Weird problem with Macbook Pro 15" and Asus PB278 monitor

Question

Level 1

8 points

Weird problem with Macbook Pro 15" and Asus PB278 monitor

Hi there

I recently bought a brand new MacBook pro 15" the one with a dedicated nvidia 750 vid card. However I'm facing weird problems while connecting it to a external monitor Asus PB278 (1440p monitor). I use a mini display port to display port cable.

My problem is: Sometimes it works perfectly, but then if I put the laptop to sleep, sometimes it won't recognise the screen at wake up, at first I tried to restart the system, power on and off the monitor, connecting and reconnecting the cable... nothing worked. I even bought a expensier cable thinking it was probably a low quality cable. I found that then only way to fix this is to connect the monitor with a mini display to HDMI cable I have (won't support over 1080p), and then put the mini display to display port cable again... it is freaking bizarre.

This is very frustrating, I live outside the US and while the retailer will honor the guarantee I'm not sure if this is a Software or Hardware problem, It will take them about 3 weeks to replace my system which is unfortunate due to I have plenty of work to do. I don't want to send it on guarantee just to find out hey... display recognition is broken again. My questions are:

Is there a way to know if this is a hardware or software problem?
I've heard Yosemite is having some issues regarding external displays, is this one of those?
Have you found yourself experiencing this problem? Could you fix it?

Sorry if my english is a bit weird, thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), null

Posted on Feb 27, 2015 1:20 PM

Reply

Answer 1

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Feb 28, 2015 4:03 PM in response to Gatobolo

Hi Gatobolo,

Thank you for contributing to the Apple Support Communities.

It appears that you've discovered unusual behavior with your MacBook Pro and an external display, where you need to temporarily connect a different display adapter before you can use your Asus PB278 again.

I can offer some additional tips to help resolve or further isolate the issue you're seeing.

First, try the following resets to see if they eliminate the behavior:

You can reset the Mac's parameter RAM and SMC.

Next, if the issue occurs again, try restarting your Mac into Safe Mode:

Start up in Safe Mode.

From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences.

Choose Displays from the View menu to open the preferences pane.

Select any resolution and refresh rate that your display supports.

Restart your computer.

You can find the steps above in this article:

Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays - Apple Support

If your display is recognized in Safe Mode, or after restarting again, the issue may be due to a software conflict.

Another suggestion mentioned in the article above is to try a different type of display adapter, such as a Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapter.

If the issue persists, you can also back up your data, erase your hard drive, and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X Yosemite.

OS X Yosemite: Erase and reinstall OS X

If the issue still occurs after a clean install, troubleshooting the hardware may be necessary.

Best Regards,

Jeremy

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Answer 2

Gatobolo Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2015 5:41 PM in response to jeremy_v

Hi Jeremy, thanks for your response!

I tried several cycles of SMC and PRAM reset with no success. Weirdly enough I found that unplug and plug-in the Asus 278 power would fix the issue, its been working OK for the last day.

However, I'm not sure if this is a temporary fix or should I take the laptop o guarantee?

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Answer 3

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Mar 2, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Gatobolo

Hi Gatobolo,

Thank you for your reply. I'm glad you had some good results.

It will be hard to tell if the fix is temporarily until you use it for a period of time. I recommend keeping an eye on the situation, and if the behavior reoccurs, you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.

Best Regards,

Jeremy

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