Fixes for External Display Not Working on MacBook

Five solutions to get external display connected to your Mac

Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

My Mac, all of a sudden, cannot connect with my external display monitor.

I spent a few hours troubleshoot and FINALLY my screen is back.

Below are 5 resolutions from my research and testing. Not all of them are working on me, but no harm to give a try.

My Device

• MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2019)
• macOS Catalina Version 10.15.4
• HDMI cable to connect with my Philips External Monitor / TV

#1 Restart the machine

Like all the technology issues, restart your machine

Result for me: Negative

I would still recommend this as a first step because restart can somehow magically solve your problem.

#2 Update macOS

1. Go to the Apple ? on your top left corner
2. Click About This Mac
3. Click Software Update
4. Update your Mac into the latest version of iOS
5. Restart your Mac

Result: Positive

#3 Turn off the monitor and replug it

There was another day my TV suddenly cannot detect my Mac again. I tried to restart and made sure my macOS was the latest version, but it still failed. So I did some research and tried an alternative approach.

1. Unplug the cable
2. Switch of the monitor
3. Replug your cable
4. Switch on the monitor

Result: Positive

#4 Force detection of the external monitor

1. Connect your Mac with the external monitor
2. Go to the Apple ? on your top left corner
3. Click System Preference
4. Click Display
5. Hold Option and Click Detect Display

Hold ?Option? then you will see Gather Windows become Detect Displays

Result: Negative

#5 Restart your Mac and force-connect to the external monitor

1. Connect your Mac with the external monitor
2. Go to the Apple ? on your top left corner
3. Click Restart
4. Immediately close your Mac
5. Wait and see

This is a video for it.

Result: Negative

Conclusion

I hope this is helpful. Do let me know if there are some tricks that you tried as well, so I can include them in this article.

Thanks and good luck!