse and keyboard for external use. I really like the bluetooth devices and I think it would be a shame to have to give them up and buy wired units. Still, if what you are doing works out, it would be good to be able to tell Apple and maybe that would provide them with some lead that might help them identify the problem once and for all.

I have the same problem when im at work.

Connected to a HP (DVI) monitor my mac crashes as described above.
When im at home connected to a Samsung (DVI) monitor it works all night.

Is this issue know to you? Could it be something with the type of DVI is? (DVI-I, DVI-D of DVI-A) Im using the same adapter at work and at home.

I would like to hear your idea's about this.

Hopes this get solved soon!

another interesting thing i already mentioned:

i brought my 13" mbp to my local dealer and they tested it for 3 days.
it was a little lack of communication so they put an imac 27" on and used the build in display as a external screen. it didn`t crash during these time.
mbp and imac are connected directly via mini-display cable, without any adapters.

i tried to connect my external display with a mini-display - dvi cable without using the apple adapter.. it worked the whole day, but in the end it crashed again...

but as far as i know, no crash when you put an imac as external display on.

Message was edited by: blackmade

Macbook Pro, was having trouble with cheap knock off MDP to DVI convertor with crappy 19" television as second monitor. Tested with same adapter and 20" LCD monitor, still froze up. Bought Apple adapter, using 20" Dell monitor at new job, and problem went away, for a day and a half.

I have tried all the suggestions listed, and some seem to help, but it feels random. My experience was that booting up with Bluetooth turned off, then turning it on and pairing my wireless keyboard and Magic Touchpad yielded a day of heavy use with no lock-ups. This morning I turned it on and just let it re-connect, and it went 6 hours but then froze up, just as before. I will contact Apple support again tomorrow, who have been extremely helpful thus far.

As an aside, with no external monitor plugged in, using no external peripherals, I have NEVER had a lockup. I have noticed a repeating issue where the monitor will dim, the backlight on the keyboard will go out, until I hit another key or touch the touchpad. It will happen even seconds after my last input, not seeming to have anything to do with sleep or screen saver. Anyone else notice this in combination with this dis-heartening lockup?