my hp external display is not found

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my hp external display is not found

Have been using HP w19b as an external monitor for almost a year. I have a 2009 (late) 27" imac and am running 10.8.2. My external monitor went to sleep and never woke up on Nov 11, 2012. I don't think there were any new updates on this date. Had been on 10.8.2 for a while??? When I go to preferences, it is as though it is not even connected. I unplugged and re-plugged all connections. The monitor is not broken, just goes to sleep because it is getting no signal from imac. What in the world. Please help. I need the screen real estate!!!! The connection is the mini display port? to AVG adapter...

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Nov 15, 2012 12:16 PM

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Answer 1

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,550 points

Nov 15, 2012 12:20 PM in response to acsimify

Try some basics like inspecting the cables to see if one is worn or eaten by a critter. If they appear in good shape then check System Preferences - Displays and see if the HP is shown. If that isn't it then some other basics such as restarting Safe Mode to reset some caches, doing a SMC Reset and possibly even a PRAM reset. If you don't know how to do these Googling them will get you to the correct instructions.

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Answer 2

acsimify Author

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Nov 15, 2012 2:34 PM in response to rkaufmann87

thanks for the reply...unfortunately, I just did all of the above. I checked all connections, no external monitor appears in system preferences - displays, did a restart in safe mode, did a SMC reset and a pram reset. Still no monitor. So I unhooked mine, and tried my son's monitor - an hp 2009m. I restarted my imac and the screen on the monitor said scanning for signal, no signal found, going to sleep.

Is it possible that the adapter thing to my vga cable has gone bad. Is there a way to see if the port itself is functioning?

I was on the verge of buying a bigger external monitor, but don't want to now since I am scared it won't work.

Is anyone else having this problem???

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,550 points

Nov 15, 2012 2:47 PM in response to acsimify

I suspect you have a failed cable or adapter. I'd start with the VGA cable as they're very inexpensive.

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Answer 4

acsimify Author

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Nov 16, 2012 10:57 AM in response to rkaufmann87

You might be right. I took the adapter (which is mini display to dvi - not avg) and the dvi cable and connected them to my macbook pro and then tried 2 different external monitors. My MBP has a thunderbolt port, but from what I have read, this should have worked with the mini display port adapter because apple says thunderbolt is backward compatible. Neither of the monitors were discovered by the MBP. So I'm off to Best Buy and crossing my fingers. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Answer 5

acsimify Author

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Nov 18, 2012 5:07 PM in response to rkaufmann87

so, just to update. I ran across a thread that said to unplug the monitor. I hadn't done that through all of the other things. I had hooked the monitor up to my macbook. I had taken the cables and adapter and tried them on another monitor with my macbook, but that didn't work (I suspect because I misunderstood the backward compatibility of thunderbolt). So I unplugged the original monitor - still at my desk, reconnected all the connections, plugged it back in, and voila - everything worked like a charm. So, apparently, a monitor resets when unplugged and this did the trick!

Thanks for your input!

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