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External monitor blank when set to 1920

V

Voodoo Ray

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I have a new LG W2343 monitor capable of displaying 1920 x 1080 connected to my White Macbook early 2009. I have the external set to mirror and have made the laptop display go to sleep by closing the lid and then waking all else up by using the external mouse.

So at the moment the laptop monitor is blank and the external monitor is displaying 1280 x 1024. When I now try to switch the external to 1920 the external screen goes blank too. I then have a blank laptop and blank external meaning I have to force shutdown by powering down.

Why can't I switch the external to 1920?

Any advice gratefully received as I am tearing out what little hair I have left.

Cheers
Voodoo
 
if I understand you right you changed the resolution while the macbook's lid still was open.

(perhaps I misunderstood you)

Attach power, attach the screen, close the lid, wake it up with the mouse, now choose 1920X1080 (the lid must remain closed).
 
You understood me correctly. Thanks for the advice but......

I have just done exactly as you have prescribed but the same result. Both screens blank. I had to power down the MB to be able to view either screen. It seems to automatically leave the MB display assleep when I rewake the MB - lid closed or not doesn't make any difference.

The external monitor displays "Digital Power Saving Mode" as soon as the resolution is changed to 1920. It still displays that on reboot. I can now change it back to 1280 x 1024 via the MB display.

It seems that the monitor doesn't support 1920 or the MB won't output in 1920. From reading the specs on both bits of hardware though this is not true. The other thing would be trying to disable Digital Power Saving Mode via the monitor's control panel but there doesn't appear to be anyway to do so.

Any other ideas?
 
I'd just leave the MacBook open and use the external monitor to extend your desktop. It gives you that much more screen space.
 
Sorry but I can't even do that.

If I switch off mirroring, leave the MB on native resolution and change the external monitor to 1920, blank screen again! Agghhhhh!

I have just hooked up the MB to my plasma TV and that seem fine, if a little misaligned and not quite fitting properly. Anyway the plasma says the MB outputs in 1080i, which is good. Therefore, the MB isn't the problem.

I can try to hook up the LG monitor to my PS3 and see the results....
 
...I can't actually as I don't have the right cables. The monitor only has dvi and vga. I wonder how else I can determine if the monitor is faulty? When I just hooked up the MB to the plasma that was via HDMI, that shouldn't make a difference though, right?

Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance.
 
Update:

I have tried the monitor with a Windows PC and it outputs in 1920 no problem so the monitor is fine.

I also hooked up the MB to a HP monitor and it went blank at 1600 resolution which was strange as I managed to get a picture on my plasma via HDMI at 1920 I thought.

It could be is the DVI lead but I would have thought it either works or doesn't and resolution would be irrelevant. Since I can get a picture, albeit at 1280, I have sort of ruled this out.

So I am now thinking that there is a problem with the MB not being able to output at 1920. Could it be the graphics card or firmware? Drivers are not an issue with Macs, right?

The picture in full 1920 looked cracking on the Windows PC so I am really keen to get this sorted out.

Cheers
Voodoo
 
Quite complicated.

Do you still have warranty for that Mac?

If you have this Mac, you have a mini DisplayPort video out, not a mini DVI out.

features_portdiagram_20091020.jpg

I know it's not a MacBook, but it has both ports.


Did you reset and repair anything you could, like NVRAM and permissions via Disk Utility?

Reset NVRAM:
Press Option-Command-P-R until you hear two beeps.

Right now I'm a bit tired, so I can't think of anything else. Maybe tomorrow.
 
Since the ports in the image spinnerlys posted aren't actually labelled, I'll add that they are as follows, from left to right:
  • Power
  • Ethernet
  • FireWire 800
  • Mini DVI
  • Mini DisplayPort
  • USB (x5)
 
BlueRevolution said:
Since the ports in the image spinnerlys posted aren't actually labelled, I'll add that they are as follows, from left to right:
  • Power
  • Ethernet
  • FireWire 800
  • Mini DVI
  • Mini DisplayPort
  • USB (x5)
Click to expand...

Ah, thank you Blue. They were labeled on the Apple.com site, but they must have stolen them during the copy process. Sneaky bastards.
Or I'm lazy.
 
Thanks for taking up the cause for me.

The White MB that you linked does look like the one I have. However the specifications state:

Details: The maximum resolution supported on an external display is 1920x1200.

So I should be fine, right? What is the difference between mini DVI and mini DisplayPort video out?

The picture you posted does not resember my outs set up but the fourth port along (Mini DVI) is what I have.

I will try resetting the NVRAM.

Warranty - Don't think so. I purchase the unit in the US over a year ago and now live in Argentina.

Many thanks again for suggestions so far.

Steve
 
Voodoo Ray said:
Thanks for taking up the cause for me.

The White MB that you linked does look like the one I have. However the specifications state:

Details: The maximum resolution supported on an external display is 1920x1200.
Click to expand...

It's a Mac Mini. It was the only image I found in time with both video out ports. Blue was so kind (?) to add the actual port description to it.


So I should be fine, right? What is the difference between mini DVI and mini DisplayPort video out?
Click to expand...

The MacBook you have has a GMA3100 or 950, but both support a resolution of up to 1920 x 1200.
The difference between the mini DVI and the mini DisplayPort is, that the miniDVI one is older and does not have as much advanced technologies put into it as mini DisplayPort. More can be read via Wiki, just search ofr DVI and DisplayPort.
 
Ok...I reset the NVRAM. The system cycled a couple of time and then booted up. I got no notification that anything had been changed but I am guessing it worked. I have also removed Switchresx in case it was causing any conflict.

Unfortunately no change. The external still blanks out above 1360 x768.

Anymore thoughts?

Cheers
Steve
 
Voodoo Ray said:
Ok...I reset the NVRAM. The system cycled a couple of time and then booted up. I got no notification that anything had been changed but I am guessing it worked. I have also removed Switchresx in case it was causing any conflict.

Unfortunately no change. The external still blanks out above 1360 x768.

Anymore thoughts?

Cheers
Steve
Click to expand...

I believe spinnerlys was asking whether your computer had a mini-DVI or Mini DisplayPort connector.

features_portdiagram_20091020.jpg
 
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