why won't my Dell monitor connect to my Mac via my thunderbolt Mini Display Port to VGA Adapter?

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Level 1

8 points

why won't my Dell monitor connect to my Mac via my thunderbolt Mini Display Port to VGA Adapter?

I have purchased a new Mini Display Port to VGA Adapter, hooked one end into the thunderbolt port in the back of my 2011 iMac and the other is hooked into a VGA cable connected to my Dell monitor. The Dell monitor immediately goes to sleep and tells me "Analog Input. In powersave mode.Press any key on keyboard or move mouse." Where did I go wrong? Thought/hoped it would be simple.

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Dell Flat Panel Monitor model1905FP

Posted on Mar 5, 2013 6:52 PM

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Answer 1

MichelPM

Level 10

81,535 points

Mar 5, 2013 7:57 PM in response to crazybluedog

Go into OS X System Preferences Panel and select the Displays icon.

Look to see if the second display has been detected and or auto connected.

If detected, you may need to manually select it for it to connect.

Then set the display for either mirroring or extended desktop.

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Answer 2

crazybluedog Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2013 7:59 AM in response to MichelPM

Hi. thanks for taking a shot at helping me. Unfortunately I was not thorough enough in my initial details. I had already looked at the preferences panel and was disappointed to not find the Dell monitor. When I searched on "arranging monitors" I found a message that said that the menu I was looking for would not show until I had another monitor hooked up. So the Mac is not detecting the other monitor and I haven't found a way to "force" it to...

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Answer 3

Rudegar

Level 10

180,534 points

Mar 6, 2013 8:54 AM in response to crazybluedog

I have a dell monitor 24" connected to my imac using tb to dvi it works perfectly

if your dell monitor have other input types then vga you could try another converter maybe borrow one so you don't have to pay before you know it works

the problem with vga is that it does not support as high resolutions as dvi and hdmi so maybe if the mac expect the device to support the same res as the mac it fails or ?

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Answer 4

crazybluedog Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 29, 2013 10:25 AM in response to crazybluedog

Thanks all to your suggestions. I am feeling stupid -- apparently I just neglected to reboot my computer once I had it hooked up. Thought I did that, but when my german exchange student did it, he had success right away. I now have two monitors up and working.

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