Connecting MacBook to Samsung monitor

AstrosFan said:

I have a 2.4 GHz Aluminum MacBook which I'm trying to connect to a Samsung T220HD LCD monitor/TV.
I'm using the Mini Display to VGA adaptor.

I know the adaptor works b/c I can connect it to another external monitor at my work.

When I connect the MB to the monitor, the MB sees it b/c "Syncmaster" shows up after I detect displays. However, nothing shows on the T220HD screen. Sometimes, the LCD simply says, "There is no device connected."

I've been reading different things on the web that suggest Samsung LCDs may not play very nice with the new MBs, but couldn't find any hard data.

Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

i know this seems really stupid, but are you sure you set TV to be displaying the correct input?

This also happens to me

Are you using a single vga to dual vga plug? I am, one of the vga is connect to the macbook, the other, a tv tuner.

The display wont show for me whenever the vga that is connected to the tv tuner is plugged in. If I unplug that vga, then the display shows up.

Thats if you have a single vga to a dual vga.

Why not use a DVI connection? The quality will be better. I realize now that you have the cables it's a bit late to be making that observation, but...

I'm also trying to connect my aluminium macbook with VGA to my hdready Samsung TV (Model LE 32A436) but nothing happens. I too chose the VGA because of the various beamers with VGA connection I use.

Current setup: MacBook alu -> MDP to VGA Adapter -> 5m VGA cable -> Samsung TV

I tried several resolutions but nothing seems to get anything on the screen except for the "no connection" message. Very frustrating...

Any solutions yet?

AstrosFan said:

I have gone through level 1 and level 2 tech support at Samsung & have had no success yet. The level 2 person said he was escalating it even higher but it would take them 2 business days to have an answer. I couldn't call them before they closed tonight, but will try again tomorrow. Apple tech support said my computer is out of the 90 day phone support, so I will need to buy Applecare. I was thinking of doing it anyway, so if Samsung can't give me an answer, I may consider that.

Ironically, my PB G4 works just fine but the new MB does not.

Click to expand...

My MacBook is just one month old so I'll give the (dutch) apple care program a ring too. But first I'm trying my setup at a friend tonight who has different LCD screens... Just to make sure there isn't anything wrong with the setup/cables.

I had the same problem with a scart cable once, switching the ends did the trick (since it seemed to be a one-way scart cable). Tried it with the VGA cable, not expecting any result, and suddenly was able to select the videosource of VGA/PC. Perfect picture. Tried a few other resolutions, some worked. Then I pressed the source button on my remote and the connection magically dissapeared...

Never got it back on... O the humanity

*** update ***
Samsung's tech support expert reaction:
"Samsung tvs aren't compatable with Mac, it's only compatable with
windows."

*sigh

Have you tried playing with different refresh rates? I know when I use to connect my old macbook pro to my tv, it didn't show any picture on the screen until I changed the refresh rate (60hz to 59.9hz).

First of all, just called : still not working.

I tested my setup at my friends house. The VGA connection on his PC screen works like a charm. His Samsung 3-series LCD TV, nothing.

Spend 45min on the phone with dutch apple care's Pieter trying to fix the problem. He even put me on hold quite a few times trying to get help from other departments. Resetted the hell out of my macbook to get it to work, pushed a number of obscure key-combinations and even opened the back of the macbook to jank out the battery, but still no result. As all the apple employees he really tried his best to help, but no luck.

Together we concluded the following:
1) the cable+adapter works since it worked on the other screen.
2) the macbook detects the connection and sets it up perfectly according to all of the system preferences. About this Mac gives all of the correct settings. So the MacBook is working fine.
3) Samsung's support is a joke
4) Samsung makes crap

I'm really frustrated... Hope Samsung AstrosFan's Samsung-higher-tech-service gives a serious responce to this problem and doesn't put the blame on Apple.

milk242 said:

Have you tried playing with different refresh rates? I know when I use to connect my old macbook pro to my tv, it didn't show any picture on the screen until I changed the refresh rate (60hz to 59.9hz).

Click to expand...

Already tried ALL of the combinations, again: nothing

(most screens give a different screen-message in these cases like frequency/resolution out of range instead of no connection)

"Device Not Connected" or "No Device Found" will show up on screen if your resolution do not match with manufacturer's.
Your Samsung TV uses 16:9, your MacBook screen is 16:10. (give or take)
There is nothing wrong with your Samsung HDTV, and you really didn't have to contact Samsung support team.
You contacted wrong people for answers, you should have contacted Apple instead.
And there is nothing wrong with your VGA/DVI adapter.

