lost display setting

hi, I'm following up a thread i saw from 2007
i have the same problem. I have a second lcd monitor for my macbook (viewsonic) that has been working fine for past year, suddenly it has wrong resolution. i have rebooted, but it did not help.
in the display preferences, the resoultion I need (1440 x 900) is no longer listed, the displays are not mirrored, and I have even less options in the menu display box. the viewsonic website only lists pc drivers.
ideas?

quoting the 2007 thread Originally Posted by tyson0016:
Hello, I have a 19" widescreen LCD monitor that I was using as a secondary connected to my macbook pro. The native resolution for this monitor is 1440 x 900, which the os was detecting properly at first. Today I closed the macbook's lid while the external monitor was connected, the system went into sleep mode and when I woke it up, the 2nd monitor's resolution was reset to 800 x 600. Now 1440 x 900 is not even an option in the display settings, despite having rebooted / disconnected / reconnected the external monitor.
What do you have to do to get the correct screen resolution back?
Thanks.

response from cwa107:
I've found that sometimes when the "Mirrored mode" option is selected under the Display System Preferences, the system tries to choose the lower common denominator resolution that both displays can use. If you uncheck this setting, it will redetect the resolutions correctly (especially if you click "Detect Displays"). Check that option and let us know what you find out.

I've also found that if you enable the "Show displays in menu bar" option, and click on the monitor icon in the menu bar, you generally get a little bit more flexibility to force a particular resolution. It's kind of quirky, but if you fool around with it a bit, you can usually straighten it out.

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does anyone have any further ideas?
__________________

You should have posted to the older thread as that would have saved you the copying and quoting and given us a chance to read through.

OK. What type of cable and adapter are you using from your MacBook to the Viewsonic? Does the Viewsonic have inputs for both analog and digital? In other words, which are you currently using?

Try this: Power off the monitor for awhile and turn it back on. Reset it back to factory default through its menu selection. If you're currently using an analog connection to the monitor, try going digital, or vice versa if the other way around. (You may need to purchase another adapter.)

Let us know if that helps.

Regards.

this turns out to be an easy fix

About an hour ago - i worked out the problem.
the cable had come PARTIALLY loose - so the monitor was still working but not being fully recognised. (I'm too busy being impressed that it could work at all in that situation to be annoyed at a days work lost while trying to work it out.)
thanks for the advice, and I hope this helps anyone else who finds themselves in similar situation... (without the embarrassment of having to admit, it just wasn't plugged in)