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

I have a MacBook Air 11" with a 24 inch external display (first a Samsung, but have since switched to an HP). I have a similar problem where I occasionally wake from sleep and the external screen looks like static from an old analog TV. Unplugging the miniDisplayPort Adapter always seems to clear it up. Sometimes typing in my password (from the screen saver) kicks it back into the right mode. Since this followed me between two different manufacturers of external monitors, it's got to be something with the computer itself, or something in the minidisplayport to DVI cable to the monitor.

well.... I found the right thread, i guess!

I have a mid-2010 13" MacbookPro, works perfectly, just bought the AOC 2343F 23" external display and hooked it up, with no problem, via Mini Displayport to DVI-D. First day its plugged in, the screen randomly freezes and turns a steady blue at least 5 times, and my Macbook screen also turns a steady blueish-white and won't respond at all. Sometimes 5 mins, sometimes hours before this happens. My only solution is to turn it off via the power button and back on again. This is annoying, to say the least, and downright detrimental if I have not immediately saved whatever I was working on.

I don't have an external keyboard so right so I work with my laptop screen open and use the laptop keyboard to type. I have a bluetooth mouse which I use to navigate. Also - I use Ethernet LAN, no airport.

I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences. I don't live near an Apple store (I'm not sure there is even one in my state) so I would undoubtably have gone quite mad trying to figure out what the problem is. Now at least I am aware there is a known issue. Being more of a pro-sumer than a techie, I'm afraid I don't have any insight on this issue, but if I find a solution, I will gladly post it here.

In the meantime I am saving my work every 2 minutes.

I experience the same problem but I must say it wasn't immediate. I am using a mini-display port to DVI-D connecting my 13inch MBP (late 2010) to a Dell 23inch Ultrasharp. Had this setup for about 2 months and one day, the MBP screen went blue and the Dell went pink. MBP hanged and was forced to hard reboot. Thereafter, I have problem getting the Dell screen to work properly.

Tried many methods from forums, PRAM, Safe Mode, resetting permissioning and nothing works. So the last I tried was to downgrade from latest 10.6.7 to 10.6.3 which came shipped with my MBP. Everything works great until I updated to 10.6.6 Combo just to check if the 10.6.7 was the culprit. Dead wrong. 10.6.6 gave the same issue.

So I downgraded again to 10.6.3 from 10.6.6 but this time round, matters got worst. 10.6.3 now don't work anymore. I plan to erase and reinstall 10.6.3 from scratch and see if that works. Hope that this will make my external monitor works again, until there is a confirmation that this is fixed; via 10.6.8 or the new Lion OS X which will be revealed today.

Hi all,

Another one here. Symptoms:

Hardware: Macbook Pro 15" mid 2010 (2.53 Ghz i5)

Setup: Connected to Dell 22" monitor via adapter to DVI.

Event: After 20 minutes to 4 hours (randomly) displays both go black
and system stays powered on. Today I started up TeamViewer and

SSH login and noticed that both SSH, teamviewer and ping fail when

this happens so it's definitely more than just a display issue.

(I had assumed this already because the power button + enter to

try to shut down via the OS also don't work when this happens.)

So guess it's time to see a genius and try to convince him....

I also experienced this issue.

Machine: 2010 13" MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Model Identifier: MacBookPro7,1), connected to display via mini display port to DVI adapter. All system updates were current (10.6.7, etc.)

General symptom: after being plugged in to an external monitor in extended desktop mode, the machine would eventually get in a state where each of the two screens had a solid color on them. Colors were usually pink and white, but seemed to be dependent on what was on the screen at the time (pink and white are prominent in the standard Mac OS desktop background, which is when I saw those colors). Nothing seemed to resolve the issue other than shutting down and restarting the machine (tried reconnecting the mini display port. What applications were running, etc. seemed to have no bearing (saw the issue once on the login screen and several times in Finder with no other applications running). Symptoms occurred anywhere from 5 minutes to and hour and half after connecting the display. Typically within 20 minutes though.

Some notes:

- We have three identical machines at our office and this issue was only happening on one of them.

- Issue did not reproduce with every monitor in our office (issue did not seem to occur with smaller monitors), but reproduced with most of the larger monitors in our office including 3 identical Samsung SyncMaster B2430 a Samsung SyncMaster B2330 and a Dell widescreen monitor.

Our machine is covered under AppleCare so I contacted Apple by phone and made arrangements to mail the machine in for service. Unfortunately, the repair facility could not reproduce the issue, so they returned it back to us without doing any work assuring me that the machine was up to specification.

