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Since upgrading to Mountain Lion my external cinema display is no longer recognised.

Earlier today I upgraded to Mountain Lion, since doing this system preferences can no longer see my external cinema display monitor. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

Cinema Display-OTHER, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 26, 2012 6:34 AM

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25 replies

Jul 30, 2012 3:23 AM in response to TheSmokeMonster

Thank you for the suggestions, after some experimentation I've got it working. I'm not 100% sure but I think it's a handshake problem, as after turning hardware on it different orders it seems to be OK. I didn't have this problem with Lion but I'm just glad it's working again, as I know Apple are terrible for ignoring older hardwear and not supporting it anymore.


Good luck sameerfromwawith getting yours working.

Aug 4, 2012 7:40 PM in response to nookiedog

Had the same issue. Macbook Pro with 27" cinema display. External display worked before upgrade to Mountain Lion, but no afterwards. Tried keyboard suggestion above. Did not solve the problem. What did work was:


1. Turn off Macbook and display.

2 Unplug the display from the Macbook and disconect the display's power plug from the power source (wall socket, power strip, etc.)

3. Reconnect the display to the Macbook. Leave the power plug disconnected from the power source.

4. Boot the Macbook

5. Once the MAc is fully booted and you see your desktop, plug the external display back into the wall.

6. In a few second Cinema Display will as before.


This worked for me.

Aug 7, 2012 10:52 AM in response to nookiedog

Thank you! The keyboard shortcut did the trick, and now I know where to find Detect Displays in Mountain Lion.


Is Detect Displays really so dangerous that we needed to hide it in this OS version? That's just silly.


I've got a groggy Acer 24" monitor can't seem to wake up with everything else. My Mac Pro recognizes it, but the monitor stays dark. I think it's the monitor, not the Mac, but I depend on Detect Displays to wake it.


Without that button, I had to hope whatever application needed was on my active monitor and wait 5 to 20 minutes for the Acer to come alive. Or set the system to Mirror Displays while waiting, so I could at least access what was on the narcoleptic monitor.

Aug 13, 2012 10:30 AM in response to nookiedog

Similar, if not, same problem:

13" Macbook Pro (Early 2011), OSX Mountain Lion (10.8), and 30 Cinema Display (max resolution 2560 x 1600)


My 30" display will only display at the max resolution of 1280 x 800. I tried the above hacks, but they didn't work. I even called apple care, which has 90-day free telephone support for Mountain Lion. Their best person, some idiot 'Mike', could only come up with this, 'There is a problem with your 30" display, take it to an Apple Store'.


There is a coincidence that idiot Mike failed to comprehend or acknowledge: my perfectly good 30" monitor stopped working the minute I upgraded to OSX Mountain Lion. My $3000 monitor, albeit a few years older but still light years ahead of most other products, is not supposed to be viewed in 1280 x 800 resolution.


Apple people, assemble! or something! please help!

Aug 13, 2012 12:05 PM in response to gagich

I resolved the issue by purchasing a mini displayport to dual-link dvi adapter for $99. It is a terrible price to pay for a single adapter cord, but it fixed the problem. I learned of the root of the problem here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3571


Similar, if not, same problem:

13" Macbook Pro (Early 2011), OSX Mountain Lion (10.8), and 30 Cinema Display (max resolution 2560 x 1600)


My 30" display will only display at the max resolution of 1280 x 800. I tried the above hacks, but they didn't work. I even called apple care, which has 90-day free telephone support for Mountain Lion. Their best person, some idiot 'Mike', could only come up with this, 'There is a problem with your 30" display, take it to an Apple Store'.


There is a coincidence that idiot Mike failed to comprehend or acknowledge: my perfectly good 30" monitor stopped working the minute I upgraded to OSX Mountain Lion. My $3000 monitor, albeit a few years older but still light years ahead of most other products, is not supposed to be viewed in 1280 x 800 resolution.


Apple people, assemble! or something! please help!

Aug 19, 2012 5:00 PM in response to nookiedog

After upgrading to Mountain Lion, my MacPro began having issues with horrendous flickering of my Cinema Display and then the machine would reboot. Took it to the Genius bar, they had it for two days and ran every hardware test known, and it passed it all.


Since this is my main production machine I was incredibly bummed to have the SAME flickering issue crop up this afternoon...just as I was about to finish a project! Unplugging everything didn't work. Now it will only boot in safe mode.


Figuring it might be the display, I went out and bought a relatively inexpensive Asus display. Same thing happened though.


It isn't power. Checked that. New cable with the new Asus display and it still happened. Since it passed all of Apple's tests with flying colors, my gut tells me this is a Mountain Lion issue. Looks like I'll have to downgrade to Lion.

Aug 22, 2012 4:17 AM in response to jurgenfd

One thing only worked for me (tried all the above). I had previously switched between my graphicschips (in the power save settings). I had to switch back to the other graphic chip for the macbook pro to be able to send the approporiate signal to my display.


Sypmtoms before:


When connecting the display I get the blue screen when mac detects displays, my display would show green light for half a sec while still black, then back to standby.


In preferences I could see settings for my display when gathered in main dispaly, but no setting worked. My mac recognized the display but could not send the correct signal it seams.


After swithching to the other graphics chip all is back to normal.


This problem occured with two different displays (i tried to connect to my projector as well with different cables) so monitor is not faulty.


Good luck!

Aug 22, 2012 4:18 AM in response to Steve Borsch

One thing only worked for me (tried all the above). I had previously switched between my graphicschips (in the power save settings). I had to switch back to the other graphic chip for the macbook pro to be able to send the approporiate signal to my display.


Sypmtoms before:


When connecting the display I get the blue screen when mac detects displays, my display would show green light for half a sec while still black, then back to standby.


In preferences I could see settings for my display when gathered in main dispaly, but no setting worked. My mac recognized the display but could not send the correct signal it seams.


After swithching to the other graphics chip all is back to normal.


This problem occured with two different displays (i tried to connect to my projector as well with different cables) so monitor is not faulty.


Good luck!

Since upgrading to Mountain Lion my external cinema display is no longer recognised.

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