Horrible colors on external monitor using macbook air(2012) with mini dp to hdmi

It does not, I've tried it on 3 different mid 2012 MBA, using 3 different HDMI adapters and the problem is there.

It is clearly not a HW problem as people are reporting it working fine on MBAs with Windows or Linux installed, so no point replacing your MBA.

I know the problem is there, but the person responded that DVI worked on a recent purchase 2012 MBA. Mine was purchased on day one. If the newly produced MBA works over HDMI then replacing mine is a great option.

We just need to know if nordsw has tried it with an HDMI adapter.

Shankie-san, thanks. I have the same Macbook as you (yet purchased in July 2012). I tried connecting it to a monitor at work using minidisplay port to DVI adapter and then directly to monitor using a regular DVI cable. This didn't work - so, while I don't know if the handshake issue occurs, there is a different problem with detection of external screens with HDMI. Do you know if handshake issues occur with DVI as well?

marcinetti, sorry to hear that didn't work for you. The DVI cable sorted it right out.

I don't know for sure if a handshake occurs with DVI, but I assume that it does as HDCP-protected movies play fine using the DVI cable. With the straight DVI cable, I don't seem to have any problems.

Thanks. I guess that I will retry connecting to a monitor with a DVI cable following those steps to remedy the handshake problem:

"If you can't get an image from your laptop to show up on your TV screen, try the following:

1. Try booting up your PC/Laptop with the HDMI cable connected to a TV that is on.

2. You can try booting up the PC/Laptop while the TV is off and then turn on the TV.

3. If the above options don't work, try booting up the PC/Laptop first, and, with the TV on, connect the HDMI cable to both the PC/Laptop and TV. "

(http://hometheater.about.com/od/hometheaterdoityourself/a/How-To-Troubleshoot-Hd mi-Connection-Problems.htm)

That said, I remain pessimistic after all those failed experiments.

Next thing I will try is to go to a local Apple store and ask them to try if HDMI works on the latest Macbooks from September (someone has reported having no problems with a just bought machine) - if the problem with washed out colours will not occur I will ask for a replacement.

Shankie-san, many thanks for your reply.

Which version of Mountain Lion have you got? Since before the update to 10.8.2, I could get the Macbook to work with a screen via VGA, I suspect that the update may be the reason for the non-detection problems.

I don't have BootCamp neither. I will retry talking to Apple again about this.

I just bought a brand new MacBook Air this week. And I'm using it with an external monitor. I've got the same issues as mentioned by the OP and other posters in this thread: light greys are not visible, and contrasts are bad.

I use an Apple mini DispayPort to VGA adapter cable and a samsung monitor. The MBA is up-to-date (latest OS). I keep the lid of the MBA closed, the external screen resolution is set to it's native resolution. Calibration and resetting PRAM and stuff did not help.

The screen on the external monitor looks great on my old (windows) laptop which also has a DisplayPort (and uses a DisplayPort to VGA adapter).

I called Apple today. After trying some stuff and trying to isolate the problem I got the answer that my external monitor probably isn't compatible enough with Apple. I should try and use/find a monitor that is compatible.

Is there a solution already? Will there be in the future? If not, I'm planning on returning the MBA to the store, I can't work with it like this.

Hey Enumans,

Short answer: There is no solution to this problem.

You can use DVI and VGA, but if you want fully functioning HDMI with sound you simply can't do it (unless you work in Windows in Bootcamp).

I spent about 3 weeks going through the issue in detail with a senior advisor who was liaising with the engineers (luckily no one suggested anything as lame as the monitor being incompatible!). The end result - there was definitely a firmware problem but the engineer could not say when or if it would be addressed.

I therefore sent the Air back for a refund - spending £1,250 on what should be a first-rate ultra-portable without properly functioning support for external displays (which I use at work and home) was in my view frankly, ridiculous.

Went back to using my old Pro, which works beautifully with all displays.

I'll bide my time and maybe get the next generation which hopefully won't have the same issue.

Very poor show on Apple's part though. There is simply no excuse for not picking up this kind of issue during testing.

