External display incorrectly recognized, proper resolution not avail

Hi -

We lost power last night before closing the office. My MacBook Pro
was connected via DVI to a 22" LCD display I purchased last week.
Before the power outage, everything was running smoothly. I plugged
the display in "out-of-the-box" and it worked (it was at the maximum
resolution available and the aspect ratio was correct.

Note: Everything was connected to a surge protector.

This morning upon my return to the office, I plugged the display back
into my MacBook, expecting everything to be fine and dandy...
Instead, the display is being misrecognized as an "Acer AL1714" when
in fact it is a "V7 R22W02" - as a result, the proper resolution
(1680x1050) is no longer available to me. The display defaults to a
lower resolution with an incorrect aspect ratio "1280x1024".

Does anyone know how I can resolve this issue? I have tried restarting.. running leopard.

Thanks, ~NV

It may be a corrupt display preference file or the display itself. Try deleting the display preference file first. The system will create a new one on restart.

Before you delete the following file, make a backup and place it where it can be found and restored easily.

/Users/your user name/Library/Preferences/ByHost/Users/com.apple.preference.displays.xxxxx.plist

The "xxxxx" above represent a group of numbers and letters which correspond to your particular display. (It's different for each display.)

If that doesn't work, it may be the display itself. It could have taken a hit during the power failure and power on surge. Since you just purchased it, you may be able to return it for a new one.

Regards.

chscag said:

If that doesn't work, it may be the display itself. It could have taken a hit during the power failure and power on surge. Since you just purchased it, you may be able to return it for a new one.

Click to expand...

I just want to elaborate on this, since the OP did mention that it was plugged into a power surge unit. Not all power surge units are created equal, and not all of them will completely protect your electronic devices. They are rated by the number of Joules they can take, and most of the cheap ones are not worth the plastic they are encased in. A good surge protector will cost a little more, but could possibly save you a lot later on.

Just wanted to elaborate on that.

issue update

I want to thank the two posters who replied to my issue. Unfortunately, the issue is still not resolved... here's an update:

- I called AppleCare to see if they could advise me to delete the preferences (before I saw the replies here). No dice. They advised that it was likely the display itself.
- I called V7 tech support and went through troubleshooting with them. As part of the process, I plugged the display into my coworker's MacBook Pro (which had never been connected to the display) and interestingly enough the issue was duplicated identically. This was enough for V7 to issue a service ticket, and I sent the display out to their repair center.
- I received my display back - they tested it and found no problems and advised me that it's "the driver" on the mac.. I tried explaining that you can't just reinstall a plug and play driver on mac os x like you can on windows. They had little sympathy.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't receive the display back until after the 14-day return period at Staples had passed. Also, I had sent it out in the original packaging but did not receive the display back in original packaging. So, I'm left with a $200 paperweight on my desk that doesn't use the correct aspect ratio.

I'm going to try a couple more things, including trashing the preferences again, and connecting the cable via the VGA/HD converter for the MacBook Pro. Perhaps it's the DVI cable? God I hope not... those things are expensive!

Any other tips/ideas are welcome. Thanks.

I would be willing to bet it's the display and not anything wrong with your MBP or the drivers and the preference files. If that display was working correctly the first time you plugged it into your MBP, and after the surge it was incorrectly identified, and again when attached to another MBP, it has to be the display.

It more than likely has to do with the display firmware. The firmware was probably zapped during the surge. It's too bad you didn't just return the display to Staples instead of sending it off to be repaired.

Sorry we couldn't help.

Regards.

I know it's a little late here, but for those reading this ... never, ever, send an item to be repaired when it is within the return/replacement period.

That one thing that went out already, may not be the only item that was faulty or possibly damaged during shipping from wherever to you.


And, being a 22" display, it should be a relatively simple matter to carry it to a friend's to test on a Win machine.

huzzah!

well what do you know... the mac recognizes the monitor correctly with the vga/dvi adapter!

nventi said:

well what do you know... the mac recognizes the monitor correctly with the vga/dvi adapter!

Click to expand...

Simple solution. As I understand it, you were previously connecting via the mini DVI output from the MBP to the DVI input on the monitor. Now you're connecting from the mini DVI from the MBP to the VGA input on the monitor using an adapter.

Glad you got it working but it still seems to me that there's a hardware or firmware anomaly with that monitor probably caused by the power glitch.

Regards.

I'm agreed with chscag. But congrats for getting it working and thanks for posting back.