Stuck in clamshell mode?

I have a white MacBook Core Duo 2 GHz. I use it with an external monitor a lot by plugging in power, mouse and keyboard while it is closed and asleep. Then I can use the keyboard to wake it up. I have read that this is 'clamshell' mode and that it supposedly only works when the MacBook is running off the AC adapter.

My problem (that I can't seem to reproduce) is that very occasionally my MacBook will be stuck in clamshell mode even without the AC adapter, and I cannot get the screen to display anything when I open the lid. The white LED goes off when I open the lid, and it remains on (not pulsing) when the lid is closed.

It happened this morning after I put my MacBook to sleep, unplugged power, keyboard and mouse (not sure what order I did that in, but I will pay attention from now on...), then tried to wake it by lifting the lid.

How can I exit clamshell mode when it's "stuck" like this? Every time this has happened I have had to hold the power button down until the computer turned off, which is very annoying (all programs/desktops closed... aargh).

I have seen this happen to a MacBook Pro as well, so I think it must be a common issue relating to external screens. I couldn't find anything by searching though so I hope somoene here knows what I'm talking about.

Thanks in advance!

I have the same problem.. anyone?

this has happened to my macbook pro, what i did is just closed the lid again and it should go into sleep then just open the lid and it works...once hte lid is open for hte second time if it isn't working hit some key's on the macbook keyboard not external and it should come to the mac book screen.

I tried that, but it didn't go to sleep when I shut the lid. Instead the white LED was on (not pulsing like it does during sleep). I think it is stuck in clamshell mode: it still thinks the external monitor is plugged in. When I open the lid, the light goes off, but nothing displays on the screen. This behaviour of the MacBook is consistent with what happens when I am using an external monitor...

Hopefully next time it happens I will be able to plug in a monitor and see if it really is outputting to external.

I guess I could leave the MacBook alone and see if it falls asleep... or try some kin dof key-combo to sleep my MacBook... but this problem never happens when I can spend time trying to fix it.

yeah, closing the lid and reopening it does not work, and I have even tried plugging in the external monitor and it doesn't ouput a signal to that either.

OK I think I have found a solution to this problem, although it is a bit of a pain. Before disconnecting the external monitor, open the screen on the macbook. Go to System Preferences, Displays, and click "Detect Displays". The screen on the Macbook will come on as well as on the external monitor. Now put the computer to sleep using the apple menu, not shutting the screen, then disconnect the monitor, keyboard and mouse. Now wake up the computer by hitting a key. It should work fine!

I had some interesting behaviour this morning... as I was about to pack up (after sleeping form the Apple menu), I remembered to be careful about the order in which I unplugged things.

I unplugged my USB keyboard and mouse, and my MacBook immediately woke up. But, it had a rectangular box in the middle of the screen with a message in about five or six languages saying something to the effect of, "You must restart your computer with either the reset button or by holding down the power button for 5 seconds."

The fan started up and remained on during this time, and my desktop displayed behind the message. The white LED was on (the lid was closed), so I opened the lid and the LED went off just as normal. I guess this is what's happening to me, I just haven't known because no screen was attached.

Why would Apple do this? Next time I'll unplug power first, then USB stuff, and see what happens.

How to stop laptops from being stuck in clamshell mode w ext monitor

Hey Everyone!

I had this problem using a 2008 macbook connected to an external monitor a while back and FIGURED OUT A SOLUTION!!!!!

For weeks the computer was stuck in clamshell mode and would only work with the external monitor. Eventually it snapped out of it (ironically as I'm IN the Apple store waiting for a genius, go figure.)

SO THE SOLUTION IS: You need to set the ext monitor as the "Main monitor" and have the background on the laptop rotate images every few minutes. Also do NOT close your laptop, leave it wide open with no screensaver activated. The rotating pictures constantly engages the monitor so it remains active (no sleeping) and the pictures rotating also stops any image from burning into your screen if you retouch for hours in a row like I do.

This has worked without fail for the past 3 months straight... and I use this setup probably about 40 hours a week.

I scoured these forums when I had this problem so good luck to those who are in it now and I hope this helps!!!