Problem with external monitor on Macbook Pro

[Shad0wDK]

Hello,

I am trying to connect my Macbook Pro (bought Fall 2009) to a external monitor - an Asus VW222.

I use a VGA converter which I bought together with the mac, I plug a VGA cable in the converter and then I plug it into the display port of the mac.

I do get an image on the Asus monitor, but it is not very useful. It is flickering between a yellowish color everywhere and normal colors. Moreover I cannot change the resolution. If I set the resolution to 1680*1050 (the Asus' native res) then the image still looks scaled/grainy and it doesn't fit on the monitor. The top menu for example is outside of the screen and the whole image is slightly moved to the right so I have a black bar to the left.
If I set the resolution to the mac screens native res, 1440*900, the image fits on the Asus but is of course scaled.

I tried go to system preferences and calibrate, but it did not help.

Can someone help me identify the cause of this?

 

[spinnerlys]

The arrangement is set to not Mirror Displays, isn't it?

Maybe some pins of the VGA connector are damaged, can you take a look at that?
Do you have access to another VGA monitor or to a miniDisplayPort to DVI adapter with any monitor, even your Asus?

 

[jodelli]

Try the monitor on another computer, and/or another monitor on the Mac.
This is after deselecting mirror display as spinnerlys mentioned.

I doubt the problem's with the Mac output; IME I've had Macs hooked up every which way to different monitor configurations and I'd have to go back to an LC 475 plus one of my G3 iMacs to recall any serious flukiness.

Doesn't mean it isn't the Macbook Pro, but you need to do some plugging and unplugging to make sure.

 

[Shad0wDK]

Thanks for your replies

I had it at mirror display mode. I tried two different VGA cables - both kinda old but nothing seems to be wrong with any of them when looking at the pins or anything.

I know the Asus monitor is working since I have been using it until yesterday with no problems, but my graphics card in my stationary PC died yesterday. I've been using the Asus with a DVI cable since I got it, and have never used anything else. Could the problem be that the Mac for some reason doesn't work when being connected through VGA with the Asus?

I also tried an old monitor which I know works - this one only got VGA connection. On this monitor the colors seem to be okay, but I can't get the resolution right. It should be running 1280*1024, but when I do that I get black bars on top and below the screen. It's not a widescreen monitor.

Also the trick about closing the lid of the Macbook pro and then pressing a key on an external keyboard to wake it up doesn't really work with this monitor. I can only have both screens (the macbook and external) show something at the same time.

 

[JediMeister]

Not sure about the resolution troubles you've been having, but it should be possible to run the external monitor as the primary with the display closed. Try following this article.

 

[chrismacguy]

There could be a very simple solution: go grab a DVI adapter for your MacBook and use the DVI cable - that might solve all the colour issues as well (Sounds like it could just be that the cable isnt connecting perfectly - I can make my VGA monitors go all sorts of pretty colours with some cable messing about).

 

[Shad0wDK]

Isn't it odd that both monitors work fine with other computers? Also when using the VGA port.

To me that looks like its one of two options.

1) The VGA adapter is faulty
2) The displayport is faulty

I really do hope it's option 1) though

On the old monitor I tried, besides the Asus, its only the resolution that gives me trouble. The colors on this is fine. I can only achieve a correct, but scaled, picture when using 1024*768. When i go to 1280*1024 which is the monitors native res, I get two black bars in the top and bottom - but the picture doesn't seem to be distorted though. Else than that it looks okay on the old monitor. The asus is another story though as I mentioned earlier...

 

[refund]

Not sure about the resolution troubles you've been having, but it should be possible to run the external monitor as the primary with the display closed. Try following this article.

New to the forum - and looking for help! I spent a fair amount of $$ on my Samsung monitor to connect to my black macbook. I don't have any problem getting it to work in clamshell mode - but the picture is poo poo. To be specific the font is extremely blurry. However, pictures and such look great. Is there a fix??

 

[jim4spam]

how are you connecting it? (which adaptors/cabling?)