it's been working well since i got the mac. i still strongly prefer mac over pc. but for now, i can't get the friggin hdmi connection to output to an external display when the lid is closed (my default). the hdmi works when the lid is open and i can use extended desktop and mirror modes.

but when i close the lid, the hdmi output stops and i get a black screen on the external monitor (indicating no signal).

funny thing is that this only happens for one account. other accounts, everything is working fine as usual when i close the lid.

seems like i'm not the only one who has been experiencing this issue. but so far, no suggestions have worked.

pisses me off that apple can't get such a simple thing to work reliability. but still prefer it over win pc.

sigh. if i can't get it to work, i can try creating a new account and migrate there. or open the lid (don't really have space to put an open laptop; usually it's closed and to the side).

My guess is the account preferences are set to go to sleep when the lid closes.

Amazingly, there aren't any preferences to set it seems. As long as power is attached, and external KVM are attached, then closing the lid keeps the system awake. Not like windows where you set lid behavior more explicitly.

But I could be missing something, not sure what.

The webz seems to suggest that a (display) config file is corrupted. There are a couple of files suggested to delete and get auto re-created. One is system level (all accounts), the other is account level. I deleted the account level and it get recreated but didn't fix the issue.

I'm hesitant to delete the system level that affects all accounts - it may break this for other accounts that are still working.

In the interim, I've added a new account and duplicating it from the 'broken' account. The new account is working fine so far.

Call Apple.