Try setting different resolutions.
In my case, my MacBook Pro has a resolution of 1440x900.
I connect it to a HDTV, I have to set the resolution for the attached display to something close to 16:9.
I think it had like a 1344x768 or something, I don't remember.
If you can't find a 16:9 ratio resolution, go with 1024x768 or 1280X960.

Some HDTV's can handle higher VGA/DVI resolutions and some are limited to 1024x786 or even lower at 800X600.
Which will make pictures look stretched out.
If your HDTV has higher contrast ratio and resolution rate, it will be able to handle many different resolutions.
And it also depends on the video card.
Better the video card, more resolution ratio you can output.

gwihannom said:

Try setting different resolutions.

Click to expand...

For the third time: just like AstrosFan, I tried ALL of the possible resolutions.

gwihannom said:

There is nothing wrong with your Samsung HDTV, and you really didn't have to contact Samsung support team.
You contacted wrong people for answers, you should have contacted Apple instead.
And there is nothing wrong with your VGA/DVI adapter.

Click to expand...

AstrosFan and I both contacted Apple AND Samsung not resulting in any solution. Also, we both concluded there was indeed nothing wrong with the adapter since it worked on other screens.

If I sound a little bit irritated, I am. I don't really appreciate being treated as 'dumb' by someone who apparently didn't read the full thread...

So, that's that than unfortunately. Tried it at the University with a Panasonic screen. Perfect, offcourse.

Wish I could return my Samsung...

Nothing to do but wait for HDMI: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5311&seq=1&format=2

AstrosFan said:

I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do. I may stop in at the local Apple Store to see what they say. Also, I may end up trying out the DVI adaptor, though I would prefer to wait for HDMI as you mentioned.
Good luck!

Click to expand...

Best of luck to you too!

I've heard a lot of people having issues with Samsung TVs and the new adapters. The Apple website reviews are full of them.

Still waiting for that MD --> HDMI adapter.

Not to steal a thread or anything, but any recommendations for a good external display? I have a macbook. Sorry, for posting here but I'd rather do this than start a new thread.

MacVancouver said:

Not to steal a thread or anything, but any recommendations for a good external display? I have a macbook. Sorry, for posting here but I'd rather do this than start a new thread.

Click to expand...

Not a Samsung, that's for sure

Any luck with the Samsung? I'm also trying to connect my MacBook Pro into a T220HD (with MiniDP-to-VGA adapter). It works otherwise, but it still thinks I should check the cable. See photo: http://img.skitch.com/20090228-r8sxt7esm7hs6h9hfnsu2cx6x4.png (Tarkista signaalikaapeli = Check signal cable). Isn't there any way to just dismiss that?

I've also tried this with a Mac mini, and it works fine without any annoying messages on the screen.

gwihannom said:

"Device Not Connected" or "No Device Found" will show up on screen if your resolution do not match with manufacturer's.
Your Samsung TV uses 16:9, your MacBook screen is 16:10. (give or take)
There is nothing wrong with your Samsung HDTV, and you really didn't have to contact Samsung support team.
You contacted wrong people for answers, you should have contacted Apple instead.
And there is nothing wrong with your VGA/DVI adapter.

Try setting different resolutions.
In my case, my MacBook Pro has a resolution of 1440x900.
I connect it to a HDTV, I have to set the resolution for the attached display to something close to 16:9.
I think it had like a 1344x768 or something, I don't remember.
If you can't find a 16:9 ratio resolution, go with 1024x768 or 1280X960.

Some HDTV's can handle higher VGA/DVI resolutions and some are limited to 1024x786 or even lower at 800X600.
Which will make pictures look stretched out.
If your HDTV has higher contrast ratio and resolution rate, it will be able to handle many different resolutions.
And it also depends on the video card.
Better the video card, more resolution ratio you can output.

Click to expand...

Well that's just plain wrong. It doesn't matter what aspect ratio the external screen is, as long as it's less than the maximum output of the VGA signal it should work.

You can use a 20" 4:3 display at it's native 1280x1024 off a 13.3" 16:10 MacBook.

You can have two graphics cards, one 3 years older than the other and definitely worse than the other and if they both have DVI outputs the most number of pixels they can push is 1920x1200.