New Problem with i7 MBA and external displays

[macbook123]

I've had this issue for about a week. When any external monitor is attached in clamshell mode, the Air's own display keeps running, and it's really cumbersome to deal with since some windows keep hiding on the Air display.

What could have caused this?

Thanks!

 

[jclardy]

If you make your external display the primary one, close the lid, then restart the computer it should work like it is supposed to.

I think it may be a software bug, but I'm not sure. Mine started doing it a month or two ago. Some people that had the issue said the Mountain Lion beta fixed the problem. I wish Apple would just release a firmware update to fix this though...

I'm not sure if this is happening to everyone and they don't know it (As not everyone uses an external monitor with their Air) or if it is less widespread.

My other issue is that my Air (i5) no longer auto-detects displays. Meaning when I plug in an external monitor, I have to go into display settings and press "Detect". When I first got this Air it was automatic and would detect it instantly after plugging in. I have tried this with 3 different cables (MDP->DVI, VGA, HDMI) on two different monitors and it is always the same result.

 

[philxor]

I don't know where the original thread is, I searched for it but this is a known problem which is supposed to be corrected in the Mountain Lion develop builds. Others have had issues with DisplayLink drivers causing issues and once they were removed the issue was fixed.

For me it's been a persistant issue and I'm hoping ML or another update fixes it soon. I don't think Apple really did much QA with Lion when it came to using external monitors. This is a really basic thing which is inexcusable imho. The functionality also worked perfectly well in SL so it was something they broke with Lion.

 

[iAppl3Fan]

Wirelessly posted

I had the same problem. When I found out my other MBA works fine, I just format the problem one and it did the trick.