Macbook Monitor issue.

[Bioz]

'Allo fellas'. I am in need of assistance!

Im using a Macbook 5.2 Intel Core Duo 2ghz. (All white one). I am using a mac VGA cable to plug in a widescreen Acer monitor(My mac is also wide screen) And it was working fine my monitor plugged in and such, one day i un-plugged it and went else where came back plugged it in and it only shows my wallpaper. Doesn't show anything else. Is there anyway to fix this? I need halpz! Please.

 

[119576]

Sounds like it's been set as your secondary display. Your dock should be on your MacBook's built-in screen. Just whip the lid open and go to System Preferences > Displays and set it as your primary display.

 

[Bioz]

What in there would help me set it to primary?

 

[119576]

System Prefs > Displays > Arrangement, then drag the menu bar to the representation of the external display. This will set it as your primary display.

 

[zanyjany]

primary monitor help

THANK YOU - just found this thread and the first explanation I have seen for selecting the primary monitor!

Now would still like to understand the "detect displays" and the "mirroring" options.

Sometimes when I close the laptop the large display goes dark even if I am not in mirror mode.

Not finding useful documentation anywhere and even calls to apple left me confused about my options.

Using a macpro laptop and a 23" apple display, which have different resolutions so mirroring didn't work.

Do I need to restart the computer each time I detach or reattach the display?

Thanks for your help!