My MacBook Air (Late 2010) won't detect an external monitor.

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Level 1

34 points

My MacBook Air (Late 2010) won't detect an external monitor.

I'm not really sure if this is a hardware or a software problem. I connect my MBA to my 42" RCA HDTV with a MiniDP-HDMI adapter. Before I installed OS X 10.7.2 it worked fine, never had a problem with it. After installing the update for some reason it just won't detect the display. I've tried pressing the "Detect Displays" option in Preferences, resetting PRAM and SMC, unplugging the all cables and powercycling both my Air and the TV and nothing seems to work. The weird thing is, my MBA screen turns blue like it usually does but when it comes back, nothing happens on the TV. I know the HDMI cable and the HDMI port on my TV are working because it's the same port/cable I use to hook up my 360. That's what makes me think it might be a bug in the software. If anyone's got any suggestions or any advice, it'd be greatly appreciated.

-Matt

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 15, 2011 11:22 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

guyha

Level 1

10 points

Oct 15, 2011 12:16 PM in response to matthewmacd

I'm having the same problem after installing 10.7.2 on my MBA. Worked fine just before install.

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Answer 2

matthewmacd Author

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34 points

Oct 16, 2011 7:45 PM in response to guyha

Good to know I'm not the only one heh. Now let's just hope they can find a fix for it.

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Answer 3

matthewmacd Author

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34 points

Oct 18, 2011 7:14 AM in response to guyha

I'm curious, have you, or anyone else, found a fix for this yet? It's so irritating not being able to watch my movies on my big screen.

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Answer 4

guyha

Level 1

10 points

Oct 18, 2011 9:04 PM in response to matthewmacd

I had a Genious Bar appointment today on this subject after a tech support phone call that failed to correct it. The only solution that worked was to switch from a mini display/hdmi cable to a mini display/vga cable. The Tech at the Apple store suggested it is something that will have to be corrected with an update to 10.7

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Answer 5

Oct 21, 2011 11:53 AM in response to matthewmacd

Since updating to 10.7.2 both my 2011 Air and older MacBook have this problem...both worked on the external TV flawlessly on 10.7.1 - it's obviously a software issue (I wish I had never updated). 😢

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Answer 6

matthewmacd Author

Level 1

34 points

Oct 21, 2011 12:29 PM in response to Emmet Smyth

It's good and bad to hear these replies. Good to know that it's not just me and that my TV and Air are fine but a pain to hear that it's a major software issue. And thanks for that info guyha about how I could get it working but it's kind of ridiculous to have to go out and buy something else for this $2000 machine. I guess I'll just wait it out but hopefully it'll be resolved very soon.

-Matt

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Answer 7

Oct 22, 2011 3:32 PM in response to matthewmacd

Yeah, I'm having the same exact problem - It seems that the thunderbolt minidisplay port is only able to output the analog VGA signal, not the digital signal to support DVI and HDMI. This is a bug that came up after installing 10.7.1. I bought my macbook air with 10.7 on it, upgraded it to 10.7.1 as soon as I got it, so I have never been able to use hdmi or dvi with my macbook air. This is an extremely frustrating problem for me, I used HDMI on a daily basis with my PC. I have spent many hours at the genius bar running diagnostic tests so Apple can get as much information as possible to create a fix for this problem. I have been emailing tech support for 3 or so weeks now, they keep saying that they are working on a fix and it should be out soon, but 10.7.2 has come and gone and I still have no HDMI functionality with my MacBook Air!

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Answer 8

matthewmacd Author

Level 1

34 points

Oct 22, 2011 10:06 PM in response to matthewmacd

So I'm a little confused as to what's just happened but I may have found a fix for our little... "situation" here. I was just sitting here at 2:00 AM and for whatever reason it may be, I decided to try something new. I noticed that whenever the HDMI cable was connected, clicking the "Detect Displays" button would do nothing. I'm not really sure what made me try this but I pressed the "Detect Displays" button before I plugged my HDMI>MiniDP and guess what. I've got picture on my TV! I'm not really sure if that step is even what helped solve the problem but it's the only different thing I've done. So for everyone out there, please try it and get back to me, let me and everyone else know if this is the fix!

-Matt

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Answer 9

Oct 22, 2011 10:15 PM in response to matthewmacd

Sorry --- I tried it and nothing changed for me. But that's great if it works for you!

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Answer 10

matthewmacd Author

Level 1

34 points

Oct 22, 2011 10:28 PM in response to ciarafromaustin

Ciara, this is just a thought but I think your problem might actually be your computer. You say it hasn't worked since you bought it. I know you said you updated to 10.7.1 "as soon as you got it" but did you try plugging it into your HDMI device while it was still in 10.7 or do you literally mean, updated right out of the box? I ask this because I'm pretty sure everyone else in here had their's going right up until the 10.7.2 update. I know I for one had it working flawlessly in 10.7 and 10.7.1. I think you should get yours checked out at either an Apple Retail store or one of the AASP's because you could have a defective machine.

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Answer 11

J Graham

Level 1

0 points

Oct 23, 2011 7:48 AM in response to matthewmacd

I'm having the same issue trying to connect to external Dell montors. I tried various orders of connecting yesterday, and it finally worked, but the same today produced nothing. I'm totally frustrated with not being able to get a response from Apple.

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Answer 12

Oct 27, 2011 1:13 AM in response to matthewmacd

thanks for all the ideas but I just wasted two evenings trying them all and more and getting nowhere with my new to me macbook air late 2010 and the tv, and I am so ****** off at apple right now because I wanted to watch all the scary halloween movies from netflix on the tv screen, which worked great with my old macbook. I have been a mac user since the 80s and this may be the stupidist move they have made in a while, more like a move microsoft would make, releasing software that won't do what it was meant to do, apple and I are not a stable relationship at this point!! I guess now I have to buy a roku, crap.😠

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