TV shows no image after connecting Mac to HDTV

Question

I connected my MacBook Pro to a TV with a Mini DVI and HDMI cable.

The TV screen stays blank, but sometimes I get the OS X desktop (the pink wallpaper). What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Does your Macbook screen go blue and fade after you plug in the connector? If not, there's a chance it didn't recognize the display at all. Make sure the TV is turned on before you plug it in.

There's also a "Detect Displays" option in OS X's menu bar (if you've enabled it through System Preferences - Display - Show displays in menu bar. Most of the time it will be able to detect a display that has been connected but doesn't show output.