Stubborn MBP Display Problems

November 2, 2009 7:42 PM

I bring my MacBook Pro to school, and hook it up to an external monitor (with higher resolution) in clamshell mode. I come home and use it as a laptop. Often when I switch from clamshell to laptop, the desktop still thinks it's in the higher resolution, and all my icons are off the screen. Logging out fixes it. Is there an quicker way to fix this?

This is a new problem in Snow Leopard.

posted by one_bean to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Do you go into System Preference and click detect displays (under displays) when you take the laptop off of the external monitor? I would think that would do it.
posted by jessamyn at 7:45 PM on November 2, 2009

Detect displays. Checking the box to "show displays in menu bar" will speed up this process. Also it's probably a good idea to put it to sleep when you're unplugging everything and taking it home at the end of the day, otherwise the screen (which is closed) will probably turn on.
posted by fontophilic at 7:53 PM on November 2, 2009

try resetting the PRAM:

1. restart the machine from the apple menu
2. once the display goes black, hold down the command, option, P and R keys
3. wait for the chime to sound twice, let go of keys. machine will boot normally.
posted by hollisimo at 7:53 PM on November 2, 2009

Drrr. Clicking "Detect Displays" does not do it, but selecting the correct resolution makes it switch and fix itself. Thanks!

fontophilic -- when I put it to sleep before unplugging everything, it just wakes up when I unplug keyboard + mouse. So I unplug display, unplug keyboard and mouse, unplug power and wait for it to sleep on its own.
posted by one_bean at 7:56 PM on November 2, 2009

Thanks for asking this. I was just trying to hook my MacBook up to a TV and could only get a desktop. Going to System Preferences --> Display and playing around with the settings solved my problem. I also turned on "Mirroring" to get the laptop to match the TV. Unfortunately, despite an expensive cable to connect the two (HDMI to Mini DVI) it seems like I might need another cable to get the sound to the TV.
posted by Frank Grimes at 8:09 PM on November 2, 2009

Hmmm, detect displays should work, if PRAM is correct. So actually no best answer for me, and one for hollisimo. Reset your PRAM
posted by fontophilic at 8:09 PM on November 2, 2009

I will reset the PRAM, but I think it's just something wonky with Snow Leopard. It detects that the display has changed -- it switches to my laptop background rather than the big screen background, it re-sizes all the windows, and it knows where my hot corners are. It just doesn't move the icons. In the display options under "Detect Displays" from the menu bar, it only lists the MBP resolutions, not the bigger screen.
posted by one_bean at 8:14 PM on November 2, 2009

One quick way to do this: Install TinkerTool, set up the option to add the quit command to Finder. After you get the weirdness, make sure Finder is selected and command-Q to quit. Click Finder in the Dock again to restart it. (This is the same as force-quitting it, but faster.) Should fix the issues - has helped with my MacBook after icons disappear from the desktop. I don't think they're off-screen, I just think Snow Leopard "forgets" to draw them after unplugging an external monitor (even when the monitor is used as a second display, rather than the primary, as in my case).

Also, just in case any windows (iTunes especially) end up too large to fit on your screen, remember that option-clicking on the green + button will resize it to fit the screen you are currently using.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:37 AM on November 3, 2009

One quick way to do this: Install TinkerTool, set up the option to add the quit command to Finder. After you get the weirdness, make sure Finder is selected and command-Q to quit. Click Finder in the Dock again to restart it. (This is the same as force-quitting it, but faster.)

You can also Option-Click the Finder and relaunch it.
posted by jmd82 at 8:46 AM on November 3, 2009

FWIW it's not just Snow Leopard. My Macbook did the same thing in both Tiger and Leopard.
posted by AtomicBee at 1:30 PM on November 3, 2009