[kennedy]

When you attach a new monitor or projector, sometimes it starts with a low resolution that looks dumb.
No problem, just hit the Display menu in the menubar and it'll show you the resolutions available for that screen, select a higher one. That much was a great answer from Apple.

But rarely, when you do that one of those resolutions doesn't actually work with the monitor / projector. And then you get vast blankness. And if your menubar is positioned on that other monitor, and the arrangement tab is only on that other monitor, then it seems you are hosed. There's no way to reset that monitor to any other resolution. The only answer I've seen is a PRAM reset... but that's ridiculous... and wholly unacceptable if you're standing at the front of the room about to give a presentation on a hopelessly blank monitor. (Then everybody tells you how you should have bought a cheaper PC.)

Is there anyway to tell the Mac to move all windows onto the laptop screen? (Then I could get to the Display Preferences of the other monitor.)

Is there anyway to get Display Preferences to put both settings on both screen's windows?

Is there anyway to move the menubar to the laptop screen with a keystroke or some way other than the Display Preferences window stuck on the blank monitor?

There's gotta be a better way for this scenario.

[Waragainstsleep]

Command -F7 used to toggle video mirroring.

Didn't it used to ask you to confirm the change of display settings and then revert if you didn't OK it? Or is that just Windows?

[kennedy]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Command -F7 used to toggle video mirroring.

Didn't it used to ask you to confirm the change of display settings and then revert if you didn't OK it? Or is that just Windows?

A Video Mirroring toggle would be great! But Command-F7 doesn't do it on my machine.

I have seen it ask to confirm... but rarely. Most often, no confirmation request.
Definitely wish there was one in this case.

[ibook_steve]

I'm trying to understand your order of operations here:

1) Connect projector to laptop. Projector should be detected and either mirror or extend display (which is it?).
2) You go in Displays preferences and change arrangement, moving menu bar over to external display.
3) You change resolution to a resolution that doesn't work?

I'm not really understanding what's happening here. Unless the projector is not being detected correctly, it would be very difficult for this to happen. Does the actual projector name appear in the Displays preferences?

And yes, if it's a bad resolution or frequency, it should hop back after 15 seconds.

Steve

[kennedy]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

I'm trying to understand your order of operations here:

Sorry...

(0) Mac is on and happy
(1) Connect Mac to Projector... it projects mac screen, not mirroring... menubar is on projector...
... however, the resolution is 1024x768 or similar lame thing
(2) Go to menubar, click Displays menu item, see that there are three alternative resolutions for the projector, click the highest res of those (1280x1024, in this case, I think)
(3) Screen goes blank... and stays blank
(4) I think: "hmmm, I guess it didn't really support that... I hope it has that little dialog up that says click to accept or it will revert" and I wait... and wait... still blank

At this point, there seems to be no way to recover... I'll never be able to use my laptop with that projector (or monitor) ever again... because whenever I reconnect, it remembers those settings, and the screen just goes blank.

My partner has had this happen often enough that he never trusts his Mac... always has the presentation on a flash drive so that he can ask to use someone in the room's PC.

[ibook_steve]

First of all, I'm not sure why the menu bar is appearing on the external display the first time and by default. I've never seen that. You normally always have to manually move the menubar.

Second, if this happens, disconnect the monitor, shut down your machine, then reconnect the monitor. Boot the machine, resetting the PRAM (hold cmd-option-p-r until you hear the boot chime at least twice; volume might be low). This resets the display, moving the menubar to the correct location: your MBP's screen. Keep it on that screen, if you can. Things should work correctly at this point.

You didn't mention if you see the projector identified correctly in the displays menu before you change the resolution (i.e. it says something like "Epson projector" instead of "External display" or something generic). This is important, because if the projector is not being detected correctly, that could very well be the cause of your problem.

There used to be a video toggle F key on my 2007 MBP. My 2010 Unibody MBP doesn't have it either and I couldn't find if there was an equivalent now. Anybody know?

Steve

[kennedy]

I am aware of the whole PRAM reset option... but that won't fly well in a meeting with your audience waiting for you to begin... I am hoping to find a better alternative... like some keystroke or magic incantation or whatever that would either: restore the prior display settings OR move the menubar to the built-in screen OR move all windows onto the built-in screen or toggle to the next menu item for the external monitor OR ... really anything that would give me some way to restore the external monitor to usable state quickly and with low drama.

The menu DID show the external properly... proper top label, though perhaps not proper resolution list.

In my normal setup at office and home, I have an external monitor that sits right above my laptop... so, I have my screens arranged with the external above the laptop screen, with dock on the bottom of the laptop screen and the menubar on the top of the external monitor. I assume that's why it defaulted this external that way.

[ibook_steve]

Even with that setup, when you connect to another monitor, the menubar should always default to the internal display. The computer remembers each display you connect to so you can have a unique arrangement for each. For example, at work my external display is on the right. At home, it's on the left. I'm really not sure why your menubar, when connecting to a new display you've never connected to before, would default to the external display just because that's what it's set to at home.

Update: Bingo! I love Google: cmd-F1. As was mentioned, it used to be F7:

osx - Mac: What's the keyboard shortcut for switching between video mirroring and and extended desktop screens? - Super User

Note that you may have to hold the fn key depending on your Keyboard preferences.

Steve

[kennedy]

Thanks, Cmd-F1 was the trick I needed to know!