How to connect to an Apple Cinema Display?

November 18, 2006 9:25 AM

I recently purchased a 23" Apple Cinema Display for use with my 12" Powerbook G4. It's great. It's a boon to productivity. However, sometimes when I plug or unplug all of the monitor cords to my laptop, the system becomes unresponsive. This is Immensely Frustrating. The laptop's screen goes black and does not respond. (The keyboard still works — I can get the Caps Lock light to turn on and off.) Why does it do this? What am I doing wrong. What's the correct way to be moving to and from this display? The manual is no help, nor is Apple's web site (surprise, surprise).

Here's my typical connection procedure:

• Save all open work (because I know the system might hang).
• Close the lid of the Powerbook.
• Plug in the cables — USB, Firewire, and DVI — in no particular order.
• Wait a few seconds before plunking a key or two on my Bluetooth keyboard.

Here's my typical disconnect procedure:

• Save all open work (because I know the system might hang).
• Unplug all of the cables (in no particular order).
• Take the computer elsewhere and open the lid.

HELP!

posted by jdroth to computers & internet (23 comments total)

I don't know too much about Macs, but on every laptop I've had there was a way to switch the video output from screen to external, usually a two-key toggle on the keyboard. If that carries to the Mac, perhaps you just need to switch back to the laptop screen before unplugging? Or perhaps use F7 to set to mirror display rather than two-screen?
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:31 AM on November 18, 2006

According to this tech note, the F7 key on the Powerbook G4 is used to switch external monitor modes. I don't know if that will fix your problem...
posted by mbrubeck at 9:38 AM on November 18, 2006

I did this a lot with my 12" Powerbook. I never had hangs or crashes. I didn't close the Powerbook before plugging/unplugging the external screen. Perhaps not doing that will help.
posted by beniamino at 9:55 AM on November 18, 2006

Is it possible that the type-your-password box is coming up, but "on" the screen that is no longer connected? You may be able to type your password blind and have the screen activate normally.
posted by beniamino at 10:08 AM on November 18, 2006

For your search sake, what you're doing is normally called "clamshell" mode in the literature. That might help find more docs. It seems to me your problem is that the computer is having trouble coming out of clamshell mode.

Just some sanity checks: on "disconnect" (when you go from clamshell mode to normal laptop mode) and the laptop screen is black, are you hitting "enter" or any key? Try just enter. Also, make sure the brightness of the laptop screen is not all the way down. If neither of those work, try shutting the lid again, waiting a bit and opening again.
posted by neustile at 10:17 AM on November 18, 2006

Not very helpful, but there is no correct way to do it that will solve this. If it's hanging, it means there's something wrong with your computer, probably with a software add on.

I'd suggest not doing it while the computer is asleep, since the combination of waking from sleep and discovering the display has disappeared might be triggering the problem. The internal screen will stay on if you do this.
posted by cillit bang at 10:28 AM on November 18, 2006

I agree with the above that the most likely problem is that you're putting the computer to sleep before unplugging the monitor. I never put it to sleep when unplugging a monitor, and it never misbehaves for me.
posted by raf at 11:11 AM on November 18, 2006

Ah, but the reason I started putting it to sleep before unplugging was so that it wouldn't do this strange freezing thing. It was doing it before, and I thought that maybe putting it to sleep would help. I'll certainly try the various suggestions here the next time this happens...
posted by jdroth at 11:33 AM on November 18, 2006

Do you run Software Update regularly? Which version of OS X are you using? This sounds like a bug that may have been wiped out with a point release.
posted by armoured-ant at 11:39 AM on November 18, 2006

If you try the suggestion to hit F7, remember that that may actually be fn-F7 on a PowerBook depending on your keyboard modifier settings.

FWIW, I've never had a problem like this with my 15" PowerBook--I don't put it to sleep when adding/removing monitors or my TV connection.
posted by bcwinters at 11:51 AM on November 18, 2006

Okay, I get this problem exactly on occasion: same setup too, Powerbook + 23" Cinema. I avoid it thusly:

Don't just shut the lid of the Powerbook. Instead, transfer the primary display back to the Powerbook first. To do this you can just hit F7 (mirror displays) to make both screens primary. If the powerbook is closed, open it and do this first;

Then disconnect the cables;

THEN shut the lid and walk.

The extra step in the right place seems to do the trick of avoiding that annoying bug.
posted by BorgLove at 11:59 AM on November 18, 2006

Oh, and I disagree with cillit bang; I don't think there's any problem with your computer. I've had this issue with every Powerbook I've ever owned when connecting to a second display.
posted by BorgLove at 12:01 PM on November 18, 2006

I run software update daily. I'm using OS X.3.9.

