Sleeping with an external display
When my MacBook Pro sleeps connected to an external display, it has trouble waking up,
sometimes requiring a restart. How can I fix this?
CAN I CONNECT A
MACBOOK PRO AS
JUST A DISPLAY?
Known as Target
Display mode, this is
only supported by a
limited range of iMacs,
not by MacBook Pros.
You could connect an
external monitor with
a suitable port, which
is the best way to
extend that built in.DO AIRPRINT
PRINTERS REQUIRE
WI–FI?
Yes. AirPrint was
originally developed
to support printing
from iOS devices, but
is now used as the
preferred way to
support printers
across macOS and iOS
without each having a
specific printer driver.
It’s also the standard
way of connecting
printers to macOS.With any sleep problem like this, the first
step is to reset the System Management
Chip (SMC) and the Non–Volatile RAM
(NVRAM, formerly PRAM). In many cases,
that should restore normal function, but
running some versions of macOS makes
specific models prone to sleep and wake
problems, particularly MacBook Pro
models connected to external displays.
This probably relates to the EFI
firmware supplied with that release, and
updating to the latest version can fix it.
Apple now only provides those firmware
updates as part of macOS and its security
updates. There’s a list of versions for
recent models at bit.ly/ml161efi.
Another cause is an incompatible kernel
extension. Those are harder to address, but
most third–party extensions should now be
installed in /Library/Extensions — look at
that for anything old and unneeded.
Sometimes, before a hard drive fails, you get
sufficient warning to be able to rescue as
much as you can from it before it packs up
completely, as it will continue to mount on
your Desktop. In your case, it seems to have
suffered internal mechanical failure too rapidly
to allow that. Avoid powering it up at all until
you’ve decided what to do about this, as that
could make the damage worse.
Modern data recovery services can
dismantle even badly failed hard drives in
clean room facilities and mount their platters
in special enclosures to recover data. However,
this is very expensive and only likely to be
worth your while if the files you have lost are
very valuable. Typical costs are thousands of
dollars, and there’s a limited range of models
which are suitable for such treatment.
If you can’t justify that cost, send the old
hard drive for recycling. Before parting with it,
even though it isn’t working, break it open
using a heavy hammer to ensure that no one
else could try reading its contents.
Rattling dead hard drive
My three–year–old external hard drive stopped working when my Mac showed a warning to
back it up and reformat. It now makes a rattling sound when turned on and won’t mount at
all. What can I do to rescue its contents?
Specific MacBook Pros running some versions of
macOS have problems waking external displays.Even if your hard drive doesn’t work, break it up as
thoroughly as possible before recycling.Tech Support & Techsplanations
maclife.com DEC 2019 75