External Monitor Issues For Broken MacBook Screen

So today has been the longest day ever. My charming ex boyfriend broken my macbook screen and stole 3000 dollars worth of MAC makeup to get back at me. So I do NOT have the 650 to fix the screen or 1100 for a new laptop, so I decided to use my moms monitor instead, I ran around all day get the adapter and parts (which it turns out i already have) I finally think HUZZAH just plug this **** in and we are good to go, WRONG. So when i plug it in and turn it on we have the Leopard default background with nothing else (there should be a login page) I log in blindly (thats how badly the screen is damaged) and nothing changes, it is still the default background with no icons or anything. the only thing I am able to do is right click, so i try all the buttons, I can create a blank new folder but i cant open it. I can change the background and my custom images are there but nothing else, I cant even X out of that! So I am curious to know what it is doing this to me, how i can fix and if someone would just shoot me for having the worst taste in men. THANK YOU x 1000.


ps. I wouldn't post here unless i had done some proper research and i couldnt find anyone else that had a problem like this. Thank you again

I had the same problem at first when connecting my external monitor with a broken screen as well. But anyways press the f7 key it should have 2 boxes on the key as well. Make sure the num lock light is off. Hope this helps.

My girlfriend just had a similar problem occur with her 3-month old Macbook Pro. Her LCD screen is broken, and she wanted to plug in an external monitor long enough to move some files onto a flash drive, so she called me 1500 miles away to figure this out. Unfortunately, Apple ditched the old keyboard layout with the display options on F7, so that threw out my easiest option and the only one I could find anywhere on the Internet. The problem is that the default option used by the Macbook with an external display is to extend the display to the right onto that monitor, which does no good if you don't have the primary display. Supposedly, Command + Shift + F1 could fix it, but I had her cycle through using that key sequence, and she was never able to get any icons or menus to display on the external monitor.

If you have the new keyboard, which does not have the F7 display switch, here is what we did to get it to work:

- Turn off the Macbook
- Plug in the external monitor
- Turn on the Macbook and close the cover (I don't know how much the timing matters, but I had her close it as soon as quickly as possible)
- The external display should appear with the full desktop once the OS loads
- At this point, if you have a USB keyboard/mouse you can plug them in and it will work.
- If you have no USB peripherals (or only have USB port *cough*), open the Macbook. It should go into sleep mode. Press any key on the keyboard, and voila! You should now have a single working external monitor.

If this doesn't work, I claim no expertise. I'm a PC. It just happened to work for my girlfriend in this one case. I hope this helps!

For anyone that reads this... F7 totally did it!

Argh!

My F7 key doesn't have two boxes. My F7 key is a "rewind key" to go to the previous song in iTunes. I have been searching for a different answer other than the F7 answer for three months now and have found nothing. Can anyone help me? or am I doomed to simply buy a new computer? (My screen was estimated at 1300 bucks to fix, which is just 200 less than i paid for the whole darn thing)

GCRad answered your question above, with his lid closing trick. Seems to work.

Please take note of the date of the post you replied to... it's well over a year old and the thread is two years old.