Unable to use projector on OS X Mountain Lion

I am thinking that it is a projector that has or is using a 32 bit driver.

I haven't had the chance to go back to work to try switching to 32 bits when booting up my Mac. I did find online, though, that Mountain Lion does not boot in 32 bit.

from my understanding it starts up in 64 bit but a person might be able to force it to use 32 bit. I know the apple dial up modem does not work because of such a reason (it is able only in 32 bit or less).

I just noticed that the OP solved this but did not mark it solved... the OP wrote...

"Hi guys,

Managed to overcome this. Followed AnnEarl suggestion and did as follows:-

a. Power up the projector till it is ready (in my case it was an Epson projector)

b. Plug in the VGA cable to the VGA adapter

c. Plug in the VGA adapter to the laptop

Only then the projector was detected and automatically adjust the display. So far everything went smooth and worked fine for me.

Hope this helps.

Thank you everybody."

Here is a link to the projector that I am trying to use. I have also tried other projectors with no success.

http://us.sanyo.com/Projectors-by-Market-Education-Auditorium/PLC-WM5500-L

How are you connecting to the projector?

are you using an hdmi cable or other method?

Hardware:

Macbook Pro 13" Early 2011

Problem:

After upgrade to Mountain Lion I can't connect ANY external display or projector.

Thins that I've already tryed:

1) PRAM NVRAM reset - DIDN'T WORK

2) Fresh install Mountain Lion - DIDN'T WORK

3) Try others HDMI or VGA adapters - DIDN'T WORK

4) Downgrade (reinstall) Lion - all my adapters and external display worked again

Here is the chronology of the problem:

1) With Lion - Everything worked fine

2) Upgrade to Mountain Lion (10.8.0) - My HDMI adapter stoped work, but my VGA adapter worked fine

3) Update to Mountain Lion (10.8.1) - My VGA adapter died too. Now none of them work. No HDMI and no VGA.

4) Update to Mountain Lion (10.8.2 12C53 - I have an mac developer account) - DESPERATE TRY TO SEE IF APPLE FIXED, BUT NOTHING. SAME PROBLEMS, ANYTHING (HDMI and VGA) WORK.

That's a HUGE SHAME APPLE!

Have you tried the way the OP suggested? Also according to http://support.apple.com/kb/SP619?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US Are you using a firewire or a thunderbolt connection?

Or is it a mini display port? Could you show me the HDMI connector you are using?

Message was edited by: Carlo TD

I'm using thunderbolt port.

I tryed every single way described in at least 8 threads in apple forums. Anything worked on ML. Only thing that worked was downgrade to Lion.

Any way you can take a photo of the thunderbolt to hdmi cable? Did you get that from Apple? Because I see a thunderbolt to a firewire connector and a mini display port to a hdmi but no thunderbolt to hdmi. I am looking at the Apple Store at the different cables.

The HDMI adapter is like this one:

http://img1.mlstatic.com/adaptador-thunderbolt-x-hdmi-apple-macbook-pro-air-imac _MLB-O-188416007_8644.jpg

And the VGA adapter is like this one:

http://www.jigsaw24.com/DesImage/MB572ZA-1/MB572ZA-1_310.jpg

I really don't know if it is an "official" apple adapter. But what I know is that it works on Lion and should keep working on Mountain Lion.

Break that compatibily is an terrible thing.

This is important... before you told me it was a thunderbolt port... I am looking at that cable on the apple web site and it appears to be one of two cables. Either a Mini Display Port to a VGA Port or a Mini Display Port to an HDMI Port. Ok... lets say... you have a Mini Display Port on your computer and not a thunderbolt port (and you say it worked before)... What type of male/ female HDMI cable do you have? Is it an Apple HDMI black cable or did you get it from RadioShack or some other place?

Here is a print of my system properties

https://www.dropbox.com/s/low3uiprxbyhpn6/print.png

I don't know if the adapters are mini display port or thunderbolt but it fits and it works on Lion.

Just to update my situation:

1. Tried all the usual suggested fixes.

2. Tried the boot holding down 3 and 2 simultaneously. No dice.

3. I am using the adapter that I bought with the MBP 15" this summer:

The specs of the MBP 15" 2.6 ghz version say:

Thunderbolt digital video output

Native Mini DisplayPort output

So I purchased the Mini Display Port to VGA Adaptor, which I assume must be the right adaptor since it was listed as one of the options with my purchase. I have a colleague that has a 13" MBP mid 2012 edition, and he is not having this same problem. We also tried the HDMI version with mine without success.

And again, the projector that I am atttempting to use:

http://us.sanyo.com/Projectors-by-Market-Education-Auditorium/PLC-WM5500-L

Sure would appreciate a fix!

Ok... couple of things. And your not going to like this. I went to the Apple web site store. They do not have a thunderbolt port to VGA adapter nor do they have a thunderbolt port to a HDMI adapter. I did a quick google search and did find that there are third party companies that have both thunderbolt to VGA adapters and thunderbolt to HDMI adapters.

Also you are running OS X 10.8.2 (which is not out yet... we are only at 10.8.1)

Now, my suggestion to you is make sure you use an Apple HDMI cable. Dont use any sort of after market or HDMI cable. It has to be an Apple HDMI cable. I remember reading that some of the early apple tv's did not work with after market HDMI cables.

Second, either contact the manufacturer of that thunderbolt to hdmi connector that you have or get a new one. Or wait till Apple releases 10.8.2 and it might work. But since it is made from a third party, you might have to just purchase a new third party connector.

Other than that I can not help any more. I do not think it is Apple in this case... I think it is your connector and also the idea that you have 10.8.2 which is not out yet.