My lovely Core i5 2011 MacBook Pro has a busted screen, just received my thunderbolt/minidisplay-to-VGA adapter and when I hold down option and boot from the Windows 7 install disk, I get a black screen and my external monitor light turns amber from the usual green, as if it doesn't see the Thunderbolt-to-VGA adapter... Any thoughts?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mini Displayport-to-VGA Windows issue?
- Thread starter arrfenwoof
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The Windows installer is only going to send video to the internal display, so you're stuck.
Ah... Alright. The LVDS connector on the logic board is physically broken off, so the logic board only sees the external monitor connected when I go into the display info under OS X. Figured when I went to boot from the Windows 7 install DVD it would send it to the only display connected...
Would winclone help here?
Iirc you can 'move' windows installs around, so was thinking about an install of windows on another machine, followed by a clone to the macbook?
Not done it myself just read something about winclone that caught my interest a while back
Last edited:
Currently making a clone of my Windows 7 bootcamp install from my 2007 white macbook. Then i'll clone it to my MBP. Not sure that it will actually work and not just display a stupid black screen like before but we shall see.
You probably won't get the external video to work at all, until you install the Boot Camp video drivers for your MBPro. And, it's hard to do that when the screen does not work. I'm thinking the only way to do THAT, is to install and setup Windows on another MBPro with the same graphics chip, setting up with an external display attached. And, cloning that already-setup Windows system to your half-blind MBPro. It will be a tricky task, I think.
Maybe someone else with more Windows hardware experience will chime in here.
Maybe someone else with more Windows hardware experience will chime in here.
So, I figured I would try Windows 8.1, now something a little different is happening, when it boots from the Windows 8.1 usb installer I get a black screen yet again, BUT, instead of the monitor light turning amber, it stays green and I get a messsage saying "out of frequency range". Gives me a little more hope that I can finally get Windows on this dang thing but still unsure of how to proceed from here.
Here's a convoluted way I thought of to get it working, but research it first as I've never tried it.
You can download the Parallels 9 virtual machine as a free trial. As far as I'm aware it supports running virtual machines off of a bootcamp partition. What I'm not sure of is if it can do it it reverse - i.e.: install windows onto a freshly formatted bootcamp partition.
If it can do the reverse, than you could install Windows through Parallels onto the bootcamp partition, and then install the Apple Bootcamp drivers. I think the lack of the bootcamp drivers is what is causing your external display issues through Windows as the default Windows graphic drivers don't understand how to get a proper external signal/frequency.
Once it is all working through the virtual machine, and you've tested it through the external monitor, you can then reboot the machine into bootcamp and from there the Apple bootcamp drivers should at least get you output on the external monitors. From there you can then download all the latest Windows drivers for your hardware. After that you don't care that the free trial runs out because you won't need it to bootcamp.
You can download the Parallels 9 virtual machine as a free trial. As far as I'm aware it supports running virtual machines off of a bootcamp partition. What I'm not sure of is if it can do it it reverse - i.e.: install windows onto a freshly formatted bootcamp partition.
If it can do the reverse, than you could install Windows through Parallels onto the bootcamp partition, and then install the Apple Bootcamp drivers. I think the lack of the bootcamp drivers is what is causing your external display issues through Windows as the default Windows graphic drivers don't understand how to get a proper external signal/frequency.
Once it is all working through the virtual machine, and you've tested it through the external monitor, you can then reboot the machine into bootcamp and from there the Apple bootcamp drivers should at least get you output on the external monitors. From there you can then download all the latest Windows drivers for your hardware. After that you don't care that the free trial runs out because you won't need it to bootcamp.
Thats a very good idea and I have looked into it, unfortunately Parallels will only make the install into a virtual machine file (.VMD if i remember correctly) and i'm unaware of a way to "convert" that file into a working partition as bootcamp would require a proper MBR file if i'm not mistaken, etc. I'm truly at a loss of what the heck to do.
I tried installing Windows 7 on my older Macbook and then tried to install the intel hd 3000 video driver from the bootcamp driver iso and it says something about it not being compatible with my system.
I tried installing Windows 7 on my older Macbook and then tried to install the intel hd 3000 video driver from the bootcamp driver iso and it says something about it not being compatible with my system.
After some Google-kung-fu I managed to find a smart dude's instructions on how to go from a parallels virtual machine to a bootcamp partition. It's like 48 crazy steps so it's not for the faint of heart. Was also written near the end of 2006 so it's for Windows XP. But heck, if it works, who knows...
http://forum.parallels.com/showthre...-Physical-(Boot-Camp)-Guide&convert boot camp
Kind of a fun fact... I was able to get a Windows 8 (not 7 or 8.1 as those result in a black screen when trying to boot the installer) to boot into the installer, start the install process, it goes to reboot, then shows the Windows 8 logo again and its a black screen for maybe 2 minutes and then it says "getting devices ready" when it reaches about 90% the screen goes completely black and after waiting 20-30 minutes, never changes. Computer just remains on and on a black screen. Tried forcing the power off, resetting PRAM and booting back into Windows 8 partition and SOMETIMES this will result in a "an error occurred" type error and it "gathers data" and then I can click "Exit and Continue to Windows 8" which just results in the computer rebooting and I see the Windows 8 logo, yet again, then boom, black screen and nothing happens. I'm truly at a loss of what the issue is. This is the furthest i've gotten any Windows to work on this MacBook Pro.