Unable to use projector on OS X Mountain Lion

Cannot believe I fixed this (was about to rush out for a new Windows laptop for a major presentation)

Caveats: OLD projector

Thunderbolt male/VGA female connector. Then VGA male to M1 connector (30 pins with offset ground bar with 4 pins around ground bar). M1 connector into projector..

I presume some of you tried this though and it didn't work.

New to community support. Not sure I posted my question correctly, don't think I should have replied to your last post, but could not figure out how to post my comment.

I too have similar problem as these posts have indicated. I was runing OS 10.6.8 and upgraded to 10.7.5. Since that upgrade, I am unable to use the projector. I am using a Optoma dongle WPS-2 WiFi connector, which plugs into the VGA port. With 10.6.8 everthing worked fine - connected and projected just fine. Now with 10.7.5, I simply get a black screen and the cursor (arrow) projected, nothing else. When I move the the cursor, it leaves a trail of of arrows on the black screen.

Reading these various posts, I see most folks are running ML but no one seems to have had the problem with just Lion, as I do. Also see that going to Sys Pref>Display> and clicking "detect display" has helped some. I was unaware of that feature but will certainly try it.

Any other suggestion s would certainly be apprciated.

Thanks

I am using mountain lion.. what are you doing?

Carlo, Sorry, I don't understand your question, "what are you doing?" My post explains the problem I am having. Thanks!

Okay, tried this morning the Detect Display to no avail. I am back to square one, that is very seriously considering reinstalling OS 10.6.8 (SL). Can anyone direct me to specific details and step by step instructions on how to do that? Thanks!

Are you using a mini display port? Are you conecting it to the mini display port then plugging it into your computer. if it is not in that order you have to pull it out of the port from your computer then place it back in while the other end is connected to the vga cable.

Half a year ago I faced the same problem with Lion, and Detect Display did not help either. What solved the issue was to look at System Preferences\Hardware\Display\Arrangement and then make sure "mirror display' is ticked. This was done while my projector was connected to my Mac Book.

n/a

I am not using a cable connection. I am using the Optoma dongle WPS-2. Its a wireless device that plugs into the VGA port on the projector and uses my MacBook wireless connection. Tonight at home, when I went to Sys Pref>hardware>Display there is no "Arrangement" tab. I searched on "mirror display" and this is what I get.

So, I assume that I'll need to be connected to the projector via the WPS-2 to see the "arrangement" tab. Tomorrow, I will see if the hidden tab appears once I am connected to the WPS-2 dongle and projector as your response indicated, "This was done while my projector was connected to my Mac Book." - meaning hardwired connection I assume. Hopefully the same will work for the WPS-2.

Thank you for your response!

Carlo,

Thank you for your response. Please see my response to Rudd C as to how I am connecting to the projector, using the Optoma WPS-2, a wireless device that plugs into the projector VGA port and my MacBook wireless connection. I'll will try the Sys Pref>hardware>Display>"Arrangement" tab once connectd. Hopefully once connected to the WPS-2 the arrangement tab will not be hindden and I can tick "mirror display".

I have use the WPS-Pro with the IPEVO wireless presentation system (http://www.ipevo.com/prods/wireless_presentation_system) with my Macbook Air 11 (mid 2011) and Mountain Lion. I had to establish the wireless connection and turn on the "extra monitor" via the app before anything showed up in my display section. I think it started out mirrored but I typically keep it that way. Sometimes on a new projector it starts out as an extended desktop.

A great add is "Display Menu" from the App Store that puts most of the critical display controls back on the top menu where I can get to them quickly.

Well after many problems trying to get a signal to an Epson projector (I have a 2010 vintage MacBook Pro) I finally figured out a solution.

1. Used a monitor cable and not the one supplied with the projector since it seems you need to have a cable with all 15 pins. The ones that come with projectors are missing a pin
2. Forced the display to use Discrete Graphics (use gfxCardStatus myself)
3. Plugged into the MBP then plugged into the projector after the projector was fully booted up and waiting for a signal

It seems to have worked!

I tried your approach with no luck. Once connected via the WPS-2 and did sys pref>hardware>display> this is what resulted. Anyway to work around this. Is the "arrangement tab" a feature of only ML and not Lion. I am only running Lion on a MacBook. Not excited to go to ML until figure out what is happening with Lion. Certainly like the WPS as it allows for great flexiblty and not being tied to the projector with a hardwire. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I connected to the projector via the WPS-2, and there was no arrangement tab option. Any addtional suggestions about how to get the arrangement tab to come up and not be hidden. Thanks!

I have been able o connect to a projector but the mirror mode only seems to work in powerpoint when I click on the mirror button in powerpoint. Is there a way to mirror the screen when not in powerpoint?