Mirroring display on external monitor while reformating

[effahmed]

I am having an awkward problem with my MBPro which i'll try to explain as succinctly as I can:

• The screen of my MBPro (Early 2011) cracked, leaving me unable to see whatever was happening on the screen (photo below). I plugged in a Toshiba external monitor via HDMI cable and mirrored the display. This way I could see the screen of my MBPro.
• When my new MBPro arrived, I had the clever idea (sarcasm) to reformat the old MBPro to get a 'clean slate'. I created a backup of Sierra on an external HD and reformatted the machine using CMD+R command (external monitor setup was working fine till this point)
• Once the reformat was done, I booted the machine pressing Option key to reinstall Sierra but I was not able to get a display on the external monitor. I've tried plugging/unplugging the HDMI cable and CMD+F1 but without any success.

I would like to be able to get the display back on the external monitor so I can finish the reinstall. Any advice on how to do this would be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[rutrack]

Maybe you could connect external keyboard and mouse and run your laptop in clamshell mode ?

 

[ZapNZs]

IIRC, with my 2011 MBP, when using an external it would NOT show an image on the external until after the initial EFI sequence...

But I have an idea if all else fails... (I have my moments here and there)

You can remove the HDD or SSD from the 2011, throw it into a SATA-USB-3 enclosure, plug it into your new Mac, format the hard drive, and then install OS X onto the external (then pop it back into the 2011, boot it with the monitor connected, and then continue setting it up.) It's a little more work but shouldn't be too bad.