2013 Air issue with Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter

M

meeks

macrumors regular
I have a 2013 Air I use as my main machine. It's hooked up to a 24" LG IPS monitor via a thunderbolt HDMI adapter. So the adapter plugged into the Air then HDMI from that directly into the screen. I want to leave the Air's lid shut all the time and use it as a desktop. The problem is when I go to use the computer and turn the LG monitor on sometimes theres nothing on the screen. It's just black. I open the lid of the Air and that screen is blacked out as well. I've tried plugging and unplugging but nothing works except turing the Air off then back on. It seems like it has something to do with the HDMI handshake between the Air and the LG monitor. The HDMI adapter is made from RocketFish and I also have one from eBay which behaves the same. Does anyone know whats going on? Would a straight Thunderbolt HDMI cable possibly fix this? Or what about an Apple brand MiniDisplay Port to DVI then DVI into the monitor? I'm lost on what to do and it's driving me crazy as this is my only machine for the moment. Any help is appreciated! :apple:
 
There have been a number of threads about problems with HDMI here. I have a rocketfish cable too and it works fine for me, but just use it occaisonally to watch movies on my big Sony TV.

My normal setup is DVI adapter (Rocketfish also, I think) connected to my ancient (2004?) 23" Apple Cinema Display. That works perfectly 99.9% of the time. Maybe 4 or 5 times in the 2+ years that I've had a MBA, the monitor has failed to come on. Not sure why, but unplugging and replugging has always fixed it. This has been the same on my old 2011 MBA and current 2013 MBA.

Now there is still one oddity. If I unplug the MBA and use it by itself, then plug it back into the monitor, it works fine BUT when the display goes to sleep the external screen doesn't sleep. Instead, it "freezes", showing the same thing as when it went to sleep (the clock is frozen at the time it went to sleep for example). Not a big deal, but just a little annoying. When I wake the MBA up, everything is fine again.

But I always leave the MBA open, I don't like clamshell mode. My 2011 MBA would get really hot in clamshell mode. I gather that the 2013 MBA doesn't get so hot, but I still just leave it open.
 
So I'll try leaving the lid open. Do you think a mini display port to dvi adapter will solve my problem?
 
All I can report is my own experience - see my post above. DVI works for me. I have no idea whether leaving the lid open is a factor, sorry.
 
meeks said:
I have a 2013 Air I use as my main machine. It's hooked up to a 24" LG IPS monitor via a thunderbolt HDMI adapter. So the adapter plugged into the Air then HDMI from that directly into the screen. I want to leave the Air's lid shut all the time and use it as a desktop. The problem is when I go to use the computer and turn the LG monitor on sometimes theres nothing on the screen. It's just black. I open the lid of the Air and that screen is blacked out as well. I've tried plugging and unplugging but nothing works except turing the Air off then back on. It seems like it has something to do with the HDMI handshake between the Air and the LG monitor. The HDMI adapter is made from RocketFish and I also have one from eBay which behaves the same. Does anyone know whats going on? Would a straight Thunderbolt HDMI cable possibly fix this? Or what about an Apple brand MiniDisplay Port to DVI then DVI into the monitor? I'm lost on what to do and it's driving me crazy as this is my only machine for the moment. Any help is appreciated! :apple:
Click to expand...

I assume you are using an external mouse and keyboard with the MBA? If not, that will be part of your issue as the machine is set to sleep with the lid closed.
 
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