MacBook Pro does not see external display on thunderbolt connecter

To get a Mac display to become active, you need the Mac to query the display, and the display to answer with its name and capabilities. Otherwise, no data will be sent to the display.

This query is only sent at certain times:

• at startup

• at wake from sleep

• at insertion of the Mac-end of the display-cable, provided everything on that cable is ready-to-go

• on invoking Option-(Detect Display) button in Displays preferences

so try doing some of those things and see if the display comes alive.

Modern Displays with multiple ports are sometimes busy scanning the other ports, looking for an input, and miss the query from the Mac. They need to pay attention to the port you are actually using, or they will miss the query.

Some displays have On-Screen Display settings that can be used to tell the display a computer is attached on a certain port, or a certain port should be highest priority. Changing those may make your display more responsive.

One of the things I'd try is this … if you've got a TV, go untangle a different HDMI cable from behind your TV and try using that cable to connect your Mac to the external display, and/or try using the first cable to connect your Mac to your TV (instead of to the external display). This will help prove that your existing HDMI cable is functional.

DisplayLink software creates a software-only display buffer in your Mac's main memory, and uses a more mundane interface such as USB-2 to send it out to a "stunt-box" that puts it on a display cable. These boxes have a reputation for being slow to update and frustrating for mouse-tracking, but some users find them acceptable.

DisplayLink's failure to keep up with the changes in MacOS has NOTHING to do with a general failure to recognize displays that are fully supported by Mac Hardware-based display interfaces.

Okay, you wouldn't be able to test that particular cable with your TV setup then. But the MacBook Pro (15-inch, late 2013) referenced in your original post would have a built-in HDMI port on the right hand side which you could use to plug in to your TV setup directly without using the Thunderbolt port, and presumably you'd also be able to use the same HDMI cable from your TV to hook up to your external monitor as well.

Just a suggestion. I'd like to rule out hardware/cable flakiness …

 menu > about this Mac > Graphics &Displays ...

... is your display listed there?

if not, the response to the Mac query is not getting through the adapter and back to the Mac.

The reported problems with displays in this software are mostly about inadequate acceleration.

There have been no substantial reports of non-recognition.