The issue still occurred after I received it back, so I took the machine into an Apple Store and they checked it in for repair. Though the Genius suggested they would likely replace the logic board, I got a call next day saying they weren't able to reproduce. The representative that I spoke to initially suggested that the problem was with our display, but once I explained we had no less than five different displays that produced the problem as well as a few that did not, he asked me to bring my monitor into the store.

So I carted a monitor that had been connected to the macine into the Apple Store. The issue did not reproduce in the 10 minutes that I was with the Genius, but based on the troubleshooting I had already done and described to him, he felt it was safe to conclude the machine needed the logic board replaced (which has the GPU integrated) so he put in an order to have that done. He apologized for me having to bring my monitor into the store.

I received the machine back on Monday night. It has now been running for over 24 hours straight without any issue.

So, my advice to anyone who is having this issue, be persistent in seeking support, the issue can be difficult to reproduce since it does not happen with all displays. You may want to start by pointing Apple to this thread and politely suggesting you may need a new logic board if you have a similar machine with the same exact symptoms.

I've been having this problem for a few months now. Specs below:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro7,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Boot ROM Version: MBP71.0039.B0B

I ended up bringing the machine in to the Apple store and after describing the problem they said they would replace the logic board. Very nice customer service. It was just barely still under warranty so thankfully there was no charge.

Only problem is that the problem still persists. :-P It only seems to crash while connected to an external display, but I am almost always on an external display as doing development in xcode on a 13" display is not very fun. :-P

NOTE: This happens for me on two different monitors (Samsung 245bw and an asus 24" monitor...don't have access to the model # right now). This also occurs regardless of whether I use a VGA, DVI, or HDMI adapter. It has crashed with all three. Furthermore, my DVI and HDMI adapters have since stopped working after several crashes so now I'm only left with a VGA one. Will try getting another DVI adapter from the Apple store tonight.

But, needless to say, this is VERY frustrating.

Stuckj,

With the number of people who have reported this issue, I suspect that there have been some quality control problems with the manufacturing of the logic boards for these units. Assuming your symptoms are the same as the ones I described and most other people in the thread described (solid color fills both screens including the laptop's display, machine needs to be rebooted), it sounds to me like you may have gotten a second logic board which is bad, in which case you should seek additional support from the Apple Store ASAP (since your machine is almost out of warranty). If the issue is impacting the laptop screen, it can't be the result of an issue with your DVI adapter. If that was the problem, the issue should be limited to the external display.

Unfortunately, it was within days of the end of the warranty when I had it repaired and it has since lapsed. I believe the repair itself has a 90 limited warranty so I may try again anyway. But, given that this is my only laptop that I can do iOS development on, it's tough to give it up for a day or more. The possibilty that I got another faulty board doesn't really instill confidence though. 🙂

has anyone tried Lion yet---i've been having the external monitor problem and thinking of upgrading to see if it persists.

Yes, I updated yesterday to Lion and I still get the freezes with a grey internal and white external screen.

I'm using a MacBook Pro 13,3 2010 with a Dell 2209WA as extended desktop.

It's definitely a logicboard issue. After I got the logicboard of my MBP (mid 2010) changed at the AASP, this problem never occurred again.

Ditto that - take it in (hopefully under warranty) and you'll be set...

Thanks for the hint. I'll go to AASP soon. A month ago I just prolonged the warranty to 3 years

If only I bought Applecare... I didn't have this problem under Snow Leopard. Now I'm running Lion 10.7 ... is this a factor?

I connected to a video projector and within a few minutes: pink & blue screen. (I can tell it's still running, etc.). Thankfully, I had an older laptop to run the presentation, but what do I do now with it a few months beyond warrantee?

The irony is... The "older laptop" was one of the models plagued by the nvidia suit (and eventually repaired). After owning or using most Mac models, having two back to back with video probs is quite the coincidence. Maybe these nvidia GPUs aren't the best...

Jon

MBP 13" April 2010, 2.4GHz.

my model is MBP15' (mid 2010 model), ha, recently i have to use it for presentation,

so i got the vga adapter, and i have this problem (green / pink) crashes when connecting to projector / external display

strange thing is, it's ok only when i hard-restart my MBP.... and of course, the problem occurs next time when i connect to project

i am afraid the warrantly is one year only, not sure if it's hardware or video RAM issues.... :-(