I appreciate the feedback so far, and will play with things later this weekend. I'm getting a new MBP soon, so I should be able to test things with it, too, to see if it's just this machine, or a general problem.
posted by jdroth at 12:41 PM on November 18, 2006

I have exactly the same setup and don't have this problem. But I don't close my computer. I just plug everything in, and once I see the external monitor is up, I dim the display on the laptop down to nothing. Then I work away. I think that early on, I did try closing the laptop and perhaps it went to sleep, and that's why I stopped doing it. But I can't be certain. I recommend seeing if you can get it to work without closing it. If you still have issues, then you might have a problem with your machine.
posted by megnut at 1:13 PM on November 18, 2006

I know this has been said over and over again, but yeah, don't close the computer. Until very recently, Apple laptops were not designed to run with the lid closed at all. Their thermal models assumed some amount of heat dissipation through the keyboard. If you run it in clamshell mode, that's not true anymore, and can lead to serious damage.

I also really enjoy using two monitors at once. You may find if you start leaving your laptop monitor up that you do too. I like to put communication stuff (email, AIM, etc) on the smaller laptop monitor and main work apps on the main monitor.
posted by heresiarch at 1:31 PM on November 18, 2006

I know this has been said over and over again, but yeah, don't close the computer. Until very recently, Apple laptops were not designed to run with the lid closed at all. Their thermal models assumed some amount of heat dissipation through the keyboard. If you run it in clamshell mode, that's not true anymore, and can lead to serious damage.

The reason it's been said is because closing it puts it to sleep, not because of heat. The ones that cool through the keyboard -- iBooks mainly -- won't run in clamshell unless they've crashed.

If it wakes when closed, it's safe to use it like that.
posted by bonaldi at 4:49 PM on November 18, 2006

I have an occasional near-identical problem (PB-12, Tiger, and the LG LCD that is technically identical to the Cinema 23), but it happens more often in reverse: the PB (clamshelled) sleeps after awhile (fine), and when it wakes up, I get a black screen WITH MOVING CURSOR on the external monitor. No keys or mouse clicks do anything but error-beep. F7 (external keyboard) does nothing. I can move the cursor around, but that's it.

Unplugging and re-plugging the monitor cable a few times usually makes it "try again" and notice the monitor (?), and I get the expected login-from-screensaver that sleep should end with. Switching back and forth with a KVM, pretty much same thing, same effect.

Never understood it; I just work around it.
posted by rokusan at 6:54 PM on November 18, 2006

I have used many different Powerbooks daily since... 1997, from the Duo 230's and 540's through a couple of G3s through the TiBook and now Aluminum 12. I have used every single one in 'clamshell mode' almost exclusively, lugging it from one desk to another, one KVM to another.

Every model I have had has been quite happy in 'clamshell mode' once I stopped it from sleeping when closed -- actually they DO sleep, and then when you wake them up from an external keyboard they 'wake up' with the external monitor on and the built-in off.

I have not had a single hardware failure due to heat or anything else. Clamshell mode is not itself a problem.
posted by rokusan at 7:00 PM on November 18, 2006

Amendment to the above: since *1994*.

Wow I'm old.
posted by rokusan at 7:00 PM on November 18, 2006

In my Macbook's manual there is a section about using an external monitor with the laptop display closed. It may be missing from your manual - and I know the PB G4 is very different than the Macbook - but in the hope that it may help, here is the suggestion from the manual (paraphrasing):

1. Connect a USB keyboard and mouse.
2. Plug in the computer with the power adapter and make sure it's on.
3. Close the Macbook and put the computer to sleep
4. Connect to the display using the correct adapter etc.
5. Wait a few seconds and press any key on the external keyboard to wake the Macbook.

Clearly in a pre-Tiger OS and on very different hardware the situation might be very different, but it strikes me that the main variable that differs is that Apple explicitly suggests a USB keyboard and mouse.
posted by mikel at 7:29 PM on November 18, 2006

Mikel, that's been exactly the recommended (or at least usual) practice since forever. Sounds consistent with every PB I have owned, so I don't think there's anything MacBook-specific about it. Even in ADB-keyboard days, that worked.

Also, there was once an Apple tech note on starting up or restarting from a crashed or frozen PB in G3-G4 days, in which they recommended starting with the lid open (or ajar) until the Apple logo on the top case lit up, then closing it and continuing from the external monitor (the internal will shut off.) With one brief interruption in early OSX days when the damn internal would not shut off, (some sort of hardware or software patch was issued to fix this, I believe.) this has held true.

My google-fu and knowledgebase-kido fail me, but I'm sure that's at least very close to an accurate recollection.
posted by rokusan at 7:55 PM on November 18, 2006

I'd try upgrading to Tiger.
posted by armoured-ant at 4:22 AM on November 19, 2006

I would start using the extra screen estate you get by having the laptop open.

You can have mail running there or your panels from photoshop or whatever. More screen estate= higher productivity.
posted by KimG at 10:08 AM on November 19, 2006