Apple Mac Mini Display--Help Me Fix This!

June 25, 2018 2:15 PM

Working on a new-to-me Apple Mac Mini that has an Acer display, I must have hit the Airplay button and accidentally changed the display. Now there's a bluish abstract picture, no more Mac, and I cannot undo this for the life of me. I've tried disconnecting Thunderbolt and restarting everything. How can I switch back to see the Mac on the display?
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Does your Acer display have a button that allows you to select what input to use? It sounds like it was changed to a different one than the one your Mac is on.

(Alternately, you might try shutting down the Mac, completely unplugging the display for a minute, both from the Mac and from power, and then reconnecting everything back up. I suspect that might jolt it into figuring out which input to use.)
posted by Aleyn at 2:44 PM on June 25, 2018

Does your Acer display have a button that allows you to select what input to use? It does not. I had the cursor hovering over the airplay button and I may have accidentally connected with a Smartboard somewhere because it seems my new computer can connect with a few different ones.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:12 PM on June 25, 2018

on the keyboard, hold down apple (command), option, p and r with one hand, and press the power button to boot the machine with the other hand. keep holding down the keys until you hear the startup chime 3-4 times. this may clear the preference.
posted by koroshiya at 4:11 PM on June 25, 2018

If its connected to a device somewhere, can you find that and turn it off, then turn your computer back on while it's off? If it's connected to something else, turning the something else off should get it to revert back to the default display.
posted by dg at 2:02 AM on June 27, 2018