Consistent problems connecting a MacBook (Late 2008) to a TV

I have a 13" aluminum MacBook (late 2008) that I am trying to connect to my Philips TV.

I have connected it before with a mini display port to HDMI cable from the computer and an HDMI cable to the TV. It works, the picture is a little off due to wrong resolutions and what not. But that's not my problem.

My problem is that it doesn't always work. When I connect the cables the Mac screen turns blue because it detected an external display but then it goes back to normal with nothing on the TV screen. I turn off the TV, change input (HDMI1, HDMI2, Component), everything. I have tried many combinations of everything to try to get the Mac to detect and actually work with the screen. The TV screen will work probably 1 out every 50 tries, just guessing, although it feels like 1 out of every 100 tries.

What am I doing wrong? What do you guys recommend? What's your trick and how do you connect to an external display with the mini display port?

You could have a defective or intermittent cable or adapter. If possible, try a new set to see if the problem persists.


And.... please do not cross post your question to more than one forum. Your cross post was removed. Thanks.

I had the same problem and as chscag suggests it was due to a faulty adapter.
I only had the adapter for a few weeks and it worked perfectly at first, but then had the same problem you describe. Got a new adapter and all was well again

As noted above, the issue is the adapter over 90% of the time.

The problem has been resolved.

It wasn't the adapter, it has Apple's software. With Mavericks the TV gets picked up all the time now. They finally made it easier.