Hi guys,

Have two mid 2012 MBA's (11 and 13") and Philips 22" monitors (227E3LHSU), Moshi MD to HDMI adapter and HDMI cables: same problem with washed out colours until this week. Now latest mac OS update (10.8.2) and EFI firmware update 2.5 solved the problem: have cristal clear image, natural colours and sound now...

Hope this solves the problem for all of you too 🙂

I have an macbook pro just bought it very end of Aug. I already have 10.8.2, but The only EFI firmware update supposedly for my computer , my computer is saying "this software is not supported on your computer" when I tried to download it...?

THE UPGRADES DON'T WORK FOR ME:

MBA 11" mid-2012 (bought July 2012)

Samsung SA350 22" monitor

Cablesson miniDP to HDMI cable

Os: 10.8.2 (latest - even with the supplementary stuff that came out after 10.8.2 first released)

Firmware: the latest

Are you sure that you are seeing this properly? The test I use is to go to the Apple Store and look at the Cable Accessories. See the 30-pin to USB cable, or the Digital AV Adapter - you can't really see the cable parts of it. Drag the same images to your laptop screen and they appear.

I'm sure other members of this thread would confirm if they saw the problem solved - perhaps it's just your cable that works now - in the absence of an Apple cable the Moshi looks to be their standard. Can anyone confirm this?

I think Apple would have said, as part of the updates, if it affected Graphics. They didn't. I really hope they are still working on it. I logged a support case which I now see was closed the day I logged it (Aug 21st) by the support engineer in question. I've just emailed to find out why, when it clearly isn't solved.

I did some tests on 2 other external monitors (different brands). They where connected using the Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter cable. Both had the same issues.

I also hooked up an Apple Cinema Display 27", without any problems. (In this case the mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter was not needed.)

This leads me to believe that the Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter cable is not functioning optimally. (Though I can't find any other reports of this online.)

I tried a second (identical) Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter cable, but the same problems occur. I'll see if I can do another test with an adapter from another manufacturer. I hope that helps and solves the issues.

i've been in apple store in amsterdam... guy working there told me that he has the same problem and does not care about it because he only watches movies on separate display and in that case image is ok for him... they could not do anything and suggested to spam apple support with applications about this problem to motivate apple be care about compatibility with "nonapple" devices

p.s: i was VERY disappointed that nobody in that huge shop has any deep technical knowledge about compatibility of their products with other devices (bluetooth file sharing was also the problem without any solution)

jovry wrote:

Hi guys,

Have two mid 2012 MBA's (11 and 13") and Philips 22" monitors (227E3LHSU), Moshi MD to HDMI adapter and HDMI cables: same problem with washed out colours until this week. Now latest mac OS update (10.8.2) and EFI firmware update 2.5 solved the problem: have cristal clear image, natural colours and sound now...

Hope this solves the problem for all of you too 🙂

Tried the same, doesn't work for me. EFI 2.5 is not even applicable for this model/OS. How did you update it?

enumans wrote:

I just bought a brand new MacBook Air this week. And I'm using it with an external monitor. I've got the same issues as mentioned by the OP and other posters in this thread: light greys are not visible, and contrasts are bad.

I use an Apple mini DispayPort to VGA adapter cable and a samsung monitor. The MBA is up-to-date (latest OS). I keep the lid of the MBA closed, the external screen resolution is set to it's native resolution. Calibration and resetting PRAM and stuff did not help.

The screen on the external monitor looks great on my old (windows) laptop which also has a DisplayPort (and uses a DisplayPort to VGA adapter).

I called Apple today. After trying some stuff and trying to isolate the problem I got the answer that my external monitor probably isn't compatible enough with Apple. I should try and use/find a monitor that is compatible.

Is there a solution already? Will there be in the future? If not, I'm planning on returning the MBA to the store, I can't work with it like this.

After some extended testing I found that the problem (my problem) is caused by the Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA adpater. The output of this adapter is not quite good enough. (I tested 2 of them.) I did some replacements with 2 other adapters (HP and ICIDU) and the problems were gone in both cases.