MacBook Pro w/ Retina External Display Issues

itorres1 wrote:

I have recently noticed that the problem only occurs with the thunderbolt port closer to the charger, and not the one further away.

switching fixed my issue as well.

Thanks for the helpful info. The PRAM reset worked for me. My external monitor is connected via MiniDisplayPort-to-DisplayPort, and initally all I got was two black screens (MBP and external monitor) with the cursor. I left everything connected and turned on, reset the PRAM and I'm good to go.

Consider yourself lucky. I've not been able to get anything to work consistently.

If I go from MDP to DP or HDMI to HDMI then the display turns on, but the colors are all screwed up and none of the text renders correctly. It's all chunky and weird.

If I go from HDMI to DVI, colors and text render correctly but there are often times where my monitor claims it's not receiving a signal and simply doesn't show any image. Usually I go through a 45 minute dance where I unplug things, restart a bunch of times, reset PRAM, and eventually it starts to work.

This is incredibly annoying especially since my 2009 MBP didn't have any of these problems. I just plugged in and got to work.

My external monitor is connected with a thunderbolt to DVI connector. (Samsung Syncmaster 22 inch)

It only wakes up at the thunderbold-port which is FURTHER away from the power cable. The thunderbold port which is CLOSER to the power cable does not work well.

I think Apple should clearly work on the MacBook Pro Retina ports.

OMG, you are so right. The problem is much diminished on the port away from power port.

I would not say that problem goes away, but becomes much less irritable.

Still Windows win here.

Thank you.

Did I say, shame on Apple? No wonder Apple stock took a hit. This product is only for fools now!

Lost the edge, going RETRO!

Hi, here an interesting feedback on the issue above:

I brought my MBP retina to my mac dealer in Basel / Switzerland. They replaced the MOTHERBOARD and the SCREEN at the drop of a hat. No hazzle. They agreed that there was something wrong. It took about 3 working days. Now my MBP retina runs smoothly without the ghosting and without the thunderbold issue.

To the kind shop guys I pointed out that I wanted a Samsung Retina display, not the problematic LG. And they made sure I got the right one.

So, yes I had a problem with my MBP retina but it was swiftly solved by my apple store.

Hi captain_haddock,

Not sure which issue you are talking about. They replaced SCREEN on External Monitor?

mind, this issue is only with running external 3rd party (Dell etc) monitor, nothing to do with internal monitor.

After so many months, Apple still can not resolve the issue. Shame!

Hi AndroidUser

here is what I meant: Apple replaced both the screen as well as the motherboard of my MBP retina.

My external monitor is unchanged. It wakes up correctly now. I.e. only after they exchanged the motherboard = new thunderbold ports.

In summary, my original MBP was disingetrated and only the aluminum outside plus hard drive are still from my original (faulty) MBP.

Hi All,

I do have an update to this. The outcome is good but not sure what fixed it. Here are the steps I took.

Here is my setup: 2 external Dell monitors (Lovely monitors, BTW!) that I used with my windows machine previously.

I got new rMBP and one DVI adapter.

- First, I plugged in the DVI adapter to the port closer to the charging port, the external monitor looked horrible.

After a couple days, I found the workaround listed in this tread and plugged the adapter in the port away from the charging port, the display is much better (not fake image looking, fonts look normal)

- Then I plugged in the HDMI to another monitor. Again, the display was same horrible. Then I thought, may be I should borrow a co-workers USB->DVI adapter to see if that looks good.

(Now, this may be turning point).

In order to use his Diamond (DisplayLink certified) adapter, I had to install the driver.

The second external monitor now looked good, same as the other DVI one. However there was lag when I moved windows around.

- Then, I received my another DVI adapter. so I added that one to the mDP closer to the charging port (while the original away port already had first monitor plugged in). Viola...that one works fine too.

- Now if I removed the first monitor (port away from charging port) leaving hte second monitor plugged in the port that is close to the charging port, display is still good.

So, there. Not sure what fixed the issue. It might as well be the DisplayLink driver? Or something else changed? Whatever that may be, the issue is now resloved on my piece.

has anyone bought a 27" external display for their new Retina MBP that works?

exact same setup as AndroidUser, but I have not noticed any difference in the image quality between the two ports, but I have always had two external monitors. I doubt the DisplayLink driver made any difference, but just wanted to comment that I tried a similar driver based USB to VGA adaptor that had a refresh lag. It also caused other problems, like a jerky mouse when using Windows in Parallels VM. Had to remove the driver.

As for the OP and display wake after sleep, I had this issue until I turned off the "put hard disks to sleep when possible" in the Energy Saver control panel. Found this solution in another post. No need to sleep a SSD anyway.

I'm having a similiar issue with my 2013 Macbook Pro with Retina 15''. I'm running OS X 10.9.1 with 16 gig of RAM.

I recently bought an external monitor to use when working in Logic Pro X. It's an Acer 230HL. Everyone once in a while, seemingly at random, the display will go black for a few seconds and then come back on with a snowy screen. I can't tell if the issue is with my Macbook or with the monitor. Any ieas regarding how to approach troubleshooting this?

Great! that fix my problem. thanks a lot.

Also worked for me! Thanks a lot!