MBP w/ cracked display, how to config for ext. disp?

[dustboy]

My father-in-law gave me his MBP with a cracked display. Apple recovered his drive to his new MBP, then wiped the drive.

I've booted from the DVD, using an external display which shows the desktop but no menu because it's not the primary display.

I tried fn+F7 to toggle display mirroring but nothing changes.

Any ideas??

 

[merl1n]

My father-in-law gave me his MBP with a cracked display. Apple recovered his drive to his new MBP, then wiped the drive.

I've booted from the DVD, using an external display which shows the desktop but no menu because it's not the primary display.

I tried fn+F7 to toggle display mirroring but nothing changes.

Any ideas??

Close the lid on the MBP which will put it in sleep mode. Connect a usb keyboard and mouse. Wake the computer with the keyboard or mouse. The full display should appear on the external display.

 

[dustboy]

Close the lid on the MBP which will put it in sleep mode. Connect a usb keyboard and mouse. Wake the computer with the keyboard or mouse. The full display should appear on the external display.

Forgot to mention, I tried that too, but nothing happened. Then when I opened it back up, I could hear it wake up but now both displays were completely off.

I think this is all due to booting from the DVD, maybe the display features I need are disabled?

 

[merl1n]

Forgot to mention, I tried that too, but nothing happened. Then when I opened it back up, I could hear it wake up but now both displays were completely off.

I think this is all due to booting from the DVD, maybe the display features I need are disabled?

Ok, try this...

First do an SMC reset, and then reset your PRAM. Then do this...

With the monitor, keyboard and mouse attached and DVD in the drive, power off the mbp. Make sure the monitor is powered on. Press the power button on the mbp and immediately close the lid. See if your display lights up after a few seconds (up to a minute).

 

[dustboy]

Clever. That worked.

Now I get "OS X cannot be installed on this computer."

Are the OS X install DVDs somehow matched for the machine they shipped with? It's possible I got the DVDs from his new MBP.

 

[merl1n]

Clever. That worked.

Now I get "OS X cannot be installed on this computer."

Are the OS X install DVDs somehow matched for the machine they shipped with? It's possible I got the DVDs from his new MBP.

Yes, they are matched to the machines they are shipped with.