HDMI display issues after 10.8.2

Still no fix? I think I´m going mental. I think I´ve tried every proposed solution on this and other forums. Safe mode, resetting pram, deleting plist-files, rebooting macbook and tv, thunderbolt to hdmi-adapter, connecting thunderbolt to vga-adapter and switching to screen mirroring, updating tv software, using different hdmi-port on tv and so on, so on... No EFI update to fix this yet. Scandalous! Please tell me there is a final solution to this problem. The only way i´ve managed to get signal to my tv is via vga and that´s not acceptable. My tv is a LG5000. Hdmi works fine on a Samsung and a Sony I´ve tried.

There was an update day before yesterday for Thunderbolt bugs and target disk mode. I had a similar problem to everyone here in that the external display would not wake correctly from sleep, plugged in via Thunderbolt and DVI. After updating the firmware the problem is fixed.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1653?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

I have 10.8.3 and the thunderbolt update NHC2365 mentions, but still no luck. Late 2011 13" MBP, won't output via HDMI using either a monoprice-brand adapter that worked just fine for a year or a brand-new Belkin adapter I purchased from the apple store when I thought the problem was that the adapter was bad. Tested on two HDMI monitors and three televisions, cables and ports tested separately with known-good HDMI sources to make sure they're all good.

I've tried the plist procedure that seems to work for the rMBPs, but no luck with that either.

I've got an appointment with the geniuses today, but I'm not optimistic-- it sounds like there's probably nothing they can do. We really need a fix-- this is my work-issued laptop, and IT is as stumped as I am. I'm unable to use any of the projectors or non-thunderbolt monitors.

Ray,

As you say, the issue with HDMI connections in older MBPs doesn't seem to be the same as that with the rMBPs, although it does all seem to be related to 10.8. I notice you have 10.8.3, and 10.8.4 is now available, not that I'm confident it will help to upgrade. Is there any firmware upgrade you may have missed along the way?

That said, one problem some people had was that they didn't get rid of /all/ the plist files, and not everyone had the same number of them in the same places on the hard drive. They could appear under the root library preferences, user library preferences, and also the User/Library/Preferences/ByHost directory. And some of them are com.apple.windowserver.xxxxxxxx.plist where the x's are numbers. It goes without saying that you have to reboot the computer and preferably do a reset with option-command-r-p on reboot. And it might be a good idea to have an HDMI cable connected to something during the clean reboot. The windowserver plist files reappear when you reboot, but in the rMBPs they are the right ones after the HDMI is working again.

I'm probably not telling you anything you didn't know already, and with the non-rMBP this may not work.

Other people have had cable and adapter problems, as well, although the Belking one should be good.

Good luck with the Apple Genius. There are varying degrees of genius, as you know.

Ken

Definitely something else. The geniuses spent three hours trying combinations of OSes and cables, including a belkin thunderbolt-to-hdmi adapter with an hdmi cable, a belkin thunderbolt-to-hdmi cable, an apple thunderbolt-to-dvi cable and a belkin dvi-to-hdmi cable, as well as their clean installs of 10.7 and 10.8.4, and my existing install of 10.8.3. This started happening around my upgrade to 10.8.3, so I'm wondering if there was a firmware update bundled in there that could have done this, since those don't roll back. That's just speculation, tough.

Unfortunately, after all that testing, no luck. Amusingly, when they went to make sure their cables worked, the 11" macbook air they pulled out from behind the bar also has the problem, and can't output via HDMI.

So, I'm stuck. No monitors or conference room projectors for me, and I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do when the support people just shrug and give up.

I agree, you are pretty much up against the wall. The output via HDMI problem seems to hit all sorts of Apple computers and the various causes are often unknown. I am very disappointed with Apple for not having made this a major priority, because theoretically all such issues can be resolved technologically. And the HDMI output failure does hit the most serious business and professional users of Mac laptops.

By the way, with each new install of an OS version by the Geniuses, did they go to the preferences and subdirectories and manually remove all those windowserver plist files?

Short of buying a new computer, the only additional things I can think of are 1) Can you possibly use a Thunderbolt to VGA output (instead of HDMI or DVI, which are essentially the same) to go to a monitor or projector? and 2) You might want to call AppleCare support, maybe pay for an incident, assuming you don't still have AppleCare, and demand that they escalate this to their engineering team. Under this scenario, they will have you create an error log or logs while you try to connect to HDMI and may find out what is happening. That is how Apple found the plist problem in my case. It took a week or so for them to get back to me, but they did solve it.

We did test a thunderbolt-to-VGA adapter at the genius bar, and it did work. Unfortunately, this is a relatively new office building, and our conference rooms (and my monitor) are all HDMI/DVI-only. It gives me an option for projector hookup to older equipment at other offices, but isn't much help for my everyday stuff.

As to the plists, most of their OS tests were done from a network boot, bypassing my drive altogether, so there shouldn't have been any leftovers to deal with. I did hunt them all down and delete them when we installed 10.8.4 to the machine itself, with no luck.

I'll keep badgering the support avenues in the hopes I can get this kicked up the chain to the level you did.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011404 &p_id=6191&seq=1&format=2

http://www.firefold.com/VGA-PC-CONVERTER?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_ca mpaign=vga-to-hdmi&gclid=CNCUqdKKqLgCFchaMgod3zwAuA

Since you know that VGA output works, one of these VGA to HDMI active converters could be your answer, at least in the short term, and you can hardly lose by trying. They appear to be returnable, and if they do work, the $30-$34 investment is well worth it--less than an AppleCare support session.

I don't know if there would be some degradation in video quality, but I doubt it would be significant.

I have a 2013 Macbook Air and am using a genuine Apple VGA adapter, and have the problem of closing the MBA leading to the external monitor at some point going to black screen--cursor only. It seemed like this used not to happen but happens in less than a minute now. I've only had this setup for weeks to perhaps a couple months...increasingly have been closing the MBA because not using the internal screen--maybe that's why I'm seeing this more frequently...

Have you run software update to get up to 10.8.5? They have fixed a lot of bugs since 10.8.2

I had HDMI adapter problem. I have MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010) Apple did not fixed the problem, but I went to buy new HDMI adapter. After testing few adapters (which didn´t work) we found Belking adapter which worked. I still wonder why Apple broke after 10.8 upgrade some HDMI adapter compatibility. And why they didn´t fixed the problem which they caused.

Has anyone found a solution to this problem?

I have been using a cdmi convertor to my samsung tv for the past couple of years and

recently my mac won't detect the samsung at all. It does come back from time to time

but then will refuse to detect any external display.

The only thing I can think of that I did before it stops detecting an external display is using

Skygo in safari.

Any suggestions??