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elektro84 Author

Level 1

4 points

My macbook display is messed up after connecting to external monitor with hdmi cable

Hi, I've recently started connecting my Macbook Pro (13-inch, 2016) to an external monitor using a hdmi cable. Everything was working fine at first but now the default resolution on my Macbook is messed up. Even when I unplug the hdmi cable the resolution has turned into what looks like the 'larger text' option through the display settings (scaled).

I tried restarting the laptop and turning it off but it didn't change. The only way I can get it back to the original display size is to use the 'scaled' option under display. I don't want to have to do this, how can I get my original default display settings back?

Posted on Oct 4, 2019 9:42 AM

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

133,279 points

Posted on Oct 4, 2019 11:25 AM

SAFE MODE exists to allow you to recover from issues just like this.

Safe Mode (hold shift at Startup) starts by doing a five-minute disk repair. Then it loads a minimal set of Apple-only extensions and tries to take defaults for absolutely everything it can. Screen updates will be wonky and slow, because no graphics acceleration drivers are loaded. The screen will temporarily use a default resolution.

Changes you make in Safe Mode will "stick" in regular mode. Safe Mode has been used to rescue Users from setting screen resolution too high, for example.

The ability to log in is required. It demands your userid and password, even if you normally auto-login.

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My macbook display is messed up after connecting to external monitor with hdmi cable

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