MBP2010 video output with the lid closed?

[saywhat13]

Greetings everyone!

I got my MBP2010 refurbished and I'm trying its DP output. PS：It's running on Catalina by Dosdudes1.

But I found it stops outputting video after closing the lid. Even if I have my USB keyboard plugged in and try to wake it up, there's still no signal.

As long as the lid is open, it acts like a modern mac and runs well(hibernates/locks the screen then wakes up by input devices and lights up the external monitor).

Is this a normal thing? I suspect it's too old to run on clamshell mode?

Appreciate it.

 

[Juicy Box]

I don't think it is too old.

When it is open, do you have the display settings to extend desktop or mirror?

If it is extend desktop, try setting it to mirror.

In addition to the external keyboard, you need the MBP to be connected to power and have a mouse or external trackpad.

 

[saywhat13]

I don't think it is too old.

When it is open, do you have the display settings to extend desktop or mirror?

If it is extend desktop, try setting it to mirror.

In addition to the external keyboard, you need the MBP to be connected to power and have a mouse or external trackpad.

Thx for the quick reply!

It seems it's the extended mode cuz I remember I rearrange the external monitor as the main and dragged the top finder bar into it...I'll try setting it to mirror after I go home)

I connected it to the power cable all the time.

 

[Juicy Box]

It seems it's the extended mode cuz I remember I rearrange the external monitor as the main and dragged the top finder bar into it...

That is probably it.

If your desktop is being extended, and you close the lid (shutting off one of the displays), this triggers the Mac to go to sleep.

What you want is to mirror the built-in display, then closing the lid will activate clamshell mode, which basically turns your MBP into a desktop Mac.

I used a 17" Late 2011 MBP in only clamshell mode for a few years, and pretty much the only problem I had was when I was booting into Windows, but only sometimes.

Oh yeah, another problem I had with it was ultra-wide resolution were not an option in the High Sierra Display settings, even though the GPU support it. I think I used a third-party SW to activate the native resolution settings for my ultra-wide monitor.

Other than those two issues, clamshell mode worked flawlessly.

 

[saywhat13]

That is probably it.

If your desktop is being extended, and you close the lid (shutting off one of the displays), this triggers the Mac to go to sleep.

What you want is to mirror the built-in display, then closing the lid will activate clamshell mode, which basically turns your MBP into a desktop Mac.

I used a 17" Late 2011 MBP in only clamshell mode for a few years, and pretty much the only problem I had was when I was booting into Windows, but only sometimes.

Oh yeah, another problem I had with it was ultra-wide resolution were not an option in the High Sierra Display settings, even though the GPU support it. I think I used a third-party SW to activate the native resolution settings for my ultra-wide monitor.

Other than those two issues, clamshell mode worked flawlessly.

Thx for your warmheart!

It's indeed a problem for the HiDPI thing. Blurred fonts, super small icons..It makes a huge difference from my MBP2021. The bigger screen just exaggerated this bad experience haha..

Mind recommending some 3rd party apps to mitigate this?

Thx!

 

[Juicy Box]

Thx for your warmheart!

It's indeed a problem for the HiDPI thing. Blurred fonts, super small icons..It makes a huge difference from my MBP2021. The bigger screen just exaggerated this bad experience haha..

Mind recommending some 3rd party apps to mitigate this?

Thx!

Not sure if we are having the same exact issue when it comes to the resolution. My issue was due to a limitation of MacOS that was corrected by a utility SW. Unless your monitor has a uncommon native resolution, or is an ultra-wide, you probably wouldn't have the same issue as me.

I would just try mirror in clamshell mode, that might improve things a lot.

If you do have the same issue as me, I think the SW I used was SwitchResX, IIRC, it isn't free, and took a little bit of configuring, but it fixed my issue:

SwitchResX - Download

www.madrau.com

Again, I would just try to get clamshell mode working correctly, as that could make the desktop look a lot nicer.