acer aspire - External Monitor display issue when closing the lid of laptop

07
2014-07
  • bbnyc

    Has anyone experienced this with an Acer or any other laptop?

    I am working on a new Acer laptop (1810T) which I almost alway connect to an external monitor with a VGA cable.

    I have set graphic options to display only to the external monitor and I would like to close the lid of the laptop, when I am working at my desk. In the power settings, I have set it so when i close the lid, the computer should "do nothing".

    When connected to the external monitor I am able to view the display fine if the the laptop lid is open. However, whenever I do close the lid, the display on the external monitor continuously cuts in and out about every 2 or 3 seconds. I have seen other posts where the display simply shuts off, but I am getting constant (though irregular) flashes of the display, so I believe this is a different issue.

    Any thoughts would be appreciated.

    • Answers
  • Gauthier

    I have the same issue sometimes (sometimes at startup), even in dual display configuration. The external monitor would turn on and off at 1 or 2 seconds period.

    Shutting off and on the monitor itself solves the problem for me, have you tried that?

  • nhinkle

    Odd. I sometimes work with my laptop lid closed and using the external monitor, and it's never been a problem. Have you tried updating your graphics drivers? Look in Windows Update under optional Hardware Updates, and see if there's anything relating to your graphics drivers. Since it's a new laptop that's probably not the issue, but it's worth trying.

    Just out of curiosity, why don't you use both monitors? I've found that having dual displays is extremely helpful.

  • philfreo

    I don't have an Acer, but the following tips helped for my MacBook.

    The only way it will work closed is if the power is plugged in - took me a while to realize this. The other thing is that I had to have an external keyboard plugged in. Then, when I closed the laptop, my computer went to sleep and then I used the keyboard to wake it up.

  • Dave Rook

    Your computer's "help and support" files walk you thru the power saver plans. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'd suggest you return the laptop to your supplier for diagnosis. These days most vendors are quite accommodating due to competition.

    I've set up Sony, Toshiba, Acer, and the configurations seem slightly different but using the built in help files I've always been able to get the lid closure function working OK, especially on VGA using the "balanced" power plan and using the laptop's power adapter.

  • Karan Raj Baruah

    See if setting the "Max performance" power plan helps. Also I recommend you to get the latest graphics drivers from Acer's website.


    • Related Question

    osx - Changing dual-monitor settings without closing the laptop lid on OS X
  • hekevintran

    I have a Unibody MacBook hooked up to an external display. By default when I boot up, the system will go to dual-monitor mode. I want to use only the external display.

    The Apple supplied solution to this problem is to close the lid of the laptop which puts the machine into sleep mode and then move the mouse around to wake it up again. Because the machine is being woken up with the lid closed, when the displays are detected the system finds only the external. After the system is functional again, you can open the lid if you want and the laptop screen will be non-functional until you either tell the system to detect displays from the system preferences or you turn off the external display.

    Every time I want to use only the external display, I must reach my hand over to close the lid, wait for the machine to sleep, jigger the mouse, wait for the machine to wake up, and finally open the lid again because I don't want the machine to overheat. I feel that this is very stupid to have to do. Why is there no button or menu option that says "don't use this screen"? Is there any third-party software way to change the screen setup that does not involve physically closing the lid and playing a game of "are you sleeping" in order to switch such a simple software setting? We are in the 21st Century and honestly this is childish.


    • Related Answers
  • phoebus

    While I agree that this limitation of the OS is annoying, Mac laptops are designed to be usable while closed without encountering any heat issues.

  • gavaletz

    You can also set the computer to use the external monitor as the primary monitor by plugging it in and then under arrangement in the display settings, drag the little white bar onto the external display. Once you have done this you can either ignore or make use of the laptop display as a secondary monitor, or if it bothers you turn down the backlight until it goes off.

    OS X will remember that you want the external display to be the primary display, and all you have to do then is turn down/off the laptop display. Not automatic, but it is close and free.

    The solution I offered earlier would be a more permanent solution.

  • Ola

    I had the same issue. I'm just trying SwitchResX and I think it solves the problem. Running it for the first time though so I'm not sure yet.

  • Jade Robbins

    I think the only easy solution is to just use mirrored mode, although that will limit the choices of resolutions you can use on the external.

  • gavaletz

    I think your solution is going to include kernel modification. I don't know if you are up for the task, but you can try either booting without the following kernel extension:

    /System/Library/Extensions/AppleOnboardDisplay.kext

    Or finding a replacement for it from a source like those used by the hackintosh community.

    I think I would try working without it at first...

    Move the file to a ...kext.back, clear the kernel cache and reboot. If you have any trouble boot with verbose mode (-v) and have a look at the error codes.

  • Wuffers

    I think you can start it up and as it is starting up close the lid and it will detect the external monitor as the primary.